Due
to the busy CNY holiday, I’m just getting around to catching up on translations
and blog stuff right now. I finally got
around to reading last week’s issue of Mingpao Weekly magazine and though there
were quite a few interesting articles in there that I would love to translate
if I had the time, I decided to just go with translating the ‘Shall We Talk’
interview instead. The actress that MP
interviewed this week is another one of my favorite veteran actresses: Teresa Mo.
I
actually grew up watching Teresa in TV series, so of course, I’m pretty
familiar with her works at TVB. Thinking
back now, it’s actually interesting to see how Teresa’s career path evolved
over the past 3 decades and how she went from a ‘jade girl’ image to ‘funny
woman tomboy’ image – as stated in the interview, it actually IS quite obvious
that The
Justice of Life was the turning point in her career (well, her
television career at least) because many of her roles after that series were
very different from what she played previously.
TJOL is actually one of my favorite series and pretty much the only Alex
Man series that I actually adore enough to watch and re-watch over and over
again (Alex is a good actor overall, but he’s just not the type I prefer when
it comes to acting because he gets a bit too OTT in most of his
performances). Teresa’s character in the
series (Ah Yuk) is actually my favorite (on the female side at least) – even
though she was supposed to be one of the more ‘serious’ characters in the
series, she ended being quite funny, especially in her scenes with Stephen Chow
(those scenes when he’s trying to pursue her and she rejects him are especially
funny – I still laugh a lot even now whenever I watch the promo clips for the
DVD!). Definitely a classic series and
a ‘must watch’ for those who haven’t seen it (the cast was awesome and the
script was well put-together…that series is definitely an example of a great TVB comedy).
After
Teresa moved on to the film world, I actually didn’t keep up with her as much,
except in the early 90s when I was still in my HK movies mode (I sort of
stopped following HK movies as religiously in the mid/late 90s because there just
weren’t very many good movies worth watching anymore). However for the movies I did watch of hers, I
still enjoyed her performance a lot. Of
course, the movie role that I will always remember the most of hers was her
tomboy character in All’s Well Ends Well – loved her pairing with Leslie Cheung in
that movie (after so many years of not working together, they still had such
awesome chemistry!) In my opinion,
Teresa is really quite underrated as an actress. Even though she is well-known in the industry
for her acting and has received her fair share of recognition, accolades, etc.
from audiences, I feel that she is deserving of more in the area of acting –
especially since she is the type of actress who can do both ‘serious’ and
‘comedy’ acting. It’s rare in the
industry to have an actress who can do both so well, so hopefully that effort
doesn’t go to waste.
Oh
and just a quick comment about Teresa’s return to TVB a few years ago – I will
honestly say that I for one was quite happy because I loved her performance as
well as her pairing with Wayne in Off Pedder. Up until that point, I had pretty much
stopped watching TVB sitcoms because they were boring and the casting and
storyline couldn’t live up to what they were back in the 80s and 90s (loved the
sitcoms from the 80s/early 90s!). Teresa
and Wayne were the main reason why I decided to watch OP and they definitely
didn’t disappoint – their chemistry in the series was excellent and to be
honest, they were really the driving force behind the series. I actually don’t think that I would have
enjoyed the series as much if either one of them weren’t in it.
As
for Teresa’s decision not to film TV series anymore – I’m actually ok with it,
especially given the filming environment and politics at TVB (plus there aren’t
too many male artists left at TVB who would match well with her anyway). Besides, her family is and should be more
important to her than her work – completely understandable! Kudos to her for having her priorities right!
.****.
Mingpao
Interview with actress Teresa Mo: The
joys of staying at home
Source: Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2309
Translation: llwy12
As soon as Teresa Mo (毛舜筠) arrived
for her interview, she immediately asked the crew to show her exactly where the
interview would be conducted and where she would be posing for pictures -- she
is the type of person who needs to understand clearly what she is getting into
so she can adequately prepare. Last
year, when she participated in her friend Eric Tsang’s (曾志偉) Lunar New
Year comedy I Love Hong Kong 2012 (2012我愛HK喜上加囍), the script was done entirely ‘on the fly’, with the dialogue
constantly being changed / added last minute – this year, instead of
collaborating with Eric again, she decided to ‘change camps’ and participate in
producer Raymond Wong’s (黃百鳴) Lunar New Year comedy Hotel Deluxe (百星酒店) instead.
Asked whether she was ‘betraying’ Eric by filming
for the ‘opposing’ camp (Raymond Wong), Teresa replied: “Just trying to make a
living!!” After saying this, she bursts
out laughing.
