Entertainment Newsreel #5: Mostly movies and a little bit of TV news...

Lots of movie news this past week due to the start of FILMART + HK Film Festival and also award show season with the Asian Film Awards and Director's Guild Awards, so the focus this time will be on movie industry news.  There is some TV industry news too, but not as much compared to the recent happenings in the film world.

Also, FILMART actually just started yesterday but I didn't want to wait until the end of the week to do this post, since there is so much info already, so if need be, I'll do a follow up later in the week to cover whatever may emerge from there, whether movies or television (I actually have a feeling the news we are waiting for on OCTB will be announced at FILMART – just a hunch, no inside info or anything….anyway, I'll post something up once I hear further).

Movie industry news

ASIAN FILM AWARDS & DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS

-          The big news coming out of the HK film world this week (aside from Leon's news but I'll get to that later) has to do with one of this generation's most prolific movie actors – Louis Koo.   This year's Asian Film Awards and Director's Guild Awards were held within days of each other and Louis won Best Actor at both award ceremonies (for his role in the movie Paradox, the much touted second installment in the SPL franchise).   As Louis himself said during his acceptance speech at the Asian Film Awards (which was held first), this is his first ever movie-related award so of course it means a lot to him.  I'm glad to hear him say this because in my opinion, being able to win at the Asian Film Awards is more "prestigious" than winning in one of HK's awards shows because the artists are going up against other artists / movies from across Asia – to be able to defeat other talented actors outside of Hong Kong is quite an accomplishment!  Congrats to Louis!!

-          Personally, I've never been a fan of Louis' acting, whether back when he was at TVB or after entering the movie world and filming boatloads of movies (honestly, the word "prolific" is an understatement – at one point, Louis seemed to be in every single movie out there, lol).  Don't ask me to explain why because I don't know – his acting just never appealed to me for some reason.  With that said though, I do have a lot of respect for Louis as a person and that respect has grown over the years after learning about his charity work (which he rarely talks about) as well as seeing his contributions to the film industry and his efforts at improving the industry as a whole.  [Sidenote: Louis was recently voted in as HKPAG (Hong Kong Performing Artists Guild) Chairman (taking over for previous Chairman Jackie Chan) and hearing his ideas on how he plans to support the industry was very encouraging!]  I'm happy for Louis with both his wins and I'm sure this is a boost of confidence for him heading into the HK Film Awards next month – he's up against some tough competition though so even though he is the "hot favorite" to take him the award there too, the results are hard to predict so let's see what happens.

-          At the Director's Guild Awards, the highlight of Louis' win is that people kept playfully teasing him about going up on stage and gracing the audience with his singing again.  This was actually a reference to Louis attending the annual HK Film Workers' Spring Dinner event last week  where he was pulled on stage during one of the performances and invited to sing a few lines from one of his songs with them.  Louis actually obliged (and was very gracious about it) – the video of him singing was uploaded online and of course it took the internet by storm, since it's very rare nowadays for Louis to be willing to open his "golden mouth" to sing.  So now, at every event, his colleagues as well as the reporters "tease" him about going on stage and singing for them – of course, Louis politely turns everyone down, but I love that he is so good-humored about it, even playing along with them in some instances and "pretending" to leave when the word "singing" is mentioned, lol.  It's rare for us to see Louis' playful side (he always looks so cool and serious) so I can definitely see why everyone is taking the opportunity to "tease" him while it lasts.  My respect for Louis actually went up a few notches this past week after seeing how he handled the whole "singing" thing….

-          On the Best Actress front – Sylvia Chang took home the Best Actress award at the Asian Film Awards for her performance in Love Education, which she also directed.  She wasn't able to repeat the win at the Directors Guild Award, however she did end up taking home the Best Director Award at that ceremony.

-          The winner(s) of the Best Actress award at the Directors Guild Awards ceremony were Teresa Mo for Tomorrow is Another Day and Stephy Tang for The Empty Hands.  Yes, you heard right – there were 2 winners for Best Actress because both actresses ended up in a tie and so the Guild decided to award both.  There's actually a funny story to this, which Teresa Mo told during her acceptance speech.  Teresa said that she threw away her husband Tony Au's voting form for these awards because he was away on a trip and she didn't feel it was right to vote on his behalf, even though she knew that he would've cast his vote for her in the Best Actress category anyway.  It turns out that 'one vote' mattered in this case, since it meant the difference between her winning the award and having to share it. 

