Saturday, June 30, 2012

Carina Lau personally reveals the details of Tony Leung’s ‘star-studded’ 50th birthday party

Here's a sweet little article I'd like to share with everyone, especially with fans of Tony Leung!  This past June 27th was Tony's 50th birthday and so his wife Carina Lau arranged a birthday party for him where she invited about 20 or so of their close friends. 

Personally, I was excited to see Jacky was present at the party (which is not surprising considering he's close friends with the couple), but what was most suprising and exciting for me was seeing his wife May May there as well (obviously, it's very rare for her to show up at these types of events).  Oh, and the 'matching couple hats' they wore were so cute!! LOL!

The below article was published in the latest issue of Mingpao magazine, which came out today.  In it, Carina personally gives everyone an 'inside look' at some of the special moments that occured at the party.  It was definitely a very enjoyable read (the last part especially about Tony being 'forced' to reveal his birthday wish brought a smile to my face...haha!).

Looking through all the pictures and reading the part about the movie "The Eagle Shooting Heroes" really brought back so many great memories for me -- and at the same time, it made me miss Leslie even more...even though he couldn't attend the party, I'm sure he was watching from above and smiled when his friends sang his song!

Happy 50th Birthday, Tony!!  All the best to you and Carina!  :o)

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Carina Lau personally reveals the details of Tony Leung’s ‘star-studded’ 50th birthday party


Translation:  llwy12




On Christmas Eve back in 1991, Carina Lau (劉嘉玲) held a costume party at her home – she dressed up as Joker from the Batman movies, her boyfriend at the time Tony Leung (梁朝偉) dressed up as Michael J. Fox’s character Marty McFly from the Back to the Future franchise, Sandra Ng (吳君如) dressed up as Veronica Yip (葉玉卿), etc…..those were the days of being wild….

In the blink of an eye, Tony has already reached the half century mark. To celebrate the milestone, his wife Carina once again hosted a party at their home, except this time, the guests didn’t have to ‘dress up’. Instead, the guests -- which included long-time friends such as Brigitte Lin (林青霞), Jacky Cheung (張學友), May Lo (羅美薇), Kenny Bee (鍾鎮濤), Lui Fong (呂方), Alex To (杜德偉), Cecilia Yip (葉童), etc. – engaged in light conversation and singing, with laughter interspersed throughout. As Carina herself states: “It was a very warm party. When we were young, of course the thought was to experience everything possible, but now that we have all matured, we understand how to enjoy a different phase in life.”

Carina personally takes the helm and describes for us the ‘superstar birthday party’ that she had arranged for Tony.

June 27th was Tony Leung’s 50th birthday. His good friends John Shum (岑建勳), Nansun Shi (施南生), Derek Yee (爾冬陞), etc. had already stated early on that they wanted to celebrate the special occasion with him, however the shy birthday boy shook his head and politely declined their offer with a valid ‘excuse’ – on that day, he would be in Kaiping [China] re-doing some scenes for his upcoming movie The Grandmaster《一代宗師》. Carina smiled and recounted: “Nansun [Shi] had suggested visiting Tony on the set in Kaiping and celebrating there, however the environment over there was not ideal , as the set was very small and narrow – besides, Tony wouldn’t have time to take care of everyone. When this was relayed to Nansun, she still insisted that even if the production team won’t relieve him, everyone will still go celebrate with him!”


Tony Leung Kar Fai overslept

Unexpectedly, The Grandmaster’s director Wong Kar Wai (王家衛) announced last minute that Tony would be relieved from filming that day. Once she found out that Tony would remain in HK for his birthday, Carina immediately called a few of their closest friends, all of whom agreed right away to attend: “Since it was so last minute, I was only planning to invite about 10 friends or so, but in the end, more than 20 people came. Many friends, such as Jacky [Cheung] for example, said that if we were to throw a party, he would definitely come, even if he has to rearrange his schedule to do so. The biggest surprise was May May [Jacky’s wife May Lo] – she normally wouldn’t attend, but after putting her daughters to bed, even though it was already very late in the night, she still came – truly very grateful to her!” Regrettably, the couple’s other good friend Tony Leung Kar Fai (梁家輝) wasn’t able to attend – Carina explains: “His wife called to tell me that he had caught a cold and after taking some medicine, he slept past the time. If it was back in the old days when we were all young and playful, I would have told her to awaken him, but now, it’s best to let him have his rest.”

In a rare ‘reunion’ of sorts, several members of the cast from the 1993 comedy The Eagle Shooting Heroes《東成西就》were present at the party: even though the ‘Southern Emperor’ (Tony Leung Kar Fai) was not able to attend the party for the ‘Western Venom’ (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) due to illness, luckily there was still the ‘Northern Beggar’ (Jacky Cheung), ‘Third Princess’ (Brigitte Lin), ‘Wang Chong Yang’ (Kenny Bee), and ‘Zhou Bak Tong’ (Carina Lau) to represent the ‘Condor Heroes’ group.

Carina expressed: “We didn’t really arrange any special program for the night – it was pretty much everyone sitting around chit-chatting. With everyone usually so busy with their own lives and careers, we thought that perhaps chatting a little here and there on Weibo would be sufficient, but actually it’s better to get together every once in awhile.”


‘Forced’ to reveal his birthday wish

At the party, when Jacky Cheung and Kenny Bee saw that Tony had a nice guitar in the room, their ‘occupational disease’ broke out and they started an impromptu singing ‘marathon’ of various Chinese and English classic songs. Even Tony himself, who usually is not willing to open his ‘golden mouth’ to sing, could not help being ‘infected’ by the ‘song bug’ – when the group sang one of his own classic hits “In the hazy rainy night” 《朦朧夜雨裡》, he sang right along with them. Carina expressed: “Even though Mr. Leung (Tony) is not very ‘professional’ at it, he does play the guitar occasionally when he is at home – whether it’s folk songs or rock songs, he’s quite entertaining.” Amidst their joyous celebration, the group also took the time to remember another one of their good friends – the ‘Eastern Heretic’ Leslie Cheung (張國榮) – together, the group sang the song that Leslie had used back when he participated in the ‘Asia Singing Contest’ in 1977, which also happened to be one of his favorite English songs:《American Pie》.

The ‘highlight’ of the night occurred when it came time for Tony to blow out the candles on his birthday cake. Recalling that moment, Carina could not help but laugh heartily: “Seeing how small the birthday cake was, you can tell I wasn’t expecting that more than 20 people would come. But none of them seemed to mind, as everyone was satisfied with having a small ‘taste’ – maybe they all wanted to keep fit!” Prior to cutting the cake, the birthday boy had to go through the traditional ‘ritual’ of making a birthday wish. As all the guests took out their cameras and cell phones and pointed them at him, hoping to capture the moment, a cute expression of ‘misery’ crept onto Tony’s face – he was silent for a moment, then groaned: “Why do you guys have to ‘force’ me to say it [his birthday wish]?” Jacky playfully suggested: “How about if we wrote the script for you?” while Brigitte teased: “Just pretend you’re acting – how about if we put a camera in front of you, would that be better?” In the end, it was Carina that knew Tony the best: “When everyone’s attention is focused on him, he feels very uncomfortable.” Therefore, she helped her hubby ‘resolve’ the matter by saying: “Tony’s birthday wish is for everyone to be healthy!”

We also wish Tony and Carina a life of carefree happiness and health!

Friday, June 29, 2012

ND Daily’s exclusive interview with Barbara Yung’s ex-boyfriend Rob:  “She is a person who is willing to give up everything for love

Here's a very interesting and touching interview that Barbara Yung's ex-boyfriend from Holland did for ND Daily. There's actually a part 2 to this post (see Translator's Notes at the end of this post), which I will be posting up later on. Meanwhile, hope that this interview gives everyone more insight into Barbara as a person.

*****

ND Daily’s exclusive interview with Barbara Yung’s ex-boyfriend Rob:  “She is a person who is willing to give up everything for love”

Source: Nan Do Daily News

Translation: llwy12



Earlier this month (June), Rob – the ex-boyfriend of late actress Barbara Yung (翁美玲) – suddenly became a popular search topic on the Internet. The main reason for this is because 3 years ago, Rob started working on a memorial website to commemorate his ex-girlfriend Barbara – the project was finally completed in April of this year (2012). The website -- which chronicles Rob and Barbara’s ‘Cambridge love story’ through many priceless pictures and stories from their years together in England – stirred up many fond memories of the actress for fans and visitors to the site.

In many people’s hearts, Barbara will always be their favorite ‘Wong Yung’. Though her career in the entertainment industry was very short, it was still glorious and unforgettable. She entered the industry in 1982 after participating in that year’s Miss Hong Kong pageant. The next year, in 1983, her memorable performance as ‘Wong Yung’ in TVB’s Legend of the Condor Heroes《射雕英雄传》shot her to instant fame and along with it came endless opportunities to film series, perform at events, sing, host, etc. In May of 1985, at the height of her career, Barbara suddenly decided to end her life – she was 26 years old. Almost immediately after Barbara’s suicide, her boyfriend at the time, actor Kent Tong (湯鎮業), became an instant target of ‘attack’ by shocked fans and audiences, many of whom made the assumption that Barbara killed herself because of issues in the couple’s relationship.

For many years, these ‘assumptions’ cast a tragic light on Barbara’s love life – every time the topic of Barbara’s relationships would come up, Kent Tong’s name would inevitably be mentioned. Therefore, when Rob’s existence as Barbara’s ex-boyfriend became known, many people were surprised and astonished. Even though Rob and Barbara’s relationship also did not last, the many stories from their 5 year ‘Cambridge love story’ touched many people’s hearts. At the same time, these glimpses into her life in England also presented to the world a different side of Barbara that was previously ‘undiscovered’ by audiences. As some of her fans stated: “reading these stories was like peeling an onion – each story revealed a part of Barbara that most audiences did not know, bringing us closer to the ‘real Barbara’ in the process.”

In addition to re-acquainting ourselves with Barbara, Rob’s existence also evoked feelings of curiosity about him among fans and the Media alike. What kind of a person is Rob in real life? How much ‘sweat and blood’ was put into the 3 year production of his website in Barbara’s memory? With the 30 years that have passed, how are the memories of their relationship so vividly and clearly ingrained in his brain? Were there any regrets in their relationship? Towards this woman whom he had once loved deeply, what are his feelings now? Why did Barbara’s last words of “Darling, I love you” leave a feeling of regret in his heart? So many unanswered questions prompted us [ND Daily’s reporters] to ‘cross borders’ and reach out to Rob in Holland for an interview.

From the time the interview was scheduled to when it was completed, it took nearly a month. During the process, Rob had expressed hesitation at one point – he explained to ND Daily’s reporter that prior to this, he had never done any interviews before. Even though he was contacted by many Media outlets recently requesting interviews, he expressed that he hopes to maintain a low profile as much as possible. In the end, he only agreed to accept interviews with 2 Media outlets – one is a Chinese Media outlet in his home country of Holland and, very fortunately, the second one is this interview with us (ND Daily).

In his response back to us, Rob wrote: “I responded to all of your questions truthfully – nothing at all was concealed.”

PART 1
Regarding his website: Never thought that it would receive the massive attention it did

Thanks to the Internet and social media, Rob and Barbara’s love story became known to the world.

