From the eyes of a strange fruit

"And then I showed these clips to Qin Hailu (秦海璐), [lead actress in Durian Durian, to direct her," he said. Chan even did Qin's costume design, as well as the film's art design, in order to vividly depict lives of the prostitutes he'd observed.

All the work paid off. Durian Durian is a convincing story which brilliantly contrasts the leading girl's life in Hong Kong with her ironically better life back in northern China. In the process, Chan made Qin this year's brightest star, taking both Best Actress and Best New Performer at the Golden Horse Film Festival, and more prizes in Hong Kong and overseas.

But Durian Durian is just the first in what Chan calls his Prostitute Trilogy. "I've interviewed around a hundred ladies and I've just finished two stories. I still have a long way to go!" he said.

Hong Kong Hollywood (香港有個好 塢) is the second installment in the trilogy, and just screened at both the Venice and Golden Horse film festivals. It tells a cruel and humorous story of two poor brothers in Hong Kong and a wicked mainland prostitute. The film's color and dramatic effects are even stronger than his previous work. And, for the first time, he worked with A-list talent in the form of mainland actress Zhou Xun (周迅).

"I am always willing to play with different film styles. I don't want to be fixed in one place," he said. As an example he cites his next film, Public Bathroom (人民公廁), which is in post-production. He shot the film in its entirety using digital cameras and worked in locations far outside Hong Kong, going to India, Korea and the US.

Does all this mean Chan is ready to go mainstream? "I've never said that I reject any commercial elements in my films. I'd like to work with actors like Maggie Cheung (張曼玉) and Andy Lau (劉德華)," he said.

But, Chan adds, "if it's a commercial film, it will still be a Fruit Chan-style commercial film."

Durian Durian opens tomorrow.

See review on page 11.