(From left) Stanley Law, Tedd Chan, Chrissie Chau and Gordon Lam.

Stanley Law's "Paper Moon" that opened at 15th Shanghai International Film Awards made Malaysia proud as it was wholly filmed in Kelantan, Malacca, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur. Not only that, the romance drama also boasts two popular stars as its leads, which is Gordon Lam Ka-tung and Chrissie Chau. "Paper Moon" tells the story of a poor kite maker named Chen Tian Song, who falls in love with Gao Shi Qin, the daughter of a wealthy family, with tragic consequences.

During this exclusive interview, director Stanley Law and his film's three central stars, Gordon Lam, Chrissie Chau and Tedd Chan, talked about the film's inspirations and influences, choice of language, love scenes and the 'wau bulan' theme.

Well, the wau bulan is the symbol for the whole film, which is about being letting go, as the whole film is about regret. My character regretted for not being able to provide for the woman he loves and forcing her to another man. So my older self, played by Gordon Lam, makes 'wau bulan' for a living as it represents his longing for Chrissie's character, Gao Shi Qin. There is one scene in the film where she remarked that the 'wau bulan' makes the 'wau wau' sound because it is crying for its freedom.

Q: What inspired you to make this film? Stanley Law: "Paper Moon" is actually a spin-off of the highly rated five time-Golden Awards winner TV drama, "The Iron Lady", so you can say that the film is inspired by it. Some people also asked me whether I took some tips some Hitchcock's films since "Paper Moon" has that sudden twist, but no, I think it was more of a Korean influence. Most romances in Korean films nowadays are dark and tragic. Q: How was filming the love scenes? Chrissie Chau: A lot of people love asking me this question! Well, it wasn't hard as we were all made to familiarise ourselves with each other before filming began, so it was like being intimate among friends. We made a lot of jokes on set to relieve each other. Tedd Chan: I was nervous when filming mine though! I did a lot of research so that I won't have a lot of NG (No Good) results.

Q: Was the film's Mandarin dialogue hard for you to take on? Why wasn't it filmed in Cantonese? Gordon Lam: I had my difficulties, but it wasn't the hardest thing I had to do. Stanley decided to film "Paper Moon" in Mandarin because it is more internationally recognized, and there were always plans to release it outside of China. I couldn't care less about the film's language as I can always learn, as long as the story is good and I get to die in it. [Laughs] Q: Was the 'wau bulan' really relevant to the film or was it a last minute addition? Tedd:Well, the wau bulan is the symbol for the whole film, which is about being letting go, as the whole film is about regret. My character regretted for not being able to provide for the woman he loves and forcing her to another man. So my older self, played by Gordon Lam, makes 'wau bulan' for a living as it represents his longing for Chrissie's character, Gao Shi Qin. There is one scene in the film where she remarked that the 'wau bulan' makes the 'wau wau' sound because it is crying for its freedom.