-          The Best Actress race at the HK Film Awards next month will be interesting, as all three actresses -- Sylvia Chang, Teresa Mo, and Stephy Tang – are in contention for the coveted award (rounding out the category are Zhou Xun for Our Time Will Come and Chrissie Chau for 29+1).  The Directors Guild Awards is generally seen as a precursor to HKFA, as the winners there usually go in to win at the HKFA as well – true or not, I'm pretty sure they are not going to do another "shared win" thing at HKFA (can't remember the last time – if ever – that they had such a win at HKFA).  Personally, I'm rooting for Teresa (since she's an awesome actress and also one of my favorites) – this will be her 7^th time being nominated for HKFA Best Actress so it's about time she won, though in all honesty, doesn't really matter to me who wins since I haven't watched any of the nominated films this year so can't really complain.  From various reports, I know that Stephy has done a great job this year and has already won multiple Best Actress awards already at other awards shows, so she is definitely the "hot favorite" going into HKFA, however I think both Teresa and Sylvia will give her a run for her money.  I'm fine with whoever ends up winning in this category. 

OTHER MOVIE-RELATED NEWS

-          Speaking of Louis Koo – I'm sure Louis fans will be happy to know that there is finally more news on the movie version of his "classic" TVB series A Step into the Past.  Rumors have been circulating for several years already that Louis plans to do a movie version of the series and invite back the original cast to participate.  It was confirmed last year that Louis will indeed be producing the movie and starring in it, but beyond that, there weren't a whole lot of details available.  Well, yesterday at FILMART, they unveiled the official poster for the movie and provided some more details as follows:

o   The Chinese name of the movie will be the same as the series but the English name will now be called Back to the Past. 

o   Louis's own production company One Cool Film will be producing this, which I assume means that Louis will be given the Executive Producer title for the project (I didn't catch who the director will be though), however this will also be a co-production with Mainland company Huace Pictures.

o   Filming is scheduled to begin at the end of the year.

o   Confirmed "original" cast from the series are Louis, Raymond Lam, and Jessica Hsuan (this is actually not surprising, as it was already revealed earlier on that both Raymond and Jessica signed to Louis' management company, so it makes sense that they would re-unite for this film).  

o   The big question now is whether other "original" cast members will return as well.  There was no mention of additional cast at FILMART (at least not yet), so no doubt there will be further announcements and possibly press conference forthcoming in the next few months.  Current speculation though is that most likely the rest of the cast won't return, since majority of them have retired from the industry already or are have other filming obligations, plus the movie is a co-production with Mainland, which means that they have to save a few of the "top" roles for Mainland artists. 

-          My take – I was never a fan of ASITP the series so I'm indifferent toward the news of a movie version now being filmed, but I know a lot of people out there loved the series, so if those of you reading this are a fan of the series, I'm curious to hear your thoughts – please feel free to comment!  The way I see it, one good thing about this production is that Louis is producing it himself and with how involved he had been in the series (supposedly he had even written parts of the original script) and how much he cared about it, at least you know he will put in the effort to make it good and not butcher it like others would (I'm sure people still remember the previous movie remakes of TVB series that were done by different companies and ended up being horrible / un-watchable).     

-          The other "big" movie industry news (though technically not really specifically movie-related but since the artist is a film actor now, figured putting it here was more appropriate) this week – this one is "hot off the press"….Heavenly King Leon Lai finally confirmed that he will become a dad soon.  For those who were not aware (which is kind of impossible given how big this news has been, lol), media reports had surfaced last week that Leon and his assistant Wing (she works for his record label A-Music) were dating and that Wing was photographed with a bulging belly, which in the HK media world, meant that she is "most likely" pregnant.  So of course, rumors started flying that Leon will be a dad soon, though he had yet to confirm anything.  Leon had actually attended FILMART yesterday and refused to say anything when reporters asked him, but then a few hours later he posted a formal announcement on his Facebook page confirming the news that he and his girlfriend are indeed expecting (I'm sure all the media outlets – Chinese and English – will be re-posting his FB post so not going to bother posting it here).  With Leon joining the ranks of fatherhood now, he is the last of the 4 Heavenly Kings to settle down and start a family (though whether he will marry Wing or not remains to be seen – there was no mention of marriage in the post, only that he will become a father soon).  Congrats to Leon!  Even though I'm not a fan of his, I'm still happy for him, as having a child is a huge milestone and deserves to be recognized.

TV Industry news

HKTV

-          The big news in terms of HKTV is that they have sold the rights to their series to i-cable arm Fantastic Television, who will be airing their series on their free-to-air channel starting on April 17^th.  I won't go into detail here, since I already wrote up a  post on this a couple days ago and also stated my thoughts on this already.  Those that are interested can read that post here.