In December 2009, Rob did a small experiment on-line. He wanted to see how much information there was about him online, so he did a quick search and was amazed to find that there was actually quite a lot of info about him on the Internet. This made him wonder – how much information would there be about people who existed prior to the dawn of the Internet (and social media)? The first person that came to mind for him was Barbara Yung, who had already passed away decades ago: “I couldn’t believe what I saw! I read some stuff about Barbara in Wikipedia and subsequently started to read some of the things written about Barbara by fans on their sites. I noticed that there was no information whatsoever about my relationship with Barbara on any of the Internet sites. Therefore, I wrote to a few websites and told them that I had some memories and old pictures to share, but never received any responses. I also noticed that in recent years, there wasn’t much new information regarding Barbara being released -- in fact, some of the websites [dedicated to her] didn’t even exist anymore! I assumed that with all the years that have passed, everyone had probably already forgotten Barbara.”

During New Year’s, Rob and his family decided to create a video clip commemorating Barbara – his dad dug up a lot of old photographs of the couple, which Rob included in the clip, then uploaded it to the Internet with the title ‘A Love Story That No One Knew About’. Afterwards, the fansites that he had written to previously voluntarily contacted him – many of them emailed him inquiring about his memories of Barbara and that’s when he started recording the memories of their relationship down on paper. That was the year 2010 – coincidentally, it was also the 25th anniversary of Barbara’s death.

Throughout the past 3 years, Rob has been recounting the story of his relationship with Barbara via pictures on his website. When the website was still in its infant stages, the few pictures he had uploaded were already being re-posted to other sites. By the time he finally completed his website in April 2012, he had already added dozens more photos, including a few more ‘intimate’ ones where he and Barbara were holding hands or kissing. The couple’s love story slowly started to spread to various Chinese websites and with that, various Media outlets started reporting on his website, making it known to a lot of people. The site quickly garnered an overwhelming number of hits, to the point that the servers the website was on could no longer support it, causing the site to freeze up and become inaccessible. On June 6th, Rob had to shut down the website in order to performance maintenance on it and re-opened it a week later.

Q and A

ND: Throughout the course of creating this website, what were some of the feelings that you experienced?

Rob: It was a very happy feeling – it felt as though I was transported back to those days. When the rest of my family was asleep, I started writing down the stories – in the silence of the night, my memory went back 30 years and everything started coming back very clearly. I felt like I had entered a movie.

ND: As a medical student, creating websites probably wasn’t a strength of yours, right?

Rob: I’ve never had any experience creating websites. When I was working on this site, I actually had a week off, so I asked one of my neighbors and he gave me some advice on how to go about doing it.

ND: How did you arrange the time to work on the website? Did it interfere with your job and regular family life?

Rob: No, it didn’t interfere much. I would pretty much wait until Sunday night each week and work on the website while the rest of my family was asleep. Of course, I would check the website everyday for abusive and insulting comments from people – which unfortunately happened more often than not – and sometimes, I would end up having to delete those comments. I don’t mind people criticizing me or being opposed to what I’m doing, but I do mind when people post comments that are overly disrespectful.

ND: Many of the pictures on the site are still in such good condition. We’re curious how you were able to maintain them like that for so long? Did both you and Barbara keep a set of the same pictures?

Rob: I really have to thank my father, who passed away last year. He’s a person with a very orderly lifestyle, which extended to maintaining family photos and keepsakes. He was very good about marking down the time/date and location on every single photo we had in the family and then storing them in a safe place. Barbara never kept copies of the photos because she was afraid that her mother would find out about our relationship, which would’ve definitely caused a lot of issues.

ND: It’s obvious that you put a lot of effort into creating this website. In addition to the old photographs, you had also returned to the same places the two of you visited and took new pictures as well, right?

Rob: Yes, I went back and re-visited some of the places, mainly because I had many beautiful memories there. Some of the places I had actually revisited with my friends from England – it was great because they were able to re-live some of those beautiful memories as well.

ND: Through your writings, you chronologically recorded the various stories between you and Barbara. Many of the writings are very detailed – is this your first time doing such long writings?

Rob: Sometimes, I do write in my journal, especially during the days when I’m off. I also enjoy writing letters – on occasion, some of my friends might receive a long, detailed letter from me. In the last few months though, I haven’t had time to do it anymore.

ND: Do you remember the first day that your website officially went public?

Rob: After I published my website, I checked back frequently to see if people were able to find it. It was very exciting! I remember the very first comment on the site was from Carina, who is my contact from Barbara’s fan club in HK, praising the work that I had done. To a certain extent, I feel this would help people have deeper memories of Barbara because they went through similar experiences as her and not merely remember her as ‘that beautiful actress’. I feel that she [Barbara] would have been proud of me!

ND: It took you 3 years to complete the website. Besides taking up a lot of your time and energy, did it also cost a lot of money?

Rob: I did not hire any professionals to help with the site. In the past, the website didn’t cost too much money because I would use the least expensive server I could find that was able to accommodate 200 hits [people visiting the site] per day. But last month, with the overwhelming increase in people visiting the site, the server ended up crashing. I had to work with a company that provided a larger capacity server – the service package is excellent, but unfortunately, I have to pay a large sum of money every month to maintain the server. That’s one of the reasons why I added a section to the website for donations.

ND: Were you expecting the massive number of visitors to the site? Did the enthusiasm of netizens visiting the site exceed your expectations?

Rob: In the past, I would do a posting on the website every Wednesday and there were a few people who consistently followed the stories – but after the stories were completed, the number of visitors were less frequent. Based on my research of Barbara’s life in HK, I would consistently update my site with various types of information, including translated articles, links to radio and television interviews, etc. I had never thought that Barbara would continue to remain so popular even today, as she passed away close to 30 years ago and her acting career was very short-lived – only 2 ½ years or so. For the website to receive such massive attention is completely beyond my imagination.”

PART 2
Memories: When her family tried to end the relationship, she protested with her life

Through his writings, photographs, and video links, Rob tried the best he could to record the story of his relationship with Barbara Yung. Rob writes in English, however each time, he would ask his friend to help him translate his writings into Chinese and then publish both versions so that non-English speakers would have the chance to read his writings as well.

The clarity with which Rob remembers the details of his relationship with Barbara is astonishing. Their story started when they first met back in 1976. Even though Barbara’s family was vehemently opposed to it, the 2 of them insisted on starting a relationship – throughout the 5 years they were together, their lives were blissful, but at the same time, they had to carefully protect the relationship that they knew might not last in the long term. Their romantic days at Cambridge, their apprehensive New Year’s rendezvous, their blissful Italy trip, their comical ‘walking the dog’ experience, their ‘perfect and romantic’ engagement ceremony, the dreaded meeting with the parents, the 2 painful and heartwrenching breakups…..Rob recorded all of these experiences in great detail – even some of the conversations that they had were recorded at great length. Rob expressed that even he is unable to understand how he is able to remember everything with such great clarity.

Rob’s description of Barbara is a woman who is beautiful and outstanding, yet sensitive and fragile; she’s also very willful, gets jealous, and knows how to ‘pretend’ when circumstances warrant – when someone tries to get in the way of her love relationship, she can be determined to the point of sacrificing her life to ‘protest’ it.

Barbara once told Rob that she hopes when the two of them are 50 years old, they can be like Rob’s parents – still holding hands, hugging, and madly in love with each other. Unfortunately, even such a romantic love story could not survive the harshness of reality, as the couple eventually broke up. Rob states: “Looking back, not being able to keep in contact with each other for fear of disturbing each other’s current lives was the biggest mistake that the two of us made.”

Indeed, this is an optimistic thought to ponder: if the two of them had not broken up, or, if the two of them had kept in touch after they broke up, how would things have turned out?

Q and A

ND: Of all the stories that you told of your relationship with Barbara, which one is your favorite?

Rob: My favorite is the ‘Almost Discovered’ story, mainly because I very clearly remember every single minute from that moment – imagine how I felt lying underneath the blanket, holding my breath, and hearing the footsteps of Barbara’s mother coming up the stairs….whenever I write about or recall that moment even now, I can still feel the sweat on my skin from the nervousness. (At that moment, my oldest daughter would ask me: ‘Dad, why are you smiling like that?’)

ND: What about Barbara attracted you the most?

Rob: Her unconditional love. I have never encountered such a woman as her who was so willing to sacrifice everything for love.

ND: In one of your writings, you mentioned that one impact Barbara had on you was that you became more energetic and proactive. Any specific examples?

Rob: At that time, I wasn’t ambitious and would just muddle my way through life – the only thing I cared about in life was whether I was happy. In comparisons, Barbara was a lot more serious and she had a lot more life experience – at the time, in addition to going to school, she also worked at a place that sold fish and chips. She taught me that people are not always as they seem on the surface. In the past, I would believe pretty much every single thing that people told me, whereas Barbara was more cautious and suspicious about things. For example, one time when we were walking down the street in London, a stranger approached and asked if I wanted to go drinking at a bar with him – I thought ‘why not?’ – luckily, Barbara convinced me that going out for a drink with a stranger was not a good idea. Of course, she was right.

ND: 30 years may have passed, but you still have beautiful memories of your life with Barbara. Do you regret breaking up with her?

Rob: Both of us knew that being together wouldn’t work out in the future. But I actually didn’t find out until recently how unhappy her life was after we broke up. I feel regretful and guilty for not keeping in touch with her after we broke up.

ND: Any regrets in the relationship itself?

Rob: No. If you guys were able to see all the efforts we had put in to be together, you would understand why. I feel that we already did everything we could have at that time. In terms of the tremendous effort that we had put towards our relationship, I don’t feel anyone can criticize us in that area.

ND: Ever thought that Barbara would choose a career in acting? After you found out she became an actress, were you surprised?

Rob: I was very surprised! If she had chosen to become a model, then no, I wouldn’t be surprised, but the fact that she chose to go into acting definitely surprised me!

ND: When you two were dating, were you able to see that she had acting potential?

Rob: I was never aware that Barbara had acting potential and she never expressed to me that she was interested in acting. I feel that in Legend of the Condor Heroes, she did a good job playing the character.

ND: Have you ever thought about what would’ve happened if you and Barbara had never broken up?

Rob: If we were still together, we definitely would have been married already, as Barbara would not have accepted it otherwise. I feel that we would still be very intimate, as my girlfriend and I still hold hands and hug even now. To me, that kind of thing is a normal part of a relationship. If we had not broken up, I am absolutely sure that my life right now would be very different because Barbara and I have very different personalities, whereas my current girlfriend and I have very similar personalities. With the differences in our background and personalities, I can’t imagine how we’d be able to raise children or start a business together, or even resolve cultural differences and family issues. I don’t feel that we would be arguing all the time, but it’s inevitable that one person would need to give in and compromise – I’m afraid that person would most likely be me, since Barbara has a stronger personality than I do.

PART 3
What if: “If I had a chance to meet Kent Tong, I believe we would have a lot to talk about”

In 1985, Rob received a letter from his friend DI. In the letter, DI told him about Barbara’s death and how when he was visiting the grave of a friend’s grandmother in Cambridge, he happened to come across Barbara’s grave. In the subsequent weeks, Rob constantly felt sad and at a loss – he expressed that his sorrow was because the woman he had once loved is gone forever. In his writings, it’s obvious that Rob has beautiful memories of his relationship with Barbara that are difficult to part with – asked what his current feelings are towards Barbara, he replied that he felt pity, regret, and also a bit of guilt: “because she truly deserved to have a happy life!”

Q and A

ND: Recently, when you politely rejected an invitation to be interviewed by a HK magazine [FACE Magazine], you had included in your email response: “When I heard that Barbara had committed suicide, I actually was not surprised.” Based on your understanding of Barbara, do you feel that she is the type of person who tries to avoid reality?

