Singaporean Filmmaker Reveals Life As Production Assistant On Michael Mann 2015 Film Blackhat: “Tang Wei Was Quite Playful”
Singaporean filmmaker JD Chua shares his incredible journey from being a fan of Michael Mann’s Heat to working alongside the Hollywood director on Blackhat.
Never in his wildest dreams did Chua think he’d one day work with the director — first as an intern (more about that in a bit) at his production company, Forward Pass, and later as a production assistant on Blackhat, the 2015 film starring Chris Hemsworth as a hacker who joins an international task force to bust a cybercrime syndicate.
The cast also included Tang Wei, Wang Leehom, Viola Davis and Adrian Pang.
“People say, never meet your heroes, but for me, my hero became a bigger hero.,” says Chua, whose other Hollywood credentials include the 2013 Blumhouse sci-fi horror Dark Skies and the 2015 video game-inspired actioner Hitman: Agent 47.
Back in Singapore, Chua, a graduate of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, wrote the Mediacorp crime series Kes 253, and directed a few shows on the video platform Viddsee, such as the cyberbullying-themed Queen of Hearts and its follow-up, Queen of Diamonds. This year, he popped his directorial feature cherry with Circle Line, where Jesseca Liu faces down a monster lizard in a subway tunnel.
Meanwhile, Chua’s mentor Mann is back in the awards limelight at last month’s Venice Film Festival, where Ferrari, his passion project about the Italian carmaker — and his first feature since Blackhat — made its world premiere.
Not that he’s been slacking off. During those intervening years, the four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker published the novel Heat 2, a sequel-cum-prequel to Heat, co-authored with thriller writer Meg Gardiner, and produced Tokyo Vice, the HBO series about an American journo’s run-in with the Yakuza, featuring Ansel Elgor and Ken Watanabe. (Of course, there was this pandemic that messed up everyone’s plans.)
Chua says he regretted missing out on Tokyo Vice. “I received a message from him asking me to swing on over during his prep,” he recalls. “I was in Seoul at the time on a script residency under the Seoul Film Commission.
“And when he was shooting, I was doing post for a feature film. The timing was horrible! If I wasn’t on contract, I would ‘drop that and rock n’ roll’. I also kicked myself when I wasn’t available for his Nike Hong Kong TV commercial.”
“I still speak to him once in a while,” Chua says. “I would ask for advice if he has the time. I always value what he says.”
Here, we try get to Chua to share as much as he legally can about his Hollywood experiences (because he’s still bound by non-disclosure agreements with the studios and production companies).
JD CHUA: Super long story. Keeping it short, I travelled to LA to do a semester at Dodge College. They offered an internship program. I didn’t want the school to dictate where I should go, so I set out on a journey to look for my hero, Michael Mann. With some people’s help, I managed to track down his office and had an interview with him.
We spoke about each other’s works and how Collateral influenced my final year project — I even got into an argument with my professors that I wanted to shoot digital instead of film. I was lucky that I kept my cool and burst out into fangirl mode only when I was out of his office.
During my time there, I did several small administrative tasks to support the main people during the production of Luck [HBO’s race-horse drama starring Dustin Hoffman] I was there mainly to observe how he works, especially his thought process. I was astonished to see that many industry veterans filled the office.
Many would take lesser positions to work with Michael. I must thank the first person who helped start the ball rolling: Madeline Warren, and the final person who “mothered” me under her watch eye in Michael’s office: the late Kathleen M Shea. I also must thank IMDA — MDA at that time — for supporting me throughout my internship.
How did you end up on the set of Blackhat?
After graduating, Michael reached out to me again, for a research trip — I can’t say where the crew travelled — and offered me to be on his set. At the time, it was simply called UMP or Untitled Mann Project. I flew down to meet Thor, who was damn tall. And had to contain my excitement seeing Tang Wei on set.
What are a production assistant’s duties?
There are different types of production assistants. The job scope is fairly malleable.
