"Selfie" time with director and producer

Originally touted as a Cambodian-Singaporean movie, "Selfie" is now a fully Singaporean production.

Though that is not to say it features only Singaporean elements in it, since even the multiracial cast (think Indian, French, Chinese) is led by half-Filipino, half-American former MTV VJ Richard Herrera (also known for being one half of the Richard and Richard team that won first place on "Amazing Race Asia" Season 4) and Romanian Chinese of German nationality, TV host-cum-actress Carla Dunareanu.

The movie is helmed by advertising veteran, film director Mikael Teo, who previously worked on 2013's "Yellow Pill" as well as appeared in 2014's Netflix original series, "Marco Polo".

Currently showing in Cambodia, "Selfie" was first screened at two U.S. film festivals: the prestigious Hoboken International Film Festival in New York and Motor City Nightmares Film Festival in Detroit. It has also won an Award of Merit in Indiefest, New York.

Cinema Online had the exclusive chance to talk to director Mikael Teo and producer Tan Ying Han, and the team behind "Selfie" spills on the production changes, script changes and where the movie is set to debut next!

Cinema Online: This movie was originally planned as a Cambodian-Singaporean production, why is it just a Singaporean one now?

Mikael: It was supposed to be. We built a little network there: distributors, directors and DPs; it was fun. Our original script was written by our art director, Zeng Yi, who's from Beijing. That story was crafted by me as well, it was a "Paranormal Activity", "Saw" kind of story. The investors thought that was more mainstream, more commercial. We started tweaking it. After about the fifteenth time, we realised it's not a profound movie, so we thought there must be an angle we can do. The result is not a preachy movie but we just want people to think "am I overdoing this 'me, me, me' syndrome thing, or is there more to life". Because selfie is not just the act of taking a picture, it's bigger than that, it's a whole social media issue. Some people overdo it, they're obsessed with it, with themselves. We thought that selfie was a state of mind which is not very healthy. Now it's more "Gone Girl" than "Scream".

Tan: As a result of that, we realised this script doesn't have to be produced in Cambodia, unlike the previous script where Cambodia was one of the more suitable places. It had the culture and the history that made the movie more special. But with the new script, it became more contemporary so we decided to make it just purely in Singapore.

Mikael: Also there was a scheduling conflict. For example with Jimmy Henderson, he's an Italian filmmaker from Milan but based in Cambodia. His film "Hanuman" was just recently released. He's so huge, I love him. But we couldn't get a lot of these guys that we want to work with. We had to shoot before New Year or we'll lose all the actors and some of the crew members.

In what way was the script changed?

Tan: The original script had the three models being murdered mysteriously by some ghost, and then it was changed to this psychological thriller, we do not know whether this murderer is a ghost or not.

Mikael: We are pretty much indie film makers but we're not the type that finishes a film and moves on to the next project. This is like a baby that we carried everywhere. Zeng Yi wrote the whole thing in one night. At the last twist, we were all sold. I fleshed it out to 127 pages within one week. There were tough times because certain investors weren't so sure about it. Let me correct myself, it's not really "Gone Girl", more "Black Swan". It looks like "Se7en", then the subplot takes over and everyone gets confused. We've shown it to Cambodian exhibitors and the guys doing the online and offline post-productions, everyone had a different take on the story. It was very interesting and I never saw it that way.

What made you choose Richard and Carla as the leads?

Mikael: We got them through auditions, we had veteran actors and newbies coming in. Carla walked in and the role was hers, for sure. She was all over and yet she could quieten down and play against type. She's not like what she is in the movie because she is very noisy, but in a good way. Rich is cool and he's got that charisma, and it was easy to work with him. But most of all they listened very well. I'm not saying they have to be obedient to the director but they listened and they asked a lot of questions and they bring what they have to the table. They improvised and I always listened to them. There's also a little girl in the cast, Sofea Danial Lee, she's perfect. She never acted before.

Will there be a "Selfie 2"?

Mikael: Some of the investors are talking about it. But I wouldn't know where to go after the end of the first "Selfie". After you watch it, you will know. I don't think it's meant to have a part two.

Why is the movie being released in Cambodia first?

Tan: Because when we had the original script, we already pre-sold the movie. So it was already agreed upon that were going to distribute our movie. Even though we changed the script, the entire production, they still believed in us. So we opened in Cambodia first. Another reason is we also learnt that the movie industry in Cambodia is growing at a healthy rate. So we thought why not contribute to the industry as well. We want to release it in Singapore but we want to have words of it all over the world before it goes back to Singapore.

Mikael: Simon Choo, the Distribution Director of Westec Media Limited in Cambodia, he pretty much had a vision for it the first time we talked about it and he was pretty receptive about it. Then we met his team and it went smoothly from there.

Was Westec involved in the production process too?

Mikael: There was an offer on the table for more involvement but in the end we decided on a more straight-forward distribution arrangement.

When and where will "Selfie" be released next after Cambodia?

Mikael: In Malaysia it will be released this 27 August. Following that will be Thailand, China and Singapore. China could have the same release month as Malaysia.