Taking risks in a firestorm

Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau promotes his new movie Firestorm in Beijing. He is the leading actor, producer and co-investor of the movie. Photos by Jiang Dong / China Daily

He initiated the Focus: First Cuts project in 2005 and has invested in more than 10 projects of young directors. Some of them have been very successful, such as mainland director Ning Hao, who received 4 million yuan ($640,000) from Lau to direct Crazy Stone. The black comedy grossed 20 million yuan and was the most acclaimed domestic film of that year. Ning is now a household name.

In 2011 Hong Kong director Ann Hui brought her script A Simple Life to Lau. The story of the last days of an old maid and the son of her master did not appeal to most investors. Lau, however, was touched by the effortless story between ordinary people.

The film won critical and popular accolades. Lau recouped his investment from the mainland and Hong Kong box office takings and the film's overseas copyrights.

As an investor, Lau prefers down-to-earth directors and original stories.

When he first saw the script of Crazy Stone, it was named Diamond. Ning said he needed 8 million yuan. Lau told him First Cuts could afford only 4 million yuan for every director. Ning's immediate answer was: "OK, 8 million for diamond, 4 million yuan for stone." He changed the storyline from revolving around a diamond to a piece of fake jade.

"This is what I call a down-to-earth director," Lau says.

Every year Lau receives about 300 scripts. His assistant will read them and write a summary of each script, listing its genre, important scenes and target audience. The summary is usually more than 1,000 words. Lau will pick up about 15 scripts according to the summary and read them himself.

"It is hard to define a genre I favor," he says. "But I like films I have never seen before in this market."

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