Tropical Affairs: Paradise Road - Group Shot

Group shot from Paradise Road, Cannon Square, Penang. Glenn Close and Juianna Margulies are kneeling at center.  See how many other stars you can find in the first row.  Click to enlarge!

This is a group shot taken from the set of Paradise Road from my article, "Close Encounters with Glenn Close" in Tropical Affairs. This is Cannon Square, behind Khoo Khongsi Temple in Penang. Set during World War II and based on a true story, Paradise Road revolves around a group of women who were evacuated from Singapore before its fall prior to the Japanese. Their ship was accidentally sunk by the Japanese, who thought only sailors were aboard, not women and children. After being washed ashore in Sumatra, the survivors were rounded up by the Japanese and marched toward a makeshift concentration camp.

To endure the many hardships and the humiliation, including forced prostitution as comfort women, the imprisoned women formed a choir that sang a cappella, which moved their Japanese captors.

Directed by Bruce Beresford (who won an Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy , the film starred Americans Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction, 101 Dalmations), Francis McDormand (who won an Oscar for Fargo), and Julianna Margulies of the TV program ER; England’s Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice) and Elizabeth Spriggs (Sense and Sensibility); and Australian Cate Blanchett (Lord of the Rings, and who an Oscar for The Aviator).

Glenn Close and Juianna Margulies are sitting at center. I'm behind the camera wearing a cute sailor outfit (see link here). I snuck in a camera and then snuck over and stood beside the official photographer for Paradise Road. I have this enlarged and framed in my office at home. Cool shot; great memories!

*Here's also a link to three of my other films including the tango dance scene in Indochine.

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I