Kevin Whitcher
The Gooner was sent a short email from Ben Hsiung recently, that read as follows… “I've just finished a comedy short film about Arsenal fans and the build up to the Champions League game in London. Hope you enjoy. https://vimeo.com/66698655”
The film, ‘Bayern Pills’, did capture my imagination, so I decided to follow it up with a short interview with Ben. Here’s what resulted…
The Gooner: What inspired you to come up with the idea for this short film?
Ben Hsiung: I really wanted to make a short film at the start of the year, but I couldn't decide on a subject or style. My first idea was a gangster story, then I thought about a rap opera about two idiot boys, and then I thought about a story of an everyday Arsenal fan. After I still couldn't pick one, I decided to combine all three elements into one. I liked the idea of the European fixtures being used as a drug trade route and wrote a first draft of the script. Unfortunately I over-estimated our chances at home to Bayern (I hoped we'd win 3-0!) and I had to change the script so the actual result didn't feature in the film.
I assume you are an Arsenal fan from the portrayal of the Spurs fan in the film. What's your own story as a Gooner? How old are you, do you attend matches in the flesh? Do you live in the Highbury/Holloway area?
Of course! I'm a life long Gooner! I grew up in Camden in the 80's, but all my classmates supported Liverpool! I was the only Arsenal fan, but that just made the win at Anfield in '89 that much sweeter. I'm 36 now and share a season ticket with 2 other friends, so I get to go to at least 8-10 games a season, and living by the tube in Brixton means I can get to the stadium in 45mins.
On the film-maker front, you have 11 videos on your website. Do you make films for a living or is this labour of love stuff?
I work and have been working in the film production industry for over 10 years, but I've only started to direct myself in the last year and a half. I've always made music and my original goal was to get paid as a musician, but I've kind of put that to bed and just want to start concentrating on directing more short films, virals and music videos.
Which of your other short movies do you think would be of most interest to Arsenal fans reading this?
I entered a short film competition last October where you had to write, shoot and edit everything in 48 hours. The theme word was 'cheat' so I wrote a script about a cheating football player. Without giving too much away, you only see people connected to the player and you have to work out what happened yourself. If you’re not a total football head (like me) then it can be a bit confusing, hence it didn't do well in the competition, but all my football geek mates liked it. It's called 'HalfTime/Fulltime' and I'm really proud of all the actors’ performances, getting it all done in 48 hours was tough, the initial writing/idea being the hardest part.
Do you plan to feature another Arsenal angle in any future projects?
Most definitely! One of my first ideas for the story was to make it the away leg, the whole road movie aspect is another angle I'd still like to try. I'm kind of addicted to gangster films (I even have to watch the bad ones), and adding my addiction to Arsenal/football just seems like quite a cool combination. At the moment I'm making films that I write myself, and having to get a lot of help from friends to make it happen. Hopefully one day I'll get proper funding to make a feature length gangster film, that’s the goal. Until then I'll just keep making short films and music videos for friends.
So a final question. If I said that you could have one player from the current Arsenal squad for 24 hours to feature in a film project, which one would you choose and why?
That's the hardest question... Podolski could definitely play a German hard nut, or Gibbs could be a silent assassin? Steve Bould would make a great doorman and Arshavin could maybe be an extra? If he wasn't too busy? But if I could only have one then I think it would have to be Giroud as the handsome hero, then my wife wouldn't have a go at me! "Why are you always making stupid films about footballers?!"
