Bront takes on unique challenge

Actor Bront Palarae finds he’s landed an ‘upside down’ role in Yasu and Bea Tanaka’s thriller to be filmed in March, writes

FILMMAKERS Yasu and Bea Tanaka will soon make a film which has a scene showing Bront Palarae trapped, upside down, in a car. The couple’s last project was which starred Hans Isaac and Maya Karin as a couple whose marriage was on the rocks, in Bako National Park, Sarawak,

Bea reveals that the thriller, to be filmed next year, will be a gruesome one — he slices his earlobes to reduce blood pressure on his head to stay alive. Yikes!

Titled it will be called

for international release. Bront will play Brian Pereria, a successful actor who meets with a car accident and stuck upside down for three quarters of the film.

“Brian has a horrific accident after a bad day at work and ends up trapped upside down in a ravine in the middle of a secluded jungle. Badly injured and in great pain, he seeks help from three teenage boys living nearby but they torment him instead,” says Yasu, who is from Tokyo. He has 20 years of experience as a director and screenwriter.

Yasu reveals that the storyline came to him one day suddenly out of the blue; the script was developed last year with his wife, who is from Kuala Lumpur.

“We see cars overturn on the big screen in action films, but there haven’t been films about people trapped upside down, so we promptly got to work.”

Bea, who taught English to deaf students at Sekolah Menengah Teknik Krian in Bagan Serai, Perak, adds that it’s a chilling situation to be in. “Its title literally explains Brian’s physical condition but it also alludes to the irony of a famous star suddenly being at the mercy of three unruly teenagers!”

may bring novelist Stephen King’s Misery to mind, where an author is rescued from a car crash by a sadistic nurse who later tortures him in her house. “It’s good for to be likened to a Stephen King thriller, but Brian is not the victim of psychotic people. The boys are not evil but naughty youngsters delighted that a star has ‘dropped’ by their neighbourhood,” says Bea.

She adds that the boys, who live far from Brian’s world of glamour, feel empowered and take the opportunity to make their own film featuring him, for social media viewing. “To them, Brian’s predicament is an opportunity to play games. Little do they realise he is fighting for his life,” she says. Bea says the movie can be likened to Stephen King’s Misery.

UP FOR THE CHALLENGE

The Tanakas discussed with Bront last year and he was intrigued with the storyline and character.

“Bront loved it, since it was an out of the ordinary challenge and exemplified the spirit of survival. He felt Brian’s plight will have viewers rooting for him,” says Yasu who has conducted screenwriting workshops at the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) for a decade.

Yasu admits that they created Brian with Bront in mind. “We’ve both known him for more than five years and admired his onscreen versatility and intense acting,” he says.

Bea adds: “Bront always pushes his boundaries as an actor.”

The Tanakas, who own 5-year-old film company 42nd Pictures, revealed they will harness Bront to a revolving chair to enable filming him upside down. “We’ll have him strapped firmly to this special chair and he’ll be rotated back to ground position every few minutes. Nobody can survive being upside down continuously for a really long period,” says Bea.

will be in Malay with a smattering of English. “Bront speaks to the boys kampung-style.

SCRIPTING SUCCESS

will be filmed over 20 days in the Klang Valley in March 2018, and US production company Ivanhoe Pictures recently purchased the remake rights to the film.

Bea says: “Ivanhoe is Hollywood-based and plans to have local adaptations of our screenplay made in 34 countries. We’re delighted with the deal since it’ll put a Malaysian script on the world map!”

They chose to make another thriller after 2015’s because the genre is popular with global audiences. “Having lived in Hollywood for a year in 2009, we’ve met lots of producers and directors and learnt that horrors and thrillers sell,” says Bea.

Yasu, a film graduate from California State University in the US, who has worked in Hollywood and Tokyo, says

Best Screenplay win at the 28th Malaysian Film Festival last year was a major incentive for them to make

is dark and talks about a traumatised wife, while showcases the struggle of a man to stay alive. We love films about human emotions, and plan to make more films which speak of humans who defy the odds.”

Bea, who graduated in special education from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), says they plan to produce Ice Show, a family drama based on Yasu’s younger days.

“Yasu was an ice skater who was supposed to represent Japan in the Winter Olympics 1984 held in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, he suffered an injury while training.”

The Tanakas always believe in making films for the international market, because going global is a test of “where they truly stand”.

“Going global is the best gauge of our standards. It’s good to aim high in life!” says Bea, who together with

Yasu, were met at an announcement event for the film at Finas in Hulu Klang.

Also present were Finas deputy director-general Datuk Azmir Saifuddin Muthalib and Creative Content Association of Malaysia chief executive officer

Datuk Mahyidin Mustakim. Bront Palarae