During my time as a PA, I was usually on production sets assisting the Key Set PA or the Second, Second Assistant Directors, or Third Assistant Directors. And the different ADs have different job scopes, ranging from set management to base camp operations. Depending on the scale of production, I helped different levels of ADs.
On Blackhat, I stuck close to the Third Assistant Director, Mikey Eberle, a wonderful guy who was extremely patient with me. I was his ears and eyes on different parts of the sets where he can’t be. We communicated via the radio, so we —and several other PAs — control the set, and help to make sure whatever the crew needs on set, we have them addressed. This may include fending off paparazzi.
What makes a Michael Mann set Michael Mann?
If there is a shoot-out on set, get ready for a realistic shoot-out on set. It will be loud. It will be big. One has to be prepared for long hours, which comes with fast tempers. I had to learn the set culture fast because it moves even faster and it is not for the faint of heart. A Michael Mann set can be stressful but it can shape character. The crew always got each other’s’ backs.
From this, we would bond very tightly. I have made very good friends and we would still exchange set stories. If you look at the crew list in the credits, you’ll see the same guys most of the time. They truly went through some s*** together. Being on his sets has helped me pay off my student loans. I am forever grateful for that.
What bizarre stories can you share from the Blackhat set in Hong Kong?
One of our takes got ruined because a bus with a poster of Wang Leehom passed us. Since one of our characters was played by him, that just didn’t make sense to have it remain in the cut.
For one of the scenes, Michael wanted a boatman to have an accent that one cannot distinguish where he is from. He thought about it for a while and then guess who provided the voice for the line “Elias, you coming?”
One time, I was traversing through a huge set — an emergency response outside of a nuclear reactor — to pass one of my assistant directors some paperwork. I had to pass a massive amount of background actors. Suddenly, there were loud screaming and people were running about. It was clear that there was an emergency. I was right in the middle of it and immediately wanted to look at where I could help. Turned out that nobody told me that they were doing a rehearsal. It felt right for me.
And when I approached Adrian Pang [who played a Hong Kong cop] on set and introduced myself as a Singaporean, his eyes lit up. That was amusing to me.
Anything on Tang Wei?
Tang Wei was quite playful. We had set security, so whenever she was needed on set, I would wait at base camp to receive her and walk her to set. When she’s done, I’ll walk her to security where we will all walk her back to base camp. Remember, we are the eyes and ears for our assistant directors, so we have to be sure where each element of the production is, including actors. Tang Wei loved to pretend to hide or run from security. So many times, I had to run ahead of her to prevent that from happening.
She loved to give random facts and observations too. Kinda kept us on our toes. I actually interacted more with Holt McCallany. He was the only guy who committed to remembering my full name. We often trash-talked off-set and exchanged jokes. He would take my phone and take selfies with Chris Hemsworth and Wang Leehom. Even with Viola Davis. Pictures that I will value.
CH is one of the nicest people from Hollywood. He actually preferred to eat with us. During the last days of production, he got different departments gifts. I promised not to disclose what those are — I can only say that his affection for the crew was felt by everyone. Hanging around CH was a lesson in humility.
Michael has been open about Blackhat’s lacklustre box-office performance. He has shown the director’s cut to select audiences over the years. We hear you’ve seen it, too. How different is this cut? More close-ups of Chris Hemsworth banging his fingers on the keyboard?
I like it more. Scenes are restructured, some scenes are added for better context, and more experiential scenes of the process of hacking and traveling — they give it more urgency.
What are the things you learnt from a Michael Mann set that you applied in Singapore?
Even though he can be tough, Michael can actually be considerate. One fact that has been reported: we were shooting a shoot-out on the streets of Hong Kong for a few nights. Our presence had disrupted businesses in the morning when we rushed to wrap. Michael donated money to thank the people who allowed us to film there.
What’s next for you?
Hmm… I would say that I’m currently collaborating with very cool people who are insane enough to make new bold projects that will help the industry. I have been very blessed to have found like-minded filmmakers who look out for one another. Such character trait is a rare find.
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