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！
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