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Monday, March 28, 2011

Julian (Chilam) Cheung's 2011 Concert (張智霖我係外星人演唱會)

Julian (Chilam) Cheung promises wife Anita they will take wedding pictures at 60 years old - AsianFanatics Forum

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I translated this article for AF and really enjoyed it, so figured I'd share it here on my blog.  Both Mingpao and Oriental Daily had a few really good articles recapping Chilam's concert!  I can't wait for this concert to be released on DVD -- definitely buying it for sure!

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Translation:  llwy12

Julian (Chilam) Cheung promises wife Anita they will take wedding pictures at 60 years old

Picture credits as listed

The final show of Chilam Cheung’s 2011 concert ended the day before yesterday at the HK Coliseum amidst an aura of family love, friendship, and tears.

During the final show, Chilam once again declared his love for his wife Anita Yuen onstage, but this time, he was prepared with tissues, just in case. In a moving speech directed towards his wife, Chilam talks about how he had a bit of a rebellious streak and didn’t want to let the Media run his life, so back when he and Anita married, they did so secretly, without much ceremony. In a shaky voice, Chilam stated: “We didn’t even take wedding photos! I definitely owe her – I promise that when we are 60 years old, we will take the wedding pictures together!” When Anita heard this, she was so touched that she was in tears. Then, Chilam started to sing the song《未響妻》for his wife, however he was so emotional and in tears that he couldn’t complete it and had to re-start all over again. Chilam then said: “Recently, there have been reports that my wife has been feeling ill…it is true – she has a thyroid gland ailment, yet every day, she still accompanies me jogging in preparation for my concert. Whether in sickness or health, facing life or death, I want to be with you forever!” This once again caused Anita to cry.

For finale night, Chilam invited his best friend Aaron Kwok onstage and together, they performed Aaron’s hit “Never Ending Love” and each showed off their dance moves. With regard to his buddy Aaron, Chilam states: “I met Aaron when I filmed my first movie and since then have known him for 15 years – during 13 of those years, I would see him more often than I’d see my wife!” Before coming on the stage, Aaron took the opportunity to play a joke on his buddy, telling him to get into his ‘dance’ pose, then telling him to be careful not to tear his pants – Chilam self-consciously checked his pants for a tear, causing the audience to burst out in laughter.

Chilam’s other musical guest was Cecilia Cheung, with whom he had collaborated on an MV years ago. The two sang the song “Thanks For Caring”, holding hands and hugging during the performance. It’s been years since Cecilia performed at the HK Coliseum, so she was visibly nervous and went off-key at certain parts. Chilam praised her performance, saying that she had already practiced over 100 times during rehearsal and did a good job.

During the encore, Chilam invited his rumored ex-girlfriend Maple Hui on stage to perform their classic duet “Modern Love Story”. Maple praised Chilam and said that even though they had not seen each other for 19 years, he is still as handsome now as he was 20 years ago. While they performed, Maple’s husband Jimmy Wong (Shu Kei) used his cellphone to take pictures, while Chilam’s wife Anita stood by the stage in support of her husband.

The highlight of the show however, was the guest of honor – Chilam’s 4 year old son Morton! After Chilam’s duet with Maple, a clip of Morton singing George Lam’s classic “Need You Every Minute” was suddenly played and Morton was brought onto the stage, carrying a Buzz Lightyear doll in his arms. Chilam took his son into his arms and father / son shared a sweet kiss on the lips. Then Chilam asked his son a few questions:

Chilam: “Are you sleepy?”
Morton: “Yes”
Chilam: “Do you know where you are?”
Morton: “At concert”
Chilam: “Do you miss Daddy?”
Morton: “…..”

Chilam pretended to be ‘mad’ and sent his son off stage, but making sure to tell the audience: “That’s my son! If you see him, don’t hit him!”

The concert ended with Chilam singing 《祝君好》 (the themesong to “Return of the Cuckoo”), once again becoming emotional and shedding tears as he went offstage.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Weibo Fever #4: Some More Jacky Sightings!

Just wanted to share some more Jacky posts from Vani’s weibo (to find out who Vani is, check out my earlier post here). She visited Jacky in Suzhou where he held his concert last week.

Note: All pictures credited as listed.

March 18th @ 14:39: Vani’s Weibo

為了阿哥,我第一次來到蘇州

Translation (by me): Because of big brother Jacky, this is my first time in Suzhou. [Yay!]



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March 18th @ 15:50: Vani’s Weibo

學友哥綵排中
Translation: Big brother Jacky at rehearsal



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March 18th @ 17:22: Vani’s Weibo

學友個唱 從頭到腳都Bling Bling

Translation: Jacky’s concert: ‘Bling Bling’ from head to toe!




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March 18th @ 17:36: Vani’s Weibo

歌神演出前要小睡 浴袍很舒適

Translation: Before the God of Songs performs, he needs to take a nap first (shhh). The robe is very comfortable.



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March 18th @ 19:55: Vani’s Weibo

阿哥出場了! 他不是不高興,而是剛咬了一口蘋果,不許笑

Translation: Time for big brother Jacky to go on stage! (Yay!) He isn’t unhappy – he just took a bite of an apple, so is not able to smile.



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March 19th @ 13:51: Vani’s Weibo

人在香港寫昨晚在蘇州看學友的心情。昨午一直在後台陪阿哥,突然一聲巨響,原來那套壓軸穿的水晶歌衫跌在地上,我隨手想執起,竟然拿不起來,後來才知木衣架原來承受不起重量已爛掉了兩只!在看阿哥穿起對我來説像千斤重的歌衫跳唱十首歌時,我眼睛都濕了~他可以不用這樣的,但他一定給歌迷最好

Translation: I’m in HK right now writing about my feelings upon visiting Jacky in Suzhou. All afternoon yesterday, I was backstage keeping big brother Jacky company when all of a sudden there was a huge crashing sound. I saw that the outfit (made of crystal) that Jacky wears near the end of the concert had fallen on the ground, so I figured I’d pick it up for him – to my surprise, I could barely lift the suit! Later on, I found out that the wooden hanger used to hang the outfit could not bear the weight of the suit and had broken into 2 pieces! Watching big brother Jacky put on the outfit that, to me, felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, then seeing him dance and sing 10 songs while wearing it – my eyes became wet with tears….he doesn’t have to go through all that, but he wanted to give his fans the best performance possible!

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My comments: First of all, thank you to Vani for the exclusive ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at Jacky’s concert in Suzhou! I definitely enjoyed all of these posts!

As a die-hard Jacky fan, the last post about Jacky’s outfit really moved me – in fact, I felt tears well up in my eyes too when I read the last sentence! It reminded me of Jacky’s 2007 concert when he had to cancel a few performances during the Hong Kong leg of his concert (VERY RARE occurrence) due to illness as well as the one time in 2005 when he had to cut short one of his “Snow Wolf Lake” performances in China because his voice had cracked during one of the songs and he knew he was not feeling well. In both instances, he was very upset at himself for having to put his fans (and the regular audience who bought tickets to watch his performances) through all that – but because he wanted to be fair to his fans and give us the best performance possible, he decided to cancel the performances rather than do a mediocre job (plus he has high standards / expectations for himself).

Jacky is a true professional, but not only that – he’s also the rare type of artist who is genuinely concerned about his fans and the impact that his performance has on us (his fans). As he said during his concert, he enjoys performing for people who like to hear him sing – well, I just want to say that we (his true fans) appreciate everything he does and his efforts will never go wasted with us! I am proud to be a fan of an artist who cares so much about us and would go such great lengths for us! Support you forever, Jacky!!!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Book Review: 從零開始 (Now and Then II) -- post #3…Chow Yun Fat (周潤發)

** Disclaimer: The below is a review of one of the interviews in the book and is written from my perspective – it is not by any means a direct translation of the entire interview. For a detailed description of what this particular book is about, please refer to post #1.**

In continuing my book review series on 80s/90s HK artists, I decided it would be fitting to write about another one of my idols – an artist who I absolutely adore, admire, and respect: Chow Yun Fat (Fat Gor).

Introduction: (note: most of the ‘intro’ part below is my personal assessment of Chow Yun Fat and a lot of it is not in the book)

Fat Gor is definitely a cultural icon for us Hong Kongers – in fact, there are very few people in Asia who do not know who Chow Yun Fat is (and now, most people in Hollywood know him as well). Fat Gor was instrumental in shaping the HK television and movie industries in the 70s and 80s and even now, after being in the industry for 30+ years, he is still able to generate millions of dollars in revenue at the box office with his high quality acting (though he is no longer active in the HK movie industry and does most of his work in mainland China or in the U.S.). Fat Gor is one of the few artists who actually possess what I call the ‘entire package’ – looks and talent. (Even now, despite being in his 50s, Fat Gor is still very attractive – to me at least!)

With Fat Gor being such a big star / celebrity, it would be logical to think that perhaps he travels with an entourage or lives in a huge mansion with people waiting on him hand and foot? Or perhaps that he demands star treatment wherever he goes and has to be the center of attention? NOPE!!! Actually, Fat Gor is the complete OPPOSITE of all that – he is extremely down to earth and nice, he has a warm, friendly personality, an awesome sense of humor, and most important of all, a naturally revering, humble attitude…a man with excellent work ethics who is constantly looking out for his juniors, and an avid learner who – despite being away from the HK television and film industries for so many years already – is still constantly in tune with all things related to both industries!

I know that Fat Gor has an especially soft spot for TVB, as the TVB of the 70s and 80s helped shape his career and he still feels a connection to them. Fat Gor has mentioned in past interviews that whenever he is at home in HK, he would be sure to watch the latest TVB series that is on before he goes to bed (though he doesn’t watch the entire timeslot, since he has an early bedtime…lol). Oh and of course, in the rare opportunity when a TVB reporter gets to interview him (which always happens to be around TVB anniversary time...hmmm) and undoubtedly asks him who his ‘favorites’ are for TV King and Queen, he demonstrates through his (often humorous) responses that he definitely has a good grasp of which artists and series are popular right now!

