InCinemas is honoured to have the "
Forever" movie director, Wee Li Lin, answer some of the questions with regards to her movie experience in an email interview.
Below is the exchange with the Director Wee Li Lin.
InCinemas: What inspires you to do this movie?
Wee Li Lin: When I write, I am always inspired firstly by a character who moves me or troubles me or reflects upon myself and people that I know in a strong way. In the case of “Forever”, the story was inspired by a real person I met several years back while I was doing a pro marriage corporate video. This person was working in an organization involved in the promotion of marriage but told me she was in fact anti-romance and a stalker. I found this contradiction of her character really compelling (and troubling!) and began to develop Joey. But I wanted Joey to be more endearing and lovable but still have some shades of these same conflicting aspects in her life, the real person was far more disturbing and I didn’t want to make another film about a vengeful scorned woman, I think there are quite a lot out there already. I wanted to make a film about a seemingly sweet but flawed girl who had both an enthusiastic but warped view on love. So that’s how “FOREVER” came about!
InCinemas: Tell us a bit about directing each of the actors; Taiwanese actor Mo Tzu Yi, Singapore award-winning theatre actress Joanna Dong and newcomer Sarah Ng Li-Wen. Who left the greatest impression?
Wee Li Lin: I am a big believer in auditioning exhaustively, even meeting known actors and non-actors and actors from the region. I must say it has served us well and I owe a lot to my hard working assistant directors and producer who worked with me for months to audition all the talented actors and non actors we met. I wish I could have cast more of them! Making the final decision is always tough. For the role of ‘Joey’ we were down to two actresses and in the end we decided to go with Joanna who really infused an authentic creepy sweetness in Joey that we couldn’t find in anyone else. Joanna is also blessed with an extraordinary voice and we ended up working that into the character and the soundtrack to great results. Directing Joanna has been very good, she’s extremely smart and sharp so you have to be on your toes. She is also very aware of the crew, her other actors and is very generous and helpful towards everyone in a scene. She is a great collaborator and gave great ideas to the script and character. One thing I really loved about working with Joanna is that we were always on the same page about wardrobe! I am a control freak when it comes to wardrobe and we agreed on all the outfits and accessories and she knew where I was going with the detailing of it for the character, so that was really nice =D
(Cont'd) The casting of ‘Cecilia’ was more stressful as we were really looking for a knockout, feisty, fresh face who could hold her own against Joanna. We auditioned about sixty or more women for the role and we still could not find someone up to the very last day of casting! My producer and I were torn between two women and we could not agree on either but we also knew in our hearts that though these were two lovely, talented women, neither of them was the Cecilia we were really looking for. We thought we would just have to compromise as we were one month away from filming.
Then Sarah comes in to the audition at 5pm (we were going to call it a day at 6pm) and we auditioned her. After the second read, my producer, DOP and I looked at each other and smiled broadly. We offered Sarah the role at 6pm and she was so thrilled she hugged everyone, ran to her car and exclaimed that she was going to call her mother with the good news! It was a really cool moment for everyone. Sarah has never acted for screen, this is her very first acting foray and I must say directing her has been surprisingly smooth and extremely fun. She is instinctive and quite fearless. She is very sweet but with a wicked sense of humor. Like Joey, Cecilia is also a contradictory character, the sweet, girly bride to be who is also sexually aggressive and frank.
When it came to the role of Gin, we were really spoiled for choice as there were quite a few good looking talented young actors who were very good for the part and in fact when I met Mo Tzu Yi two years back when he was visiting Singapore with his agent and I thought, this guy really has something and though he didn’t audition for me I saw his reel and thought this guy is really really talented. Maybe we can work together down the road on something else but not this film. It took me a few months after to realize that as I was writing Gin, he was turning out more and more like Xiao Mo. Xiao Mo has a depth, vulnerability and edge you don’t normally see in male leads in a romantic comedy. In FOREVER, Xiao Mo keeps things simple, real and earnest while the female characters camp things up a bit. He is an absolute joy to work with from the moment he arrived to Singapore to the moment he left. Xiao Mo is the one who left the most indelible impression on me with his professionalism, his humility and his ability. I have never worked with any actors from Taiwan before but he gave me the most lasting and positive impression and I think we were all inspired and educated by him.
InCinemas: 'Forever' is the first Singapore Film to receive a double world premiere. What are your feelings to this news and what are your expectations on the box office?
Wee Li Lin: When I found out about the double world premiere I thought how nice! And they were both good festivals that I’d never been to before but always wanted to, so it was a very very nice thing. I was in Jakarta while Silvia my producer was in Cairo. I think you can ask my producer about the box office! Its really more for her and our distributors to think about =D
InCinemas: Which part of the movie do you think the audience will enjoy the most and what is the message you wish to bring across to the audience?
Wee Li Lin: Audiences will enjoy the performances, music and visuals. But most of all I think they will enjoy the character of Joey as she’s quite extreme yet quite sweet. Her desire to have the perfect life and perfect mate is something we can all relate to and her refusal to accept anything less is also something we can admire, though I confess this second part will be arguable to some J I never set out to make a film with a moral message, that's not to say I’m amoral, but I feel if I was to set out to have a moral message the characters could become preachy and one dimensional. And people are complicated and if we can find their pathos through their flaws, it’s stronger. One thing I would like audiences to go away reflecting after the film is that everyon