Rob: The reason I said that was because back in England, I had already gone through the experience of Barbara trying to commit suicide once before [by taking sleeping pills]. I know that if she had to endure huge emotional pressure, she most likely would have chosen suicide as her way to avoid having to face it. Those who read my writings will discover that emotionally, Barbara is a very fragile person. When it comes to her love relationships, she is willing to sacrifice everything – if she were ever to feel that my love and consideration for her was any less than what it was, she would feel very uncomfortable and also get very emotional.

ND: On May 14th, 1985, Barbara was discovered dead in her home due to the poison from the gas fumes. At the time, she had left a ‘note’ on her calendar that merely said ‘Darling, I love you.’ In one of your stories, you had mentioned this and didn’t understand why she would write down those words in English. Do you feel those last words were meant for you? Or do you wish that they were?

Rob: I don’t know why she wrote those words in English. When I was first told about it, my first reaction was: ‘No! I hope those words weren’t meant for me!’ I started to look through all the information about her life to see if I could find anything about her having another English-speaking boyfriend after we broke up, but I couldn’t find any. I definitely hope that those words were not meant for me because that would imply that all this time, she was not able to let go of our relationship – if that were the case, it would make me feel extremely guilty because she absolutely deserves to have a happy and joyous life.

ND: What are your feelings toward Barbara now? Do you still have feelings of love toward her or just feelings of cherishing her memory?

Rob: Neither one actually – I feel regret that she was not able to experience the joys of family life like I’m experiencing now. I truly did love Barbara at one point, but later on, I found a new love relationship and discovered a different type of joy. I hoped for the same for her. To be honest though, she will always have a place in my heart, a place that will always be reserved for her.

ND: After Barbara’s death, the general public placed most of the blame on her boyfriend at the time, Kent Tong…were you aware of that? What are your thoughts on this?

Rob: I did read up a bit about Kent Tong – I don’t know him personally, so I don’t have any comment toward him. But I suspect that he probably did not know how fragile Barbara was emotionally because she most likely did not tell him about her life in England or about our past relationship. I don’t mind meeting him – I believe we would have many things we could talk about. If he were able to share about his relationship with Barbara on my website, that would be even better.

ND: Initially after you two broke up, you did write some letters to each other. If there were mailmen who could deliver letters to her in Heaven, would you still write to her now? If so, what would you say to her?

Rob: Yes, I definitely would write to her – the same kind of long, beautiful letter! I would also have her visit my website so we could re-live the beautiful, happy memories together.

ND: Based on everything that you’ve done for Barbara, it’s apparent that you’re the type of person who cherishes relationships. From your writings, we understand that right now, you have a steady girlfriend, and 3 lively, cute daughters – your family life is very harmonious and happy. Currently, what is your view towards love and marriage?

Rob: I believe that if you truly love each other and guard each other, not getting married won’t have much impact. To me, marriage just helps provide a ‘guarantee’ to those who may find it difficult to guard each other otherwise. In reality, I’ve already witnessed many examples of marriages breaking apart and ending in divorce.

*** TO BE CONTINUED****

[TN: After the interview, Rob shared some more memories of Barbara and recounted a few more stories that he had never shared before on his website (those stories are being told for the first time in this interview). The additional stories as well as the reporter’s concluding comments will be included in a follow up (part 2) to this article.]

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Chinese version:

“她是一个愿意为爱情付出所有的人”


南都亚洲独家专访翁美玲荷兰籍前男友Rob,尽诉他与翁美玲30年前的爱情生活


这个6月初,已逝女星翁美玲(Barbara)的前男友、荷兰籍男子Rob忽然变成了互联网搜索的热门人物。成为热门的主要原因是,Rob三年前开始为翁美玲制作的纪念网站,终于在今年4月中旬宣布“竣工”,并于网上加载了不少他与前女友相恋时的珍贵旧照。图文并茂的网站,一段动人的“剑桥恋情”,唤起了不少人对翁美玲的思念和回忆。(来源:南方都市报 南都网)

她是许多人心中永远的“俏黄蓉”。她在娱乐圈的轨迹短暂却辉煌,于1982年参选香港小姐出道,1983年即因主演《射雕英雄传》的“黄蓉”一角一炮而红,随后登台、演唱、主持、演戏,各类片约蜂拥而至。1985年5月,在演艺事业如日中天之际,她却突然自杀身亡,终年26岁。香销玉殒,坊间将矛头直指翁美玲当年的男友汤镇业,猜测她因与其发生感情问题而开煤气自杀。

这样的揣测为翁美玲的爱情披上了不少悲情的色彩。每每谈及她的恋情,外界总离不开“汤镇业”这个名字。Rob的出现,让不少人颇感惊讶。尽管他与她之间又是一段无疾而终的恋情,但两人长达五年的“剑桥之恋”,当中的细节故事打动了不少人。同时,这还向外界展现了一个“从未被发现”的翁美玲,正如有的影迷所说“读这些故事仿似剥洋葱,每个故事仿似揭开一层Barbara(翁美玲英文名)不为大众所知的一面,从而离真实的她更近一些。”

重新认识翁美玲的同时,Rob的存在也让影迷和传媒倍感好奇。实际生活中的他到底是一个怎样的人?耗时三年制作的网站究竟花费了他多少的心血?30年前的记忆缘何能如此清晰地印记在他脑海里?他与她在这段恋情中是否曾有过遗憾?对于曾经深爱过的这个女孩,他现在心怀着怎样的情感?翁美玲那句英文遗言“Darling,I loveyou”为何让他耿耿于怀、期盼解答……太多的疑惑促使了我们这次跨国的追访。

从约访到完成采访,耗时大半个月。过程中,Rob曾就接受采访而犹豫过,他向南方都市报记者解释,此前的他并没有做过任何的专访,而近段时间有许多不同的媒体约访,他希望尽可能地保持低调。最终,他只答应了其中两家媒体的采访邀约———一家是荷兰当地的华人媒体,很幸运地,另一家就是南方都市报。收到Rob的答复时,他在信件中写了这么一句:“我对所有的问题都诚实作答,对你们没有做半点隐瞒”。



Part1

网站:从未预料过会受到这么大的关注

“我从来没有想过翁美玲至今仍这么受欢迎。因为她离开已经将近30年了,而她作为演员只不过是两年半的时间。(网站)获得如此大的关注完全超乎我的想象。”

得益于神奇的互联网,R ob和翁美玲的爱情才得以被大家知晓。

2009年圣诞节,R ob在网上做了一个小实验。他想看看自己在网上有多少公开的信息。结果网上显示了他不少的信息,这让他感到吃惊。随后,他又开始思考,互联网产生前的人会不会也有信息?他首先想到的是离世多年的翁美玲,“我都不敢相信自己看到了什么。我读到了Wikipedia上的一篇关于B arbara的文章,然后我开始在网上读影迷的文章及浏览他们的网站。我留意到网上没有任何有关我们关系的文字。于是我给一些网站写信,说我有一些回忆和照片,但没有回音。我注意到近期不再有新的消息发表,一些网站甚至不再存在。我猜想这么多年过去了,Barbara已被遗忘了。”新年期间,R ob和家人决定做一个回忆翁美玲的视频,R ob的父亲找到了许多的照片。R ob将视频命名为“无人知道的爱情故事”,然后发布在网上。之后,R ob先前联系过的影迷会主动联系他,有影迷发邮件问他关于翁美玲的记忆,他开始记录下相关的故事。那年是2010年,正好是翁美玲逝世25周年。

三年以来,R ob在网上以图文并茂的方式,持续地更新他与翁美玲之间的故事。网页最初成立时,他上传的相片已开始在网上流传。直至今年4月,R ob表示整个网站已完成,还加载了不少图片,其中有不少是他和翁美玲的牵手或接吻的亲密照。两人的故事开始在华人网络广泛地流传开来,多家媒体对R ob及其网站进行报道,不少人都知道该网站。网站迅速地涌入了大批访问者,这让支撑网站运营的网络服务器难以招架。网站濒临瘫痪,让人一度难以进入。6月6日,因为过于庞大的访问量,R ob不得不关闭网站,从而进行技术调整,一周后才再次开放。

Q&A

南方都市报(以下简称南都):在建立这个网站的过程中,你最常涌现的感受有哪些?

Rob:这是非常开心的感觉,我就像重新回到以前的日子。在全家人睡着时,我写下了这些故事。如此安静地写作,牵引着我的记忆回到了30多年前,我就像走进了一部电影中,我清晰地记得其中的画面。

南都:作为一个医科专业的学生,做网站应该算不上你的强项吧?

Rob:我从来没有制作网页的经验。建立这个网站时,我有一个礼拜的假期,我咨询了一个邻居,他给了我一些建设网站的建议。

南都:你如何分配时间进行网站建设?这会耽误你平时的工作和生活吗?

Rob:不会(耽误太多时间)。我只是在每周日晚上,当家里人都睡下时才做网站的工作。当然我每天还是会检查网站,以防止一些辱骂性的评论。但很不幸,这种状况时常会发生,这时我就会清理掉这些评论。我不介意一些针对我或者反对我的言论,但是我在意那些不尊重人的评论。

南都:这个纪念网站的照片都完好如初,很好奇你是如何保存的?这些冲晒出来的照片,你和Barbara都有保留一份吗?

Rob:我必须要感谢我的父亲,他在去年去世了。他是一个生活很有条理的人,包括对相片的保存。他将我们拍的每一张照片都附上了时间、地点,然后存档。Barbara从来不会保留我们这些照片,因为她害怕被妈妈发现,这势必会惹来争吵。

南都:看得出,你为建设这个网站倾注了不少心血。除了既有的旧照片外,你还有旧地重游专门拍一些新照片,对吗?

Rob:是,我回去了(一些老地方)。因为我对那些地方拥有非常美好的回忆,有些是我和我的英国朋友一起回去的,更妙的是,他们也可以分享自己美好的回忆。

南都:你通过文字,按照不同的年份记录了你和Barbara的故事。文章写得很详尽,这是你第一次进行这么长篇的文字创作?

Rob:有时候我会写日记,尤其是在假期时。我也很享受写信,一些朋友都有可能收到我写得非常长的信件,但过去几个月我已经没有时间做这事了。

南都:还记得网站第一天正式开放的情景?

Rob:我开放了网站,然后去观察人们是否能够找到它。这是让人兴奋的事情。我记得第一个评论来自Carina,她是我在香港翁美玲粉丝俱乐部的联系人。她称赞了我的工作。在某种程度上,我觉得人们会因为和Barbara有相似的经历对她有更加深刻的记忆,而并非像她现在这样,只是以“美丽的女演员”这个身份被大家记住。我觉得她会替我感到骄傲的。

南都:网站耗时三年才制作完成。除了消耗大量的精力之外,是否还需要财政支出?

Rob:我没有雇佣专人做这个网站。以前这个网站并不会花费我太多金钱,因为我用的是我能找到的最便宜的网络服务器,能足够应付每天200人的访问量。但是,上个月庞大的访问人群,让服务器瘫痪。我必须要和提供专业网络服务器的公司合作,他们提供的网络服务非常好,不幸的是,我必须支付一定的金额购买(服务)。这也是为什么我在网页中设立捐款渠道的原因。

南都:网站吸引了如此庞大的浏览数量,你有曾预料过?网民的热情是不是超乎你的想象了?

Rob:我以前每个礼拜三都发表一篇文章,有粉丝会追我的故事。当这些故事完结之后,访问量就减少了。根据我调查翁美玲在香港的生活,我试图不断更新网站内容,比如文章的翻译,放电台或电视访问等的音视频文件等。我从没有想过翁美玲至今仍这么受欢迎。因为她离开已经将近30年了,而她作为演员只不过是两年半的时间。(网站)获得如此大的关注完全超乎我的想象。



Part2

回忆:爱情受阻挠时,她可以决绝到以死抗议

“现在回头看,没能够保持联系,害怕介入对方的生活,是我们犯的最大的错误!”