Fat Gor has always said that he is not a big star, but rather, just an ordinary person like everyone else – indeed, the biggest ‘proof’ of his ‘ordinary-ness’ (is that a word?) is his sincerely humble attitude! Here are just a few examples (from my memory) of how Fat Gor demonstrates this trait:

-- Fat Gor attended a press conference in Asia (can’t remember if it was in China or Taiwan) to promote his latest movie. After the press conference was over, instead of getting up and heading off to the dressing room (as most ‘big stars’ probably would have done), he stands up and starts helping the crew fold up and put away chairs. When the MC / host of the event (Huang Zi Jiao) saw this, he quickly went over to Fat Gor and said: “Fat Gor, you’re putting away chairs for us? How could we have a famous star like you putting away chairs?” To which Fat Gor replies: “Why not? I need to make myself useful! Not an ‘old man’ yet!” (typical Chow Yun Fat humor – I love it!!!).

-- On any typical day, an ordinary HK citizen may bump into Fat Gor at the local street markets buying fresh groceries to cook for his wife and himself. He is usually ‘decked out’ in a flannel shirt and jeans, wearing a baseball cap on his head and carrying a backpack – indeed, he does ‘blend in’ with the crowd to some extent, but those handsome features of his (plus his height) usually give him away. But that’s ok – because if passers-by recognize him and ask for his autograph or – better yet, ask to take a picture with him – with his friendly personality, he will try to accommodate as much as possible, without causing a commotion.

-- So how does Fat Gor ‘travel’ around HK? No, he does NOT have a chauffeur and no, he does NOT drive his own car. Instead, he either walks or takes the bus / subway / train. Now which other famous ‘superstar’ out there do you know of who takes public transportation to and from places? I challenge you to give me one name! LOL!

Is it any surprise then, that Chow Yun Fat is so respected / loved / revered by so many people (both ‘ordinary’ citizens and fellow colleagues alike) all around the world?

The below quote from the book is one of the best descriptions of Chow Yun Fat that I’ve come across so far:

Coming from a ‘grassroots’ background, Chow Yun Fat indeed still has that ‘grassroots’ nature in his bones. Even now, what he chases after is simply encountering a good acting role rather than living a luxurious life or indulging in extravagance: “Being ‘ordinary’ is a blessing – one’s passion and love towards work has nothing to do with how much wealth that person has. For me, what type of car to drive no longer has any meaning – in fact, I like riding the bus and taking the subway the most, as it’s more practical. I enjoy being an ‘ordinary’ person.”

He [Fat Gor] often dresses casually and personally goes to the local street market in Kowloon City for groceries – when the street vendors see him, they do not look at him with an awestruck, surprised expression. Yes, he is a superstar, but everyone has pretty much accepted that he is also an ‘ordinary’ person amongst us…an ‘old friend’ of ours whom we may bump into occasionally and greet each other with a quick ‘Hello’ – there is no fanfare nor overcrowding him to the point that he cannot move – thereby allowing him to enjoy a privilege that most other superstar idols may never have: freedom and space.

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CHILDHOOD

Chow Yun Fat was born into a poor family in the fishing village of Lamma Island in the 1950s. His father was a fisherman who was constantly out at sea and only returned home once a year to see the family (Fat Gor has 3 brothers and sisters). Growing up in the village, majority of Fat Gor’s time during childhood was spent working the fields, tending the animals that lived in the pastures, and playing in the village square with the other kids. Indeed, Fat Gor is a self-proclaimed ‘village boy’: “As soon as I opened my eyes [as a baby], the first thing I came into contact with was nature.”

Fat Gor had a very close relationship with his mother and as a child, he would follow behind her as she made various snacks to sell, then he would help her carry the baskets of goodies across the hills to the markets. After a day’s toil, the family would come home and have dinner – usually a simple meal of rice and lard with salty turnips. Even though village life was difficult, Fat Gor never had any complaints – his family was poor, but they were happy. Fat Gor entered school when he was 8 years old, but unfortunately, he was never ‘student’ material – he didn’t like school and never excelled in it. In order to give her children a better life, Fat Gor’s mother went to work in the city, cleaning houses for families, washing dishes at local restaurants, etc. and often times she would take her 2 youngest children (Fat Gor and his little sister) with her, leaving them at a relative’s house nearby until she was done. Even during the 1960s, village life was extremely different from city life and recounting those times now, Fat Gor admitted that it was difficult to adjust to life in the city due to his strong connection with nature in the village.

Fat’s Gor’s love for his mother is both admirable and extremely moving – he admits that he is a “Mama’s boy” and when he had to attend boarding school for a few years when he was 11, he cried for 1 week at the thought of having to leave his mother! Indeed, Fat Gor has always been known for being a filial son, but he’s that way not just because of obligation or responsibility. Fat Gor states it best when he describes his relationship with his mother and life in the village this way:

“My mom and I are the best partners. Back when she was a street vendor in Lamma Island, she would carry a big basket and I would carry a small one; later, when she went to the restaurants to wash dishes, I would substitute for her when she didn’t have time to do it. She is a great example for me – her ability to work hard in the midst of hardship and overcome adversity is an inspiration to me….she is the one who had the biggest effect on me. I treasure those days from the past – bearing hardship was a lesson in endurance and the memories were good ones. Without the past, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”

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CAREER

As stated earlier, Fat Gor was never a good student and disliked school – so before he even graduated from high school, he decided he would quit school and get a job. His first job was as a bellboy at a hotel, helping guests with their luggage, then after that he worked at the post office and later as a delivery boy for a photography shop.

In 1975, when Fat Gor was 20 years old, TVB was doing recruitments for their 5th Acting Class. Interestingly, Fat Gor almost didn’t make it into the class, as his reading of some dialogue during the interview portion was not very fluent and majority of the judges gave him non-passing scores. Luckily, TVB’s acting classes instructor Chung King Fai (Fat Gor’s future mentor) saw potential in Fat Gor and felt that with his tall, handsome features, he could be future star material – so he gave Fat Gor a chance and accepted him into the class. (Thank you to King Sir for making the right decision – he is truly the one who should receive credit for helping to create a Hong Kong icon!)

During his Acting Class days, Fat Gor received mainly small, ‘kelefe’ roles – it wasn’t until after he graduated from Acting class in (in 1976) that he began to get ‘meatier’ roles in big productions such as “Hotel”, “The Celebration”, “Tycoon”, “Conflict”, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, etc. By 1980, Fat Gor was already TVB’s top-rated ‘siu sang’, however it was the popular series “The Bund” that really made him a household name. With his popularity, Fat Gor made 10x more money that he did when he started (he only made 500 HKD a month when he started), but during that era, the amount he made was way less than a lot of the big name artists from outside that TVB would sometimes invite to participate in their series.

Almost from the start (when he graduated in 1976), Fat Gor was already ‘dabbling’ in movies and throughout the time he was at TVB, he also filmed a few movies a year….needless to say, he was definitely a busy man, participating in both TV series and movies as well as being invited to perform at various venues by commercial sponsors. His career grew from there and soon, he was even doing some hosting of TVB’s anniversary galas (of course, he would be paired with Dodo Cheng, who was pretty much the only female who could ‘match’ him at that time in terms of physical appearance and chemistry). In 1985, Fat Gor participated in his last TV series, “Police Cadet 1985” (his fourth TV collaboration with Tony Leung) and left TVB shortly after that to concentrate on his film career (another great decision!). Lucky for those of us who actively followed TVB in the 1980s, Fat Gor continued to maintain a good relationship with TVB even after he left and actually returned a few times to help host or even just participate in their anniversary galas!

As we all know, Fat Gor went on to build an illustrious, successful career for himself in HK’s film industry and received many acting awards along the way. I am actually not going to go into detail about his film career, since that would take several posts to do (LOL)! I do want to talk a little bit about Fat Gor’s venture into Hollywood though, which officially occurred in 1997 when he filmed his first Hollywood movie, “The Replacement Killers” with Mira Sorvino. One of Fat Gor’s biggest obstacles in ‘conquering’ Hollywood was, of course, the English language – so starting from the time that he made the decision to enter that industry, he started to diligently learn English. Luckily, he had a 24 hour instructor (his wife Jasmine, who is from Singapore and knows the language) and also hired an additional instructor to work with him for 2 hours a day. As with everything he does, Fat Gor persevered and put his complete effort into learning English – even his wife Jasmine couldn’t help complimenting her husband’s efforts: “He is very hard-working, when we first started, except for eating, he would stay in the room the entire time and practice over and over again."

Even after Fat Gor became popular in Hollywood (though most of his movies didn’t do well at the box office), his easygoing nature and humble personality did not change – whenever fans asked him for his signature or pose for a picture, he would patiently satisfy them. He would also treat the cast and crew to dinner occasionally and share his infectious humor with them. When reporters from HK flew to the U.S. to interview one of the directors who worked with Fat Gor, he praised Fat Gor in this way: “His preparation for filming is excellent! From the beginning when we started working with him, we’ve praised his work ethic! He is able to handle the English language portion without a problem – he even volunteered to lose weight in order to match his role more. Whether he’s onscreen or behind the scenes, Chow Yun Fat definitely has elegance and grace.”

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RELATIONSHIPS

After entering the entertainment industry, Fat Gor did have a few very famous (though not necessarily public) relationships. Here’s a recap of the most famous ones that were mentioned in the book….

