Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Chai Wan North No.2 Fresh Water Service Reservoir, Chai Wan

The final grave scenes in the movie almost look as though they were shot on the roof of a building with some astroturf laid down, but it turns out that the grass is real and belongs to the Chai Wan North No.2 Fresh Water Service Reservoir which sits on the north slope of Sai Wan hill (the same hill that has the battery at the top and the not-so-long ago mentioned Lei Yue Mun Holiday Park). It's possibly a popular filming spot because it has its own entry on the film services office website.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Sunshine Kowloon Bay Cargo Centre, Kowloon Bay

The warehouse where Sam (Eric Tsang) does all his nefarious business appears to be one of the crime boss's biggest secrets and it's here where Lau Kin-ming (Andy Lau) puts his plan into action to free himself from his criminal past. The establishing shot for the warehouse uses the Sunshine Kowloon Bay Cargo Centre, with its distinctive spiral entry/exit ramp, but I am not so sure the interiors were filmed there - after finding some shots from the inside of the place, it doesn't appear to match.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Kowloon Bay MTR Station, Kowloon

As Anthony Wong heads out for his clandestine meeting with Tong Leung, he is followed to Kowloon Bay MTR station by one of the internal affairs detectives who has been tasked to find out where he is heading.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Former Government Building, Prince Edward Road East

I mentioned that the internal police station scenes, at least those of Andy Lau's office, were filmed somewhere other than Ngau Tau Kok Police Station. The building, whose name and purpose I have yet to discover, was located where "The Latitude" (a residential development) now stands at the corner of Prince Edward Road East and Choi Hung Road. All I know is that it was a Government building and was most likely vacated for demolition at the time, which is why the production company were able to use it.

Look carefully through the window behind Lau in the screen caps below and you can see the curved slip road that takes traffic from Choi Hung Road down onto the south bound section of Prince Edward Road East at the northern boundary of the former Kai Tak site. What I can't say for sure is when this building was demolished - sometime around the mid-00s - and whether or not it was also used for the other interior police station scenes (I'm guessing yes).

If anyone knows what the building was used for, please feel free to send a mail or leave a comment.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Ngau Tau Kok Police Station, Kowloon Bay

The exterior shots for the main police station were filmed outside the real life Ngau Tau Kok police station on Siu Yip Street. There were a few scenes filmed here including the scene where Anthony Wong leaves the station on the fateful day and is followed by one of the other cops, but also a night scene later in the film when Tony Leung does a runner after realising who the mole is. The interior scenes for Andy Lau's office were filmed in a totally different building which I shall cover in the next post.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Golden Gateway Multiplex Cinema, Tsim Sha Tsui

Chan follows his boss to the cinema in order to try and catch whoever it is who he is meeting. As the contact leaves he is silhouetted against the screen so an identification is not possible. As a result, he tries to see who it is by following him outside. This sequence was filmed at the (now closed) Golden Gateway cinema along Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Spot the advert for K19: The Widowmaker behind Tony Leung in the top image.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Broadcast Drive, Kowloon

The establishing shot for Andy Lau's home/apartment was done on Broadcast Drive in Kowloon. The high rise building that is at the end of the street (1, Broadcast Drive) has since been demolished and replaced by a new development called "One Mayfair" but the property walls that can be seen in the first screen cap are still the same on either side of the road today.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Connaught Road, Central

Chan is called on the phone by his police boss and told to find out who the police mole is. He takes the call on the walkways that straddle the Hang Seng building and One IFC. This is the same location used in 2013 for the car bomb and gunfight scene in Blackhat, although that film wasn't released until 2015.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Kwun Tong Ferry Pier, Kwun Tong

Following the drug bust at the beach and the revelation that there is a mole in the police department, Lau's character is promoted to Internal Affairs and charged with finding the mole (i.e. himself). This happens at a meeting where his superior officers are whacking some balls at a golf driving range. However, rather than film at a real golfing range (there were actually quite a few urban ranges in Kowloon at this time), the crew decided the top of the ferry pier would be a better option. I guess it had better views. The bit they filmedon is the raised bit in the centre of the roof. These days it's had some railings put around there (maybe some location fans tried to get up there?).

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Fa Yuen Street, Mongkok

The location of the drug deal with the Thais is a corner building on the junction of Fa Yuen Street and Shantung Street. The curved building where the drug deal is supposedly taking place - or at least the exterior establishing shot - is the Pak Cheung building on the NW corner of the junction. The cops, on the other hand, are located in the building on the opposite corner which is in fact a school building called G.T (Ellen Yeung) College. The fire escape where Andy Lau makes a phone call can be seen on the Fa Yuen Street side of the building and it looks like they were on the very top floor which has a covered walkway across the top of the building.

