IN recent years a lot of comic book heroes have been given the big-screen treatment; and these days it is all serious business. Directors Bryan Singer (X-Men and Superman Returns), Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) and Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins) gave depth to these costumed heroes and their movies always tackle some serious issues for subplots. But it is also good to remember that more than a decade ago, the trend for this genre tended to be on the campy side. Who can forget how Jack Nicholson hammed it up as The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman or a smug Alec Baldwin in the role of The Shadow?  

Now Malaysia is set to have its own silver screen superhero, Cicak-man. From the title it is easy to assume which animal this superhero will derive its powers from. And since the character is portrayed by comedian/actor Saiful Apek and the main villain is none other than Aznil Nawawi, the movie shouts “camp” from the start. Believe it or not, this is exactly what the filmmakers are going for but aided with new technology.  

This effort from KRU Films – spearheaded by Norman, Yusry and Edry Abdul Halim – is the brothers’ first venture into directing, producing and writing a film. And they are adamant to make it a comedy/action superhero film. Their basis for the caped crusader is the 1980s show The Greatest American Hero starring William Katt which was about a guy with powers who had no idea how to use and control these powers (because he lost the manual that came with the supersuit). 

Norman, the executive producer of the film, explained: “The guy in that show never really knew how to control his powers even to the end and he was clumsy with or without the special alien suit.”

Another reason why KRU Films decided to take a comedic approach with their first film is because the Malaysian audience has always had a soft spot for comedies. Norman’s argument is that the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee is best remembered for his comedies and not for his more serious films.  

“We believe the combination of comedy, action and the use of latest technology will attract Malaysian viewers.” 

He, however, emphasised that there are other elements in the film that touch on serious issues such as friendship and loyalty.  

One paranormal leap in the plot is how our hero slowly loses his human cells and is turning into a full-fledged reptile. Well, unless a cure is found.  

The story revolves around a lab technician named Hairi (Saiful Apek) who is a klutz and not a confident man. His best friend Danny (Yusry) is about the only guy who understands there’s more to Hairi than meets the eye. That fact becomes even truer when one day, while at work, Hairi is exposed to a radioactive creature.  

This gives him strange powers – Hairi is able to use his tongue (which stretches out at his will) to, erm, lick the bad guys (literally or not we have to wait and see), the power to regenerate and heal fast and stick to walls and ceilings. Meanwhile, Professor Klon (Aznil Nawawi) and his gang of thugs are up to no good in the city of Metrofulus.  

Co-starring in the film are AC Mizal, Fasha Sandha, Yasmin Hani and Aziz Sattar. The film is conceptualised by Yusry who also acts as director and is in charge of the visual effects. Thanks to this and the fact that everything is done in-house, the film’s budget stands at only RM2mil. 

Yusry’s dual role in the making of the film – whereby he mapped the visual effects while shooting the film – simplified the production process and cut the cost. A total of 400 CGI (computer graphic imagery) shots of the city Metrofulus and character animation for Cicak-man make up the film, totalling the special effects to 40%.  

While the shoot around Putrajaya, Teknologi Park, KL Sentral and against green screens only took a total of 37 days (spanning the months of September, October and November 2005), the 20-member special effects team is scheduled to wrap up its part of the job within three months. 

A total of six sets were built in warehouses to represent the inner rooms in Metrofulus and to film the green screen scenes. The city Metrofulus has Gothic buildings, with sets designed by Azhar Sulaiman.  

The Cicak-man costume is created by the Izatt Artistic Team while music for the film is composed by Edry Abdul Halim.  

To enhance just how serious the brothers are about this film, they are already working on creating a brand. Before the film is released – scheduled for November, this year – there will be movie merchandise such as T-shirts, bags, and other goods available to the public. 

“And in July we are releasing a one-off comic book version of the film,” added Norman.  

Norman emphasised the fact that Cicak-Man is a Malaysian film which he hopes will appeal to people from all walks of life. He is basing this statement on the interest the film has already garnered in South-East Asia. Distributors from Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia have already agreed to distribute Cicak-man in their respective countries. KRU Films plans to take the film even further to countries such as India, Hong Kong, China and Japan.  

And they already have a sequel in mind.  

To think that Cicak-man had such a simple beginning! Norman recounted: “We had an American guest over for dinner one day at our house and he saw the cicak (house gecko) in our house. We told him about how as children we used to take slingshots at the cicak every Friday. Naturally, we thought of this creature when the idea first came up – it is one of the most harmless creatures out there and the image of Cicak-man as a superhero immediately makes one laugh. Add Saiful Apek to that equation and we have a winner.” 

By MUMTAJ BEGUM
Source: http://star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2006/4/11/movies/13855576&sec=movies