Cora Miao: Love on the set

When we think of ‘legendary’ on-screen couples in HK entertainment, Chow Yun Fat and Dodo Cheng undoubtedly come to mind, as their collaborations in the late 70s/early 80s have been deeply etched in most audience’s minds….but in reality, they were never a couple in real life (just good friends and partners at work). Prior to 1980, Chow Yun Fat’s on-screen partner was former Miss HK Cora Miao – the two of them not only collaborated on series, but also hosted shows together and performed together in other venues. During the filming of “Hotel” in 1976, Fat Gor admitted that he and Cora were dating in real life (in his words, he was “in love with her, completely mesmerized by her….”). Unfortunately though, their relationship only lasted a short time, ending almost before it truly began: “…She and I once had 15 days of happiness, but once the news of our relationship was revealed, her family objected to us being together – she cried when she told me. Actually, our personalities don’t match at all….” Even after they broke up though, they continued to work together in television and movies, though not as often as previously. Cora eventually married film director Wayne Wang and is no longer active in the industry.

Idy Chan: a love / hate relationship

Fat Gor’s relationship with Idy Chan started around 1977 and ended 5 years later – interestingly, in the 5 years that they were together, they were rarely seen together in public and were photographed together only once, in 1979, when they did a television special together (that’s also when their relationship was revealed).

Throughout the time they were together, Fat Gor and Idy had a rocky relationship – Idy had a strong personality and Fat Gor’s mother was not very fond of her at all (which probably put added pressure to the relationship, knowing how filial Fat Gor is towards his mom). However, Fat Gor’s busy schedule definitely got in the way too, as he was often not able to spend a lot of time with Idy. Also, due to their busy schedules, there were times when they would spend months away from each other, which definitely impacted the relationship. In fact, even Idy herself did not have much confidence that her relationship with Fat Gor would last and rumors of their breakup persisted almost throughout the entire 5 years that they were together.

The rumors of a breakup was strongest in mid 1982 – coincidentally, in October of that year, Fat Gor was rushed to the hospital due to food poisoning, however due to the rumors of his breakup with Idy, the Media spun the story into ‘Chow Yun Fat attempts suicide over breakup with Idy Chan’. (sorry, but I have to say that the Media is just plain stupid….Fat Gor was at Idy’s sister house when the incident occurred and when he was at the hospital, Idy was by his side the entire time, bawling like crazy….even if there was something going on between the 2 of them at that time, I don’t see how that has anything to do with ‘suicide’). Not long after the incident, Fat Gor returned to work and filmed the series “The Radio Tycoon” with Angie Chiu. It turns out that Idy Chan was also supposed to participate in this series back then (1982), however after Fat Gor’s hospital incident, she withdrew from filming the series. (that’s interesting – I actually never knew that Idy was originally slated to be part of “The Radio Tycoon” cast).

Though the exact date is not mentioned in the book, I sort of figured that Fat Gor and Idy’s relationship ended around November/December 1982 (based on his announcement of marriage to Candy Yu in January 1983 – more on this later). Their relationship actually did not end on good terms, as there were ‘rumors’ and ‘suspicions’ between them about ‘third parties’ in the relationship. We will probably never know for sure how and why the relationship ended, but I think that the below 2 quotes from the book gives pretty good insight as to what may have occurred (both Fat Gor and Idy have different opinions about the relationship, so I’m not going to even attempt to figure out the reason – after reading the below, you may interpret as you wish…).

--- From Idy’s perspective: “We have been threatening to ‘break up’ for 2 years already – it’s been going on for too long. Each time, I’m the one who suggests parting ways because I feel that the 2 of us have no way of being together forever. Fat Jai (Chow Yun Fat) doesn’t want to break up, but honestly, our relationship can’t continue on this way – having a boyfriend is the same as not having one. I admit that I am not able to ‘get used to’ Fat Jai.”

--- From Fat Gor’s perspective: “In the entertainment industry, I have never encountered as good a woman as her [Idy] – out of all the girlfriends I’ve had in the past, she is the most simple and obedient one…but she has a strong personality and at that time, I did not have a whole lot of patience – she would stand firm and I would stand even firmer. She had to ‘endure’ me for 5 years – I was not good to her and I entirely did not understand how to treasure her. After she refused my marriage proposal, I realized only then how much I truly loved her.”


Candice Yu: doomed relationship from the start?

In January 1983, Fat Gor made an announcement that rattled the entire HK entertainment industry at that time – he was marrying actress Candice Yu On-On. I use the word ‘rattled’ because this was indeed big news at the time, considering how Fat Gor and Idy never officially announced breaking up, so the public still thought that the 2 of them were together. Indeed, for those unfamiliar with ‘old’ HK entertainment history, this announcement may sound like it came out of left field, but after looking at this ‘history’, it actually makes sense: you see, Candice Yu was actually one of Fat Gor’s former girlfriends. They had dated briefly in 1976 (his second girlfriend after entering the industry), but broke up after a few months. The 2 of them married about a month after the announcement (in February 1983), but unfortunately, the marriage did not last – in November that same year (9 months after they married), the couple separated (though the divorce was not actually finalized until 2 years later).


Jasmine Chan: partner for life

In 1984, it was rumored that Fat Gor had a new girlfriend – a woman from Singapore who was also a college graduate and a business woman. The ‘rumors’ proved to be true, as the author of the book (longtime Mingpao contributor and editor Wong Lee Ling) was a also a close friend of the Chow family and at the time, she had personally called Jasmine to confirm the information. They officially married in New York in October 1986 (during a break from filming a movie) but in March 1987, they decided to hold an ‘official’ wedding ceremony in Singapore for family and friends. The interesting thing about the wedding ceremony is that Fat Gor used a ‘fake’ Chinese name on the wedding invitation (which was released to the media shortly after the ceremony), though his English name was real (not many people know his real English name) – he probably did that in order to avoid ‘harassment’ from the Media (as we all know how HK paparazzi can be) – plus the invitation didn’t matter much anyway, since Fat Gor and Jasmine were technically already married back in 1986.

The story of Fat Gor and Jasmine’s relationship and marriage is very heartwarming (and a little bit humorous at times) and throughout the 24 years that they’ve been married so far, they have been (and still are) known in the industry as a ‘golden couple’….but it wasn’t exactly ‘smooth sailing’ for them all these years. In 1992, the couple endured a tragic loss: Jasmine became pregnant, but 2 weeks before the baby was to be born, she felt stomach pains and was afraid that something was possibly wrong with the baby (a girl), so Fat Gor rushed her to the hospital. They found out that the baby had died in the womb (the umbilical cord had accidentally wrapped around the baby’s neck and suffocated her), so doctors had to deliver the baby stillborn. Both Fat Gor and Jasmine were devastated (especially since both of them love kids and had been happily preparing for the birth). Just reading the account of what happened (it was quite detailed in the book) brought tears to my eyes, even though I had already heard about the situation back in the 90s through news reports and such. The difference is that this particular account (in the book) was written from the perspective of a family friend (as well as partially via interviews), so there was a certain ‘personal’ level to it that no other news report could ever deliver, so it made the story even more heartwrenching.

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CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

As I stated earlier, this ‘review’ is simply an effort by me to share memories about some of my favorite artists from the 80s and 90s. It is NOT meant to be a comprehensive biography about the artists’ lives or careers.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post about Chow Yun Fat – he is certainly one of the most popular and well-known icons of the HK entertainment industry, and so it is only fitting that I dedicate a longer post to his story.

Lastly, my apologies for the LONG post….I greatly appreciate whoever takes the time to read through this post!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

My Thoughts on variety show “Solid Goldies 金曲擂台”

I ‘discovered’ this variety show on TVB this weekend (watched it on DVD) and decided since it involves the 80s/90s era again, it was worth blogging about. The show is actually pretty recent, as it aired on TVB last year (2010) – unfortunately, the show only has 8 episodes, which, IMO, is way too short (I’ll explain more about this later).

In order to understand the rest of my post, it’s necessary to understand what the show is about and the format of it. So here’s a brief summary of the show:

.>> I guess you could consider this show a ‘music variety show’. It’s also a ‘game show’ of sorts because there are groups competing for prizes. Basically, various artists are invited onto the show every week to compete in singing performances and are given points by the audience. The group with the most points at the end wins.

.>> There are 3 groups: The first one is led by veteran singer Lee Lung Kei and consists mostly of veteran singers from the 70s (well, some of the singers were actually active prior to the 70s too, technically). The second group is led by actress/singer Susanna Kwan and consists mostly of actors/actresses who are also singers or who have good singing abilities. The third group consists of contestants from the first and second season of “The Voice” (of course, leave it to TVB to shamelessly plug / promote their ‘own’ singers) and is led by either Mag Lam (for like 2 or 3 episodes) or Ryan Lau (for majority of the show).

.>>  The points from each episode are tallied and at the end of episode 7, the group with the lowest score will be eliminated and the other 2 groups will move on to compete in the finale (episode 8)….’coincidentally’ (or not??), all 3 groups ended up in the finale because the 2 lowest scoring groups ended up in a tie (seems fishy to me, but ok).

.>> Every episode, there is a ‘theme’ -- they feature one ‘superstar’ singer from the 70s/80s HK music industry and compete amongst the groups using that singer’s songs.

Here’s a rundown of the singers that were featured in each episode:

Episode 1: Anita Mui
Episode 2: Roman Tam
Episode 3: Sam Hui
Episode 4: Adam Cheng & Liza Wang
Episode 5: Leslie Cheung
Episode 6: Teresa Teng
Episode 7: Paula Tsui
Episode 8: Classic TVB Theme Songs (mostly from the 70s and 80s)

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Obviously, the reason why I watched this show was because of its focus on ‘classic’ HK music – otherwise, I would not have even wasted my time (knowing how much I can’t stand the HK music industry in the last decade)!

Below are some 'highlights' and ‘lowlights’ from the show:

HIGHLIGHT #1:
.>>The featured singers! Most of the ‘superstars’ chosen (with the exception of Adam and Liza) were great choices, as they were truly icons of the HK music industry and had a hand in defining Cantopop music. And most of the singers have a huge repertoire of awesome songs that are definitely considered classics, even now, 20-30 years later!

