Then & Now: Steven Spielberg’s ‘Empire of the Sun’

If you recognize the name Tim Chambers, it may be because he is the man, the myth and the legend that rode every Shanghai Metro line in one go.

Or, you may have checked out a recent exhibition of his stunning drone photography.

Well, the ever-curious Englishman has been at it again, this time tracing the locations of Steven Spielberg’s Shanghai-set 1987 classic, Empire of the Sun, and creating a ‘matched shot’ then and now video.

We caught up with Chambers to find out more about his latest project.

Tim Chambers

How did you conceive of the ‘matched shot’ Empire of the Sun concept?
I have always been interested in the Empire of the Sun movie as it works on several different levels: being the first Western film allowed to be shot in China after the Cultural Revolution; being from JG Ballard’s boyhood experiences; but also the background history of colonialism and the Japanese invasion.

Being 37-years-old, it is also somewhat a historical document in itself, with no tall buildings in the background – or no CGI to remove them in any case!

Christian Bale on set with Steven Spielberg

It also has some very young performances from Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Ben Stiller, amongst others.

I often tell visitors to watch the movie before coming to Shanghai, partly to understand at least a little of the history of the city, but also to highlight locations such as St. Ignatius Cathedral and the Peace Hotel.

St. Ignatius Cathedral

The Bund strip, with Peace Hotel, as seen from Pudong

Was it hard to find the locations?
For the most part, it was actually quite easy; the main buildings are very well known, as is Ballard’s Panyu Lu home.

Getting the right bridges across Suzhou creek took a little study, but again not too bad.

The front of the Peace Hotel was made easy by the movie having a large ‘Kuikang Road’ sign in it, which is now Juijiang Lu / Sichuan Lu. This is one block west and south of the actual Peace Hotel, moved (by my guess) due to either filming restrictions, or perhaps Steven Spielberg wanted a crossroads outside the hotel entrance for dramatic effect in the attempted ambush scene.

I was very lucky to find that scene’s rooftop on the first attempt, but the lower building across the street has now been replaced with a much taller office building.

The hardest location to find was the later street scenes, with the Japanese army marching, and it simply turned out to be behind the Park Hotel near People’s Square (Fengyang Lu / Huanghe Lu). Some of this area has changed also, but is mostly recognizable with mainly building facades changing.

Fenyang / Huanghe Lu junction, behind the Park Hotel

Fenyang / Huanghe Lu junction from another angle

Longhua Pagoda

Have any locations totally disappeared?
I was not able to find all the Suzhou creek locations – for example the scene in front of the movie poster for Gone with the Wind (which was actually the 1969 re-release poster, not the original 1939 version).

The external Armhurst Avenue shots are not Shanghai-based, which is well known, but somewhere in Kent, England I believe.

I did include Ballard’s original home (not featured in the movie) in my video for background information.

READ MORE: This is What J.G. Ballard’s Boyhood Shanghai Home Looks Like Now

How difficult was it to match the shots to the original?
Quite easy, I didn’t use any special equipment really, just a GoPro. And had the movie on my phone, so was able to watch the scene a few times, and then take a few shots.

The hardest thing was timing and trying to replicate the lens angle. I didn’t try to fix things in the edit apart from some minor timing changes.

Spielberg was obviously using a crane dolly in the middle of the road in several of the shots on the Bund and over the creek – these were hard to exactly replicate.

Looking down on Zhapu Bridge crossing Suzhou Creek

I was happy with several matches of vehicles, and surprisingly I didn’t have to wait long – the blue truck over Suzhou Creek passed by after only about two minutes of me standing there, and was totally unexpected.

Zhejiang Lu Bridge over Suzhou Creek (with well-timed blue lorry)

St. Ignatius Cathedral (with happily matching vehicles)

Any mistakes you would like to fix?
Yes, many! I don’t think of myself as a perfectionist, but I can see errors in probably every shot.

As mentioned above, it would be nice to set up more accurate lens angles and shot positions; the rooftop shots probably particularly stand out as ones I could have done better.

I would also like to fix the translation errors – this is the first time I have ‘burned in’ Chinese subtitles, and I know there are some errors, and some traditional characters in place of simplified Chinese.

Oddly, my editing software just simply wouldn’t switch to simplified for those.

How difficult a process was it overall?
It wasn’t difficult so much as time-consuming; overall, it was probably three to four solid days’ work, but spread out over a couple of months.

And several times I just wasn’t happy with the result so had to go back to re-shoot, sometimes over in Pudong when I live in Xujiahui.

Do you think the historical portrayal of the city or the conflict is accurate in the movie?
Firstly, we must remember this was a tale told from the perspective of a young JG Ballard, and was shot in 1987, 37 years ago.

Also, my video only captures the Shanghai city elements, and not the brutality of the concentration camp later on.

The young Ballard is fascinated with planes and pilots, not the Japanese specifically.

I don’t think it necessarily glorifies colonialism, but attempts to show it as it was – a privileged set of people living in a bubble that was ultimately fragile.

I think if made it today – which would probably not happen – there would be some significant changes.

One of the original movie posters (there were many versions)

What other trivia about the movie did you learn during this project?
That JG Ballard was in the early party scene, but got completely cut in the edit.

That almost all plane shots were models.

Baise actually gets Jim to set bird traps to see if the camp edges have been laid with landmines.

When Christian Bale jumps in the truck going to the Suzhou camp and cuts his head, that’s a real cut and his blood.

And that the crew probably stayed at the Huating Hotel and Towers.

Author JG Ballard, who was on set, but unfortunately cut from an early party scene in a late edit

Do you have any thoughts to do a similar video in future? If so, for which movie?
I enjoyed making this one, and I’m glad for the feedback I received about the whole project, even if some of it has been negative – mainly on the movie itself, and the lack of criticism of the Japanese invaders or colonialism.

However, mostly everyone was thankful and praised my shot matching. I should learn more of Shanghai-based Chinese movies for another edition.

Oh, and I’m also thinking of matching several of the Thames Town buildings with their originals in the UK.

READ MORE: Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Shanghai’s Fake English Town