Tianjin Web’s Interview with Jacky Cheung: “I'm not in a hurry to earn daughters’ dowries”

Here's an awesome interview that Jacky did with Tianjin web's reporters after his HK concert!


Enjoy!

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Original article posted 05/21/2011
Translated by: llwy12

Source: Tianjin Web

After completing the 20 show Hong Kong leg of his ½ Century World Tour concert at the HK Coliseum, God of Songs Jacky Cheung granted a rare interview with our reporter backstage, during which he talked about various topics that audiences have been interested in as of late, including his income, his family, and his feelings on his concert performances so far. As far as facing the upcoming ‘milestone’ of his 50th birthday, Jacky made the following birthday wishes: “The world is getting smaller and smaller, so I hope that there won’t be anymore wars or nuclear leaks….also hope that our children can grow up in a healthy environment.” At the same time, Jacky also expressed that he looks forward to returning to his hometown of Tianjin this year and performing for his fans there.

R = Reporter
J = Jacky Cheung

Income: “The amount I make for myself is very little”

R: Let’s start with a somewhat sensitive topic – everyone is very interested in the income that you are getting from each concert performance. An ‘industry insider’ revealed that on average, you receive 1 million HKD for each show, which would come out to a ‘rough estimate’ of 100 million HKD this year alone. Is that true?

J: Wow, if that were true, wouldn’t I be lucky! With regard to the income, I have not calculated it and I don’t even think about it. People only know the overall numbers related to the concert as a whole, but there are a lot of things involved in that ‘number’, such as manager’s commission, production expenses, team expenses, the huge travel expenses, etc. – at the end of it all, the actual amount that I make is very little.

R: Is it enough to cover the money you lost a couple years ago in the Lehman Brothers fiasco?

J: That investment failure occurred a long time ago – the money lost in the Lehman Brothers incident was hard-earned money and I’m honestly not sure when I will be able to earn it back. But now that doesn’t matter to me anymore because I’m in a comfortable spot where I’m not in need financially. The reason why I decided to do another World Tour is because I felt it was the appropriate time to do so. I’m not in a hurry to earn my daughters’ dowries – in fact, I believe that they should earn it themselves based on their own efforts. The most important thing is that I am able to give them a good learning environment and quality of life in their childhood.

R: The most ‘stunning’ part about your concert performance this time around is definitely the ‘splits’ that you do every show. In addition, your dance moves have received a lot of praises from the audience. Can you reveal a little bit about the physical regimen you went through to get to that point?

J: I’ve always had the habit of stretching and exercising, but getting to the point of doing ‘splits’ involved a lot of daily effort. Not sure if anyone noticed one particular small detail – in the past, my left leg would touch the floor first, but now, it’s my right leg. The first couple years when I entered the industry, I would feel depressed and worried about not really knowing how to dance, but now, through years of hard work, I don’t have to worry anymore. I believe that everyone is satisfied with my dance moves now, right?

R: Each show on your concert tour is approximately 3 hours and with an estimate of over 100 shows in a year, how do you maintain your voice?

J: A lot of people are interested in knowing this, but to tell you the truth – I really don’t have any special methods of protecting my voice. Compared to before, I now have a better understanding of the proper way to speak and control my voice so as not to damage it. In the past, accepting interviews after a concert performance would be very strenuous for me, but now, I can more easily do interviews – even at 50 years old, it is easier for me to handle.

R: Out of the entire show, what made you most nervous? Hitting the high notes? The complicated stage? Or perhaps having to act and sing at the same time?

J: It may be surprising, but I’m naturally afraid of heights, so I’m most nervous performing on very high platforms, especially moving ones. The stage for the HK Coliseum shows was at least 10 meters higher than the ones I’ve been performing on in Mainland China – I had never performed on such a high stage in my life.


Family: So touched by mother’s attendance that he forgot lyrics

R: For your concert, the organizers created a short animated feature that primarily recapped your childhood and young adult life. Have you seen it already? Is it pretty close to your childhood in real life?

J: It’s pretty much the same – the only difference is that the kid in the animated film is more handsome than me! I was very mischievious when I was a youth and did a lot of ‘bad’ things that I was a bit nervous about including in the film. The ‘bad’ thing that I did most often in my childhood was ‘stealing’ things – one time, I was standing in front of a fruit stall and spotted some lychees that looked really good, but before I had a chance to even reach out my hand, the owner of the fruit stall looked at me sharply and yelled in a loud voice: ‘What? You trying to steal something?’ I broke out in a sweat and immediately ran away.

R: Do your wife [May Lo] and 2 daughters purposefully go and watch your concert?

