(*The "Lost Bugis Street" scene has since been included in the U.S./Region 1 pressing of the DVD, as a "Deleted Scene").
When I read the script calling for a recreation of a 1970's Bugis Street, I was both elated (a challenge!) and horrified (budget? what budget?). After the location recce, I sat down with Djinn to block his shots and to work out a feasible way to stretch both the set and the budget. (this was still the single most expensive setting in the entire movie @ SGD$1,000-odd)
Props were rented and scrounged from junk-dealers (untapped resource in Singapore, I might add), with some serious props money laid down for "hero items", specific to the era and for which the actors would be using (ie: drinking glasses, chopsticks, bowls with edible food)
"Authenticity" has a price to pay. Singapore does not have the infrastructure to support "below the line" prop-requirements, most dated items are shelf-warmers of Antique shops who'd balk at feature films, but embrace television commercials (higher budget rental!). And so for example, the old-school "Fanta" bottles I wanted ranged between a cleaned-one for SGD$18 rental and a musty unusable version at SGD$6 to buy. What you see is just for display (which I keep with me now muahahahaha)
My Music-Video-Moment turned Nightmare:
Of course I'd wanted the entire concrete floor to be wet (nice shimmer always the mood), as the old Bugis Street was prone to fellas pouring their unused water out on the side-streets. And of course we couldn't afford a water-truck. And of course we used buckets instead, And of course the only water-source was a Seven-Eleven store out back. Concrete is extremely porous, 'nuff said.
This location was actually out back below Harry's house location, along Balestier Road. (Proposed Drawings).
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