The filmmaker on his new retrospective DVD box-set and the joys of directing Jack Neo.
8 DAYS: You have a DVD box-set, Eric Khoo: Director’s Collection, coming out soon...
ERIC KHOO: All my films — from Mee Pok Man to Tatsumi — are in there, except [the erotic omnibus] In the Room because that’s rated R21 [which isn’t allowed for sale on DVD]. In France, In the Room is rated ‘12’ (laughs). [The classifiers here] have got the numbers wrong (laughs). The boxset also has some of my short films, including Cinema, the segment I did for 7 Letters.
Was it emotional to re-watch these films as you were prepping the box-set?
I’m so happy that I finally got to restore Mee Pok Man and 12 Storeys, because I was never really happy with the previous DVD editions which were transferred from the 35mm prints that were so badly scratched! When we were doing those films, the budget was very lean, so I never supervised the colour-grading; the cinematographer did that. So when I first saw those films, I thought it was pretty good, but I think it was more of what the cinematographer wanted. But now I could actually get the colours that I have always wanted the films to be.
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of 12 Storeys. What attracted you to make a slice-of-life drama about HDB residents?
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