LOWLIGHT #1:
.>> Um, maybe it’s just me, but Adam and Liza were definitely out of place in the list of ‘superstar’ singers. I absolutely WOULD NOT consider either one of them icons or superstars in the music industry (not even close!!!). There are so many more stars who are more worthy than them, so why the hell did TVB include them? Well, here’s my theory: 1) since this show was filmed last year, the royalty dispute with the big 4 record companies was still going on, so obviously they could not feature any of the singers from those companies…that eliminates some obvious choices that were (glaringly) omitted, such as Alan Tam, George Lam, Danny Chan, etc.; 2) TVB has a ‘history’ of putting Liza on a pedestal and right now, she’s pretty much one of the few still active artists they have left who still has a connection with the ‘old TVB’ – they probably chose Adam to ‘pair’ with her because to be honest, Liza is an actress more than a singer, so she doesn’t have a whole lot of songs, plus they are good friends in real life and used to be a popular ‘onscreen’ couple.

.>> Btw, TVB was obviously ‘playing favorites’ in terms of Adam and Liza, as their songs were technically featured in 2 episodes (a few of the themesongs that the artists chose to sing from the 70s and early 80s were the ancient series ones that Adam and Liza sang).


HIGHLIGHT #2:
.>> The nostalgia! As a long time follower of HK entertainment, of course I was familiar with all of the ‘superstars’ that they featured as well as most of the songs that the artists chose to sing. With the exception of episode 4, I knew almost every single song that was sung (yes, even the ones from the 70s) and was actually singing along almost the entire time (yay – a mini music fest for me…hahaha!!). After watching all 8 episodes (which I did pretty much in 1 sitting), all I wanted to do was just pull out my ipod and listen to all those songs again!

LOWLIGHT #2:
.>> A few of the song choices were a bit obscure – with all the great hits that each of these singers had, some of the artists picked a few relatively unknown ones to sing – which was kind of interesting, but ok, fine, since majority of the songs were the popular hits that most people were familiar with.


HIGHLIGHT #3:
.>> Mimi Lo! Mimi was on a few of the episodes competing for the actors/singers group. She was absolutely awesome – her singing skills are excellent and her performances were touching. She was the main reason why the actor/singer team won – each time she performed, the audience voted for her performance, so she racked up a lot of points. (A highlight within a highlight – during the finale episode, right after Mimi’s great performance, the camera panned over to her husband Power Chan, who had come to support her and was watching near the stage – it looked like he was clapping the hardest out of everyone there….awwwww!!!).

LOWLIGHT #3:
.>> Most of the artists who were invited to participate were pretty good choices, as a lot of them had pretty good singing skills. But there were some really ‘bad’ choices in the groups (most notably in the Voice and the actor/singer groups) where the artists who were invited to perform really weren’t that good at all (a few were even ‘cringe-worthy’)! Luckily, each artist’s performance wasn’t too long, so didn’t have to endure for long.


HIGHLIGHT #4:
.>> The humor. Though I don’t think the show was meant to be funny, but a few of the episodes really cracked me up. There is one segment where the artist is supposed to mimic the classic costume or image of the particular singer (i.e.: Paula Tsui’s polka dot dress, Sam Hui’s ‘leopard’ themed costume, Teresa Teng’s classic ‘qi pao’ look, etc.) or in the case of the TV themesong episode, dress up in the attire of one of the characters. Some of the costumes that the artists chose to wear just didn’t fit them at all or were just really bad choices altogether and made them look weird – but it was funny though (which I guess is a plus…).

LOWLIGHT #4:
.>> Despite some flaws, this show overall was quite good (in my opinion) – it not only gives viewers a ‘glimpse’ into the ‘golden era’ of the HK music industry, it also was a good opportunity to bring all those classic Canto-pop songs to a new generation of listeners. BUT, unfortunately, the show was only 8 EPISODES! That is way too little considering this is one of the better variety shows that TVB made last year and way more ‘educational’ than some of the other crap that TVB produces – why did TVB only make 8 episodes of this show when other retarded (and borderline raunchy) variety shows such as Super Trio and Fun with Liza & the Gods got a whole year’s worth of episodes? Obviously we know where TVB’s priorities are!!!

.>> I also have another theory as to why this show was only 8 episodes – because the fact of the matter is, today’s younger audiences don’t know how to appreciate classic HK Canto-pop (yup, a lot of them only care about their current ‘idols’ who may look good but can’t sing to save their lives). And since a third of the artists who participated in the show were from the 70s (most of today’s audience’s probably weren’t even born yet), I’m sure they were not ‘familiar faces’ to majority of the audiences. So based on the above, TVB probably felt that the ratings wouldn’t be good, so didn’t bother investing much in it (plus it’s not like any of their ‘favorite’ sons or daughters were part of the show – except for the Voice kids, that is)

.--.
To be honest, I didn’t think I would like this show because one of my biggest pet peeves is seeing people do a bad job mimicking some of my favorite artists and ‘butchering’ their songs. There was definitely some of that (of course), but overall, majority of the artists were actually quite good in terms of singing, so there wasn’t as much ‘butchering’ as I anticipated (otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sit through it).

In terms of whether I recommend this show – well, it depends. If you’re an 80s/90s person like me, then definitely yes, because even if you don’t like the artists who compete, at least you can still enjoy all those classic hits of the biggest names in HK music. For me, this was definitely the case – the trip down memory road was well worth it for me…I didn’t mind enduring a few bad performances as long as majority of the show was worth watching!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Book Review: 從零開始 (Now and Then II) -- post #2…Tony Leung 梁朝偉

It's time for another post about the book I'm currently reading, Cong Ling Kai Shi (for an introduction on the book, refer to this link).

One of the things that I actually forgot to mention in the introductory post to this book review series: one reason why I decided to write about the Cong Ling Kai Shi books is because many of the interviewed artists are 'big names' from the 80s and 90s (many of whom are still active in the industry today) and with me being an 80s/90s girl, I have a lot of nostalgia for the HK entertainment industry from that era (the "golden era" of HK entertainment). But it's not just about the nostalgia....I also wanted to provide some insight into how the HK entertainment industry has evolved (or, more fittingly, how the industry has 'deteriorated') and also highlight some of the struggles that those artists -- most of whom are still famous even now, 20+ years later -- went through on their paths to stardom. I guess you could say that this is my way of showing support for the artists from my generation and also sending a message to today’s generation of artists and fans on how ‘good’ they actually have it right now compared to before (so some of them can stop being so arrogant or have a false sense that fame and fortune come easily).

Ok, so moving on to the featured artist in this post: Tony Leung Chiu Wai (梁朝偉).

Tony is undoubtedly one of the most well-known and naturally talented actors on the planet (and yes, I mean ‘on the planet’ because Tony is definitely an international star now). He is also one of the most well-respected actors in the industry as well as one of the most ‘decorated’ (in terms of awards). However his road to fame was definitely not easy and after reading his interview in this book, I have so much more respect for him (he has always been one of my favorite actors, even from back in his television days).

Below are a few highlights from the interview (again, my disclaimer – this post does not cover everything that was talked about in the book – to find out more, I suggest that ‘Tony fans’ actually read the book!):


CHILDHOOD

Tony grew up in a single parent family, which is no surprise, since he has talked about this in past interviews. It’s also ‘public knowledge’ that he has a very introverted personality and doesn’t like to talk much or socialize much with people (which I also already knew about him). But what I didn’t know was the reason why he became so introverted – his father was a prolific gambler who left his wife and kids and never returned. So at the young age of 9 years old, Tony had to ‘grow up fast’ and become the ‘man of the house’, taking care of his little sister (who was only 1 year younger than him) and helping out around the house, since they didn’t have much money and his mom had to work all day in order to put food on the table.

Every day, Tony would get up early, make a simple breakfast for himself and his sister, then, holding his sister’s hand, the two would leave for school. In the afternoons, for lunch, he would go buy bbq pork rice bowl (which only cost a few dollars) for his sister (and himself), then after school, they would go home and do homework – he would always help his sister with her homework first and make sure she understood it and finished it before sitting down to do his own homework. In the evenings, when his mom got off work, though tired, she would cook a nice dinner for them to eat. This pretty much happened day in and day out through Tony’s childhood up until he graduated from high school.


CAREER: the TVB days

The story of how Tony entered TVB’s 11th year acting class is actually quite humorous – pretty much it was because of $10HKD!

As the story goes, Tony actually was friends with Stephen Chow – who at that time, had not yet entered the industry – and together, the 2 of them decided to apply to TVB’s 11th Acting Class in 1981 (Tony was 19 years old at the time). At that time, trying to get into acting class was a huge affair – hundreds of people would apply, but only a few were accepted. Tony was called in for an interview and when he reached the location, there were hundreds of people already in line – when he saw how many people there were, he wanted to give up and go back home, since he also wasn’t too confident that he would be able to pass the interview and exams anyway (silly him..LOL!). But then, he thought about how he had paid $10 HKD for the application fee and that money would be wasted – so he decided to be patient and wait it out. (Luckily for us because if the application was free, Tony probably would have left and the HK entertainment industry would not have the big star that it has today!!)

Tony was accepted to the 11th Acting Class at TVB. I guess we could say that this class was the one that produced the most talents, as 3 Best Actors in Film (Tony Leung, Francis Ng, Stephen Chow) and 1 Best Actor in Television (Bobby AuYeung) came out of this class!

As most of us know, Tony started his career hosting children’s programs (along with his classmate Stephen Chow), but it was obvious from the beginning that he had talent (the book goes into great detail about the scene that he did for his graduation exams – from seeing how that scene played out, it’s quite obvious Tony was born for this industry!). Not too long after that – in 1982 – he was recruited to the drama department and participated in his first series, “Soldier of Fortune” (he played Kent Tong’s younger brother). In comparisons…Stephen Chow remained in the variety programs department and continued hosting children’s programs for another 4 years.

When asked why he decided to go into acting, Tony replied: “It’s fun! I really like acting – even during the acting class days, I never feared getting up in front of a lot of people and performing. A lot of people had told me that whenever they film with Chow Yun Fat, they are afraid to look straight into his eyes…but I am not afraid!”