Looking west along Shantung Street

Looking north up Fa Yuen Street from G.T College

Andy Lau on the G.T College fire escape. Looking down onto Fa Yuen Street

View down onto the Fa Yuen Street entrance to the Pak Cheung building

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - North Point Government Office, Java Road

Despite the ground floor establishing shots being filmed at the Guangdong Investment Tower in Sheung Wan, the rooftop scenes throughout the movie - where Chan goes to meet his boss (Anthony Wong) - were filmed on the other end of Hong Kong Island in North Point.

The North Point Government Office on Java Road is the location where it all goes down and we are treated to some quite impressive views across the eastern part of Victoria Harbour. Honestly, I think the film makers were extremely lucky with the weather to get those clear views, or more likely this was filmed sometime between May and July when the Hong Kong weather is at its clearest.

Look carefully in the background of the last image and you can see the IFC2 tower still under construction in the distance. This was probably also around the time that Lara Croft Tomb Raider was being filmed in the territory.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Guangdong Investment Tower, Sheung Wan

One of the more frequently recurring street level locations from this film is the building where Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong) has his clandestine meet ups with his undercover agent Chan (Tony Leung). In fact the rooftop is another location which I will post about later, but the ground floor is where all the action happens and was shot in and in front of the Guandong Investment Tower at 148 Connaught Road Central.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Cheong Hang Road, Hung Hom

Chan Wing-yan (played by Tony Leung) is keen to salute the passing funeral procession/motorcade of his former boss in the police force, and the establishing shot for the start of the scene was filmed on Cheong Hang Road in Hung Hom where there are several funeral parlours (at least four all along the same side of the street).

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Audio Space, Ap Liu Street

A real audio business that was used for the scene when the two main characters first meet, without knowing who the other one is. It was, and still is, located at 151 Ap Liu Street in Sham Shui Po. The establishing shot was filmed on Ap Liu Street in front of the shop at a time when there were a significant amount of signs hanging overhead. These have all pretty much disappeared courtesy of a Government crackdown on illegal and dangerous structures a few years back. But the shop space hasn't been moved. In fact the company appears to be quite proud of its fame and has some images on its own website.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village (former barracks), Shau Kei Wan

When it's not being used as a quarantine camp for the various outbreaks of contagions that seem to have hit Hong Kong over the years the Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Camp is a rather well maintained peek back in time at a former army barracks used by the British Garrison. It is chock full of old colonial style barrack buildings that were common in all of the army bases in Hong Kong (Victoria Barracks, now HK Park still has a few though most have been demolished, ditto for the former Whitfield Barracks that is now Kowloon Park).

Anyway, I was lucky enough to go and visit a few years back with David Bellis from Gwulo (you can read about it here) and our impromptu guide, Mr Chan, snuck us in the side entrance into the park. Sadly, Infernal Affairs filming locations weren't on my agenda that day (I was more interested in this place instead) otherwise I would have tried to get some movie-matching images of my own. For the record, this is the same place used for the barrack scenes in Project A Part 2.

Anyway, in the film it stands in for the Police Training School where the younger versions of our two protagonists, played by Edison Chen and Shawn Yue, undergo their cadet training. 

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Ten Thousand Buddha Temple, Shatin

As I draw nearer to the end of my long list of foreign movie productions that were filmed in or feature scenes in Hong Kong (I still have a wish list of about 30 titles, but getting hold of them is getting more and more difficult) I have decided to turn my attention to some of the better known productions from the local HK film industry. Anyway, what better title to kick off with than one of the most famous from the last twenty years or so that spawned a couple of sequels as well as a Hollywood adaptation by Martin Scorsese.

Infernal Affairs marks the journey of two main characters, one a cop working undercover as a gangster (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and the other as a gangster who has infiltrated the police force (Andy Lau). The story follows them both as each tries to discover the identity of the other on behalf of their respective bosses. Honestly, if you haven't seen it by now you are really missing out on one of Hong Kong's best ever films.

The story starts with the gang leader (Eric Tsang) toasting his new foot soldiers as they prepare to enrol as police cadets with Andy Lau's younger self played by (none other than "Mr Dodgy Laptop Photos" himself) Edison Chen. The location will be familiar to most people because it is the famous and popular tourist location, the Ten Thousand Buddha Temple.