J: My wife only watched 1 show and it’s enough for her – my daughters watched 2 ½ shows. When I’m on stage and see my wife and daughters in the audience, I’m not nervous at all, but my mother is a different story. The week before Mother’s Day, my mom came to watch one of my shows and I was a bit nervous -- when I was singing "Just Want to Go Away With You Forever", I saw her in the audience and blew her a kiss. After that, my mind suddenly went blank and I had to re-sing the song again – with my familiarity of that song, it’s impossible for me to forget the lyrics to it, yet it happened!

R: With regard to the short film that played during the first half of the concert which featured a love story with you and Shu Qi as well as a few intimate scenes, was your wife upset?

J: That’s all acting! My wife is an actress herself, so she is able to understand it. My family life is of the utmost importance to me – I would not have been able to get to where I am today without the support of my mother, my wife, and my daughters.


Performance: Does not mind Nicholas Tse winning the award

R: Because of your concert, you were not able to attend the HK Film Awards ceremony this year. Any regrets about it?

J: Singing is my life – unless one day I am no longer able to sing, otherwise it will always be my most important career.

R: You were nominated for Best Actor with the film "Crossing Hennessy", but in the end lost to Nicholas Tse. Any sadness?

J: I’ve mostly been busy with my concert, so did not have a chance to watch all the nominated films. To be very honest, my character in "Crossing Hennessy" was very plain and did not stand out much, so to be nominated for it is already very good. Even though a lot of people said that Nicholas Tse beat out 4 ‘seniors’ for the award, but I feel that learning does not differentiate between seniors and juniors!

R: You already have the ‘God of Songs’ title – will ‘Best Actor’ be the next ultimate goal?

J: Acting requires a lot of time to fine-tune and my time is very tight. I don’t dare to plan what may happen in the future – to decide to do a film, it depends on fate, the character, how I’m feeling at that moment, etc.

R: Even though you say that you don’t have natural talent for acting, but you still gave a very relaxed, natural performance in the short film featured in your concert. How did you decide to invite Shu Qi and director Andrew Lau to participate in your concert?

J: Thanks for your acknowledgment! In my youth, I had a certain energy and vigor when it came to pursuing acting, but now it’s different – I’m already a ‘half century person’! Andrew Lau is a good friend of mine and when I decided I wanted to incorporate a short film in my concert, Andrew was the first person I called. At the time, Andrew was filming "A Beautiful Life" and when he found out that I had not yet thought about who the female lead would be in the short film, he immediately handed the phone over to Shu Qi, who was there next to him. Right at that moment, the decision was made.

R: Both of you gave passionate and emotional performances in the short film. The scene where Shu Qi slapped you on the face alarmed a lot of your fans – was it real?

J: Shu Qi is a fan of my songs and even came to watch my concert in Shanghai. She is a good actress and to perform with her is a blessing, as she makes it easy for me to get into character. That slap on the face was real – the first time we filmed that scene, she was a bit hesitant, so the result wasn’t as good. I encouraged her to put all her energy into it and so the second time around she used a lot of force, but the result was excellent!

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Original version in Chinese:

张学友：不急赚女儿嫁妆

来源： 天津网-数字报刊 关键字：张学友;演唱会;女主角人选;舒淇;坏事 作者：翟翊 2011-05-21 07:42

结束了20天的香港红馆马拉松演出，横跨去年和今年、共计51场的张学友“二分之一世纪”巡演日前落幕。演出结束之后，记者采访了歌神学友，他也针对大家关注的收入、家庭和演出话题侃侃而谈。至于面对即将到来的五十岁生日，学友也许下愿望：“世界越来越小，希望不要有战争、核泄漏……希望我们的小孩子能够健康地成长。”同时学友也憧憬今年回到家乡天津，为家乡的歌迷放歌。


　　收入：我自己赚到的很少

　　记者：有个敏感的话题，大家非常关注你每场演唱会的收入。有“业内”人士称，你每场个唱薪酬是百万港元，粗略估算，今年将会挣1亿港元？

　　张学友：那我岂不是赚到了？关于收入我没算过，也没有去想。大家只是知道我演出整体的费用，但是这里有经理人的佣金，制作的费用，团队的支出，交通巨大的开销……我自己赚到的很少。

　　记者：能不能挣回当年亏掉的雷曼债券那笔钱？

　　张学友：那次投资的失败是很久前的事了，雷曼股票所亏的钱是辛苦钱，我不知道亏损什么时候才回得来，但是现在已经没关系，总之我不是等钱花，我出来做演唱会只是觉得这是适当的时候了。我不急着给女儿赚嫁妆，孩子要靠自己努力，我能给她们提供学习和生活条件就好。

