Eastern West: Toshiji Takeshima plays a crucial character in the form of a samurai in HBO’s upcoming series Grisse.

A new HBO series coming out this year aims to blend the American Wild West with touches of colonial Indonesia in telling a gripping alternative history about what one Indonesian city’s potential could have been.

Principal photography and shooting for Grisse, a new eight-part period drama series on HBO, have begun in Batam, Riau Islands, where most of the series will be filmed.

The project is helmed by Indonesian-Singaporean film director, producer and Infinite Studios CEO Mike Wiluan who has produced several films and series such as Headshot (2016) and Hitman: Agent 47 (2015).

Wiluan is not the first Indonesian filmmaker who was asked to create a series for HBO. In 2015, Joko Anwar created, directed and oversaw the creation of Asian thriller Halfworlds, which is currently entering its second season.

Grisse follows the harrowing tale of Indonesians living under brutal Dutch colonizers and a corrupt governor in 18th century Gresik, East Java.

The main story revolves around the taking over of a fort in Gresik by a band of townspeople against the violent Dutch oppressors and their ilk.

The rebellion is led by a character played by Adinia Wirasati and is jam-packed with martial arts action, Wild West gunplay and bloodshed, deftly balancing the fighting styles of both East and West.

Indonesian actors Jamie Aditya, Ully Triani and Marthino Lio star alongside foreign actors Jimmy Tanaka, Toshiji Takeshima and Rick Paul van Mulligen, as well as Singapore’s Hossan Leong and Malaysia’s Joanne Kam.

The rebellion, said Wiluan, might not have been completely historically accurate according to Gresik’s history, but it served as a pretext to what could have been, beyond the pages of history books.

“It’s more of a question of why not. Why not bring the Wild West to Indonesia? And also considering what would the world want to see from this part of the world?” he explained on set in Batam.

Grisse is Wiluan’s second project this year as he is also directing another Wild West-based project named Buffalo Boys.

It is a feature film that features a cast of multinational actors, such as prominent Indonesian actors Ario Bayu, Tyo Pakusadewo, Pevita Pearce, Happy Salma, Yoshi Sudarso and Donny Damara. It is currently in post-production.

How the West was won: Adinia Wirasti (left) and Marthino Lio both play main characters in the series.

Wiluan said during research for Grisse, he noticed the large and grand plans that were originally put forth by the Dutch to develop Gresik, which included the building of a fort and further development due to its proximity to port city Surabaya.

Those lost opportunities, he added, were interesting to think about when figuring out what affected the decisions of the Dutch and also whether or not the residents of Gresik today would benefit from the original plans.

“Alas, those plans did not happen. What I’m trying to show through Grisse is that the reason that it didn’t happen was probably because of all of this,” he said, laughing.  

The unique roles pushed some actors out of their comfort zones.

Leong and Kam, known in their countries as comedians, are featured in serious roles, which involve a lot of martial arts moves and fighting.

Jamie’s role sees him playing a South African mercenary brought to Indonesia by the Dutch, while Tanaka, a Japanese-American, plays a Ronin-style mercenary.  

From the set to the costumes, a little bit of East and West always appears in good balance.

Grisse’s set oozes blended nuances of the American West and colonial Indonesia. Gresik’s saloons are adorned with a strong Chinese theme, embodying the significant Chinese population that have been in the city for centuries, and the back alleys of the constructed town echo the dusty kampung found in typical Indonesian cities.

The props are a mish mash of Western and Indonesian items, with ulek (pestles), batik garb and the occasional salted fish being dried in the sun, mixed together with errant wagon wheels, saloon-style doors and cowboy hats becoming part of the town’s studio landscape.

The fact that the series will be on HBO gives Wiluan and his production team greater freedom to express the American West’s violent tendencies to the fullest, away from the usual, laughable watered-down standards of Indonesian television.

With Grisse, Wiluan also aims to portray the violence that exists in history.

Into Dutch: Indonesian star Jamie Aditya plays a South African mercenary in the series.

 Confrontation: Malaysian actress Joanne Kam in a tense scene prior to battle.

—  Photos courtesy of HBO

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Grisse will air on HBO, HBO on Demand and HBO Go at the end of the year.