“我从来没有遇到过一个像她这样愿意为爱情付出所有的人。”

Rob用文字、图片和视频的方式,尽可能详尽地记录着他和翁美玲相处的点滴。他用英文书写过后,还特地请朋友帮忙翻译,推出中文版本,方便华语读者阅读。

Rob对这段恋情的记忆清晰得让人诧异。故事从他们1976年的相遇说起,Rob和Barbara不顾女方家人的反对执意交往,他们在五年的时光里幸福又紧张地守护着这段早知没有结果的恋情———他们在剑桥的浪漫时光,忐忑不安的新年幽会,无比快乐的意大利之旅、滑稽可笑的遛狗经历、完美浪漫的订婚仪式、惊心动魄的家长会面、伤心痛苦的两次分手……R ob将这些多姿多彩的爱情瞬间细致描绘,甚至连两人交谈过的话语都一一尽录。Rob自己有时也搞不明白为什么对这一切依然记忆犹新。

他笔下的B arbara美丽出众、敏感脆弱,会任性会吃醋还会伪装,爱情受阻挠时,她可以决绝到以死抗议。生前的她曾对R ob说,希望两人在50岁时能如R ob的父母般牵手、搂抱,依然挚爱对方。可惜动人故事终抵不过残酷现实,两人终究以分手收场。R ob说:“现在回头看,没能够保持联系,害怕介入对方的生活,是我们犯的最大的错误。”

这让人忍不住心生美好的遐想,假如他们当初没有分开,假如他们分开后保持联系,一切又会怎样?

Q&A

南都:在你书写的这么多和Barbara的回忆片段里,你最喜欢哪一个故事?

Rob:我最喜欢的一篇是《差点被发现》,主要是因为我清楚地记得当中的每一分钟,想象着我所感受的,当时的我在毛毯里屏住呼吸躺着,听着翁美玲母亲上楼梯的脚步声……当我在书写或想起这一幕时,我至今仍能感觉到皮肤的汗水。(我最大的女儿就会问我:“为什么你那样笑,爸爸?”)

南都:这段恋情中,B arbara最吸引你的地方是什么?

Rob:她无条件的爱。我从来没有遇到过一个像她这样愿意为爱情付出所有的人。(来源:南方都市报 南都网)

南都:你在回忆的文字中提到,Barbara对你产生了积极的影响。有具体的事例吗?

Rob:那时我每天得过且过,我对生活唯一在意的是我过得是否快乐。我没有上进心,乐意去尝试做任何事。Barbara比我认真许多,她拥有更多的人生阅历,当时除了上学还要应对鱼肉薯片店的工作。她教育我,人并不总是像你我所看到的那样。我曾经相信人们告诉我的任何事情,而她会表现得更多疑和谨慎。有一次,我们走在伦敦街头,有个陌生人问我要不要跟他一起去喝酒,我当时想为什么不呢?幸运的是,Barbara说服了我,跟陌生人喝酒可能并不是一个好主意。当然,她是对的。

南都:将近三十年过去,你对这段恋情的记忆美好如昔。有没有后悔选择跟她分手?

Rob:我们双方都知道,仍旧在一起是行不通的。但我现在才发现,自打我们分手后,她是多么的不开心。我感到后悔和内疚,我没有和她保持联系。

南都:对这段恋情会有遗憾?

Rob:没有,如果你们能看到我们为了在一起曾有多么地努力。我觉得我们做了所有当时能做的。在说尝试为爱情努力的这方面,我觉得大家对我们不能有任何的责备。

南都:有想过Barbara会选择走演艺这条路?得知她成为演员后,你感到吃惊?

Rob:我非常吃惊。她如果是成为一个模特,我并不会吃惊,但演员的话却是让人非常惊讶。

南都:在你们相恋的时候,你有看出她拥有很好的演艺潜能?

Rob:我从来没觉得B arbara有演戏的潜力,她也没有展示任何演戏的野心。我想她在《射雕英雄传》里,她只是很好地演绎了一个角色。

南都:你是否有过这样的念想,假如当初你和Barbara没有分开,现在的你们会是怎样?

Rob:如果我们能在一起,我一定已经结婚了,否则Barbara一定不会接受的。我觉得我们依然会很亲热,我和我的爱人现在仍然会拥抱和牵手。对我来说,这些是一段正常关系的一部分。假如没有分开,我很确定我的生活会跟现在很不一样,Barbara和我有很不一样的个性,而我如今的爱人和我则有比较多相似的个性。在双方都如此不同的情况下,我无法想象我们如何一起生养孩子、创业、解决文化差异和家庭的问题。我们不会争吵,但必定有一方需要作出妥协,恐怕那一方会是我,因为Babara的个性比我强多了。

Part3

假如:如果我见到汤镇业,

我们可能会有很多话题可以聊

“我知道如果她承受了巨大的精神压力的话,她也许会通过自杀的方式逃离现实。”

“我为她感到惋惜,她没能像我这样经历拥有家庭的这种快乐……她在我心中仍占有一席之地,那个位子一直都是留给她的。”

1985年,R ob收到了朋友D I的来信。D I在信中告诉了他Barbara的死讯,以及在去英国剑桥郊外探望朋友的祖母墓地时,恰巧看到了Barbara的墓碑。接连的好几周,R ob都处于非常难过、失落的状态,他说他的悲伤是因为曾经爱过的人已经永远离开了。R ob在字里行间都透露着对这段恋情无限的怀念和不舍,问现在的他对Barbara是怎样的一种情感?他说有惋惜、有愧疚,“因为她值得拥有幸福快乐的生活!”

Q&A

南都:近期你在礼貌性拒绝香港一本周刊(《Face》)采访时,在邮件里附上一句“听到Barbara自杀的消息我并没有感到惊讶”。依据你对Barbara的了解,你认为她是一个容易逃避现实的人么?

Rob:我之所以这么说,那是因为我在英国已经历过Barbara(吞服安眠药)自杀的历史。我知道如果她承受了巨大精神压力的话,她也许会通过自杀的方式逃离现实。读过我网上的故事就会发现,她是一个情感非常脆弱的人。她在爱情中付出了一切,如果她觉得我对她的关心变少了,她会感到不安,并且变得非常情绪化。

南都:1985年5月14日,Barbara被发现在家中因煤气中毒而身亡。当时她在日历牌上留着一句话“D arling,I love you(亲爱的,我爱你)”。你在故事的结尾处也提及此事,不解为什么她用英文写下了这句话。你觉得这句遗言是她为你而留的?还是你希望如此?

Rob:我不知道她为什么用英文写下了那些字。当我被告知时,我想到的第一件事就是“噢!不!我希望那不是对我说的”。我开始去寻找她的人生故事,希望能找到在我们分手之后,她还有另外说英语的男朋友,但我还没有找到。我当然希望那不是对我说的,那意味着她从来没有走出我们的爱情,会让我对她感觉内疚,因为她值得拥有幸福快乐的生活。

南都:现在的你对Barbara的感情是怎样的?你觉得对她是爱情还是一种怀念?

Rob:不是爱亦不是怀念,我为她感到惋惜,她没能像我这样经历拥有家庭的这种快乐。我曾经的确很爱Barbara,但后来我找到了一段新的爱情,发现新的快乐。我希望她也能一样。但老实说,她在我心中仍占有一席之地,那个位子一直都是留给她的。

南都:Barbara的离开,外界将大部分的原因都归咎于汤镇业,你知道他吗?你如何看待这种观点?(来源:南方都市报 南都网)

Rob:我有读过汤镇业的故事。我不认识他,所以对他没有任何的评论。但我怀疑他也许不知道B arbara是一个感情多么脆弱的人,因为她可能不曾告诉他,她在英国的生活,也不曾告诉他我们的过往。我不介意去见他,我想我们会有很多话题可以聊,如果他能在我的网站上发表他和Barbara的故事就更好了。

南都:你们分手之后有通过书信。假如现在天堂有信差,此刻的您会写信给她么?你在信中会对她说些什么?

Rob:是的,我一定会给她写信,一封漂亮的、长长的信。我也会让她去看我的网站,我们一起重温这些故事会是很棒的时光。

南都:从你为Babara所做的一切,可以知道你是一个很 的人。我们从故事中知道,你现在拥有稳定的伴侣和三个活泼可爱的女儿,家庭相处和睦幸福。现在的你对爱情和婚姻的看法是怎样的?

Rob:我相信当你相爱并相守的时候,没有结婚也不会影响什么。结婚只是给那些不能相守的人提供保证。事实上,我已经看过很多婚姻破裂的例子。

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Review of TVB series "Journey of Love 親恩情未了" (1994)

Cast: Violet Li (李影), Lau Kong (劉江), Angelina Lo (盧宛茵), Marco Ngai (魏駿傑), Louisa So (蘇玉華), Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文), KK Cheung (張國強), Wallace Chung (鍾漢良), Raymond Cho (曹永廉), Gan Pui Gwan (簡珮筠), Ho Kit San (何潔珊), Bao Fong (鮑方), Lily Leung (梁舜燕)


For the past few weeks, I’ve been watching the series “Journey of Love” on TV every night and just finished it a few days ago. Overall, this actually wasn’t a bad series, even though I did have quite a few issues with the way the storyline was written and presented (which I will go into later). I think for me, what really ‘saved’ this series and made it worth watching was the acting from the cast – most (though not all) of the cast put in solid performances and really helped to push the emotional factor forward – this was actually no easy feat considering much of the cast consisted of ‘newbies’ (in acting at least) and the script was kind of messy and ‘all over the place’ (the storyline is extremely clichéd to the point of being hugely predictable, which will become more obvious later on in the review).

First off, before I go any further, I feel it’s necessary to give a brief overview of the plot for this series so that the rest of my review makes more sense (for those who have seen this series already and are very familiar with the plot, you can skip this section if you want).

Summary / Plot

The story is about a benevolent mother named Ho Ah Chun (played by Violet Li) whose husband dies and leaves her with 5 young children to raise (3 boys and 2 girls). Since the family was already poor to begin with, Ah Chun must now work even harder to try and make ends meet so that she can provide the basics for her children. Due to her desperate situation, she resorts to utilizing little tricks to cheat people out of money at the local Mahjjong centers and that’s where she meets Fung Guang (played by Lau Kong) – one of the local ‘bullies’ who hangs out at the gambling places and tries to make people’s lives miserable. After some misunderstandings occur between them, Ah Chun is forced to flee to the Philippines, leaving her 5 children behind in HK in the care of her good friend Lee Bo King (played by Angelina Lo). Unfortunately, she encounters bad luck over there and after being framed for a murder she didn’t commit, she ends up in jail for 18 years. When she is released, she returns to HK and begins the difficult ‘journey’ of finding all 5 of her children and reuniting with them. The entire series is pretty much about Ah Chun’s quest to find each of her children one by one and the hardships / setbacks she encounters along the way.

Even though Ah Chun does end up finding each of her children, the lives that each of them lead turns out to be completely different due to the circumstances under which they grew up.

Eldest son Cheung Ka Sing (played by Marco Ngai) spent most of his childhood working at the local street markets and ends up owning a small local restaurant when he grows up, which he maintains with the support of his wife Suk Kuen (played by Louisa So) and young son Siu Lung (child actor whom I don't know the name of). Ka Sing has a gambling habit and constantly uses money from the restaurant to 'fuel' his habit (which leads to misunderstandings between his wife and mother). Suk Kuen is the typical hardworking, practical housewife whose main goal is to maintain the restaurant while at the same time making sure that her family is taken care of (of course, she has tight control of the finances). Their son is an annoying brat (sorry, but I really didn't like the kid much at all). Overall, they are a decent family trying hard to make a modest living. Of course, things happen over the course of the series that put their marriage to the test, though they end up fine in the end.