Her personality may be straightforward and blunt,
but when it comes to certain matters, she can also be a bit stubborn – this is
her ‘Mo Jeh’ style.
Back during the early days of her career, Teresa
once played the character of Lin Dai Yu (林黛玉) [from the famous novel Dream
of the Red Chamber], however at the time, she was criticized for being
‘wooden’ and not having Lin Dai Yu’s characteristic ‘sickly beauty’. In reality though, Teresa can’t be more
opposite than the characters she used to portray – she is the type of person
who understands how to have fun and especially enjoys joking around. The
‘turning point’ in her career came in 1989 -- while filming TVB series The
Justice of Life (他來自江湖), Teresa was ‘inspired’ by fellow co-star Stephen Chow (周星馳) and after
that, she started going on the ‘comedic’ path in her acting career, with later
‘representative works’ playing funny, tomboy-like characters.
After becoming a mother, Teresa toned down her
acting a bit, taking on a more mature comedic style. A few years ago, she returned to TVB once
again (after 17 years away) and over a span of 3 years, starred in 2 sitcoms
filming more than 400 episodes. However,
those 3 years ended up being very ‘painful’ for her: “One time, my housekeeper called me at work
to tell me that my daughter had contracted swine flu – I sat there in the
studio and almost went crazy!”
After that experience, Teresa decided not to film
TV series again. Even the offer of a
lead role in TVB’s 2010 anniversary series No Regrets (義海豪情), in which
she would get to battle acting chops with old partner Wayne Lai (黎耀祥) as well as TV Queen Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯), did not succeed in swaying her decision to
give up filming TV series. For Teresa,
satisfying her ‘acting bug’ pales in comparison to staying at home and spending
quality time with her 2 daughters – choosing between family and career will
always be one of the most difficult decisions an actress will need to make at
some point in their lives.
Stephen Chow’s ‘Category III’ dialogue
When she started her acting career 30 years ago
(1970s), Teresa Mo epitomized the ‘jade girl’ image, as she often portrayed
refined, pure wholesome characters in both modern as well as ancient drama
series: at Rediffusion Television [ATV’s
predecessor] she was often paired with Leslie Cheung (張國榮) in series
with sweet, ‘puppy love’ relationship storylines and later, when she joined
Commercial Television [now defunct], she played Lin Dai Yu. After she joined TVB in the early 1980s, her
career path pretty much continued in the same direction – that is, until she
met actor Stephen Chow and collaborated with him in 1989’s anniversary series The
Justice of Life. The experience
helped Teresa tap into her comedic potential and after that, she went on to become
one of the HK television and movie industry’s rare, highly coveted comedic
actresses.
“Filming that series with Stephen was the first
time that I became interested in comedy.
I definitely learned a lot while filming with him – comedic rhythm,
expressions, grasping comedic timing, etc.
I discovered that I actually had comedic potential as well – it was a
good start for me!”
Stephen Chow has a penchant for changing dialogue
in scripts – not just his own, but also the dialogue of those filming the same
scenes with him. Teresa admits that this
‘habit’ of his actually helped her acting career, as the ‘special training’ she
received from him helped her refine her skills.
“He’s actually more suited for movies because a
lot of the dialogue he comes up with is the ‘Category III’ type that would
never pass television censors. The
interesting thing is that sometimes he would come up with dialogue for us too
and would try to persuade us to say it. I remember when we were filming The
Justice of Life, there was a segment of the story where his character
is pursuing me and so always tries to buy interesting stuff for me to eat – one
time he bought a sausage and instead of saying what was in the script, he
wanted me to say something else…I told him I won’t say it because it can’t be
aired on TV. Another time, he bought
something else and ad-libbed some ‘colorful’ dialogue to go along with it – I
told him that stuff won’t pass either, but he told me not to be concerned with
it and to just say my lines and he’ll respond accordingly. This would happen all the time and we often
didn’t know if we should laugh or cry at his ‘creativity’! One thing’s for sure though – every time we’d
watch the playback of the scenes together, we’d laugh like crazy!”
After filming those 30 episodes, Teresa slowly
went from being overly reserved and cautious with her acting to being more open
and less restrained. She came to realize
that there was a ‘different’ way of doing comedy – it was like learning to ride
a bicycle and finally finding a way to keep yourself balanced.