　　记者：这次演出最惊艳的地方莫过于你的“一字马”了，你的舞姿也得到了观众的掌声，能不能透露下怎么锻炼的？

　　张学友：我本身有拉筋的习惯，但是练成“一字马”也需要每天的努力。可能大家没有发现一个细节——以前我都是左脚先着地，现在演出都是右脚先落地。当年出道的时候，我曾经为不会跳舞而自卑、头疼，但是现在我已经用努力打消了这些顾虑，我相信大家还能满意我的舞姿吧？

　　记者：每场演唱会三个小时，有时一年能唱到100多场，你的嗓音怎么保持？

　　张学友：大家一定都关注这个问题，但是我想说——我真的没有特别保护嗓子，现在我懂得了发声的合理方式和对声音的控制。以前做完演唱会接受采访会难受，现在我可以自如地接受你的采访，50岁的我应对起来完全没有问题。

　　记者：整场演出下来，最让你紧张的是什么？高声部的演唱还是高难度的舞台？抑或是表演？

　　张学友：其实大家都想不到，我天生恐高，所以最怕在直升飞机或很多高舞台上表演，这次红馆舞台的高度比内地高出至少十米，是我从来没到过的高度。


　　家庭：妈妈捧场激动忘词

　　记者：在演唱会中，主办方制作了一个动画片，主要就是你成长的回顾，你看了吗？和你童年一样吗？

　　张学友：基本一样，唯一不同的就是，动画片里的那个小孩比我帅。我小时候太顽皮了，干了很多“坏事”，都没好意思放到动画片中。我小时候最常干的坏事就是“偷”东西，有一次我在水果摊前对着美味的荔枝看了很久，还没来得及下手，便被摊主冷不丁一声吼道：“干啥？！想偷东西呀！”顿时让我冒了一身冷汗，灰溜溜地跑了。

　　记者：太太罗美薇与女儿会专门看你的演唱会吗？

　　张学友：太太看一场就够了，女儿则看了两场半。在台上面对孩子和太太的时候我并不紧张，反而母亲节前一周我妈妈来看，我有点紧张，我唱《只愿一生跟你走》时看到她，然后给了她一个飞吻，岂料之后脑内一片空白，结果要重头再唱一遍，其实这首歌我没理由会忘记歌词的。

　　记者：这次演唱会上放了一个爱情短片，你和舒淇有很多亲热镜头，太太会反对吗？

　　张学友：那是演戏呀！我太太自己也是演员，她是能够理解的。家庭生活是我现在最看重的，我能有今天的成绩，真的离不开母亲、太太和孩子的支持。


　　表演：不介意谢霆锋得奖

　　记者：为了演唱会，你缺席了今年香港电影金像奖颁奖礼，遗憾吗？

　　张学友：唱歌是我的生命，除非唱不动了，否则这肯定是我最重要的事业。

　　记者：你凭借《月满轩尼诗》提名影帝，最终输给谢霆锋，会难过吗？

　　张学友：我一直忙于演唱会，因此没有看所有入围的电影。我很坦白讲，自己在《月满轩尼诗》中的角色很淡，能入围已经觉得很不错了。虽然很多人说，谢霆锋赢了四位前辈，但我觉得学不分先后！

　　记者：你有歌神的称号，影帝会是你另外一个终极目标吗？

　　张学友：演戏是要花多些时间，我时间很紧。以后的事情我不敢打算，演电影也要看缘分、看角色、看感觉吧……

　　记者：虽然你说自己表演没有天分，但演唱会中的爱情短片表演得轻松自然。当初怎么想到请刘伟强和舒淇的呢？

　　张学友：谢谢你的认可，以前年轻，有那么一种冲劲，但是现在不同，我已经二分之一世纪了。生活中和刘伟强是好朋友，当我想到要拍这样一个短片时，第一时间就给他打电话。当时刘伟强正在拍摄《不再让你孤单》，当他得知我还没有好的女主角人选时就直接将电话交给了旁边的舒淇，当时我们就敲定了。

　　记者：影片中你们的表演非常动情，而舒淇打你那个巴掌令很多歌迷惊叫。当时是真打吗？

　　张学友：舒淇非常喜欢我的歌，而且她也在上海看了我的表演。她是一个好演员，和她演对手戏非常幸福，能够很快进入状态。那个巴掌就是真打的，第一次拍的时候她不好意思，后来我让她放开手脚使劲打，所以第二次她打得很重，但是效果非常好。

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