Tony Yeow, the ‘has-been who never was’?2 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutesI was one degree of separation away from the late Tony Yeow about 6 years ago when I had the opportunity of meeting ex-bipolar patient Choo Kah Ying who turned her life around after being hit by the mental disorder. She told me she had plans to turn her life story into a movie and she had already found a producer. That producer was Tony Yeow. I had an inkling that Tony was a well-known person in the film circle because I had seen this name pop up a few times in film programme booklets. At the same time, I surmised that he must be quite senior based on the fact that his name does not pop up among the younger class of filmmakers that were emerging in the late 2000s.
The first time I saw him was at the screening of Saint Jack at the national museum where he attended in the capacity of being one of the key crew members. Of course, in the presence of other bigger personalities like veteran Chinese actress Lisa Lu and the cast, his presence was sidelined. Most of the people involved in Saint Jack, made in the 70s, are no longer active in the film industry, so my impression of Tony Yeow went along those lines. Little did I know what this man did for the film industry would reverberate in my thoughts as much as his deep, radio-presenter voice.
Tony Yeow can be argued to be the person who sparked the first flame for Singapore movie-making after its long drought in the 1980s, with the film “˜Medium Rare’. “˜Medium Rare’ was based on the true story of murderer Adrian Lim who drank the blood of children. Having started his filmmaking journey earlier in the 70s, he never stopped searching for film stories and ideas and ‘Medium Rare’ was one of the fruits of his labour. Though he ignited the engine of this film project, he eventually stepped down as director due to some disagreements. Some would remember how a Caucasian man was strangely cast to play Adrian Lim. This and many more trivia about him and his films were shared at “˜Remembering Tony’, a talk presented by film writer Ben Slater, attended by players in the film industry who had brushed shoulders with Tony or were simply here to open their eyes into the world of a filmmaker whose efforts were invested at the worst time for any filmmaker to be producing anything in Singapore.
via: SINdie
Image Credit: SINdie
