MEANWHILE, BEHIND THE SCREEN...

What and who go behind the making of a film are tales that never fail to fascinate us. We talked to Michael Helfman, an executive producer and director who witnessed how the local film industry burgeons and thrives for the past decade

- LORRAINE CHAI

WALKED INTO THE ROOM WITH A PLAIN WHITE TEE AND A PAIR OF SLIGHTLY WASHED DENIM JEANS, MICHAEL HELFMAN GREETED EVERYONE IN THE ROOM WITH A SMILE.

My first impression of the director cum producer was nice and friendly, but definitely not someone who wrote and directed the adventure thriller film, The Borneo Incident - the one where Henry Golding was cast before his breakthrough in Hollywood.

While Michael was getting ready for the photo shoot, we had some icebreakers prior to the interview. Inevitably, we talked about his role as the executive producer for the upcoming horror supernatural film, Pulau. Featuring a range of up-and-coming talents, the movie is about a vacation-turned-nightmare story where a group of young friends spend a night on a deserted island as a result of losing a bet. As they unveil and break an old spell in an abandoned village that they stumbled upon, the infuriated evil spirits make sure they pay their prices as the consequences.

While horror has always been a much-favoured genre in Malaysia, the movie however, gained a relatively mixed reaction, causing hoo-has on various social media platforms. Voices chimed in, throwing brickbats at certain scenes that went against the local cultural values after the release of a mere two-and-a-half-minute trailer.

Despite the critics and controversies, Michael's face lit up with joy and enthusiasm when the movie was brought up, and that everyone in the room was all ears when he shared his feelings. He bubbled over how much he took pride in the work the team put together, especially when the trailer garnered millions of views and was trending at first on Malaysia's YouTube that morning before the photoshoot. "I guess in some way, any press is still press," he expressed, with a wry smile and a shoulder shrug.

What got you into filming and movie production?