Josie Ho on the Importance of Partying, Film Making and Being a Multi Faceted Creative
Hong Kong native actress, director and producer Josie Ho is a jack of all trades and a master of them all: From playing a beehive toting gun slinging character alongside some drug dealing nuns in Habit (2021) to putting on incredible live performances with her band Josie and the Uni Boys, Josie Ho does it all. She also runs her own production company 852 films with her husband who have put out films like How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017) and Dream Home (2010).
Polyester Managing Editor Eden sat down with Josie to talk about performing live, her upcoming projects and how to portray humanity through cinema.
Hi Josie! You alright?
I’m good!
Let’s jump right in! So I saw that you recently performed what you called “A Flashback Party” with your band, Josie and the Uni Boys. I saw some clips and they looked wild. How was it performing live again?
It was a live concert! We've just started to have concerts again now, it’s nice to be able to have crazy dance parties again. And instead of just singing my own songs, we decided to pay tribute to everybody and do lots of covers: We wanted it to have an 80s disco vibe and to just throw a big party for everyone. We had our friends performing too - My husband's band 24Herbs was on the lineup as well as other musicians from Hong Kong like Alan Po, Grace Ip and Eric Kwok doing Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails covers.
Talking of Nine Inch Nails, I read that you’re inspired by their immersive live shows and how they utilise technology and set design to take their live performances to the next level. Does your work as an actress make you appreciate the art of live performance more or do you just love an immersive experience?
I think it’s both. I love the art of performance and we always want to do an immersive show. I guess nowadays, people in Hong Kong have been going to so many concerts that they enjoy multimedia performances with lots going on. I want to include lots of different dynamics and genres to my live show so the audience can feel like they’re transported back to an actual disco in the 80s.
Speaking of genres, you’re influenced by a lot of people. From indie rock vibes like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Arctic Monkeys to more psychedelic stuff like Tame Impala. Anyone else you’re channeling at the moment?
I’m loving The 1975 at the moment. And more classic rock stuff like Led Zeppelin. I’m hoping when my band jam again we can go more in that direction.
Can’t wait to hear it! Moving onto films, you co-founded the production company 852 Films. Is there anything you're working on at the moment?
I’m still working on the post production of a film called Mother Tongue - it's a film that's supposed to be based in LA but we cheated it and shot it in Hong Kong. It’s a dark time in the Hong Kong movie industry. A lot of people have had to change their jobs and do stuff like become Uber drivers or food delivery people, so I just decided to bring the production over to Hong Kong to put something back into the industry here. We’re working on other new stuff too that I can’t speak about yet!
We’ve been working on a Japanese slasher horror flick too, Onpaku. My husband and I produced that one and then we also worked on, and I starred in, Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice (2022), a documentary about the stresses of modern life in Hong Kong and finding happiness which was inspired by a clown teacher, Philippe Gaulier.
And you filmed some of that in Iceland?
Well supposedly Iceland is one of the happiest countries in the world so we thought we’d give some excitement to Hong Kong crew and chuck them over there! We played games together and through these games we tried to make everyone find their simple pleasures and realise that simple pleasures are important. Hong Kong is a very materialistic place so I wanted to focus on something pure.
You mentioned you were working on a horror slasher film and you’ve acted in slasher films yourself, like Dream Home. Horror is having a big moment in cinema at the moment, what is it that draws you to this genre?
I mean it’s easy to sell, let’s not beat around the bush! But as an actress, I'm afraid of horror. I’m afraid of the dark, ghosts and spirits. Every time we shoot a horror I believe it’s cursed! For the past few years I’ve been telling my colleagues to find anything other than horror stories for us to work on. They’re fun to shoot but part of the performance is real. We’re really afraid of all the scary stuff.
Yeah I’d be terrified too. I was going to ask how you pick your projects but you clearly want to pick projects that are interesting to you that also aren’t horror!
I try to pick films and TV shows about the real side of humanity, about twisted humanity. I love films like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999). When shit happens a lot of people, even family members, do not react the way you think they might. If some serious traumatic things go down family members or friends around you, they do not react the way that we expected. So I think my purpose of directing, producing and acting is about showing that part of humanity to more people.
Words: Eden Young
