JD Chua
mm2 Entertainment Pte Ltd and Taipan Films have just commenced principal photography of Singapore’s first monster film, CIRCLE LINE (tentative working title), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Circle Line is Hollywood-trained director JD Chua’s feature film debut. Well-versed in genre films, JD Chua has featured his short films in multiple international film festivals, competing for Best Thriller at the 2011 Thrillspy Film Festival in Washington D.C.; for Bucheon Choice Competition at the 2015 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and more. The film also stars leading lady Jesseca Liu 刘子绚 in her third feature film, Taiwanese show stealer Patrick Lee 李沛旭, dad crush Andie Chen 陈邦鋆, veteran actor Peter Yu 宏荣 , newcomers Ashley Seow 萧淑俐 and Nathaniel Ng 黄企健.
Circle Line tells the story of a group of passengers trapped on the last midnight train that veers off-track into an abandoned tunnel, only to discover that this tunnel is the lair of a terrifying monster. Will they find a way out to outrun the angered beast?
Jessica Liu and Patrick Li
Circle Line will be the first VFX and CGI-driven, monster movie in Singapore. Taipan Films took two years to develop the movie together with the award-winning animation company Omens Studios. The visual identity of the monster is conceptualized by Victor Marin, who has designed creatures for Oscar-winning filmmakers like Guillermo Del Toro. The producers are also partnering with visual effects studio Oner VFX from Argentina, which was responsible for the VFX in the film The Secret in Their Eyes, which won Best Foreign Language film at the 82nd Academy Awards, and Malaysia’s iconic 2016 sports film Ola Bola. The movie will be filmed in Johor Bahru’s Pinewood Iskandar Studios,a Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Mr Tang Chi Sim, the Executive Producer of Taipan Films, says, “We are excited to finally begin principal photography with a great script and a wonderful set of cast and crew led by our director JD Chua. This project will also feature probably the most amount of visual effects to date for a local production, giving us an opportunity to take Singapore filmmaking to another level in terms of production and entertainment value.”
“Developing new filmmaking talents has always been a part of mm2 Entertainment’s DNA and the director JD Chua is a promising talent in genre films. We are confident that Circle Line will be an exciting film that will captivate audiences in Asia and beyond,” said Mr Ng Say Yong, Chief Content Officer of mm2 Entertainment.
Presented by mm2 Entertainment Pte Ltd and Taipan Films Pte Ltd, and supported by the Singapore Film Commission, Circle Line is slated for release in the later half of 2019.
About Taipan Films
Taipan Films is a Singapore-based motion picture company, which develops finances, produces and distributes entertainment content from Asia for the wider international market. Taipan Films is developing a slate of projects with both entertainment and cultural value that can travel through its core voice of engaging storytelling.
Taipan Films is a Singapore-based motion picture company, which develops finances, produces and distributes entertainment content from Asia for the wider international market. Taipan Films is developing a slate of projects with both entertainment and cultural value that can travel through its core voice of engaging storytelling.