Masked Crusaders
'Hawk' team carries on despite SARS

May 20, 2003 - The Hollywood Reporter

By Winnie Chung

      SHANGHAI -- But for masked faces on set and the fact that producer Thomas Chung is armed with an antibacterial mousse that he sprays liberally on everyone's hands at regular intervals, there is no evidence that the threat of SARS has affected the shoot of Michelle Yeoh's new actioner "Silver Hawk" in Shanghai.
      "Silver Hawk" is one of the few productions that is valiantly carrying on production in China as the country battles with SARS and rules for quarantine measures remain unclear. Several productions -- including a new Stephen Chow ("Shaolin Soccer") movie -- have delayed production dates until the situation clears.
      "Shanghai has put a lot of effort into sanitizing the city and our work environment but there is an underlying caution because you know what the outcome could be," says star and producer Yeoh, during a filming break. "We make sure that the crew doesn't take any risks, but we each have to be responsible because just one person coming down with the disease could jeopardize the whole production."
      The $10 million "Silver Hawk" is about a masked heroine who tries to stop a megalomaniac from taking over the world by feeding subliminal messages into cell phones. The film, directed by Hong Kong director Jingle Ma ("Tokyo Raiders"), also stars Luke Goss and Michael Jai White, both of whom seem to have settled into Shanghai quite comfortably.
      "Everything on a film -- producers, insurance and bonding -- is primarily about safety. If there was any genuine danger, I wouldn't be asked here. I feel informed, and it's quite an adventure," says Goss.
      "If the film is going forward, there obviously couldn't be too much of a risk going on," adds White. "Knowing the media, it sometimes blows things out of proportion."
      Location shooting is moving ahead on schedule and, so far, the city's sanitation and prevention measures have not caused any major disruptions, although there have cases where quick decisions had to be made.
      "Several locations that we had intended to use for shooting were closed suddenly so that health officials could check on the sanitary conditions, so we had to quickly scout for alternatives," reports director Ma. "You just have to think on your feet most of the time, which is something we're used to in Hong Kong anyway."
      The city's quarantine measures have been more of a challenge for the producers. In addition to body temperature testing twice a day and forms requiring crew members to report where they have been and who they have been with, the latest regulations require new arrivals to sit out a 14-day quarantine before being able to join the set. This also applies to other professions.
      "We try our best to comply with the regulations, and it hasn't been a great problem so far because most of our actors are scheduled to be here for the duration of the shoot," says producer Chung. "There have just been minor adjustments and you just have to be completely flexible with all plans."


Stringent precautions are being taken on the Shanghai set of "Silver Hawk."