Eldest daughter Cheung Ka Wai (played by Sammi Cheng) -- oldest amoung the girls but second amongst all the siblings -- ended up in an orphanage after her mother left. Being the smartest and most educated one out of all the siblings, she ends up having the best lot in life when she grows up -- she becames a high ranking attorney (prosecutor) with a super-nice boyfriend Joe (played by KK Cheung) who, of course, is a doctor (talk about cliches and stereotypes!). She changes her name to Helen while at the orphanage and even though she finds out early on that Ah Chun is her biological mother, she refuses to acknowledge her pretty much until the very end (due to reasons that I won't get into here). She and Joe eventually get married and have a daughter together.

Cheung Ka Keung (played by Wallace Chung) is the middle child who ends up with the most unfortunate lot in life -- while left in the care of Bo King (Angelina), he accidentally falls out the window of her home, hits his head on the sidewalk, and due to damage to the brain, he becomes mentally handicapped. Not able to care for him, Bo King puts him in an institution that specializes in taking care of mentally handicapped children and that's where he grows up until Ah Chun returns. Even though he has the mental capacity of a child, he does eventually learn to be independent and later on is able to take care of himself, though before that happens, he of course has to go through all sorts of ‘issues’ due to society not being receptive to people like him.

The 2 youngest siblings are twins (a few minutes apart in age) Cheung Ka Mei (played by Gan Pui Gwan) and Cheung Ka Jun (played by Raymond Cho). When their mother left, both of them were pretty much still babies (1 year old) and so they weren't old enough to remember their mother at all. Ka Mei remained with Bo King and was raised alongside her own daugher Siu Lai (played by Ho Kit San), but because Bo King had to make a living and sort of neglected her throughout most of her childhood, she grew up to become one of those typical incorrigible 'problem youth' who didn't go to school and pretty much spent her entire day 'hanging out' with good-for-nothing friends and getting into trouble left and right (typical!). Due to her plight, Ka Mei has a rebellious attitude and is constantly angry at everyone and everything, which also makes her a very unreasonable person and difficult to get along with. She pretty much spends most of the series wreaking havoc and causing problems for everyone.

Ka Jun was in and out of the hospital as a baby due to having asthma (I think?), so when his mother left, the doctor who operated on him at the hospital (Dr Wong, played by the late Bao Fong) and his wife (played by Lily Leung) adopted him, changed his named, and treated him like their own son. So pretty much Ka Jun (who is referred to by his English name Dick Wong) grows up in an affluent family and doesn't have to worry about anything financially. Since he was only a baby when his mother left, he does not know that he was actually adopted and Ah Chun is his biological mother until pretty much the last 3rd of the series.


Storyline / Script

As I said earlier, the biggest problem I had with this series was the script, which had a lot of flaws and inconsistencies in it that definitely affected the viewing experience (for me at least). I mean, I felt that the story that the series was trying to tell was quite good and the lessons it tried to teach were definitely meaningful, but the ‘method’ that they used to tell the story was a bit too ‘messy’ for my tastes. The first third of the series or so was actually pretty good, but by the middle / ending sections of the series, it really started to fall apart in my opinion – to the point that I started to get a little annoyed at some of the scenes. At a few points throughout the series, I actually felt that the scriptwriter was really trying to test our (the audience) patience and perhaps were even trying to pull the wool over our eyes with some of the ridiculous story arcs that just didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

For instance: the part where Ka Mei goes all ‘psychotic’ when she finds out that Siu Lai likes Ka Jun (this was back when no one knew about his true identity) and spikes his drink at his birthday party out of jealousy, causes a car accident, then tries to frame him to say he was taking drugs and they end up battling it out in court. That whole segment (if I remember correctly, I think that whole story arc ran the course of an episode or two?) was just completely ridiculous and lame. I mean, come on now – knowing Ka Mei’s background (um, she was dealing drugs at one point), how could it even fly that Ka Jun spiked his own drink at his own party for no reason at all? And for everyone to defend her like she was some angel? Oh and Siu Lai’s reaction was pathetic: when her mother Bo King tells her to ‘go along’ with Ka Mei’s story and ‘frame’ Ka Jun, Siu Lai does it pretty much without question – wait, isn’t this the guy that she supposedly had feelings for and wanted to develop a relationship with? Then why would she so readily agree to ‘frame’ him knowing that he was completely innocent? And then when everything is said and done and Ka Mei ends up going to jail for a few months, Ka Jun not only forgives Siu Lai right away, he also continually seeks her out and still wants to develop a relationship with her again as though nothing had happened (not to mention he still wants to try and get on Ka Mei’s good side for Siu Lai’s sake). Huh? Really? Throughout that whole segment, it just seemed like everyone acted very out of character (except for Ka Mei) – it was almost as though they were playing completely different characters during that part or something!

I also felt that the writers went a bit too ‘overboard’ in trying to make the series overly ‘dramatic’, especially with the main story involving the mother Ah Chun, and therefore made the series way too ‘cliché-ish’ (if that’s a word). I mean, look at all the ‘tragedy’ that the writers put the mother through: her husband dies; she has no money and 5 kids to raise; she encounters a ‘bad guy’ who forces her to flee to Philippines; she gets separated from her kids; she is framed for murder and goes to jail for 18 years; her oldest son has leukemia and almost dies, her middle son is mentally retarded, her youngest daughter is a ‘problem child’, her other 2 kids don’t want anything to do with her; she endures all sorts of mental and emotional anger / frustration / ‘torture’ as well as hardship; she almost gets put in jail again after that bastard Fung Guang dies and she is suspected of doing it, etc. -- then in the end, when all the problems are resolved and just when we think that finally she gets the chance to live ‘happily ever after’ with her 5 children and their families, she gets liver cancer and dies (or at least it’s implied that she dies)! Sheesh!! By the time I got to the end of the series, I really wanted to tell the writers to just leave the poor woman alone already!!!

Now, don’t get me wrong – not all of the script was bad….there were actually quite a few very poignant, very well-made scenes in the series and some parts of the script were pretty decent – it’s just that the writers should have tied everything together in a better way.


Cast / Acting

In terms of the acting, there were actually quite a few very solid performances in this series and as I said earlier, this was really the piece that kept me watching until the end (otherwise, I probably would have given up on the series already).

Here’s my take on a few of the ‘main players’:

Violet Li (Ho Ah Chun) – Violet’s role was a really tough one to do, but she actually pulled it off quite well in my opinion. She was convincing as the benevolent but tough mother who loves her children so much and so unconditionally that she was willing to do anything for them, including admitting to a crime she didn’t commit and risk going to jail. In my opinion, Violet did a good job bringing out the depth of the character and illustrating the emotional ups and downs that she goes through in her journey to find her children – most of the scenes that I found to be most moving to the point of getting teary-eyed were pretty much scenes involving her.

In terms of Violet Li as an actress, I actually don’t know a whole lot about her, as she was pretty much active as a television actress prior to my time and already retired from the industry long ago. I do know that she was one of RTV’s (ATV’s predecessor) fadans back in the day (in the 70s) and then she immigrated to Canada in the 80s, returning briefly in the 90s to film a handful of series for TVB and ATV. I haven’t seen any of her other performances, so can’t really comment overall, but she definitely did leave an impression on me with her performance in this particular series.


Angelina Lo (Lee Bo King) – To be honest, I really didn’t like Angelina’s character in this series – I found her to be a bit on the ‘annoying’ side, especially with the way she treats people and such. And I hate how she agreed to ‘get back together’ with that loser boyfriend (husband?) of hers, Fung Guang – I mean, knowing that he’s not only a bad person, he’s also a penniless drug addict who pretty much asks her for money day and night and even tries to ‘harm’ his own daughter, what was the point of even allowing him into her life again? If she would have cut off all contact with that pathetic good-for-nothing in the first place, a lot of the ‘bad’ stuff in the second half of the series probably wouldn’t have happened (though we all know that of course the storyline had to develop that way in order to up the ‘dramatic’ element).

With that said though, I actually was fine with Angelina’s acting (she put in a strong performance as usual), but I just didn’t like her character all that much, so I really didn’t focus too much attention on her in this series. Besides, I sort of felt her character wasn’t really that important – she’s pretty much just ‘there’ to insert her opinion in things every now and then…pretty much any actress could have played the role without much difficulty (sort of a waste of talent if you ask me).


Lau Kong (Fung Guang) – I guess you could say that Fung Guang was the most detestable character in the series, which isn’t surprising considering he’s the main ‘villain’ so to speak. Even so, his role actually was not that big, though the impact of his character was quite significant – he was there for like the first episode or so and then doesn’t appear again until close to the last 3rd of the series. I feel that his character was primarily there to act as the ‘catalyst’ for most of the ‘drama’ that happens in the series (i.e. it’s because of him that Ah Chun must flee to the Philippines and leave her children behind, thus indirectly having a hand in how each of the 5 children turn out). And it becomes clear when he reappears later on in the series that it’s also partly because of him that Ah Chun’s son Ka Keung becomes mentally handicapped (Fung Guang beat Ka Keung and locked him up in a room – when Ka Keung tried to escape by climbing out the window, he fell and hit his head).

Lau Kong is one of those veteran actors with so much acting experience playing all different types of roles (convincingly, I must add) that sometimes you can’t help but wonder if there is a role out there that he ‘can’t’ do (I think the answer is “no”…hehehe!). Whether he’s playing a villain character (which is most of the time) or a ‘good’ person (mostly father figures), I’ve actually never been disappointed with any of his performances. Nowadays, he’s actually one of the few senior, experienced, talented veteran actors that TVB has left, so hopefully, they treat him well.


Marco Ngai (Cheung Ka Sing) – Marco’s character in this series was pretty much one of those ‘average joes’ who was a good person at heart, but not surprisingly, being human, he falls prey to life’s temptations (money, women, etc.) just like any man would. Of course, as expected, the storyline surrounding Marco’s character Ka Sing is quite stereotypical and in line with TVB’s ‘traditional’ formula (his gambling habit causes him to fall in with the wrong crowd and he ends up having an affair with another woman, which causes his wife to break up with him; then when he discovers the other woman was using him, he regrets it and just when he wants to get back with his wife, he discovers that he has leukemia – of course he is saved in the end and he gets back together with his wife…).

From an acting perspective, I feel that Marco did a fine job, though the role itself probably was not too difficult for him. I’ve always been of the sentiment that Marco has talent as an actor, but unfortunately, his personality and all the stuff that went on in his personal life damaged his career more than it helped him (in my opinion, the breakup of his longtime relationship with Joyce Tang really killed his career in HK, since most audiences seemed to hate him after that). Personally, I neither like Marco nor hate him (I’m pretty much neutral toward him), so whatever he does in his personal life really isn’t a problem to me – he’s a good actor, so I’d much rather watch him in a series than some of the current ‘actors’ that TVB has been promoting recently (just my personal opinion, so don’t shoot me! LOL!).


