Oriental Daily Interview Series -- Part 4: Lawrence Ng

Part 4: Interview with Lawrence Ng

Original article published 2/27/2011
Source: Oriental Daily

Translated by: llwy12

Picture credits as listed

Lawrence Ng reveals that Tony Leung is good at ‘stealing hearts’

Nicknamed ‘young master’ by his former classmates, actor Lawrence Ng reveals that 28 years ago, while studying in TVB’s 12th Acting Class, he had a crush on Margie Tsang (nicknamed ‘little miss’ by her classmates). In terms of ‘background’, it’s logical to think that ‘young master’ and ‘little miss’ would be a ‘perfect match’— but it was not meant to be, since ‘young master’ encountered too strong of a rival. During a recent interview with ‘woman of his dreams’ Margie Tsang, Lawrence takes the opportunity to ‘reveal’ that back during their Acting Class days, Margie was already dating senior acting class ‘brother’ Tony Leung!

M = Margie Tsang
L = Lawrence Ng


M: Brother Lawrence…..how are you! (shakes his hand)

L: Wow, shaking hands!? You just wanted to seize the opportunity to touch my hand, huh?

M: Haha…I haven’t ‘touched’ your hand in 28 years…feels a little bit ‘rough’ if you ask me! My deepest impression of you is that you’re such a ‘cool’ actor. I still remember one of the performances you did during class – you walked in, dug a piece of paper out of your pants pocket, ripped the paper to shreds, threw the pieces down, and left – wow, you performed so fast that I didn’t even know what that scene was supposed to be about! It was probably less than a minute. At that time, I felt that you were so cool (and also a bit arrogant), but a lot of girls liked you. In fact, you were very popular among our female classmates – even I admired you a lot!

L: Well, if you talk about ‘handsome’, I can’t compare to the others – at the time, there was Wong Wai Leung [did not enter the industry] and also Michael [Tao] – plus I was too skinny! Even though I never had much to say, I got along quite well with the other classmates – I remember how all the male classmates would get together and talk about pursuing the female classmates…not only that, but we would help each other lie…a few of the guys were ‘players’ – they would have one girlfriend in the morning and by afternoon, they already had a different one…of course I am not going to reveal any names…..

M: It was very strict at that time – students from the same class were not allowed to date.

L: You had nothing to worry about, since you were already dating one of the senior apprentice brothers from the previous class [takes the opportunity to reveal that Margie and Tony were dating at that time]

M: That’s why we had to be so secretive about it [a bit embarrassed]

L: You thought that it was a secret, but actually everyone knew about it.

M: You didn’t ‘eye’ other female classmates?

L: At that time, you were the prettiest one in the class, but already ‘belonged’ to our senior brother [Tony Leung]. In terms of the others….well, Sandra [Ng] was a bit crazy, so definitely was not the type I would pursue…as for Carina [Lau] – she was also one of the prettier girls and definitely had the best figure, but I felt that she had too much of the ‘China girl’ feel (perhaps not too intelligent)….and Kiki [Sheung] – well, she was the ‘big sister’!

M: Really? [surprised at ‘discovering’ such a big secret, but happy at the same time] It took me 28 years to find out this secret!

.—

M: You must be in the happiest phase of your life right now, with a wife and a daughter? See, look at you – as soon as I mention your daughter, your ‘benevolent father’ look comes out!

L: I admit that this is definitely the happiest stage of my life right now! But I wouldn’t really consider myself a ‘benevolent father’ – I sometimes take on both the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ role and discipline my daughter when I need to. To tell you the truth, I’ve always desired a warm, loving family ever since I was little, so when my daughter was born, my mentality definitely changed – now, before I do anything, I think about my daughter first and put her needs in front of all else. I’ve heard people say that having children is a burden for life, but I have to disagree – I actually feel that it’s very sweet!

M: Do you plan on going for a son?

L: Thinking about it. As parents, it’s necessary to take the time to be with our children…my wife is considering it as well…it’s definitely a possibility.

M: Do you want your daughter to enter the [entertainment] industry in the future? You and your wife met on the set while filming, so if your daughter is in the industry as well, then your whole family would be ‘fated’ for the industry.

L: I actually wouldn’t want my daughter to enter the industry, but I will leave it up to her to decide in the future.

