The formation of a film crew is not complete simply by casting the actors.
There are countless other miscellaneous positions to fill, such as cinematographers, assistant directors, script supervisors, and gaffers. Hengyu Film was newly established; although Johnnie To had indicated that he could bring over a batch of people from Metropolis Film Production, those personnel would have to wait until Metropolis was officially dissolved.
Consequently, the crew for The Thieves was severely understaffed in this regard. Fortunately, they managed to recruit a batch of personnel from Pearl River Film Studio, otherwise Zhou Ziheng truly wouldn't have known how to proceed. With the addition of the staff from Pearl River Film Studio and a few more recruited from Hong Kong, the bumpy assembly of The Thieves crew was finally completed by mid-May.
Chapter 171