Louisa So (Yuen Suk Kuen) – Louisa plays the typical ‘disgruntled wife / daughter-in-law’ character who is not a bad person at the core, but just acts bossy and demanding all the time because that’s the only way she is able to survive in the face of everything going on – plus at the end of the day, she’s just trying to protect her family by looking out for the best interests of her husband and son. I really can’t blame her for being somewhat of a ‘bxxch’ in the beginning because putting myself in her shoes, if I all of a sudden had to accept a mother-in-law whose background was a bit shady and a brother-in-law who was mentally incapable of taking care of himself into the house (and have to foot all their living expenses), I would probably be a little bit ‘upset’ in the beginning as well (not to mention having to deal with that unreasonable, psychotic sister-in-law Ka Mei – she’s enough to make anyone go crazy! LOL!). One thing I didn’t like about Louisa’s character though was how she was so biased against her brother-in-law Ka Keung from the beginning, pretty much discriminating against him merely because he mentally handicapped (though again, I can’t completely blame her for that either because that’s pretty much the attitude that most people who are not familiar with how those types of illnesses work would typically take). To be honest, I even started feeling sorry for Suk Kuen later on in the series when her husband betrays her by having an affair and she leaves with her son.

Louisa did an excellent job in her role as Marco’s wife – though I also felt that this role was too easy for her as well, given how great of an actress she is. Surprisingly, she actually had pretty good chemistry with Marco and I actually enjoyed watching their scenes together – they matched pretty well together, whether physically or in terms of personality and interaction onscreen. Louisa is truly a talented actress (if you haven’t seen her performance in Phoenix Rising, I highly recommend it – watching her in that series sent chills up my spine) – unfortunately though, she was hugely underrated at TVB (not surprising considering how TVB has a ‘history’ of underutilizing talent). She actually only started to become somewhat ‘popular’ after she won that cooking show a few years back, which is a bit of a shame considering she was in so many series prior to that and never really got any recognition. Perhaps, like many of her ‘classmates’, she also fell under the HK Acting Academy ‘curse’ and so that’s why TVB never really liked her (it seems that TVB has a pattern of ‘mistreating’ or ‘neglecting’ some of the earlier graduates from the HK Academy of Performing Arts – i.e. Sunny Chan, Power Chan, Mimi Lo, Rain Lau, etc.). Whatever the case, great job from Louisa!


Sammi Cheng (Helen / Cheung Ka Wai) – Sammi’s character Helen was actually very typical of the types of characters she used to play back then when she filmed series – usually some type of professional (lawyer, designer, etc.) with a somewhat haughty attitude (I honestly felt that the whole ‘black-face’ thing she was known for back then sort of applied to her series as well – huge contrast from the way Sammi is now). I actually got a little bit annoyed with her character at first because she always seemed like she was in a bad mood or something – and the way she would say harsh words to her boyfriend Joe or argue with him over some petty issue kind of ticked me off at certain parts. With that said though, I did grow to like her a little bit towards the end, especially when her personality changed after she became pregnant and was more accepting of the people around her (which, btw, I have to mention that they didn’t do a very good job of making the pregnancy look convincing because Sammi’s ‘fake’ stomach was way too big and it made her look extremely awkward…haha!). Also, considering most of the women in this series weren’t really ‘likable’ (aside from Violet and maybe Louisa), I think they found a pretty good balance with the way they developed Sammi’s character.

Acting-wise, I definitely prefer Sammi today than back then, perhaps because she has more acting experience now and is a lot more polished and mature in her acting (plus I like the ‘happy’ Sammi a lot more than the ‘constantly pissed off” Sammi….LOL). She wasn’t bad in this series actually, but I just felt that some scenes came off a little bit awkward – not sure if it was the way the storyline was written or what. Regardless, given the circumstance, this was a decent performance for Sammi – not ‘awesome’, but definitely watchable! (And got to give her some credit for the themesong, which she performed quite nicely.)


KK Cheung (Dr. Joe Tang) – First of all, I’m glad that KK didn’t have to play the villain this time around (haha…I’ve been watching him in too many villain roles lately) – instead, he plays a super nice doctor who ends up becoming Ka Keung’s personal doctor as well as Ah Chun’s good friend. Ironically, he is also the boyfriend of Ah Chun’s daughter Ka Wai (though no one knows it at that time) as well as the best friend of her son Ka Jun (again, no one knows at that time either), so indirectly, he sort of acts as the ‘link’ between Ah Chun and the 2 children she’s trying to find. He is very nice to Ah Chun and treats her like his own mother (of course, he actually does her son-in-law later on in the series). He has a very easy-going personality – the type of person who doesn’t have a temper whatsoever and doesn’t get upset easily (that’s why I say he’s ‘super-nice’ – cuz it takes a lot to get him upset) – interestingly, his personality is completely opposite from that of his girlfriend Helen’s (she’s more high-strung and gets upset easily), but yet they are still able to make things work out well in terms of their relationship (though of course they do have quite a few ‘arguments’ throughout the series). I think that Joe was truly the ‘epitome’ of what a ‘good man’ should be like in the series, which is why I found his character so highly likable.

KK is definitely on my ‘favorites’ list in terms of actors – he’s always convincing, whether he’s playing the villain or the ‘good guy’. He’s also a great husband and father in real life as well (he has 3 children, all of whom are high school / college age). One of the other things I really like and admire about KK is the fact that he went from being an athlete with absolutely no acting experience whatsoever to an established actor with great acting skills – that definitely doesn’t happen very often! Even though he has been in a lot of series since he returned to TVB earlier in the decade, I still feel that KK is very underrated as an actor because up to this point, he hasn’t really been given a ‘breakthrough’ role – he definitely deserves more recognition for his acting than he currently gets!


Wallace Chung (Cheung Ka Keung) – Out of all the characters in the series, Wallace’s Ka Keung was the most challenging one to play and to be honest, I was a little surprised that the producer actually gave the role to a ‘newbie’ (that was around the time that Wallace had just started out in the industry as a singer). Ka Keung had a lot of scenes in the series that required him to express his thoughts and emotions through hand gestures and facial expressions, since his speech was a bit slow due to the damage to his brain – plus his mental capacity was pretty much that of a child. Well, Wallace definitely stepped up to the challenge because his performance was absolutely stellar – to the point that if you were to ask me, I would have to say that he was really the ‘star’ of the series from an acting perspective!! He absolutely ‘outshined’ everyone in the series with his performance – even the veterans! I was very impressed with Wallace’s portrayal of Ka Keung – he was so good in the role, so convincing and so natural!! Most actors who try to play a mentally challenged person (even those actors who are very experienced) would usually go the ‘exaggerated’ route because that seems to be the only way for the audiences to ‘get’ that the person is mentally handicapped (at least that’s the typical TVB way of thinking) – but with Wallace’s portrayal of Ka Keung, there was NOT ONE bit of exaggeration in the acting! From the mannerisms to the facial expressions to the way he spoke, his portrayal was absolutely PERFECT in my book! The other thing about Wallace’s performance is that he made his character very real, yet at the same time endearing for audiences – in fact, he was actually my favorite character in the entire series (couldn’t help being drawn to him). He definitely had too many well-acted scenes to count, so I would have to say that I loved pretty much every single scene with him in it! LOL!

I actually haven’t watched very many of Wallace’s series, as I pretty much knew of him back when he made a name for himself as a singer in Taiwan in the 90s (even though he was a HK artist). Then after that, he went to Mainland China to film series. Since I don’t follow Taiwan entertainment anymore and I don’t watch Mainland series at all (for the most part), I never had a chance to watch his series – but now that I’ve seen how great his acting can be, I might very well give his other series a try!


Raymond Cho (Dick / Cheung Ka Jun) – Raymond played the youngest of the 5 siblings, Ka Jun (he’s supposedly Ka Mei’s twin, but they absolutely don’t come across like twins at all). Ka Jun was a likable character overall, but I really don’t feel that the writers developed the character as much as they really could have. There were quite a few parts of the storyline involving Ka Jun that I sort of felt were lame (i.e. the part I described above in the script/storyline section).

With that said, I actually feel that Raymond did a pretty good job with his role, especially considering this was one of his first series and also the character itself was not that great. I did see that there were some scenes where he came across a little bit stiff, especially with some of the heavy emotional scenes, but to me, that’s definitely understandable and forgivable considering he was a newbie at that time (and since he started as a singer, pretty much had no acting experience). Otherwise, for a first performance, he did a pretty fine job! Of course, every time I talk about Raymond Cho, I have to fault TVB once again for failing to recognize his talent because it was already obvious even back then that he had acting potential. If TVB had promoted and developed him properly, he definitely would have been able to be successful.

Since I’ve already talked a lot about Raymond in this blog (plus I just recently translated an in-depth interview about him), I won’t comment on him too much in this review. One thing I will say though is that I actually was surprised that Wallace Chung got cast as the 3rd brother whereas Raymond got cast as the youngest brother – even after Wallace’s character appeared, it took me several episodes to realize that he was the 3rd brother and not the youngest one. Though both actors have that ‘eternal baby face’ look that allows them to play younger characters even though they might be older, it’s definitely obvious when you put Wallace and Raymond side by side that Raymond is older (or maybe I’m just used to watching the Raymond of today and so I’m used to his ‘older’ look?).


Gan Pui Gwan (Cheung Ka Mei) – Ka Mei was probably the second most hated character in the series (for me at least) because all the things she does is just plain despicable and stupid. I mean, ok, I understand that she became ‘rebellious’ and such because she never had parents around to raise her and so fell in with the wrong crowd, but to be honest, she went way too overboard, to the point that when she actually ‘turns over a new leaf’ at the end of the series, it’s unconvincing and hard to believe. I actually hated her character from the beginning and even after she supposedly amended her ways, I still couldn’t get myself to like her (to me, the ‘damage’ was already done). I honestly feel that the writers took the ‘incorrigible’ and ‘rebellious’ thing way too far with her – she was very unreasonable and nasty and just plain immature.

As for the actress who played Ka Mei – Gan Pui Gwan – I actually don’t know much about her and there isn’t much info on the internet about her either. I remember the first time I saw her in a series was in “Instinct” (definitely not her first series) and at that time, I didn’t know her name – I just remembered that she looked a little bit like Marianne Chan (though Marianne was definitely prettier). I’ve seen a few other series with her in it, but none of the performances impressed me (though I do feel that she improved from the time she filmed this particular series to when she guest-starred in DIF3 – took me awhile to recognize her cuz she had changed so much). Anyway, I wasn’t too fond of her acting in this particular series, probably because I couldn’t really concentrate on analyzing her acting due to being distracted by other things about her – in the series, she constantly has this ‘poutiness’ about her and a ‘look’ on her face that seems like she is ticked off all the time…also, her deliberate ‘saunter’ whenever she walked really annoyed me (and I’m usually not the type to notice these types of things, so it must have been very deliberate to the point of ‘obvious in this case).


Ho Kit San (Lee Siu Lai) – Siu Lai is supposed to be the ‘good girl’ character who is used as a ‘juxtaposition’ to Ka Mei’s ‘bad girl’ role – even though they grew up together and their relationship is like ‘sisters’, they are actually completely opposites in terms of personality (the cliché thing coming into play again). I honestly didn’t like the character of Siu Lai at all because she was just way too ‘innocent’, ‘naïve’, and weak, to the point of being lame and pitiful – she pretty much lets the people around her control her life and constantly looks so ‘fragile’ that I swear you’d ‘break’ her if you accidentally pushed her over (yea, I’m being sarcastic, but you get the picture). Oh, and her whole “I’m so conflicted” thing in having to choose between the guy she ‘supposedly’ loves and the friend who is like a sister to her was just ridiculous and dumb – her storyline was very poorly written and her character was pretty much just a ‘filler’ in my opinion. I absolutely can’t stand characters like hers!

Prior to watching this series, I had absolutely no clue who Ho Kit San was (actually, I still don’t know who she is even now). I did some research on the Internet and found out she was in a few other series, but not very many (pretty much you can count them on 1 hand). Well, I guess it really doesn’t make much difference to me, considering her acting was only ‘mediocre’ at best (it’s not like I’m going to run out and watch the series she was in now).

