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Bront Palarae on the set of Dawn Raid: The Hands That Rattled The Queen's trailer shoot
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Set in the 1980s, Dawn Raid: The Hands That Rattled The Queen is veteran Malaysian actor-producer, Bront Palarae’s next big passion project, centred around the takeover of Guthrie Corporation Limited, the then premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, by the Malaysian government in less than four hours during a ‘dawn raid’ on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981.
Though the
film has yet to go into pre-production, the teaser trailer is available online
for one to get a quick feel of the film, which, at a glance, reveals a star-studded cast: Shaheizy Sam, Sofia Jane, Chew
Kin Wah, Iedil Putra, Tuan ‘Tapai’ Faisal, and Redza Minhat to say the least.
“The trailer was
shot in 2015 but Crossroads: One Two Jaga won a camera package sponsorship
prize at the Southeast Asia Film Financing Forum at about the same time,” said
Bront.
“The prize shelf life of a year so we had to proceed with shooting Crossroads first. With the film scheduled to be released this year, now is the perfect time to continue our journey with Dawn Raid.”
Bront first came
across the story while reading a chapter in Tun Mahathir’s book, A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
that roughly described the Guthrie dawn raid incident.
“Reading it, I felt a sense of pride and then
it evolved into a sudden urge of wanting to share this story with the world,”
he explained. “There is no other better way to share the story than through a
film.”
Even after 3 years since the trailer and the
recent global reception of Crossroads,
Bront said that the urge remains strong until today.
What is the Guthrie dawn raid?
Based and
inspired by true events, Dawn Raid
chronicles the planned attack on Britain’s
biggest century-old firm, Guthrie Ltd at the London Stock Exchange in 1981 by
Malaysia’s Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB).
“It’s a high-tension story with a
backdrop filled with international financial movements and boardroom deceptions,”
explained Bront.
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| Bront directing the actors on set of the trailer shoot. At the table clockwise: Shaheizy Sam, Sofia Jane, Iedil Putra, and Tuan 'Tapai' Faisal |
In 1981, Tun Mahathir
Mohamad engineered a raid to take over the Guthrie group at the London Stock
Exchange. In less than four hours, the British-owned company was taken into
local control. Subsequently, the takeover allowed the return of ownership of
some 200,000 acres or 800 km² of agricultural land back to Malaysians.
Bront further
described the film as a pulse-racing
thriller that presents a dramatic interpretation of one of the world’s most
iconic corporate takeovers.
Spotlight on Malaysian stories
With Crossroads
having travelled to the 20th Far East Film Festival (FEFF), the 21st Shanghai
International Film Festival (SIFF), and the 17th New York Asian Film Festival
(NYAFF), Bront’s storytelling instinct to centre his next film around a highpoint
in Malaysian history underpins the international audience’s hunger for Malaysian
stories.
“I honestly believe that there is a real
curiosity and thirst from international community towards Malaysian stories,”
he said.
However, it is often tricky to find the right
material to present to the global audience. Bront explained that the question
lies in finding a story that is uniquely Malaysian yet universal enough to be
enjoyed by international viewers.
“So far we got lucky with Crossroads but I think it can get better with Dawn Raid,” stated Bront. “The early sign is there as Dawn Raid is selected for Bucheon
Network of Fantastic Film under the Project Market programme.”
Besides bringing an exciting addition to the
global film market, Dawn Raid is also
adding colours to the gradually diversifying film spectrum in Malaysia. Bront
pointed out that whenever a local filmmaker attempt to do a period-piece of any
era, the presentation of the film takes a ‘museum tour’ or a ‘docu-drama re-enactment’
approach in terms of style.
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| From left: Shaheizy Sam, Sofia Jane, Iedil Putra, and Tuan 'Tapai' Faisal |
“What I want to do is to tackle Dawn Raid as a genre film. I want to
present the story in a fun and engaging way for the audience to enjoy,” he
said.
Even though Dawn
Raid is written as a heist film—not the first in Malaysian film history given the existence of Afdlin
Shauki’s Baik Punya Cilok and Kabir Bhatia’s
Setem—Bront explained that Dawn Raid will be slightly different for
the fact that the film involves a big stake, which is the fate of a nation.
“As a filmmaker, my intention of
developing the film has always been about bringing back the mojo of serving the
country again,” he said.
“The story was developed during the times when
leeches were sucking the government’s coffers dry and when everyone we met only
spoke about how they profited from having links to the corridor of power.”
Through Dawn
Raid, Bront wants to remind people that those in the 1970s and the 1980s
used to do things for national pride rather than for greed.
Keeping it real
While Bront
anticipates serving the audience a thrilling ride with Dawn Raid, he and his team also want to keep the story as close to
the truth as possible.
“We would love to spark the audience’s
curiosity with the actual event but we don’t want the film to be too much of a
documentary that chronicles the event with 100 per cent facts,” he said.
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| Bront Palarae's cameo |
Bront explained that to fashion Dawn Raid as a heist film, they need to
fulfil most, if not all, of the elements that come with making a heist film.
Apart from that, he said that there is still plenty of room for them to play
around with in terms of the narrative and character development.
“So we are taking a bit of creative licence to
fill those spaces. But of course we are not going to bend the history too much
like Inglorious Bastards,” he laughed.
Nevertheless, Bront revealed that they were unable
to get both sides of the Dawn Raid story due to the limited access to certain organisations
and related parties.
In order to fact check and get a bigger picture
of the dawn raid, the actors are required to spend time with the individuals whom
they will play in the film. Some of the important key figures interviewed were
the then (and current) prime minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamad; Tan Sri Khalid
Ibrahim who lead the dawn raid in 1981 and who later became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Malaysianised Guthrie, now known as Kumpulan Guthrie
Berhad, from 1995 to 2003; and the first CEO of PNB, Tan Sri Desa Pachi.
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| Interview session with Tun Mahathir. Present: Bront Palarae and Chew Kin Wah (scriptwriter) |
“At the moment, we are still finalising the
script and we are still trying very hard at hit. Finding the right balance
between hard facts, speculative facts, and drama is a major task,” he said.
“In terms of location scouting, there will be
more sets built rather than shooting at actual locations. Some of the actual
locations may need a lot of VFX manipulation to remove modern elements that
were not there back in 1979 to 1981,” stated Bront. “For props and wardrobe, it
is much easier to buy them from Indonesia.”
The next phase of the journey
Heading towards its pre-production stage in
late September this year, Dawn Raid
has got private investors lined-up alongside a pending production fund from the National Film
Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS).
However, the recent election saw a change of
government, which stalled the operation of FINAS.
“We turned to crowdfund as an alternative. It’s
also a great groundwork marketing for the film,” said Bront. “Hopefully, this
will translate into interest from brands and corporate sectors to come forward
and be our sponsor-partners.”
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| Dawn Raid teaser poster |
Dawn Raid’s crowdfund initiative offers backers a choice
of contributing from as low as MYR5 to MYR250, with the latter giving backers a
set of film merchandises, access to regular behind-the-scenes updates throughout
the filmmaking process, and a reserved seat at Dawn Raid Gala Premiere on 23 August 2019 in Kuala Lumpur.
Dawn Raid targets to head into principal
photography in mid-January next year and aims to be completed in time for
Merdeka 2019 release.