One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing artists who have no respect for the industry or their own jobs and instead let fame and fortune get to their heads as soon as they achieve just an ‘inkling’ of success. This is why I like most of the 80s artists so much – partly because they were truly talented, but mostly because they don’t have the ‘problem’ I described above – most of them had to go through a lot to get to where they are at today and so they don’t exhibit those ‘arrogant’-type attitudes that a lot of the younger people nowadays (who pretty much got stuff ‘handed’ to them and so didn’t have to suffer like their predecessors did) are notorious for exhibiting.

To illustrate my point above (this is also one of the reasons why I admire Tony and have so much respect for him as an actor and person), I would like to quote one section from the book:

People around him feel that he is lucky, but he [Tony] feels that one cannot rely on ‘luck’ alone: “Nowadays, whether I’m walking or sitting down, I’m constantly thinking about things related to acting. I like to observe people’s day to day actions and from there, derive inspiration to help me with my own acting – for instance, when I see someone drinking water, I think to myself ‘why is it that the person holds the cup in that manner?’ -- even the writers and producers say that I’m over-thinking things. But I can’t help it, as I love ‘thinking’ about things too much – sometimes, when I’m not able to think things through and there is no one to talk to or my friends aren’t available…during those tough times, I just feel like crying.”

Some people may say that Tony naturally had acting talent in him and I definitely agree with this to some extent – but I also feel (based on the above quote) that part of his success was due to his hard work…I mean, even during his own personal time, Tony would constantly be thinking about how he could better his acting and derive inspiration from even the simplest of things. (In comparison, many artists nowadays don’t even bother to practice their lines or even study their scripts for that matter, let alone use their ‘personal’ time to further develop themselves!)

.--.

A lot of us view the 1984 version of “The Duke of Mount Deer” as one of Tony’s best works and even now – more than 20 years and a plethora of remakes later – it is still a classic and considered the best version ever made. Tony definitely agrees that this series was his best ‘representative work’ (though I actually think he has too many great series to only consider this one as his best) and was pretty much the series that boosted him to stardom….BUT, what a lot of us don’t realize is this series was also the most ‘draining’ for him – both physically and mentally. And yes, the popularity that he gained from this series was the ‘turning point’ of his career, but he had to pay a price for it – after this series, he had to film series after series, one after another, with little to no rest – not too long afterwards, he started suffering from lack of sleep (he would go days without sleeping) and chronic headaches…some days, he would even have to take pain medication (for the headaches) in order to function properly! During that time, Tony would describe himself as “a dead fish on the beach.”

Of course, any discussion of Tony’s career at TVB would not be complete without mentioning the contract issue between TVB and the 5 Tigers that occurred in 1984 (TVB wanted to ‘keep’ the 5 Tigers and prevent them from venturing out by telling them to sign a 5 year long-term contract). In the interview, Tony goes into great detail about that particular issue and gives his ‘reasoning’ for signing the contract: he needed to provide for his family (he was only making about 4000HKD at that time) and TVB offered to double his salary. His first thought was that at least he would not have to ‘worry’ about being able to put food on the table for the next 5 years.

I honestly don’t blame Tony for signing, as he had a family (his mom and sister) to take care of. And to be honest, the situation with Tony and the other 4 Tigers was a little different – by the time Tony started to become popular in 1984, the other 4 Tigers were pretty much already established actors who had been in the industry for several years and were already doing lead roles – plus they already had quite a few “hit series” under their belts (i.e.: Kent had “The Demi-gods and Semi-devils”, Felix and Michael had “Legend of the Condor Heroes” plus a few other series, and Andy had “Return of the Condor Heroes”). Tony’s series “The Duke of Mount Deer” had not aired yet when the contract issue occurred. In the end, Felix also signed the 5 year contract, so both he and Tony stayed behind while the other 3 (Kent, Michael, and Andy) left TVB.

Note: Tony is well known for his illustrious film career, which is also detailed in the book…however, due to this post already being quite long, I decided to leave that part out (sorry if I disappointed anyone)…

RELATIONSHIPS

In addition to his acting talent, Tony was also know for his 3 famous romantic relationships with Margie Tsang, Kitty Lai, and Carina Lau. In this section, I will attempt to recap how each of the relationships started and – with 2 of them – how the relationships ended.

Margie Tsang: Broke up 3 times, reconciled 3 times

Margie entered TVB’s acting class 1 year after Tony – even though (ironically) both ended up hosting the same children’s program in the beginning, they actually met at a classmate’s birthday party. Tony was smitten by Margie’s sincere personality and they started dating not too long after that (this was in 1983).

Even though Margie was not Tony’s first love (he had other girlfriends prior to her), he does admit that he “loved her the most….even if I’m talking to someone, I would be thinking about her in my mind, worrying about her…the weather is cold – did she have enough to wear?”

Margie and Tony broke up for the 1st time in October 1984 – the reason? Tony’s career started to take off and he got busier and busier – to the point that he barely had any time to sleep, let alone go out on dates. Margie describes their breakup as follows: “We did not have an argument, did not have a misunderstanding – we very calmly and peacefully separated. Even if you love someone, does not necessarily mean that you will marry that person in the future. I would much rather my [future] husband love me more than I love him.”

One thing that not a lot of people knew is that Margie had a really good relationship with Tony’s mother and sister, so even after they broke up, she continued to maintain a close relationship with them. Indeed, Mrs. Leung liked Margie a lot and actually felt sorry for Margie because Tony couldn’t spend much time with her. She actually expressed that she did hope that Margie and Tony would reconcile…well, 3 months after they broke up, Mrs. Leung got her wish, as the two reconciled and got back together (early 1985). Unfortunately though, it was not meant to be, as the two broke up again later that same year.

The 3rd time that Margie and Tony reconciled was in April 1988 (he had just broken up with Kitty Lai earlier that year) – the press found out about them reconciling when Margie was spotted at the airport with Tony’s mother (both were there to pick Tony up from the airport). At the end of that year (November 1988), Margie and Tony broke up once again – this time, for good. During that time, Tony explained the break up this way: “Margie is still the woman I love most, but because both of us have grown up now and matured, it is no longer possible to capture the feelings that we once had.”


Kitty Lai: From dislike to love

Tony’s relationship with Kitty actually started in 1986 when they were filming “The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre” together. At first, Kitty did not have a good impression of Tony at all, but after getting to know him better during their few months of filming together, they eventually fell in love and started going out.

Unfortunately, the public never really gave these 2 a chance, as everyone had already accepted Tony and Margie as a couple and felt that only they matched each other the best (the book described Tony and Margie’s pairing as 金童玉女)….so from the beginning, there was already a strain on the relationship.

In November 1987, Kitty participated in the filming of the series “The Book and the Sword" and rumors started to fly, linking her to the series’ other co-stars, including Simon Yam, Shek Shau, and Lawrence Ng. Around the same time, Tony was rumored to have been seen with newcomer Fiona Leung (Kitty’s co-star in “The Book and the Sword”) at a disco. Despite the rumors, Kitty insisted that her relationship with Tony had not changed.

Not too long after that (in early 1988), Kitty and Tony were slated to star in the series “The Two Most Honorable Knights” (aka “Chuet Toi Sheung Kui”) – at the costume fitting for the series, it was obvious that something was wrong, as Tony and Kitty seemed very ‘cold’ toward each other and did not come across like a couple at all. Shortly afterwards, Tony and Kitty officially broke up and not too long after that, he and Margie got back together.


Carina Lau: the woman who changed Tony’s life forever

Even though Tony already met Carina back in 1983 and the 2 collaborated on a few series throughout the next couple years (most notably, the series “The Clones” in 1984, “The Duke of Mount Deer” in 1984, and the “Police Cadet” trilogies in 1984, 85, and 88), their relationship was only one of friendship, as Tony was dating Margie at the time and Carina was just getting her career started in HK. It wasn’t until the two of them collaborated in a charity stage performance for the HK Artiste Training Alumni Association (which they were both members of) that they actually fell in love. However, their relationship was not made public until May of 1989, when they were spotted at the airport together.

As many of us know, Tony and Carina have very opposite personalities – Tony is very introverted, doesn’t like to talk much, and is constantly thinking about his work. Carina, on the other hand, is very extroverted, optimistic, and pretty much was a social butterfly. I guess this was the ultimate case of ‘opposites attract’, as these two seemingly incompatible people ended up finding each other. Over the years, Tony and Carina have had their fair share of ups and downs – and just like any other couple, they had arguments and disagreements on things….but at the end of the day, they continued to remain together because of one thing – Love!

Back in 1986, after 2 years of suffering from sleep deprivation due to filming series back to back without rest, Tony had made a commitment to himself that he would end his career and leave the industry in 5 years. This continued to be a major goal of Tony’s throughout the rest of the 1980s…until he started dating Carina – indeed, it is Carina who is credited with helping Tony turn his life around and caused him to make the decision to stay in the industry. Tony states: “Since we [Carina and I] started dating, we saw each other almost every day. Whenever she would see me with a ‘black face’ , she would automatically know that I was upset about my performance [in acting] again – she would reprimand me and tell me that if I continued on like this, I will go crazy someday. I thought to myself – ‘in this world, there isn’t another person who understands me as well as she does and who cares so much about me.’ From that moment on, I set a rule for myself – every day, I would completely relax for at least 5 hours a day and not think about work or acting at all. As a result, I became a much happier person.”

Despite the various rumors that were rampant throughout their 20 year relationship, Tony and Carina pretty much ignored what others would say and continued to live their lives together the way they wanted to. This well-known celebrity couple finally tied the knot on July 21, 2008 in a brilliantly (and smartly) arranged wedding ceremony in Bhutan.

Of course, there is much more to Tony and Carina’s relationship than just what I described above (they’ve been together for 20 years, after all) and there were plenty of ‘sweet’ moments described in the book, but in the interests of time, I only chose a few highlights to include here.

