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Johnnie To films in China for death penalty

Johnnie To films in China for death penalty

21 Nov – Director Johnnie To's latest film, "Drug War" will be competing for Rome International Film Festival for "Best Prize" film, but the media is more interested to know about To's return to filming in China after 30 years.

As reported on Popular Asians, at a press conference for "Drug War" attended by Johnnie To, Wallace Chung and Gao Yunxiang, To revealed his reason for filming in mainland China. The director stated, "I chose to set the story in mainland China since drug traffickers are punishable by death in the country, whereas Hong Kong only utilise prison sentence."

The director stated that the sense of urgency in one's action will be much stronger if there's death waiting at the other side, and that was his motivation for the whole plot.

Asked if there are any obstacles in filming in China, as his last movie, "The Life-taking Golds" was filmed almost three decades ago, To revealed, "We have to be aware of controversial subjects that may be deemed inappropriate by the Chinese government, so getting past the censorship was hard. But then, it's a different society with a different background than what I am used to, so I respect their decision."

He also indicated that the biggest difficulty was the poor quality of the equipment in mainland.

"The equipment was sub-par compared to what I have in Hong Kong. I hope if I return to mainland next time; there will be greater improvements in the technology."