M: Were you the one who pursued your wife? The reason I ask is because you give me that ‘big man’ [male chauvinist] feeling?

L: Of course I was the one who pursued her! But I’m really not a ‘male chauvinist’ – in fact, I’m the one accommodating others a lot of the time! In the past, I did have a bad temper, but as I grew older, my temper has gotten much better – perhaps because I matured, I changed….in life, it’s impossible for a person to not change even a little bit!

M: Those who are by your side right now are the most fortunate, since they don’t have to endure your temper…hahaha!

L: Not entirely! Hahaha…I hope that everyone [all his classmates] has a pleasant life right now and I hope that we are able to get together even more. It would be great if all of us had the opportunity to collaborate, as each of us has box office value – I don’t mind playing the villain if necessary – hopefully there’s a ‘boss’ out there who would support us!

M: We don’t collaborate very often – I remember we only collaborated one time, on Taiwan series "俠義見青天" [TN: not 100% sure on the English name of this series, but I’ve seen it translated as "The Bold and The Chivalrous"]….I played the role of a blind girl and you were the guy who raped me!

L: After graduating from acting class, I was an ‘extra’ for 2 years but didn’t have many other opportunities, so I thought about going back to England to continue my studies. At that time, I didn’t even get to play villain roles – it was basically just bit parts…it was definitely discouraging. Later on, I get the chance to film the series "The Other Side of the Horizon" -- I played a villain, but at least I was the second male lead and therefore had a lot of lines…it was a pretty good opportunity! Of course, afterwards I started getting better opportunities, such as the "Healing Hands" trilogy, "Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 2000", etc. The "Healing Hands" series was definitely my representative work!

M: "Healing Hands" was definitely your ‘turning point’! A lot of people still think of you as a doctor and you definitely look like one (my entire family consists of doctors) – with such a good image, there must have been a lot of girls who fell for you! Haha!

L: Yes, there were some people who really thought I was a doctor! I was filming a commercial for a particular hospital in mainland China and the boss told me that someone actually called asking for ‘Dr Paul Ching (Tsi-Mei)’ [Lawrence’s character in the "Healing Hands" series]! This proves that the character had a deep impression in the hearts of the audiences.

To be honest, in the past, I played villain roles for many years and never once was I happy. Throughout all the years I’ve been in the industry, I feel that I had more low points in my career than high points – I was pretty much doing things for money rather than going by my own will. For instance, when we filmed that Taiwan series and had to do that rape scene – I really didn’t want to do it. The director who asked me to film the series told me at first that the role would not be a villain, but then when I was in the make-up room putting on the costume and he gave me the script, I realized the character was actually a villain that does bad things to you [Margie] – plus the rape scene was in there. At the time, I told the director that I didn’t want to film it and wanted to leave, but he kept on insisting that they were in a hurry to wrap filming….not sure why I always encounter those types of situations.

M: You would always easily agree to things in the past?

L: When I collaborated with that particular director and crew on a movie, it was actually a good experience. After that, he asked if I would film a romantic movie that he was working on – of course I said yes, since we had a good collaboration before….but then I discovered that it was actually an ‘adult’ movie – I told him that I refuse to film those types of movies, but then I was threatened with ‘If you don’t want to film it, then pay 20 million HKD in compensation!’

M: Oh, I didn’t know about all that behind-the-scenes stuff….when I was filming that series with you, all I knew was that you were not very happy.

L: When I watch any type of performance, I’m often very engrossed in it – for instance, I was watching my idol Chow Yun Fat’s movie and absolutely hated the guy that kept doing bad things to him, even though I didn’t even know the guy’s name (and don’t need to know) – that’s how fans are and I understand it. But when I’m in that same position and become the ‘no-name’ villain, of course I’m not happy! In the past, I really did not put much heart into doing those villain roles, plus there would be people who would curse at me in the street. Obviously, things are different now – just look at Nick Cheung – he won 7 Best Actor awards for his villain role!

.---

Lawrence lives with his family in Beijing now, but since he promised his good friend Margie that he would do this interview, he especially arranged to fly to Hong Kong to sit with her for the interview, which moved Margie greatly. It’s no wonder that Margie had such a deep impression of Lawrence and the fun they had together.