CONCLUSION

Hopefully, after reading this LONG post, you have better insight into Tony as a person – and also have a better understanding of why he has long been one of my favorite HK entertainers!

EDIT...

I am curious to know who you guys (everyone reading this post) would be interested in reading about next...therefore, I added below the list of celebrities featured in this particular book:

*Tony Leung 梁朝偉
*Maggie Cheung (Man Yuk)張曼玉
*Andy Lau 劉德華
*Cherie Chung 鍾楚紅
*Chow Yun Fat 周潤發
*Faye Wong 王菲
*Danny Chan 陳百強
*Shu Qi 舒淇
*Stephen Chow 周星馳
*Anita Mui 梅艷芳

Sunday, March 6, 2011

A few thoughts on "The Challenge of Life 人在邊緣"

I was visiting retrotvb’s blog earlier and came across this review on one of my favorite series, The Challenge of Life – obviously, I couldn’t pass up the chance to comment on the series and in so doing, I guess I sort of ended up doing a ‘review’ of sorts.

I’ve seen this particular series many times and though I have not watched the series recently, I’ve seen it enough to remember almost everything that goes on in the series. So I decided to go ahead and compile the comments I made (with a few modifications) and create a blog post on it, as my feelings on the series come through in it – in terms of ‘official’ review, I will most likely do one later on when I actually get around to re-watching this series.

Note: Some of my comments are in response to retrotvb’s review of the series, so they might not make sense taken on their own – therefore, for those who are truly interested in watching this series and want more detail, I recommend reading retrotvb’s review prior to reading my comments.

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First off, thank you to retrotvb for writing a commentary / review on The Challenge of Life. Even though I've seen this series a gazillion times, I have yet to write a review on it because I just started my blog a couple months ago, so obviously it will take some time (if I had to write reviews on all of the 80s and 90s series I've seen, I would be glued to my laptop for years to come...lol!).

Before I get too far into things, I do want to mention about the friendship between Kitty Lai, Jacqueline Law, and Monica Chan. This is the only series that I know of (other than all the 5 Tiger ones) where the real-life actors continued to maintain a close relationship years after the series finished. Even today, 21 years later, Kitty, Jacqueline, and Monica are still the best of friends – in fact, just last week, Monica posted a picture of the three of them on her weibo – they were at Jacqueline’s house, hanging out together, as they usually do. When I saw the picture, I got a bit teary-eyed because frankly, I really miss Kitty and Jacqueline – 2 great actresses who (in my opinion at least) had successful careers, but now lead quiet, happily married lives. I’m definitely happy for them – but a bit saddened that the only way I get to see them is by watching old TVB series. Oh well….I can always reminisce!

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, on to my actual responses to retrotvb’s review….

I have to make mention of the songs that were used in this series, which I absolutely loved. I remember when I watched this series for the first time years ago, I fell in love with Stephen Bishop’s “It Might Be You” song and absolutely adored it to the point that I was hunting all over for the song….it took me years to find it, but when I finally did, I was so happy (obviously). And when I was actually watching the series, I actually wanted more scenes between Sean and Monica (even though I didn’t really like the pairing) just so I could hear the song again! Anyway, it is an absolutely great song and complemented the series extremely well!

As for the themesong and sub-theme song by Leon Lai – as I’ve said before, most of the songs that I like of his were from the early 90s when he was still with Polygram, plus all of the TV series themesongs. Not going to go into an in-depth analysis of the themesongs, but one thing I do want to mention…the sub-theme song to this series – “If This is Love” – was very popular back when the series aired and for years afterwards…the interesting thing about this song is that it was also used in both of Leon’s subsequent series (though not as a subtheme, since those series already had their own subtheme songs, but rather during a few of the scenes only): “The Breaking Point” from 1991 and “The Legendary Ranger” from 1993. Hmmm…I wonder if TVB was just being lazy and reused the song in the other series or if there was a particular purpose for doing so….guess I may never know!

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The cast of this series consisted of: Sean Lau, Kitty Lai, Monica Chan, Jacqueline Law, Leon Lai, Frankie Lam, Wayne Lai, Andy Dai, Fong Gong, Ng Yuen Yi, Liu Kai Chi (these were the main actors/actresses in the series).

Here are my comments on a few of the main characters / artists:

SEAN LAU – absolutely one of my all time favorite actors…I absolutely ADORE him – not just because of his acting, but because of how he is in real life (let me just say that Amy Kwok is extremely lucky to have a man like him!).

If you want my honest opinion, I feel that Sean’s performance was so successful in this series (and his character so endearing) partly because he is actually playing himself! I definitely see elements of his character in the series that are very similar to how he is in real life. He’s not good looking by any means, but he is cute and adorable and extremely nice, upright, responsible, friendly, and most of all, has an awesome sense of humor – pretty much the type of guy that any sensible girl would have a crush on!

I could go on forever about Sean because I have ‘followed’ him for a long time and he is one of the best actors this industry has (I cried so hard when he finally won the HKFA Best Actor award after so many years!) – but I don’t want to go too much off tangent, so I’ll stop here (for now).


KITTY LAI – another one of my favorites! She’s another actress that I loved back in the 80s (and early 90s) and one of the few who was actually very versatile -- she could play the meek, innocent characters such as her Ah Wah character in COL, yet do the 180 degree turn to play the strong, willful Chiu Man in HSDS (but that’s another long review altogether, so won’t go there).

Kitty’s character was very well-written in this series and she was given a great opportunity to shine as an actress – and shine, she did!! Her performance was absolutely awesome and perfect – as always, her acting is ‘just right’ and never over the top. This is why I love watching her series because I just feel so comfortable with her!

Her character was definitely tragic and I also kept wondering how so many bad things could happen to her, especially given what a good person she is. To be honest, I preferred her with Sean (instead of pairinig him with Monica), as I felt she was a better match for him over Monica, but then again, I could understand why things happened the way they did in the series.


LEON LAI – to be honest, Leon’s performance pales in comparisons to everyone else’s in this series (not just Sean and Frankie, but the females and also Wayne). But I was fine with his character and performance in this series because – as it was mentioned – it was a great role for him and he suited it well (and with this character being a precursor to his character in the The Breaking Point, I’m totally fine with him in here).

Is it just me, or was his ‘slur’ kind of strong in this series? I know Leon is not a native HKer and Cantonese is not his first language, so when he talks too fast, I’ve noticed that he slurs his speech sometimes – maybe I’m just being nit-picky, but in some scenes, I felt that it was hard to understand what he was saying.


JACQUELINE LAW – another great actress from the 80s era…I liked her as an actress (come to think of it, I liked almost all of the actors/actresses from the 80s) and her character in here was very endearing (funny at times, but serious when she needed to be) – I loved her character and enjoyed the fun and laughter that her character brought (remember that scene where she’s registering for night classes because she wants to please Leon and, pretending not to know English, let’s that dumb teacher put her down with her broken English, but then when Leon leaves the room, Jacqueline puts the teacher to shame by giving a bio of herself in fluent English? Absolutely hilarious and one of many funny scenes in the series!)

It’s such a shame that Jacqueline’s career was cut short after that bad diving accident (not to mention the damage it did to her physically) – that’s why I was glad to see her come back in 2006 to film LFD, even though her role was not hugely significant in that series.

I also felt that Leon and Jacqueline were a cute pairing, despite the whole ‘cousin’ thing. To be honest though, I was already used to their pairing because they also collaborated on “A Friend in Need” a couple years prior (in 1988). Definitely much better as a couple in this series though!


MONICA CHAN – not a whole lot to say about her, because quite honestly, I’m not really a fan of her acting. She’s okay though (WAY better than a lot of the MHKs today) and if you use today’s standards (with the lame MHK / pageant winner turned actresses currently saturating all the series in TVB currently), then I guess you could say she was REALLY good! (LOL!!!) Anyway, I think this was Monica’s first series (if I remember correctly, as I think she was MHK 1989?) and for a first series, she wasn’t all that bad.


FRANKIE LAM – hahaha…I’ve always felt that Sunny and Chilam and Frankie looked alike (that’s probably way all 3 of them are also on my ‘favorites’ list). Needless to say, he was awesome in this series – absolutely convincing as ‘the bad son’ yet not cheesy at all. He definitely played the villain role well (as a sidenote, after ‘falling in love’ with Frankie’s character in “Forensic Heroes”, I almost forgot that he was another one who always used to play villain roles – and excelled at them).

WAYNE LAI – saving the best for last, of course! Wayne absolutely overshadowed Leon in this series (and rightfully so, given the awesome actor that Wayne is – even back then, when he was a virtual unknown). This was actually the first series I watched where Wayne actually had a ‘meaty’ role (all his previous roles prior to this were so minor to the point that they were mostly forgettable) and he of course pulled it off well (no surprise there). Even back then, I thoroughly enjoyed Wayne’s performance (as I still do now) – so much so that I was bummed out at his character’s fate at the end of the series (and for awhile there, it made me hate Frankie)….And I have to stick this in here -- to this day, I’m still pissed at TVB for overlooking Wayne’s talents and waiting more than 20 years later to start recognizing him! (Damn TVB!!!)

ANDY DAI – just had to make a quick comment about Andy’s performance. He played one of his typical villain roles and to be honest, he played the part well! He was downright evil in this series – to the point that I applauded when his character died (demonstrates how well he played the part). I personally feel that Andy is one of the most underrated supporting actors – his acting is always right on par and usually very convincing.

Concluding thoughts:

.—Yes, I thought the ending was pretty lame as well….the church scene was so cheesy (though it’s funny that the scene where Leon pushes open the doors to the church was parodied later on in a couple other series – which is why I laugh now whenever I watch that part).

.—I totally felt that TVB didn’t do justice to Fong Gong in this series (he played Leon’s father) – he’s a pretty accomplished veteran actor and famous for playing villains (that’s probably why he has that ‘evil’ look…lol)...the first few episodes he was in was well done and brought out the ‘scariness’ of the character, but then, when he returned later on in the series, it’s almost like he lost all his ‘fire’ and wasn’t the evil / scary person that he was supposed to be. And yes, the way he died was ABSOLUTELY LAME!!!

