Page 23 - Fujifilm Exposure_31 The White Countess_ok

visual feel we’ve had in the past so that was both exciting and made us feel it was like a bit of a step into the unknown. In terms of the types of film they make, of their own personality and aesthetic, they were, on the face of it, worlds apart.
“Yet during the first meeting he, Ismail and Jim had together in Los Angeles, they immediately seemed to click on a social level. That gave an impetus to the creative discussions as they found they could talk the same language.
“Chris’s obvious experience shoot- ing before in Shanghai with Chinese crews was invaluable. He likes to hand- hold a lot, operates as well and came up with some fantastic new ways of looking at things, especially in the stu- dio which we shot the hell out of.
“As we are famed for location shooting rather than in a studio, it was a great plus to have someone with that artistic immediacy and intimacy that the story required, transferring that to something as artificial as a set. He somehow helped make it real and live, shooting it in a way that really mir- rored our own style of authenticity.”
Merchant added: “The schedule was a very heavy one in order to accomplish everything we wanted; it was tough, often hundreds of extras too. Chris was game for everything. He
one’s better than the Chinese at gunpowder!”
Noting that the overall shoot was “incredibly hard and difficult”, Bradley re-iterated that “this was a pioneering production – the first Western film that had been shot in Shanghai as an official co-production with significant financial input from a local company. There were no boilerplate or pre-worn paths to go down.
“It was vastly different from, say, going to India where they have at least the same kind of organisation and administrative culture as us. Here it was a vastly different landscape in terms of culture, interpersonal rela- tionships, legal framework and organi- sational structure. It was a very steep learning curve, almost like making it up for the first time.
“Every day was a huge challenge for both the Chinese and their crews who, I must say, brought as much enthusiasm and professionalism to the project from their perspective as did the people we brought in from the West.”
Final word goes to Merchant, who revealed that the next stop on the “Wandering Company’s” exotic itiner- ary will be Paraguay and Argentina for an adaptation by MIP’s co-founder, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, of Peter Cameron’s best-selling novel, City Of Your Final Destination.
Merchant Ivory seems, to put it mildly, rather unlikely.
Said Bradley: “Originally we had wanted to work again with Tony Pierce-Roberts who’d been a wonder- ful collaborator and friend. However, by the time we got everything togeth- er he had committed himself to a large
Hollywood film and so was unavail- able. We then looked around for some- one absolutely new and obviously Chris’s name kept coming up on the independent circuit as well as every- where else.
“His approach couldn’t be more different from the kind of look and
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was a very good cameraman, so amenable and inventive.”
The White Countess filmed for 12 weeks with a cast that also included another two of the Redgrave clan, Vanessa (Natasha Richardson’s real- life mother, here playing her aunt) and Lynn, Madeleine Potter, Hiroyuki Sanada and Allan Corduner.
As well as shooting at the studios and in the city, the production also moved to a key location about 100 miles away by the city of Wuxi.
Bradley explained: “We needed a recreation of the riverfront in Shanghai but the Bund [the famous western bank of the Juangpu Jiang river] is now physically compro- mised. On this lake, about half the size of Wales, we managed to corral a set of fishing boats – basically turn of the century junks – for a fan- tastic, effects-packed sequence. No-
“ Of course, we’d be happy to go to China again if the story suited. My advice to other producers? You have to go with a completely open mind and not be set in your ways. Learn to adapt.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
The White Countess, to be released later this year, was originated on 35mm Reala 500D 8592 motion picture negative