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Like I said earlier, this is a decent series. Sure, there were definite flaws with the script and quite a few inconsistencies with the storyline, but overall, the acting was pretty good (save for 1 or 2 people). Now of course, if heavily clichéd and predictable series bother you, then may want to reconsider – though I would still recommend watching just for the lessons the series tries to teach and don’t focus too much on the storyline.

Oh, and one last thing I wanted to mention – the ‘emotional’ factor is quite high with this series, as there is pretty much drama and tragedy throughout (in fact, I can’t recall a single ‘comedic’ moment in the series whatsoever). For me, episode 20 was especially poignant, as that’s the episode where most of the emotional scenes were (for example: the court scene where the mother recounts everything that happened to her and all 5 of her children are sitting there crying – that scene was especially difficult to sit through).

Also, for a ‘low budget’ series with an ‘average’ cast, this series is actually a lot more watchable than most of the other ones that TVB has made in recent years (though it’s obvious TVB didn’t really care much about the series, since they released it overseas first and then warehoused it for a year before airing in HK).

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Oriental Daily interview with “Files of Justice” buddies Michael Tao, Bobby AuYeung, and Felix Lok

As promised, here’s the ‘follow-up’ to the earlier Oriental Daily interview with Michael and Kenix (where they recounted their collaboration in DIF)….Michael actually did 4 interviews total with Oriental Daily – the first one was the Kenix / DIF one, which was published on Father’s Day (June 17th) and the second one is the one below with his “Files of Justice” buddies (Bobby AuYeung and Felix Lok). I know Michael also did a joint interview with actress Kathy Chow as well, but not sure if that will be the next OD interview to be published…as for the 4th interview, not quite sure yet, as Michael didn’t mention anything about it on his Weibo (at least not yet)…

Anyway, back to this interview…FOJ was definitely a classic series, right up there with DIF as one of the best series that TVB made in the 90s (in my opinion). When I first found out about this interview, I was actually hoping that it would be with more of the cast, but I guess it makes sense to have only Michael, Bobby, and Felix, since too many people would make the interview too complicated. Ah well – I guess if I want to see the entire cast again, I could always go pull out my collection of FOJ (yes, I have all 5 installments) and do a marathon rewatch (after I finish rewatching DIF again, that is! LOL!).

One quick note about the below interview – in translating it, I tried as best I could to keep the ‘flavor’ of the original interview in Chinese, though it was a bit difficult considering there was a lot of Cantonese slang that just doesn’t sound the same when translated into English. Therefore, for those who can read Chinese (more specifically, those who can read written Cantonese), I highly recommend that you read the interview in its original language – the impact is definitely different reading it in Chinese versus English!

Lastly, I absolutely enjoyed reading this interview – as is usually the case when Bobby is involved, the interview was hilarious – in fact, I laughed so hard during the parts when Bobby and Michael were describing each other’s “embarrassing moments” that I’m still clutching my stomach even now as I write this (yup, I laughed so hard that my insides hurt…hahaha!).

*****
 
Oriental Daily interview with “Files of Justice” buddies Michael Tao, Bobby AuYeung, and Felix Lok
 
Source:  Oriental Daily

Translation:  llwy12







Classic TVB series Files of Justice《壹號皇庭》helped the series’ stars Michael Tao (陶大宇), Bobby AuYeung (歐陽震華), and Felix Lok (駱應鈞) become lifetime friends. When these 3 ‘buddies’ reunited again to chat about the past, laughter filled the room [throughout the interview] as they voluntarily ‘dished the dirt’ on each other. Known for always having a ‘container full of laughs’, Bobby recounted Michael’s embarrassing ‘pants falling off’ incident while Michael ‘retaliated’ by making fun of Bobby’s ‘PK accident’ – their ages added together are already close to 100 years old, yet they never get tired of poking fun at each other! As for the ‘honest and serious’ Felix, he expressed that the 3 of them reuniting again is a rare opportunity and definitely worth cherishing.

M = Michael Tao
B = Bobby Au Yeung
F = Felix Lok

M: I’ve already come up with a new ‘image’ for both of you so that when the 3 of us get together now, the ‘feel’ will be different….

B: Well, your bowtie sure matches your ‘image’ in the series, however I’m not able to find the old hairstyle I had anymore! In fact, my head seems to become more and more round with each year that passes – soon I will need to sleep upside down so that the skin on my face doesn’t fall down…hahaha!

F: It’s already been 20 years since we did Files of Justice, so for us to get together again is definitely a rare opportunity and is worth treasuring! The thing I remember the most is that when we used to film series, it always involved ‘flying papers’ [TN: ad-lib dialogue / scripts written ‘on the fly’]. But since I’m working for a new company now (CTI), I don’t have to worry about that anymore, since the company does not allow it!

Could not stop kissing Flora Chan

B: Back then, the audiences actually liked watching the scenes when us ‘brothers’ would sit around the house chatting with each other, but I personally liked to watch Michael’s kiss scenes the most! The kiss scenes that he did with Flora Chan (陳慧珊) and Jessica Hsuan (宣萱) – WOW…the kisses were so ‘noisy’ and even when the cameras were shut off, they would still be kissing!

M: Hey, I wasn’t the one who requested it! But usually, the people I kissed were very good to me – for Flora Chan, that time was actually her first on-screen kiss!

F: The two of them have more open, Westernized personalities, so they take the initiative more. But I definitely agree that the kiss scene you had with Flora was truly ‘awesome’!

M: How do you know it was ‘awesome’? Even if it was, I’m the only one who should know….hahaha!

B: Talking about kiss scenes – one time, when I filmed a kiss scene with Esther Kwan (關詠荷), I actually learned some ‘tips’ from her! I’m actually a bit shy and nervous when it comes to filming kiss scenes -- that time when I had to do a kiss scene with her, she actually started talking to me while we were in the middle of the scene…she told me not to ‘squish’ her with my face! I told her to quit talking and concentrate. Later she told me that talking while kissing makes it look more real -- sure enough, when the scene came out, the results were truly very good! Michael -- if you don’t believe it, you should try it some time!

M: No, it won’t happen…at this level, I already don’t have the courage to kiss a girl in front of the camera anymore! A quick ‘good morning’ kiss is fine, but if you asked me to do the ‘madly in love’ type kiss now…wah, so ugly!

B: There was a time when I had a passionate kiss scene with Ada Choi (蔡少芬) – I was so scared! I mean, if I had decent facial features like Michael, the kiss scene would look good, but for someone like me who has such a ‘flat’ face, as soon as my face touches the other person’s, it looks as though my entire face (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc.) disappears! That’s why I came up with a ‘trick’ for filming the scene, which I told Ada: “So when we actually film, I’ll just kiss your cheek and if need be, I’ll kiss your forehead as well – that should be enough.” I was surprised when she actually responded: “Aiya….I was thinking the same thing!!” Darn….


Felix Lok is more ‘fit’ than Him Law

M: Felix’s police scenes were quite exhaustive for him, as he pretty much ran around all of HK when filming the scenes where he had to investigate the cases. Luckily, Felix has a very disciplined lifestyle…back then, when I went to his home, I already saw that he had his own personal gym – even now, he has been able to keep himself physically fit, even more ‘fit’ than Him Law (羅仲謙)!

F: Back then, when filming the investigation scenes, it could take us up to 11 or 12 days to complete! Of course, we were young back then. Even now, I still try to keep up with my exercise routine, as I still need to be ‘presentable’ in front of the cameras!

M: Actually, all of us desired to look good in front of the cameras. When we filmed FOJ, I requested to change clothes for every scene and each outfit had to be a different color – all of the bowties were from my own personal collection!

B: You (points to Michael) even requested to have all your pajamas made in completely white silk – wearing them made you look like Bak Lung Wong (白龍王)! One time, when we were filming a scene on location, you had quite an embarrassing moment! I remember that day was a Sunday and we were doing a scene at Statue Square [TN: famous location in HK’s Central district] – the two of us were holding the outfits that we were supposed to use for the scene and originally, we thought about changing at the hotel nearby, but since we needed to change quickly, we figured it was best to just change in the trailer at the location. When you unbuckled your pants, you had forgotten that your wallet was in the back pocket – it weighed your pants down and as a result, your pants fell all the way down to your ankles! All the Filipino maids in the area who saw you ‘flash’ your underwear couldn’t help yelling out: “Oh! Michael….small!” I laughed so hard! I remember telling you afterwards: “Next time, make sure you buy new underwear more often -- the rubberband in that pair looks so worn out already!” Hahahahaha….!

M: Well, you also had that embarrassing moment when we were filming at the mall! We were on the escalator and because you were wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and couldn’t see where you were going, you missed a step and ‘PK’ed’ right there! Hahaha! [TN: ‘PK’ actually represents a phrase that is considered a ‘curse word’ in Cantonese slang – the tamer ‘two letter’ version is usually used to describe when someone trips and falls flat on their face].

B: And you dare to even mention it! That time, if it wasn’t for your roaring laughter when the situation occurred, it wouldn’t have caused everyone in the mall to know! Everyone looked over in our direction when they heard you laughing – it was so embarrassing!!


Close-knit brothers, friendly competition

Back then, these 3 ‘brothers’ didn’t engage in any internal fighting or backstabbing – instead, they became close-knit brothers who encouraged and motivated one another. They would even meet together after work for coffee and give each other advice on upcoming scenes.

B: Even though us brothers were a ‘playful’ bunch, when it came to work, we were quite united. Every night after we finished filming, we would go to the nearby café and talk about our scenes – everyone’s mentality was very good! At one point, I had asked producer Gary Tang (鄧特希) why he chose us second line artists to film the series – he said that if he were to choose first-line artists, most of the scenes would probably be focused only on those few artists, but if the entire cast consisted of second-line artists, then the scenes could be shared and it would create ‘friendly competition’!

F: I also discovered an interesting phenomenon – not only did we have ‘friendly competition’ as the producer predicted, there was also never any hostility between any of us and we also never fought for screentime. We were able to maintain a close friendship that didn’t change even after filming 5 installments of the series – it’s definitely very rare! If it was any other series where the cast had to be together for such a long time, arguments are bound to occur!

B: That’s why I’m really hoping that there will be more installments of FOJ in the future. Also, we should definitely arrange more get-togethers….

M: Since most of our ‘playful’ crowd have already entered different stages in life, if we were to get together again for another installment of FOJ, I believe that the producer will need to come up with a different ‘feel’ to match too in order to make it work!

.*****.

Chinese version:

Bobby爆大宇用褲菲女嘲small

過百集的經典劇《壹號皇庭》,造就了陶大宇、歐陽震華(Bobby)和駱應鈞(阿公)成為老友,三人重聚暢談當年軼事,笑料百出。堪稱「笑料貨櫃」的Bobby大爆大宇當街甩褲,更被菲傭取笑「small」!大宇卻反嘲對方當街PK,二人加埋近百歲還樂此不疲,最老正的阿公坦言三人聚首是何等難得和極具紀念性。

陶:我幫你哋諗好形象,三人行埋都有不一樣嘅感覺……

Bobby:你就話打Bow連戲,但我就再搵唔到從前嘅髮型!我個頭仲年復年變圓,遲啲要倒吊瞓,等面皮唔好鬆……哈哈!

阿公:《皇庭》至今已經廿年,我哋再一齊坐埋,認真難得,好值得紀念!以前拍劇就專飛紙仔,不過我依家就轉咗新公司(CTI),公司規定唔可以飛紙仔!

咀陳慧珊唔停

Bobby:其實觀眾鍾意睇我哋幾兄弟嘅屋企戲,但我就鍾意睇大宇嘅kiss戲!佢同陳慧珊、宣萱拍咀戲,嘩……拍到「施施SirSir」,放消夜、收機仲喺度緊!