.—Haha…glad to see that I wasn’t the only one who thought Monica looked weird in that fake-looking long-haired wig! What was the point? They should have just kept her hair short like it usually is – totally ruined it for me at the end!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Memories of Jacky’s Concert – Song List

As promised, here’s the list of songs that Jacky sang at his recent Las Vegas concert (the performance that I went to).

Again, this list was compiled based on my memory, so it’s very possible that I may have missed a song here or there – but at least the majority of it is here. Also, the songs are not in any particular order (it was too difficult for me to remember the songs in chronological order).

I tried to translate the songs into English (for the folks who can’t read Chinese), but since there isn’t an “official” way to translate the songs, some of them are literal translations and others are based on the meaning of the song title – so please don’t be surprised if the song name is translated differently elsewhere. My apologies in advance for any confusion!

**Note: If anyone reading this actually went to the Vegas concert on Sunday, February 6th and know of any songs that I may have inadvertently left out, please let me know! I’m pretty sure that I left out at least 1 song that Jacky sang during the “rock” part and also 1 song from the “Private Corner” segment (the song he sang that wasn’t his), but can’t remember the names of the songs.

Can’t wait for the DVD of the concert to come out next year!

Enjoy!!

.-----.

花花公子 (Playboy)

小姐貴姓 (Miss, What’s Your Name?)

初吻 (First Kiss)

你的名字,我的姓氏 (Your Name, My Surname)

月半灣 (Half Moon Bay)

你是我今生唯一傳奇 (You Are the Legend of My Life)

一滴淚 (A Teardrop)

情願 (Willingness)

吻別 (Goodbye Kiss)

人在雨中 (In the Rain)

我應該 (I Should)

月巴女且 (Fei Jie / Lydia)

Double Trouble

三分拍 (Third Beat)

離開以後 (After You Left)

如果愛 (Perhaps Love)

Life is Like a Dream

餓狼傳說 (Born to Be Wild)

這個冬天不太冷 (This Winter is Not Too Cold)

頭髮亂了 (Tousled Hair)

每天愛你多一些 (Loving You More Each Day)

祇想一生跟你走 (Only Want to Leave With You)

分手總要在雨天 (Breaking Up In the Rain)

李香蘭 (Lee Heung Lan)

我真的受傷了 (I’m Really Hurt)

祝福 (Blessing)

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Oriental Daily Interview Series -- Part 4: Lawrence Ng

Part 4: Interview with Lawrence Ng

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

Translated by: llwy12


Picture credits as listed

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

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

M = Margie Tsang
L = Lawrence Ng


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.—

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

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

M: Do you plan on going for a son?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.---

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

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

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

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

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

.***.

Chinese version:

吳啟華踢爆偉仔偷心賊

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

曾:曾華倩 吳:吳啟華

曾:啟華哥……你好!

吳:嘩,使唔使握手呀!乘機想摸吓我隻手?

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

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

全班最索

曾:我哋嗰時好嚴,同班嘅唔可以拍拖。

吳:你又唔同,你同高一班嘅師兄拍拖(乘機爆華倩、朝偉拍拖)。

曾:所以我哋要偷偷摸摸(好尷尬)。

吳:你以為偷摸啫,其實全部人都知。

曾:冇(目及)其他女同學咩?

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

曾:係咩?(大發現但又好冧)我廿八年後今日先知呢個秘密!

有女萬事足唔係大男人

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

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

曾:再追多個仔仔?

吳:考慮緊,做父母都要花時間陪仔、女,我太太都有考慮,都有可能嘅。

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

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

曾:係你追太太嗎?因為我覺得你有啲「大男人」feel?

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

曾:依家喺你身邊嘅人就最舒服,(唔使受氣)哈哈。

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

為錢做壞蛋妙手回春

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

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

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

低潮多過高潮

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

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

曾:你之前咁易應承人?

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

曾:我都唔知呢啲背後嘢,我同你拍《俠》劇時,只係知唔開心。

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

唔認有少爺脾氣

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

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

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

文:影視組

攝:黃叔榮

場地:the mira HONGKONG

Oriental Daily Interview Series -- Part 3: Michael Tao

Part 3: Interview with Michael Tao

Original article published 2/20/2011
Source: Oriental Daily

Translated by: llwy12


Pictures credit as listed

Michael Tao and Margie Tsang enjoy being single

Margie Tsang and Michael Tao are former classmates from TVB’s 12th Acting Class. Earlier, the 2 friends got a chance to ‘reunite’ at fellow classmate Kiki Sheung’s wedding and both discovered that they actually had a lot to talk about.

Michael sat down with Margie recently to talk about various aspects of his life and career as well as reminisce about the old days’.

M = Margie Tsang
T = Michael Tao

M: I really like calling your name….大宇[Michael]! I’m curious to know if you felt that you were ‘handsome’ back when we were in Acting Class? Both Sandra [Ng] and I loved to partner up with you to rehearse scenes.

T: Really? I remember I was paired up with Carina [Lau] the most! As for the ‘handsome’ part…I felt that I was better looking back then – now, definitely not! Back then, everyone was handsome and pretty – hey, you’re a pretty girl too!

M: So….honest? Haha! Now you have a more mature feel about you – back then, you were too young and immature. I actually think that how you are right now is much better! (Displays a ‘satisfied’ look)

T: You looked better back then (hinting that Margie is not pretty now)…hahaha! Just kidding! You have ‘better taste’ now because of your maturity and experiences. This is especially important for actors / actresses – the more we experience, the more mature we become and the better our ‘taste’ is, which helps the acting. At Kiki’s wedding, I saw Sean [Lau] and the 2 of us would talk about our youth (‘When you were a young lad, you were this way…..’) – when I saw Carina [Lau], the images from our youth ran through my mind and we would also talk about what we were like back then….

M: How about me? In your mind, what kind of person was I like back then?

T: The teacher used the character for ‘snake’ to describe you! It was because when you walk, you always make the ‘ssst, ssst, ssst’ sound – it was very cute! Plus you were so ‘little girl’ during that time.

M: What do you mean [‘little girl’]? Immature? Better be careful what you say!

T: No, not immature…hmm, how can I say it? Definitely need to be careful what I say…sort of like that ‘young lady’ feel – basically the type we don’t dare to cross….

.—

M: So how was your career path after graduating from Acting Class? You’ve actually filmed quite a few ‘classic’ series…

T: At first I was walking around with my head in the clouds, didn’t really know what I was doing. My first series was "United We Stand" [TN: 1985 series with Michael Miu and Barbara Yung]– at least I had a recurring part…but my performance was only so-so – at that time, I was young and didn’t take things seriously, so when given a precious opportunity, didn’t know how to treasure it. Afterwards, I realized the mistakes I made during that time, as I didn’t have very many good performances for the next 8 to 10 years – everything was a mess and my career was pretty much stagnant.

M: Did you try going up to the production department offices and proactively seek out an opportunity?

T: Though I regretted my behavior at that time, I wasn’t the type to go seek out the producer to ask for an opportunity (due to my personality), so I continued to wait and at the same time reflect on my behavior. It wasn’t until I met my mentor Gary Tang [TN: former TVB producer now at ATV] and got the chance to participated in all 5 installments of his "Files of Justice" series, then after that was the "Detective Investigation Files" trilogy with producer Poon Ka Tak…I guess you could say that there was finally a turning point to my career. Unfortunately, later on, I was ‘disobedient’ and tried to negotiate higher pay with the company, thinking that I could follow in the footsteps of some of my seniors, but that backfired, so I ended up leaving…haha….

M: That’s how fate works! But then it’s because you encountered those situations that you learned to cherish things more later on!

T: Personality definitely changes fate! After I left TVB, I signed with [director/producer] Wong Jing, which resulted in the opportunity to film "Flaming Brothers" -- the series had good ratings and word of mouth back in the day. After that, I got the chance to work with Carina Lau on the series "Showbiz Tycoon", a happy collaboration that lasted 9 months – even though the 2 of us graduated from the same acting class in the 80s, that was actually the first time that we filmed together.

M: Looking back through Acting Class history, all of us [from that year] had pretty good achievements.

T: Looking back, I participated in quite a few ‘classics’ that audiences deeply remember, such as "Files of Justice", "Detective Investigation Files", "Flaming Brothers"….not too bad, since it wasn’t just 1 series, but several.

M: If you were to pick the series that you felt was the most ‘classic’?

T: "Detective Investigation Files"!! We had filmed several installments and at that time, it was very hard work.

M: That series also earned you the nickname ‘housewife killer’....in fact, my mom was also a big fan of yours! Hahaha….

.—

M: What is your opinion of today’s newer generation? In the past, us females did not have as many avenues for entering the industry, but nowadays, there are singing competitions such as <> as well as beauty pageants and also the ‘lang mo’ path.

T: So I guess you gals are ‘red envelopes’! Not ‘lang mos’, but ‘lo mos’! [TN: play on words – Michael is joking that Margie is a ‘lo mo’ or ‘old model’ rather than a ‘lang mo’ or ‘young model’]

M: What ‘lo mo’?

T: Haha! So that’s why I said ‘red envelope’…it’s more polite! Hahaha…

M: Out of all the ‘lang mos’, I like Angelababy.

T: Those type already are not my ‘cup of tea’, as I will be turning 50 years old soon.

M: Really? I couldn’t tell…I thought you were already past 50…hahaha! Though you are turning 50, still tell me a little about your love life.

T: Leave it up to fate….as long as there’s happiness!

M: I agree with you on that, because I’m also single, so I leave things up to fate as well. I don’t feel lonely at all – in fact, I enjoy too much the freedom that being single brings. To tell you the truth, I’m constantly wondering whether it’s necessary for people to get married? I like having my own ‘single’ world. Some of my friends worry about me and so constantly ask me to dinner or drinks because they are afraid I may be bored! But in reality, I love staying at home and doing things that I enjoy….don’t even bother me..I’m perfectly fine all by myself!

