Shooting of Starry Starry Night - Taipei Film Commission
(2011/06/20)
Large-scale of Tom Lin’s late night shooting of Starry Starry Night at Taipei Railroad Station in March attracted passers-by’s attention.
Starry Starry Night, originally scheduled to shoot in June, began shooting for two days in March due to the renovation of Taipei Railroad Station. Hong Kong actress Xu Jiao came to Taiwan especially for this shoot, which took altogether 200 film crews and extras, attracting passengers’ attention.
Directed by Tom Lin and adapted from Jimmy Liao’s beloved illustrated picture book, Starry Starry Night began shooting in June after its filming in France. Xu Jiao was praised as the “genius” actress by Stephen Chow, she gained her popularity by her role as a little boy in Chow’s popular film, CJ7. This time, she plays the lead actress in Starry Starry Night. Claiming a fan of Jimmy Liao, Xu said that she read a couple of Liao’s famous books such as Starry Starry Night, A Chance of Sunshine, Beautiful Solitude; her favorite is of course Starry Starry Night, which she plays the female lead, but she also loves Beautiful Solitude because it describes a story closer to what would happen at her age.
Director Tom Lin even arranged Xu to study in Taiwan so that she can feel closer to Taiwanese students and their campus life. Her three-day experiences in Taiwan enabled her to feel more connected with the role and she even made a couple new friends, who, along with their parents and her teachers, expressed their sincere concerns for her, revealing the authentic Taiwanese passion and friendliness.
Hong Kong star Xu Jiao visited Taipei for the first time and was fascinated by the traditional drink, Xiancao.
Xu Jiao said her experience in Taipei was wonderful and fun, the city and its novelty attracted her in many ways. During her visit, she especially requested to have her favorite traditional Taiwanese drink Xiancao, which is a kind of minty drink made of mesona. She was grateful to be the female lead of Starry Starry Night. Although she felt slightly pressured for her role, she promised to do her best.
Taipei Railroad Station granted filming of Starry Starry Night in the station with recognition of the collaborated efforts between Taipei Film Commission and Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Since the filming of Au Revoir Taipei at Taipei Metro’s Xiaonanmen Station, which allowed film crews to film the station and an entire section of the train, Taipei Film Commission was again granted filming in the station. Taipei Train Station is always crowded with people and thus makes filming almost impossible. While the space is rarely open for public filming, with the efforts of both Taipei Film Commission and Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs, and after several negotiation meetings, Taipei Railroad Station finally granted public filming of Starry Starry Night. The station opened its first floor lobby, information center, east entrance, escalator, train time table for shooting. It also provided its Christmas display, including large Christmas tree and related props for film crews. Workers from information center also participated in the film as extras to support Taiwan Cinema, allowing another Taipei Film Commission’s “mission impossible” to come true!
Color》