During the interview, Margie also reveals why Lawrence is truly fitting of his ‘young master’ nickname….

M: I remember one situation back in the day when you wore a pair of contact lenses to class, but when one of the lenses fell out, you asked all of us to help look for it. Honestly, how do you expect us to find it? They’re contact lenses after all, and are meant to be ‘invisible’! Of course, we weren’t able to find it, so you got upset and left without even going to class! The next day, when you came to class, you told us that the ‘missing’ lense was actually in your eye the entire time (it had slipped up into your eyeball)!

There was another situation when all of us were going to take the bus across the harbor, but you said to take a taxi instead…of course we didn’t want to, since it’s so expensive. The entire trip, you kept nagging about it and finally when the bus reached Lockhart Street, you pressed the bell to get off the bus…we were all shocked! From that time on, we gave you the nickname ‘Stop at Lockhart please’!

Laughing, Lawrence replied to Margie’s ‘accusations’: By saying that, are you trying to say that I have a bad temper? When I was young, it’s quite true that I had a bad temper, but doesn’t have anything to do with having a ‘young master’ temper. When I was studying in England, it was a difficult period and I got taken advantage of a lot – definitely not the easy overseas student life!

.***.

Chinese version:

吳啟華踢爆偉仔偷心賊

被形容為「大少爺」的吳啟華，原來在廿多年前讀無綫藝員訓練班已暗戀有「千金小姐」之稱的曾華倩，二人「身份」上雖算絕配，但少爺啟華當年卻遇上勁敵，在最近二人首次聚頭的訪問中，他不惜自爆「夢中情人」曾華倩早在訓練班時，已被大師兄（梁朝偉）溝了，一洩心頭之憤！

曾：曾華倩 吳：吳啟華

曾：啟華哥……你好！

吳：嘩，使唔使握手呀！乘機想摸吓我隻手？

曾：廿八年嚟都未摸過……不過「鞋」咗啲！我最深印象係你做戲好型。訓練班有次個人表演，你行出嚟，跟住喺褲袋摷張紙出嚟，然後搣爛丟咗就行開，嘩，演得好快，我都唔知你嗰場戲係做咩？唔夠一分鐘。嗰時我覺得呢個人好型，又好寸，但又好多女生鍾意，你喺我哋女生中好受歡迎，我都成日mark你o架！

吳：講靚仔邊輪到我呀，嗰時有黃偉良（沒有在這行發展）、大宇喺度，我又瘦蜢蜢！雖然我冇乜嘢講，但訓練班時我好合群，跟男同學一齊溝女，又互相幫對方講大話，有啲男同學好花心，早餐一個（女友），午餐又另一個，我唔講邊個啦……

全班最索

曾：我哋嗰時好嚴，同班嘅唔可以拍拖。

吳：你又唔同，你同高一班嘅師兄拍拖（乘機爆華倩、朝偉拍拖）。

曾：所以我哋要偷偷摸摸（好尷尬）。

吳：你以為偷摸啫，其實全部人都知。

曾：冇(目及)其他女同學咩？

吳：嗰時你係全班最索，但一早畀師兄搞掂咗，其他嗰啲……好似君如就癲癲哋，肯定唔係我追求對象，而劉嘉玲，佢都係其中一個索，身材係最好，但又覺得佢大陸味重咗啲……好似蠢蠢哋咁，而娥姐（商天娥）就大家姐咁啦！

曾：係咩？（大發現但又好冧）我廿八年後今日先知呢個秘密！

有女萬事足唔係大男人

曾：最開心階段係咪依家呢？又有老婆又有女？睇你吖，一講個女成個慈父樣出晒嚟！

吳：呢個階段係最開心，但我唔係做慈父，我忠、奸都做，都會打囡囡屁股！其實我由細到大都想有個溫暖家庭，所以有囡囡後心態好唔同，做乜嘢都會為囡囡着想多啲，有人話仔、女係成世包袱，我反而覺得好甜！