FOX ASIA

-          Fox Asia released a new extended trailer for their series Stain'd.  The trailer is 2 minutes, 12 seconds long and all 3 A-list leads – Anthony Wong, Kara Hui, Tse Kwan Ho – are featured.  This article from HK01 has a link to the trailer so you can watch it there, though I'm sure Fox Asia's webpage and also Youtube channel have it as well.  I actually haven't had a chance to watch it yet so can't really comment right now, but once I do get around to watching it, I'll definitely post something up about it.  Also, if I hear any news about when Fox Asia's series are scheduled to air, I'll make sure to post an update.

OTHER TV INDUSTRY NEWS

-          This one I'm actually excited about!!  If, like me, you're a fan of the TVB series Untraceable Evidence and have been "dying" for another Bowie Lam / Flora Chan collaboration (they did film Healing Hands together, but I wasn't a fan of that series / franchise so that doesn't really count, lol), rest assured that your (our) wish might be granted some time in the near future.  Bowie and Flora attended an event the other day (no, nothing related to entertainment stuff – it was an environmental / beach cleaning event that was sponsored by one of their mutual friends, former actress Sharon Kwok) and so reporters seized the opportunity to ask them when they are going to fulfill fans' wishes for them to collaborate again.  Bowie said that it's something he and Flora have talked about and that when they had their Untraceable Evidence cast reunion dinner a few weeks ago (I saw the pictures – ah, the memories!!!), he had already told Flora to save some room in her schedule for him.  Flora's answer was more of a "we'll see" response because she is currently working on her PhD in Education and so her schooling comes first (aside from her family of course).  She said that she had agreed to film that program about marriage for ViuTV because it fit her schedule for one, and two, they allowed her to produce the program and gave her free reign to do the program how she wanted, so she decided to add some educational elements to the show. 

-          Bowie opened his own production company recently and currently has a few scripts on hand that he is reading through (I wrote in my Entertainment Newsreel #4 about Bowie's plans to produce  and star in his own series – you can read the details here) – he said that from day one of opening his production company, he was already planning to invite Flora for another collaboration.  He said that there will definitely be another chance for them to collaborate again, but he can't confirm when that will be due to Flora's studies being her top priority right now.  Both of them are for it though, so it's just a matter of time. 

-          As a fan of the Bowie/Flora pairing in UE, I'm one of those waiting for them to collaborate again.  Now that Bowie has his own production company and the freedom to film whatever he wants, looks like we are closer than ever to seeing another collaboration between these two, the only thing is timing.  Flora did say during their joint interview that she also wants to collaborate with Bowie again, however she still has another 3 years to go in terms of her studies (for her PhD) so it will really depend on whether she is able to carve out some time in between.  I'm secretly praying that Flora will find the time in between her studies to take Bowie up on his offer.  PLEASE PLEASE Flora, please don't make us wait 3 years for another collaboration! 

My ‘TVB Rant’ # 24: Will the TVB ‘Name-Dropping’ Ever Stop??

I know I just ‘ranted’ about TVB a few weeks ago and to be honest, I didn’t think that I’d have to rant about them again so soon (LOL), but hey, when the situation presents itself, sometimes got to just let it out…

Recently, a few articles came out (in various newspapers and magazines) detailing how Eric Tsang has plans to produce a new series for TVB (filming to start in May) tentatively titled “Aerobic Girls” and will be casting many ‘heavyweight’ (aka ‘big name’) actors/actresses in the series – many of the actors/actresses will be ones whom audiences have not seen in a long time so it will definitely be something ‘to look forward to’ (his words, not mine).  Almost immediately after Eric opened his mouth (more like before he even finished speaking), speculations and rumors started to formulate about who those ‘long time no see’ actors/actresses would be.  One of the first names ‘dropped’ was award-winning film actor Tony Leung Ka Fai – he was of course an ‘easy target’ for the Media to ‘associate’ with this series, since Eric had very publicly ‘announced’ prior to this that Tony had approached him voluntarily to ask about ‘helping’ TVB out by filming TV series for them.  Around the same time, there were ‘rumors’ that the female leads being considered for the series included Teresa Mo, Veronica Ip, Vivian Chow (just to name a few) – the funny thing is that even though Vivian’s manager immediately denied the rumor and Vivian herself even said that the chance of her returning to TVB to film series was very slim (pretty much ‘zero’), there were still a lot of people out there who were ‘excited’ about seeing Vivian return and started talking about the series as though that particular ‘casting’ was a ‘done deal’ already. 

