Hook, line and sinker

In an earlier interview, Peng－an A-list actor followed by around 33 million fans on Sina Weibo－recalls that he was required to join a team from China Rescue and Salvage for an entire month to receive his training, which was mostly underwater.

Peng also wore a suit made of heat-protective clothing to perform on a specially-constructed set to shoot the fire scenes, where temperatures reached as high as 600 C.

"Disasters occurring in water or fire are perhaps the most difficult to shoot. I insisted that these scenes were shot on real sets, as I wanted the reactions from the actors to come across as real and instinctive," explains Lam.

Talking about how Chinese disaster movies are still rare compared to Hollywood, he reveals that to shoot The Rescue he had to assemble special-effects veterans from five countries－the United States, Canada, South Korea, Germany and China－to design the stunts and handle the postproduction content.

"Speaking honestly, most of the talent from Hollywood are graduates of engineering. They can make precise calculations to guarantee the safety of the cast and crew. With its talent shortage, the Chinese film industry has yet to form a mature sector in this field," Lam says, extolling the skills of his multinational crew.