Chris Chan Lee Talks about Producing Cliff Son's First Feature

01.22 - Posted by Editor

"Helium" on its way up
Chris Chan Lee talks about producing Cliff Son's first feature.

In 1998, Chris Chan Lee made headlines as the director of the Asian American feature film "Yellow." This year, Chris tackles new challenges as the producer of Cliff Son's debut feature film "Helium," which just wrapped principal photography in New Jersey and Long Island. AsianAmericanFilm editor Greg Pak sat down with Chris during the Asian American Film Festival at Rice University in Houston to talk about the production.           Chris Chan Lee, producer of "Helium," can be contacted at popsmear@usa.net or 323-969-4919 The story Producer Chris Chan Lee jokingly describes "Helium" as "Love and Death in Fort Lee, New Jersey." When pressed, he says Cliff Son's debut feature deals with a young woman (Bok Yun Chun) in the midst of reevaluating who she is and what she wants from her life.     "If there is something called an Asian American genre, it doesn't really belong to that," says Chris, pointing out that although the cast may be Asian American, the film has little to do with traditional Asian American issues. "What stands out is Cliff's point of view as a filmmaker. He really does have a distinct voice. It has a very personal sensibility and style of humor and observation of people and relationships."     As an example of Cliff's quirky storytelling, Chris describes a character tic of the female lead.     "She's very much afraid of the rain. Whenever she goes outside, she's looking at the sky. It's a funny and very specific insight into her private life which in a way definitely embodies her anxieties."     "Helium" may be a breath of fresh air to Asian American audiences growing weary of movies about generational conflicts or ethnic identity crises. But Chris and Cliff are angling to launch the film overseas at a festival like Berlin or Cannes.     "Cliff feels that somehow Europeans will respond more to the nuances of the film," says Chris. "Here everything's so consciously political in terms of race. It can be a barrier to seeing the heart of the subject matter. Maybe in Europe people will see it more with naked eyes rather than with the baggage they carry in the States."   Financing the film As Chris tells the story, Cliff was on top of the world in 1994. His short film "Giant Metal Insects" was playing to enormous acclaim in festivals like Berlin and Clermont Ferrand. He found an agent. And he was ready to shoot his feature film "Helium."     "But when it came down to translate all that enthusiasm into getting the film made, it just never got there," says Chris.     Cliff spent several years trying to get "Helium" off the ground through traditional Hollywood means, raising financing by attaching name actors to the script. But bringing Chris on board meant the strategy had changed.     "Teaming up with me meant he wasn't trying to get it done in any traditional or mainstream way," says Chris. "He just wanted to get it done in an independent, down and dirty way."     Chris made his 1998 feature film "Yellow" for the bargain basement price of $170,000. He and Cliff scraped together a slightly larger budget for "Helium" from individual investors. Rather than name actors, they cast a group of relatively unknown performers, including Eric Steinberg, Bok Yun Chun, Sung Kung, Sara Tanaka, Jason Tobin ("Yellow"), and Jo Shui ("Mouse").     "It's always a rollercoaster of dashed hopes," says Chris. "One day you think you'll have all the money and resources to make your film The next day the carpet gets pulled from beneath your feet. But we weren't going to sit around and wait for someone else to say yes to the film. We were gonna make it no matter what."   On set Asked about the transition from directing "Yellow" to producing another director's film, Chris admits that in the beginning, he felt a little of the directing itch.     "But I would always remember this is Cliff's film," he says. "My best interests as a producer are to make this work as close to Cliff's psyche as possible."     Eventually, Chris found himself fully inhabiting the role of the hard-core practical producer.     "I became the monster that just wanted to get it in the can and get the hell out of there."     "Helium" was shot on 35mm film over five weeks, shooting an average of twelve hours a day. Chris was able to hire a strong crew, including David Park, a New York based cinematographer with MTV credits, and production designer Petra Barchi ("Hurricane Streets"). But given the film's low budget, Chris had to take on a few more jobs than he wanted.     "I was the production manager, locations manager, production coordinator, transportation coordinator, catering supervision, and at the end I was even the grip truck driver," he says.     "As a producer, you can play the role of getting something different and exciting and bring it from the seed of an idea to a finished film. But doing it on such a really low budget is just really painful."   Chris and Cliff plan to finish "Helium" in late 2000 or early 2001. Come back to AsianAmericanFilm.com for updates!   Chris can be contacted at popsmear@usa.net or 323-969-4919   Return to top