Glen Goei, director of The Blue Mansion

Memories of a childhood filled with random bursts of laughter make Glen Goei smile as he explains how his family used to think he was weird. ‘I would often laugh at the oddest things at the most inappropriate of times,’ he recalls. ‘Even something as slight as a twitch on a relative’s face during dinner would set me off.’ Little did they know that their son’s abnormality was to prove his greatest strength.

Busy promoting his latest full-length feature The Blue Mansion, the actor, director and screenwriter apologises for being late and quickly explains that he’d just received news that United International Pictures has decided to pick up his film for distribution in Malaysia. Barely able to contain his excitement, he stretches out his hand to greet me. The timeliness of the phone call makes it possible for me to introduce myself and congratulate him at the same time. Accompanied with notes he prepared the night before, this Cambridge graduate decides to tuck them away under his black diary but hints that he might have to refer back to them.

Trained as a stage actor, Goei auditioned for the Tony Award winning play M Butterfly as a nobody and emerged from behind the red velvet curtain as the lead character Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese man who masquerades as a beautiful and enigmatic opera singer. Starring opposite the experienced stage and screen actor Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) was a daunting experience for the blossoming artist. But he reaped the benefits and by the time the production ended its run in London’s West End theatres, Goei had upgraded his confidence level and taken a glimpse into his future.

On leaving the production, Goei started his own theatre company called Mu-Lan Arts, one of the first in the UK to represent Asians in the theatre scene. Several successful performances (including the hilarious The Magic Fundoshi) and 18 years later, Goei decided it was time to come home. Still very much in love with theatre, he and fellow thespian Ivan Heng set up W!ld Rice, a company that has produced some of Singapore’s richest and smartest plays, including Emily of Emerald Hill, Blithe Spirit, Boeing Boeing and Apocalypse: Live!.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, Goei managed to find the time to produce his debut film, set in Singapore. Shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999, Forever Fever was the first Asian movie to be accepted in the festival’s world-cinema category. It was also unleashed at a time when Asian films were otherwise only considered in the martial arts genre. ‘Although the movie was done in Singlish, it’s a romantic comedy, so in that respect it’s easily accepted by the audience,’ Goei says. Because of the film’s successful screening at Cannes, Miramax Films picked it up for distribution in America and the UK under the title That’s the Way I Like It.

With such a great start, it has been a mystery why Goei took such a long time to direct a follow-up. ‘It takes that long to write an original story that connects on a personal level. And also because I’ve been away from Singapore for so long, I needed to take the time to see, hear, and observe the people and take in their stories.’ He adds: ‘I find that a lot of young film directors are very good visually, with the angles and look, but they fail to understand how an actor gets his character and how difficult that journey can be.’

As an actor’s director, Goei enjoys working with local theatre veterans like Lim Kay Siu, Adrian Pang (Forever Fever), Neo Swee Lin, Emma Yong and Pamela Oei – all of whom star in The Blue Mansion. ‘I continually work with actors as it takes years for an actor to understand the director’s aesthetics and sensibilities. Conversely, the director needs to understand his actors as each of them has their own baggage and strengths.’ The reality of these relationships sometimes merges with Goei’s movie-making ideas. ‘It was not until the funeral of one of my actor’s brothers, ten years ago, that the idea of writing a script based around a funeral wake came to me. It then took another nine years for the story to percolate, distil and simmer’.

Even though his love for his cast is apparent, Goei admits that the main star of the film is the indigo-blue mansion. Built at the end of the 19th century, the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang is an exclusive heritage boutique hotel that epitomises the Chinese courtyard-style architecture back in the day. For the film’s mise-en-scène, Goei roped in Ian Bailie, supervising art director for Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, and cinematographer Larry Smith, who worked on Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.

Set in the mansion, the story unravels during the wake of a murdered wealthy matriarch. Eager to find the culprit, two detectives question all leads, including the tycoon’s jealous relatives and business partners. Because of the atmospheric mansion, it was important to Goei that the film achieved a touch of noir, a treatment he likens to one of his favourite films, Chinatown by Polish director Roman Polanski. ‘I’m not really experienced, this is only my second film. But I certainly know how important art direction is in creating a mood that will complement the story.’

For the film’s content, Goei examines a culture characterised by selfishness, greed and kiasu-ism. ‘As a Singaporean, it’s important to question the society we live in. As artists, we’re able to express this in our work… In a world driven by multinationals and pharmaceutical companies, I try to find the funnier sides in the paradoxes of the human condition.’ In one scene, there is an argument as to which religion the deceased was. ‘In Singapore especially, religion becomes this badge you wear. People get so worked up, it’s very Asian.’ While no one has had the opportunity to view the project in its entirety, we do know that this time the project has been crafted in proper English, and is due out in late Octoer. ‘Will it attract Jack Neo or Eric Khoo audiences? I don’t know. It’s not art-house, nor is it a commercial film. I like to think of it as a commercial film with art-house sensibilities.’

The Blue Mansion opens in cinemas on 22 Oct.