 The Eye director Danny Pang With his twin brother Oxide, Danny Pang co-directed The Eye, a creepy and cool movie from Hong Kong about a blind woman who receives the ability to see spirits with her cornea transplant. What separates this movie from The Sixth Sense or even Return to Me is an award-winning performance by Angelica Lee; an interesting dual plot that leads to the sticks of Thailand; and a reliance on style and suspense, not shock. Danny Pang came to Los Angeles to introduce the film at the Visual Communications film festival, and answered some questions about ghosts, directing, and working with Oxide. Look out for screenings in New York and Los Angeles during the first week of June, followed by limited national release the week after. |
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GR: Why are ghost stories are such a popular movie genre around the world? DP: Ghost stories almost have a guaranteed level of commercial success because everyone is familiar with the subject matter no matter where they're from. Whether or not we've seen a ghost, it's a natural for us to be scared because everyone hears ghost stories during childhood. Second, the environment of the cinema is almost perfectly designed for ghost movies. GR: Where did you get the idea of having a person become possessed through a cornea transplant? DP: The main plot is based on a Hong Kong news story that I heard on the bus about 12 years ago. A radio news program reported that a 16-year-old girl jumped off a building one week after having a cornea transplant. I thought it was strange that she was fine for her whole life and then, after being able to see, she committed suicide. I wondered what she saw. GR: Did you consult people who have had experiences with ghosts? DP: There are people who can see ghosts, and we interviewed them. We got two important elements from that. First, ghosts can appear anytime and anywhere. It doesn't have to be at night. Also, ghosts come in several different colors, which represent their different energy levels. GR: What elements were inspired by Chinese folklore? DP: Some came from Chinese ghost stories that I've heard since childhood. Most western ghosts take forms like vampires. Ghosts from eastern culture tend to be more like regular people. It's more horrific because they could be anyone. The scene where the female ghost eats the Chinese barbecue is something that most people growing up in Hong Kong have heard of before. In the west you'd never imagine that a ghost would eat Chinese barbecue, but for the Chinese culture everybody knows they like to eat things that have been grilled or cooked with fire. GR: Did you have any creepy experiences when shooting? DP: No. |