Of course now, several weeks later, the ‘rumored’ leads for the series have changed (I wonder what those people who previously insisted on the Tony / Vivian / Teresa / Veronica casting think now??) – the latest ‘rumor’ is that Lawrence Ng (aka Dr. Paul Ching – just had to point that out, since I know of at least 3 Lawrence Ngs in the HK entertainment industry and wanted to make sure people didn’t get confused…LOL) will be participating in the series and the ‘rumored’ female leads have changed to Teresa Mo, Flora Chan, and Sheren Tang.  As of right now, none of the 3 rumored female leads have confirmed anything and both Lawrence and Eric are remaining purposefully ‘vague’ about the whole situation (as he did before, Lawrence dropped a ‘hint’ that the 3 leads were actresses he had worked with before – um, yea, like that means anything...).

Ok, so now that I’ve laid it all out, you want to know what my thoughts are on this?  Well, here goes…

I’m pretty sure the piece about Lawrence participating in the series is true, since he as much as admitted it himself already (from what has come out so far, his role supposedly won’t be too significant, so not sure what he is so excited about…haha).  As for the other 3 ‘rumored’ female leads – well, let’s look at it based on the information we know: 

.-- Teresa Mo already said in an interview a few months ago (a Mingpao interview that I actually translated and posted on my blog for those interested in reading it) that she has no intention of going back to filming TV series because of the overwhelming guilt she felt in ‘neglecting’ her family for the 3 years (2008 to 2010) that she had returned to film for TVB earlier -- so she is basically going to focus primarily on her film career and on taking care of her family.   So to me, this means that the likelihood of her agreeing to this series is very slim (unless she decided to change her mind, which I doubt) – in any case, if it turns out she does agree to this series, I for one will definitely want to understand the reason why.

.—Flora Chan stated in an interview a little over a year ago that she was going back to school to get her Masters (and possibly a Doctorate later on) in English so that she can pursue a career in Teaching later on down the road.  She said that when her daughter is older, she plans on moving the family to the U.S. and teaching there (true to her word, she is currently enrolled at HKU and studying English).  Despite that interview, there continue to be ‘rumors’ every other month or so (literally) about Flora returning to TVB to film series (honestly, I’m tired of hearing about it myself….doesn’t the Media ever stop?).   She had said in that same interview that she was going to take a break from filming series for at least 2 years if not more.

However, according to the articles that have come out, Flora is supposedly in ‘final discussion’ with Eric and them on this series – they claim that Flora agreed to film this series because it would be during summer break when she has a few months off from school (so the ‘caveat’ is that the filming needs to be completed before the next semester begins).  I guess it could work out…but still not looking forward to this because the last time Flora returned, she got a really crappy script and made a really crappy series (that barely anyone bothered watching).

.—And finally, there’s Sheren – what are her chances of accepting this series?  Well, at this point, unless the script is finalized, the chance is ‘zero’ because she already learned her lesson from the ordeal she went through filming the WAB sequel and so going forward, will only film series that have a complete script.   Also, knowing the way Eric Tsang operates, I highly doubt Sheren will want to work with him because he does exactly the same thing scriptwriter Chow Yuk Ming does – ‘on the fly’ scripts that change from one day to the next…in fact, in many ways, Eric is way worse because he’s known for being ‘spontaneous’ when it comes to filming and could change things from one minute to the next (remember how Teresa said that she would get the script the morning of filming and a couple hours later, after she memorized everything already, as she’s getting ready to film the scene, she is told to ‘scrap’ everything she just memorized cuz the script changed – Eric had just come up with a new idea for doing the scene and so changed things on the spot).   Based on this, I highly doubt Sheren is going to accept the series, as I don’t feel that she is willing to put herself through all that torture for TVB’s sake (plus it’s not like she’s contracted with TVB anyway – she’s a free artist so she can do anything she wants pretty much).

.---.

Obviously, I don’t look upon this particular ‘project’ of Eric’s very favorably – at this point, I truly feel that it’s all just Media hype.  And honestly, the name of the series itself (“Aerobic Girls”) already turns me off because it sounds so much like an ‘idol’ series (which I absolutely can’t stand).  I surely hope that the title will be changed because as of right now, based on the title alone, the series sounds lame (and it doesn’t help that Eric is producing it – most of his recent productions have pretty much been borderline ‘raunchy comedies’, so I can’t help but think that this one will be the same…).

