“It’s kind of like Pretty Woman meets The Hangover,” says its screenwriter and lead actor. “I know some people in the modelling field. One thing led to another and I came up with a screenplay. Have I written scripts before? Yes, I have. Do I aspire to be a screenwriter? Not really. But the result from other writers was not as good as I imagined and they don’t really understand Hong Kong, so I did it.

“I have a home in LA and Vancouver. I can live anywhere really, but I want to be here. I had a strong urge to plant a flag in Hong Kong. My friend, cinematographer Nathan Wilson, was here for Christmas in 2018 and he said he really wanted to shoot a film here with me. That was the genesis.”

Back then, nobody imagined a global pandemic would ravage 2020, although Covid-19 was also the reason the film kicked into gear.

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“This movie was born out of the coronavirus,” Mann says. “I was able to meet various people in finance about investing in the film. Normally these high-level businessmen would travel all over, but for a moment in time, they were all here. Because of Covid-19, I was able to meet anybody at anytime.

“They were all enamoured of the idea and they wanted to do something positive in Hong Kong. All the investors are long-time residents but not necessarily Cantonese people. Some are from the mainland, some are Indian, some Americans who have been here for over 20 years. To me, they are all locals.”

Mann secured his US$2 million in the first round of funding in literally a week. “By around summer we had money in the bank.”

Principal photography wrapped last month. It lasted 20 days including over Christmas, from December 2020 to January 2021. The director, Keoni Waxman, has worked with Mann on several projects.

The challenge of planning and coordinating this production was more made acute as Covid-19 outbreaks spiked during the shoot. Eventually, unpredictability became a constant.

“This was uncharted territory for us. But we just kept going, adjusting constantly. We were going to shoot in the autumn but ended up making it during Christmas. You always need time for pre-production to line up all the ducks. We adjusted the schedule for an actor. But by October we realised we had to recast. There were a number of other bumps, too.”

Location planning was a headache. Getting government venue permission is always difficult. A hotel backed out of their commitment at the last minute. Also, the story is set in 2017, so street scenes had to be meticulously framed without a mass of masks in the background.

On the other hand, they were able to shoot in various fancy restaurants closed by evening service bans and, without tourists, five-star hotels were suddenly affordable.

“We shot in a penthouse suite that normally wouldn’t even be available, but we got it at a fraction of the normal price,” Mann says. “We were very ambitious. We shot the heck out of Hong Kong. We were at beaches, on mountains, in hotels and mansions, often at a lower cost. We went to venues that never allowed a shoot before. People were also very supportive. Some went out of their way to be a part of this.”

With literally no other film production in the city, Mann was able to secure the services of October Pictures, which worked on practically every major motion picture shot in Hong Kong – from Contagion, Tomb Raider and The Dark Knight to Transformers 4.

“We were fortunate we had the crème de la crème of crew members. Everyone was available and many hadn’t worked in six months actually.”

The cast was drawn more internationally. Actors from Poland, London, Brazil, Los Angeles and Korea quarantined for two weeks when they arrived, adding to the costs. However, there was a benefit.

“The whole cast quarantined at the same hotel, on the same floor,” Mann notes. “As a result, they got to know each other very well and it was a huge advantage. It was like two weeks of pre-production added. There was a camaraderie that we didn’t expect.

“We followed US protocols because we had US actors. We also had to have a Covid-19 safety officer on set. When we weren’t shooting, everyone wore a mask. Tests were administered on a regular basis. We followed the rules to a ‘T’, otherwise we wouldn’t get signatory approval from the guilds. That cost wasn’t marginal. In actuality, that cost ended up shutting down other projects because it added 10 to 20 per cent to the budget.

“Plus, if one person gets infected, the whole production shuts down and we would still have to pay everyone. Miraculously, no one tested positive.”

With the shoot completed, the film is being edited in Los Angeles. The aim is to finish post-production by summer and premiere in a major festival this fall, followed by distribution ideally both in theatres and on a major streaming service.

Hong Kong Love Story might be in English with numerous foreign leads, but Mann argues it completely represents a Hong Kong experience. And he proposes the movie is a love letter to the city.

“I feel what we did will be the next generation of Hong Kong films,” he suggests. “We’re a very multicultural city. I feel we’re expanding the pie from triad and gangster movies.

“Everyone also fell in love with the city. Nobody wanted to leave. Our US crew also had never shot here so as they didn’t realise how fast we can move from location to location. What would ordinarily take three hours in LA, we did in one hour. There’s a can-do spirit they didn’t feel in other places. So, hell yeah, everybody wants to come back to do another project.”