Oscar-winning Director Hooper Advises Chinese Filmmakers: Tell it Like it is

Academy Award winning director and Golden Goblet Award Jury President Tom Hooper has told Chinese filmmakers that productions deeply focused on China and what life is like now are most likely to succeed internationally.

Hooper was speaking during the President\'s Lecture yesterday, the last forum of this year\'s Shanghai International Film Festival.

Hooper\'s Oscar-winning film The King\'s Speech was the third film he directed and he said no-one expected it to be so successful. Many Hollywood studios and stars turned it down because they thought it wasn\'t a good investment.

"As a filmmaker, you can\'t ever ignore the business, you\'re involved in the business situation," Hooper said.

He said during his travels with the film for screenings in different countries, he was greatly affected by the emotion people felt at the end of the film.

After The King\'s Speech he went on to direct Les Miserables which was in a different genre and already a successful musical.
"I think it would be a mistake to try to do a very similar subject again and expect lightening to strike twice," Hooper said. The risks were necessary and he wanted to challenge himself, he added.

The second President\'s Lecture speaker, Chinese director Zhang Yuan, warned that over-commercializing films could take away from their original essence of documenting.

"The film records people\'s feelings and taste of life, and being able to document is the most important function," said Zhang, Jury President of this year\'s Mobile SIFF.

He said sometimes he likes to work with non-professional actors because they bring their own habits and style to the film.

"While making a film, some of the best scenes are not planned beforehand," Zhang said. He also said a good movie should be consistent in style, and one should become a good director before thinking about bringing profits to the company or investors.

The relationship between directors and writers has been a much-discussed and delicate topic during this year\'s SIFF forums.