Oh, and what about the script?  Again, knowing how TVB operates (some things never change), most likely the script is going to suck (as it usually does in these types of ‘grand’ productions with a supposed ‘all star’ ensemble cast).  In fact, that’s one of the (many) things I can’t stand about TVB – their mentality that as long as you stuff as many ‘big names’ or ‘popular artists’ (aka artists that audiences want to see) in a TV series as possible, you can pretty much take the ‘lazy’ route when it comes to the plot and script because the naïve HK housewife audiences aren’t going to know any better and aren’t going to care as long as the artists they like show up on their screens every night.  No, I’m actually not exaggerating because it’s pretty much a fact that HK audiences have an affinity for ‘familiarity’ (there’s actually been a lot of articles written about this over the past few decades) – it’s one of the (many) reasons why TVB has continued to be so ‘successful’ over the years despite serious decline in the quality of their productions and lack of talent.  This concept also explains the reason why for many years, TVB has been utilizing the strategy of inviting ‘old’ artists back to film for them (though there are other reasons as well, such as the lack of young talent to carry a series, for example).  If you want to see whether this is true or not – well, just take a look around you….if you were to tell friends and family around you (those familiar with HK entertainment of course) that TVB plans on bringing Andy Lau or Chow Yun Fat back to film series, what do you think their reaction would be?  And ‘why’ do you think they would react that way?  I rest my case….

.---.

Some last thoughts about this whole ‘name-dropping’ trend from recent years….

Honestly, I’m sick and tired of all the ‘name-dropping’ that TVB (via the likes of Eric Tsang, for example) and the Media have resorted to the past 2-3 years in terms of artists they hope to ‘invite back’ to film series for them.  Some examples of ‘names’ that have come up:  Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Sandra Ng, Anthony Wong, Vivian Chow, (big) Tony Leung, Deanie Ip, Jacky Cheung….and the list goes on….pretty much anyone you can think of who was once associated with TVB in one way or another (which is pretty much 90% of the artists in the HK entertainment industry) is ‘fair game’ for a so-called ‘return’ to TVB – that is, unless you do what Gordon Lam did (kudos to you, Gordon!) and outright reject TVB with a firm ‘No! Absolutely not!’ [Gordon revealed in a few interviews recently that he was contacted by TVB inviting him to return and film series for them, but he outright rejected them without bothering to listen to any further details of the series from them.  He said he did so because he already knows what he wants in terms of future career path (which involves a career in film, not TV), so why not just be direct with them and say no instead of going back to do a meaningless project that does nothing for his career goals?]  You hit the nail on the head, Gordon!!  It takes guts to go against an established ‘giant’ like TVB and the fact that he did it so firmly and confidently (without being rude about it) definitely deserves praise in my book! (Boy I would have LOVED to see the look on those lame TVB execs’ faces upon hearing Gordon reject them so bluntly – seeing those fake, smug smiles wiped off their faces for even a minute would have provided one of those ‘priceless’ Kodak moments that no amount of money could buy!  LOL!).  So basically, if an artist gives any answer other than a firm ‘No!’, they will be caught in an endless ‘speculation’ game with the Media and general public (keep in mind that there are many audiences out there who will very readily believe anything the Media says without question).

This is why I absolutely get annoyed when TVB (and the Media) ‘jumps the gun’ and starts ‘leaking’ all this information out prior to anything being confirmed. What’s the point of doing this, since it’s a ‘no win’ situation for both sides if the collaboration doesn’t work out? The only 2 reasons I can think of are: 1) they ‘leak’ this stuff out as a means of publicity / hype for the series – so basically, it’s pretty much a ‘publicity stunt’; and 2) it’s a tactic employed by the company (TVB in this case) to ‘force’ the artist(s) to accept the offer, since all the pressure from the Media (and the audiences / fans) definitely does have an impact (take Francis Ng for example – part of the reason why he agreed to return to do TITS2 was because of audience pressure – he had said in an interview previous that initially, he wasn’t going to film the sequel because he doesn’t believe in doing sequels for sequels sake, but then everyone kept pestering him about it and because he felt the audiences (and fans) really wanted him to return to film the sequel, he gave in and did it).

In conclusion….I have a feeling this won’t be the end of this whole ‘name-dropping’ thing – in fact, this is just the beginning!  I’m sure that there will be many more instances of this in the months / years to come (especially if rival HKTV finally does end up getting their license). 

Let’s see who the next big ‘name drop’ will end up being (anyone want to venture to guess?)....I have a few ‘guesses’ in mind, but for now, let’s just ‘sit back’ and see what happens…

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

**Hot off the press!**

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

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

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

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

*****

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

Source:  Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2276

Translation:  llwy12

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

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

.--.

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

Feels happy to be a housewife

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

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

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

Husband is 10 times stronger than her

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

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