陶:又唔係我要求,不過通常對手都對我好好,陳慧珊嗰次仲係「螢幕初吻」!

阿公:佢哋個個鬼妹仔性格都好主動,你同陳慧珊嗰場,真係好正!

陶:你又知正?係正都只有我知……哈哈!

Bobby:講到拍咀戲,我遇上關詠荷,嗰次咀戲我真係學到嘢!自己拍咀戲怕醜又「蛇Ger」,點知當日我同佢拍咀戲時,佢竟然拍攝中途講嘢……叫我面口唔好疊住佢,鏡頭後我仲怪佢唔投入,後來佢話邊講邊咀會好逼真,果然拍出嚟又真係好有效果!唔信嘅話,大宇你試吓!

陶:唔會啦……到咗呢個階段,我已經唔敢喺鏡頭前錫女仔,早晨一個輕吻還可以,要談戀愛式激吻,嘩……好核突!

Bobby:我試過同蔡少芬有一場激吻戲,好驚……你話好似大宇有輪廓下巴兜兜拍咀戲就話好睇,我呢啲扁口扁面,一撞埋乜嘢眼、耳、口、鼻都唔見晒啦,所以我想到一個辦法同少芬講:「到時我錫吓你塊面,再唔係錫埋你額頭就夠!」佢竟然答我:「唉喲……我都係咁諗!」頂……


阿公fit過羅仲謙

陶:阿公拍差人戲都好辛苦,拍查案走勻全港,不過阿公生活好有規律,當年我去佢屋企,已經見佢有私人健身室,依家身形仲係Keep得咁fit,比羅仲謙更好!

阿公:當年拍一場查案戲可以拍十一、二日,當年後生,不過依家我都有保持運動量,幕前都要見得人o架!

陶:其實我哋個個都貪靚,拍《皇庭》時我要求場場換衫,要唔同顏色,所有Bow都係私伙!

Bobby:你(指大宇)連睡衣都要全白絲綢,着到好似「白龍王」咁!有一次外景喺街邊換衫大出洋相……當日係星期日,喺皇后像廣場取景,我同你攞住戲服,本來想行過去酒店換,但又想快,索性喺外景車旁換,點知你解開褲頭,竟忘記個銀包袋咗喺後袋,結果墜甩咗條褲,成條褲跌到落腳眼呀,現場大群菲傭見到呢個露底場面不禁大叫:「oh!Michael…… small!」我睇到反白眼!我只好話:「下次勤啲換底褲啦!褲頭橡筋都變成波浪紋啦!」哈哈哈哈……

陶:你夠因為戴黑超,喺商場睇唔到路,行扶手電梯踩錯腳PK啦!哈哈!

Bobby:你仲好意思講,嗰次唔係你笑聲震天,都唔會全個商場啲人都知道啦!個個望過嚟,我不知幾尷尬!

兄弟同心良性競爭

當年三個後生仔,不為上位明爭暗鬥、互篤背脊,反而兄弟同心,衝勁十足,連收工都約埋歎咖啡度戲。

Bobby:我哋兄弟雖然貪玩,不過工作就很團結,每拍完都會去附近茶餐廳傾吓戲,每個人心態都好好、好Fit!我都有問監製(鄧特希)點解搵我哋這班二線演員演出,佢話搵一線演員可能戲份會集中一個人身上,但係全班都係二線,就可造出良性競爭!

阿公:我都發現一個現象,我哋兄弟不止有監製計算嘅效果,就連互相交惡、爭戲情況都冇,感情之好,仲可以合作五輯都冇變,實在好難得。要是其他劇,大家演員長時間對住,好多都會有爭拗!

Bobby:所以我好期待《皇庭》長拍長有,仲要搞多啲聚會……

陶:我哋呢班爛玩兄弟已踏入人生另一階段,時至今日要再走埋一齊,相信監製都要諗一啲「新口味」配合至得!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Mingpao Weekly Exclusive Interview: Dispelling rumors of financial hardship, Flora Chan to temporarily leave acting behind and return to school

**Hot off the press!**

In today's issue of Mingpao Magazine, there was an 'exclusive' interview that they did with former TVB actress Flora Chan (who also happens to be one of my favorites in terms of 90s TVB actresses).

With all the rumors that had been flying around the past couple months about Flora possibly returning to TVB to film series (and many Triumph in the Skies fans holding out hope that she would return to film the sequel and collaborate with Francis Ng again), as well as all those reports about her being in financial trouble, I'm glad Flora did this particular interview to clarify everything.

Even though Flora is one of my favorite actresses, I will be one of the first ones to say that I absolutely hated her comeback series from 2009 (Suspects in Love was so horrible and boring, I didn't even bother finishing the series) -- though I actually blame TVB for it more than I blame her.  With that said though, I was actually looking forward to seeing Flora on the small screen again (whether it's with TVB or another TV station doesn't matter to me), but I guess now with this interview, that's most likely not going to happen.  Oh well -- I'm fine with it, since it sounds like Flora will be pursuing something that she really wants to do -- after all, acting is just a job....most important is that she's happy.

Not sure when we'll see another interview with Flora (probably not anytime soon), so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish Flora the best of luck in her future endeavors! 

*****

Mingpao Weekly Exclusive Interview:   Dispelling rumors of financial hardship, Flora Chan to temporarily leave acting behind and return to school


Translation:  llwy12



After marrying her manager Mike Chung (鍾家鴻) in 2006 and giving birth to daughter Mira the year after that, former TVB fadan Flora Chan (陳慧珊) had reduced her workload in order to care for her family. In 2009, she returned briefly to the small screen, collaborating with actor Joe Ma (馬德鐘) on the TVB series Suspects in Love《搜下留情》, however since then, she once again ‘disappeared’ from HK audience’s TV screens. Earlier in the year, when Flora’s husband Mike filed for bankruptcy, it was reported that Flora would have to return to working as an actress in order to make money. Subsequently, various rumors started to fly around, including rumors that she had signed with Ricky Wong’s (王維基) CTI as well as the possibility that she would return to TVB to film the upcoming sequel for the series Triumph in the Skies《衝上雲霄》.

In an exclusive interview with Mingpao Weekly, Flora reveals for the first time her current financial situation and also gives insight into her life with her family. She candidly reveals that she will be leaving acting behind and instead will be returning to school: “This step [going to school] is way more important than the money I would earn through filming another series.”

.--.

The last time Flora did an interview with Mingpao was more than 2 years ago. This time around, Flora started off the interview by telling our reporter that she has already decided to temporarily leave the entertainment industry behind her and so she wasn’t sure if she’d have another opportunity to interview again: “Back when my daughter was born, I already had plans to spend the subsequent 5 years focused on raising her because the first 4 to 5 years of a child’s life is very important -- I wanted to personally be by my daughter’s side to take care of her and teach her. This past year or two, as my daughter continues to grow up, sometimes I’m not sure anymore whether I’m teaching her or she’s teaching me – more and more, I feel as though I lack the knowledge and capability to truly ‘teach’ her, so I felt it was necessary improve myself. Besides, any knowledge that I learn stays with me forever and no one can ever take that away – therefore, I’ve decided to temporarily halt all job opportunities and return to school starting in September. I’ve already been accepted into Hong Kong University and will be studying for a Masters degree in English. Even though I have not made any specific decisions on what will happen after that, there is a possibility that my time will be dedicated more to the Education field, so audiences might see even less of me.”

Feels happy to be a housewife

Towards the start of school in September, Flora expressed: “I am so excited!” Actually, Flora is already considered ‘half a Westerner’, so why the need to study English? She expressed: “From the moment I came to Hong Kong to pursue a career, I already knew that in the future, I would eventually return to the U.S., as that’s where my home is. I hope that in the future, when I return to the U.S., I’ll be able to utilize the Masters degree to pursue a teaching career. As for when I’m planning to return to the U.S., it will most likely have to wait until my daughter is in high school or college.”

In her decision to return to school, Flora expressed that in addition to getting the support of her husband, she is also grateful to TVB: “Even though I left TVB 10 years ago, I still have a contract with them – they’ve actually contacted me many times about filming another series for them, but ultimately, we haven’t been able to work out the scheduling. They actually already know that I will be returning to school for at least 2 years and so won’t be accepting any filming offers in that period of time.” (Rumors that Ricky Wong contacted you?) “If I do decide to film series again in the future, TVB will definitely be my first choice. These past 10 years, they [TVB] have been very good to me – whether from a collaboration, timing, or financial perspective, they’ve been very accommodating towards me. Therefore, I feel it’s not the right time to collaborate with other companies.” (Is it an issue with the price?) “I don’t feel that price is a main focus right now. If money was truly an issue for me, I wouldn’t choose to return to school instead of working. I want to give TVB their respect.”

For the sake of her daughter, Flora is willing to give up her career and return to school as well as became a full-time housewife – does she feel it’s worth it? “Returning to school isn’t entirely because of my daughter – it’s also for my own benefit as well to help me keep up with the times, so of course it’s worth it! Sometimes my friends would call to tell me that the Media took pictures of me taking care of my daughter, buying groceries, and doing other ‘housewife’ things -- actually, I feel that being a housewife is a very happy and blessed thing, especially knowing when I wake up every morning that my lifetime goal is to raise my daughter and give her a comfortable life. Besides, the future direction of HK movie and television productions won’t be focused on artists from my generation anyway – if something doesn’t belong to me in the first place, there’s no point in trying to fight for it. I’m more comfortable with the position I am in right now.”


Husband is 10 times stronger than her

In each path that she’s taken, Flora has always been very rational and clear about her decisions, however when her husband Mike unexpectedly announced that he was filing for bankruptcy, many people were worried about Flora’s financial situation: “In making the decision to return to school, I had already discussed it with my husband and we both agree that from a financial perspective, it won’t be a problem. After the Media photographed us buying groceries at a street market one time, stories immediately came out that we had financial problems and such. In reality, we’ve actually been doing the same thing [buying groceries at a street market] for the past 5 years already! In the future, I can show my daughter those Media reports and explain to her that in this world, there are many things that are beyond our control, so it’s better to control ourselves rather than worry about controlling others. Intelligent people will naturally be able to exercise self-control and understand how to tell the difference between what is true and what is false.” Indeed, most of the news reports surrounding Flora recently have all been related to her financial situation – towards this, Flora expressed that she doesn’t pay much attention to entertainment news anymore: “Since I don’t read those entertainment reports, a lot of times my friends are the ones who inform me about stuff. Even so, I don’t pay attention to it and I also don’t get angry or upset because I know it’s not something I’m able to control. All along, I’ve never really paid much attention to stuff going on in the entertainment industry – even back 10 years ago, I already didn’t pay attention, so of course now, when I’m already in my 40s, there’s even less need to do so. If I live to be 80, that means that I’ve already passed the midway point in my life now, so what path should I take for the second half? I want to take the ‘happy’ path and do the things that I want to do."

Towards her husband filing for bankruptcy, Flora expressed that she will support every decision her husband makes: “We are mutually supportive of each other. Why is it that I’m able to be such at peace with my life and no matter what happens, I’m able to sleep soundly every night? It’s because I have someone who is 10 times more intelligent, rational, and capable than me by my side [her husband Mike].” (Any comforting words for your husband?) “He doesn’t need it – doing my responsibilities as his wife and not nagging him about it are already sufficient. Men need their space – if he feels the need, he will talk to me about it. We often discuss many things and we don’t keep secrets from each other. Throughout the entire ordeal, I’ve been very supportive of him – he’s definitely a very strong person!”