T: I agree with what you said about being single. I would thank my friends for being concerned about me, but when it comes to fate, it’s hard to say what may happen. If a relationship comes, then great, but if it doesn’t, that’s fine too – someone who is single can also enjoy the happiness that comes with freedom!

M: Any hopes for the new year? I know you’re very filial to your mother – even back in the Acting Class days, you were known for being a good son.

T: My hope now is for my mom to have good health, as she is at the age where older people illnesses will start showing up. The failure of my marriage actually gave me more time to be with my mom – these past few years, I’ve been able to have dim sum with her consistently. In the past, I would only have time to see her once every 3 months…I hope to make up for all the time that was lost.

.—

Both Margie and Michael feel that back when they were in Acting Class, there was definitely a lot of things to be learned. They also share memories of the interesting teachers they had during that time. Margie recalls the fear and respect she had for kung fu instructor Lee Kar Ting [TN: actor Gregory Lee’s father and an actor himself] and joked with Michael that luckily, Master Ting was not an instructor of the regular classes otherwise everyone would be bruised.

Laughing, she also mentions a teacher whom she no longer remembers the name, but recalls that he is very short – Michael immediately interjects and says: “Yes, that teacher was cross-eyed! When he taught martial arts, we were scared whenever he stuck his fists out because we thought he would accidently hit the wrong person. I remember one time, a student standing next to me actually asked the teacher who he was looking at and make sure he is striking at the right person.” To illustrate his point, Michael pretended to imitate the cross-eyed teacher doing martial arts, which made Margie laugh incessantly!

T: Back in those days, whenever our instructors taught, they loved to use Chow Yun Fat and Dodo Cheng as examples – in that era, the 2 of them were the most popular.

M: I remember that we were separated into day and night classes – altogether, there were approximately 40 people, but in the end, only 9 males and 9 females signed with the company.

T: That’s why our group was nicknamed ‘Gou Nam Nu’! [TN: literally translated as ‘Nine Males / Females’ – this phrase is another play on words]

M: Out of the females in the class, who did you feel would succeed the most?

T: Carina!

M: Wah, you seem to have an affinity toward Carina? It seems that you like Carina more than us – so Sandra and I don’t mean anything to you?

T: Haha! Well, maybe it’s a false sense on my part…because back in those days, the dance instructor loved asking Carina to demonstrate certain moves for the class and it seemed that she was involved in everything, so that’s why she would always come to mind first.

M: Actually, who in the class did you think would make it?

T: That I don’t know, but I did anticipate that I would be one of the ones signing with the company in the end because my test scores were pretty good and I had confidence in myself!

.***.

Chinese Version:

陶大宇曾華倩享受獨身樂

曾華倩和陶大宇是無綫同期訓練班同學,早前在商天娥的婚宴上重遇,展開講不完的話題,當中華倩滔滔不絕的「獨身論」大宇全程和應,而大宇面對老同學,坦承當年演藝生涯由「瀨嘢」到後悔,幸最後都遇上伯樂,成就多套經典劇集,不致枉費青春!

「小蛇女」

曾:曾華倩 陶:陶大宇

曾:好鍾意叫你個名……大宇!其實你覺得喺訓練班時自己靚唔靚仔?我同君如都鍾意mark你排戲。

陶:係咩?我記得我拍劉嘉玲多,至於個樣……我覺得自己嗰時靚仔啲,依家就唔得,嗰時個個都靚啦,你都靚女架!

曾:咁……老實?依家你係帶點成熟味道,以前又嫩口得滯!咁我覺得依家好啲!(擺出滿意樣)

回到o靚妹時

陶:你嗰時好啲(即係話依家唔靚),哈哈,講笑啫,依家係有味道!因為人大咗,尤其是做演員,要經歷過先有味道,娥姐結婚擺酒,見到青雲,大家又會講:「你o靚仔時係咁架……」見到嘉玲,即刻彈晒以前啲畫面出嚟,又話佢:「你o靚妹嗰時係咁……」

曾:咁我呢,喺你心目中又係點?

陶:導師係用蛇嚟形容你!你行路「雪雪雪……」好得意!你又o靚妹呢。

曾:即係點?幼稚?你小心啲講喎!

陶:又唔係幼稚,點講呢?真係要好小心講,有少少千金小姐feel,總之係唔好得罪嗰隻……

「瀨嘢年代」

曾:訓練班出嚟發展又點呢?你都拍過唔少經典劇?

陶:起初渾渾噩噩都唔知自己做乜架,第一套拍《生銹橋王》,叫做有個角色,但我表現麻麻,當年細路仔唔專心,有機會又唔珍惜,後來先知道「瀨嘢」,之後十年八年都冇表現,出嚟嘅嘢一塌胡塗,事業停滯不前。

曾:上製作部行個圈博個機會都好吖?

扭計扭出禍

陶:雖然我好後悔,但礙於性格問題,我又唔會搵監製傾博出路,所以咪一路等一路反省,直至我遇到「伯樂」鄧特希,拍咗佢一連五輯《壹號皇庭》,之後又拍咗幾輯《刑事偵緝檔案》,事業叫做有啲轉機,但我又扭計加人工,學啲師兄跳「草裙舞」,卒之外闖,點知又「瀨嘢」,哈哈……

曾:命運就係咁,你又咁樣諗,不過,可能要你遇過呢種情況,先會更加珍惜之後嘅嘢!

陶:性格改變命運啦,出咗去我簽咗王晶,又畀我拍咗套《縱橫四海》,當年喺亞視播都叫好叫座,又有機會同嘉玲合作拍咗套《影城大亨》,大家足足對咗九個月,都好開心,因為我哋自訓練班出嚟後,當年先係第一次合作。

「經典‧老模」

曾:睇番訓練班歷史,我哋個個都有番咁上下成績。

陶:睇番轉頭我都拍咗好多深入民心嘅經典劇,好似《壹號皇庭》、《刑事偵緝檔案》同《縱橫四海》,真係好難得,因為唔係一部,係幾部,都算係咁。

曾:如果畀你揀邊套劇你覺得最經典?

陶:《刑事》啦!一連拍咗幾輯,當年真係好辛苦。

曾:部劇仲為你贏得「師奶殺手」稱號,我阿媽當年鍾意到你嘔呀!哈哈……

曾:你點睇時下嘅新人?以前我哋女仔出嚟嘅渠道唔多,依家就話有《超級巨聲》、選美呀、o靚模呀咁。

陶:咁你哋咪變咗封「利是」!(俗稱利是為老毛)老模(毛)呀!

曾:咩嘢老模呀!

陶:哈哈……所以我咪話「利是」算囉!哈哈……

曾:o靚模中我幾鍾意Angelababy。

陶:呢啲已經唔係我杯茶嘞,我都就嚟五十歲。

「同聲又同氣」

曾:又睇唔出喎,我以為你一早五十(歲)咗,哈哈……雖然五十(歲)啫,你係咁意都講吓你嘅感情狀況。

陶:隨緣啦……開心咪得囉!

曾:呢樣嘢我又好信你講喎,因為我都係單身,我真係好隨緣啦,我一啲都唔覺lonely,太享受自己呢刻嘅自由,太鍾意呢個階段。其實,我成日諗,人一定要結婚嘅咩?依家我好鍾意自我天地,有啲朋友都曾經擔心我,成日約我出去飲嘢、食飯,怕我悶喎!我不知幾鍾意將自己關喺屋企,做想做嘅嘢,唔好煩我添呀,講真,我一個人都得架,自由度大嘛。

要孝順媽媽

陶:我都好贊同,但又咁講,朋友問候,當然多謝關心啦,有時緣分嚟冇得講,老土講句,有當然恭喜,冇咪冇囉,一個人都可以享受自由嘅樂趣!

曾:新一年你有咩願望?我都知你好孝順阿媽,以前訓練班你出名孝順。

陶:依家我嘅願望,係想媽媽身體健康啦,老人家啲病開始嚟,今次婚姻失敗,反而多咗時間陪阿媽,呢幾年我定時會搵阿媽飲茶,以前?三個月先見一次,以前忽略咗,希望依家補番。

扮鬥雞眼阿Sir

華倩和大宇同認為當年訓練班很多嘢學,又齊齊取笑教功夫的「鬥雞眼」阿Sir。華倩對教功夫的李家鼎又敬又畏,笑指幸好不是鼎爺做導師,否則個個癱晒!她更邊忍笑邊提及一位忘了名字、矮矮哋的阿Sir,大宇即說:「哦,嗰個阿Sir鬥雞眼嘅,佢打功夫時,出拳我哋都驚佢打錯隔籬,阿Sir有時出直拳,企隔籬嘅同學就問:『你會唔會打咗落我度o架?你係望我定望佢架?』」大宇更鬼馬的即席扮鬥雞眼Sir出拳,笑到華倩腰都彎。

「九男女」

陶:當年阿sir日日教戲都係攞發哥、嘟姐(周潤發、鄭裕玲)做教材,嗰個年代最紅佢兩個,我哋好似洗晒腦。

曾:嗰時我哋分日班、夜班,全部夾埋都有四十人,但最後簽咗九男九女。

陶:所以我哋咪俗稱「九男女」囉!

曾:女仔你覺邊個最得?

陶:嘉玲啦!

曾:嘩,你好似情有獨鍾佢喎?你特別鍾意嘉玲,都唔放我哋在眼內,當君如冇到?(醋意大發)

陶:我係有個假象啫,因為嗰時教跳舞嘅老師張亨利,佢一定叫嘉玲出嚟示範,乜都有佢架,咪覺得佢得囉。

曾:其實你覺得當時邊個會彈出?

陶:邊個彈就唔知,但我估自己會簽到,因為自己考試成績都幾好,對自己有信心!


攝影:沈建程

場地:the mira HONGKONG

文:影視組