曾：再追多個仔仔？

吳：考慮緊，做父母都要花時間陪仔、女，我太太都有考慮，都有可能嘅。

曾：你想囡囡入行嗎？好似你跟太太都係合作拍戲而認識，你一家跟演藝事業很有緣？

吳：我就唔會想個女入行，不過都會等佢自己決定，因為我同太太都係一齊演《俠》而認識。

曾：係你追太太嗎？因為我覺得你有啲「大男人」feel？

吳：梗係我追啦！但我真係唔係「大男人」喎，係我遷就人多，以前的確係脾氣差，不過老咗反而脾氣好咗，可能人成長就會改進，做人唔可以一成不變嘅！

曾：依家喺你身邊嘅人就最舒服，（唔使受氣）哈哈。

吳：都係架！哈哈，希望大家（成班同學）生活愉快啦，更希望多啲一齊，以及希望一齊拍戲，我哋個個都有票房，我咪做奸角囉，希望有老闆支持我哋！

為錢做壞蛋妙手回春

曾：我哋好少拍檔，只係喺台灣拍過一個單元《俠義見青天》，我做個盲妹，你要強姦我！

吳：訓練班出嚟，做咗兩年茄哩啡冇表現，有諗過返英國讀書，嗰時連奸角都未有得做，茶客甲咋，都幾受打擊，後來接演《魔域桃源》，係奸角但都係第二男主角，好多戲，都算係一個機會，之後有《妙手仁心》、《倚天屠龍記》，其中《妙手》都係代表作。

曾：《妙手》直情係你嘅轉捩點！你真係成個醫生咁，我全家都係做醫生（意思係好有權威去評價），形象咁好，咁有冇女仔借啲意要你打針？又有冇女仔同你講唔舒服要你幫佢聽吓個心？哈哈，講笑啫！

低潮多過高潮

吳：有人真係以為我係醫生，我幫內地一個醫院做代言人，老闆話真係有人打嚟搵「程至美」呢個人，證明角色好深入民心。

其實我做咗奸角都好多年，一路都唔開心，咁多年嚟，我覺得自己低潮多過高潮，成日都要為錢而做，好似嗰次喺台灣拍《俠義見青天》，要強姦曾華倩，唉，要我做啲咁嘅嘢。當時搵我拍嗰個導演，原本話唔係奸角，到我化妝嗰刻畀個劇本我，先知要強姦華倩，我同導演講唔拍要走，佢死話好趕，唔知點解我成日都遇到呢啲嘢。

曾：你之前咁易應承人？

吳：我同呢個導演成組人合作電影《跛豪》時好開心，之後佢同我講，話要拍套浪漫愛情片，嘩，我梗係制啦，點知嗰套係《肉蒲團》，我話唔拍啲咁嘅嘢，就即刻畀人兇：「唔拍咪賠二千萬囉！」

曾：我都唔知呢啲背後嘢，我同你拍《俠》劇時，只係知唔開心。

吳：我睇戲好投入，好似睇偶像發仔啲戲，我都好憎成日害佢嗰個「四眼仔」，佢叫乜名我唔知亦唔使知，總之影迷個心態就係咁，依家情況換喺我身上，要我做嗰個「四眼仔」，我梗係唔開心啦！我以前冇用心做嘅（奸角），仲試過畀啲貨車佬用粗口鬧。不過，依家就唔同，張家輝做奸角都攞七料影帝啦！

唔認有少爺脾氣

已定居北京的吳啟華認真有心，應承老同學曾華倩做訪問，當日特別坐飛機來港，令華倩相當感動，難怪訪問時華倩坦言對啟華的軼事印象深刻，但其實源自其少爺脾氣引發的兩宗罪。

華倩說：「當年你戴隱形眼鏡，點知跌咗一隻，叫我哋幫手搵，點搵啫！話明係隱形，梗係搵唔到，你跟住發脾氣唔上堂走咗！第二日返嚟先話畀我哋知，原來眼鏡攝咗喺眼球上面。另一件事，有次我哋（包括娥姐）搭巴士過海，你話要搭的士，咁貴梗係唔搭啦，咁你就一路哦，點知去到駱克道就自己按鐘要落車，我哋都愕然，所以你有個綽號叫『駱克道停一停』！」

華倩說來氣沖沖，但淡定的啟華笑問：「你咁講想表達我脾氣差？我年輕時係幾差，不過，唔係你哋講嘅少爺脾氣，我喺英國讀書都捱得好辛苦，成日畀人蝦，絕對唔係你哋諗嘅『番書仔』！」

文：影視組

攝：黃叔榮

場地：the mira HONGKONG