Moving to better environment for the kids
Subsequently, Teresa’s career took a comedic
path, with her taking on ‘funny woman’ roles in various movies, such as a
‘small woman’ in 1992’s Legendary La Rose Noire (92黑玫瑰對黑玫瑰), a tomboy in 1992’s All’s Well End’s Well (家有囍事),
seductress Poon Kam Lin in 1993’s Laughter of Water Margins (水滸笑傳), a bossy
shrew in 1993’s All’s Well Ends Well Too (花田囍事), etc. In practically all of these movies, there are
jokes and dialogue that are borderline suggestive -- Teresa expressed that after watching these
movies, luckily her 2 daughters never asked her what the audiences were
laughing at: “Since they go to
international schools, their English is better than their Chinese, so they don’t
understand Cantonese jokes. It’s the
same as when I hear them laughing at English jokes, I have no clue what they’re
laughing at either.”
The difference in language could be seen as a
‘sacrifice’, but also a blessing as well, since international schools actually
have fewer exams. Teresa’s eldest
daughter is already 18 years old and when she enters college this year, she’ll
truly experience the ‘pressures’ of studying for exams.
A few years ago, Teresa’s daughter studied at an
international school where there was a bigger mix of Western students – she
felt that the atmosphere at the school was too ‘open’ and was worried that her
daughter would get the wrong message at school:
“The general atmosphere at the school was that it’s ‘common’ for 11 -12
year old kids to start dating – at times, the school would even hold parties
and events for the kids to get to know each other on their own, without any
parental or teacher supervision! One
time, my daughter came home from school and told me: ‘Mom, a lot of girls in the U.S. already
become mothers when they’re 12 years old!’
Hearing her say that scared me to death!”
Teresa (and her husband) decided that for the
sake of their daughters, they should move to a better suited environment. After moving the family from HK Island to
Shatin, she enrolled her daughter in a more conservative Christian
international school: “We feel it’s a
wiser choice that’s more in line with our values. Currently both of our daughters attend the
same school – it’s great!”
The swine flu scare
A few years ago, Teresa returned to TVB to film 2
sitcoms: the 300+ episode Off
Pedder (畢打自己人) and the 120 episode Some Day (天天天晴). Within those 3 years, Teresa worked
practically every day – the biggest sacrifice was not being able to spend
quality time with her 2 daughters.
“Even when we talk about it now, they [her
daughters] still complain about it! They
always ask me: ‘Mom, do you remember how
we would spend New Year’s back during those years? We’d all be gathered on your bed watching TV
and counting down, but because you’d be so tired and have to get up early the
next day to film series, you’d always fall asleep in the middle. Do you remember? We remember!’”
At the time, her youngest daughter was only 7
years old – the one ‘blemish’ to her happy childhood was all because her mother
couldn’t get any time off.
“Everyone thinks that filming sitcoms is more
relaxing because of the 9 to 5 shift, but in reality, filming until 10pm or
even later is normal. With that type of
schedule, if there’s a chance to finish work early and go home to have dinner
with my daughters, I’m already very lucky.
On the weekends, we usual go off-site to film, so even less time to
spend with my daughters. This was the
way things were for 3 years.”
The scariest experience was when Teresa’s
housekeeper called her at work to tell her that her daughter was sent home from
school because she had contracted swine flu:
“I was sitting there in the studio and practically went crazy. All I wanted to do was get home as quickly as
possible, but I had to finish 2 more scenes before I could leave. I could barely concentrate on what I was
doing, as all I could think about was my daughter’s condition: ‘How high is her
fever? How will I be able to quarantine
her?, etc.’ My colleagues had never
seen me like this!”
When Teresa returned home, the situation was
worse than she imagined – her daughter had vomited all over the living room
carpet due to a severe reaction to the medication that the housekeeper had
given her and was lying on the bed with a 105 degree fever. With her husband working in the Mainland at
the time, Teresa called up her neighbor
-- good friend and ‘sister’ Ada Choi (蔡少芬) – who rushed over with
husband Max Zhang (張晉) and helped to take her daughter to the hospital: “Since the flu was contagious, the hospital
wouldn’t take her in, so I had to stay home and be with her until she got well –
there was no way for me to go to work.
Given the situation, I didn’t care whether she was contagious or not – I
would rather I get the illness than to see her suffer!”
Teresa took 2 days off to be with her daughter
until she got better. Afterwards, she
told herself: “This filming series
lifestyle won’t work for me, since I have children. It has to stop!”
Originally invited to participate in anniversary series No Regrets
After being away from TVB 17 years, Teresa agreed
to return to film series a couple years ago (2008) because of her mentor [TVB’s
head of production] Catherine Tsang (曾勵珍) – however, due to the
overwhelming sense of guilt that she felt towards not being able to spend time
with her family for those 3 years she spent filming, she decided that after
filming for the sitcom Some Day wrapped, she would not film
any more series.
“I felt that it just wasn’t working out – it’s
pointless to live this way. No matter
how much I love acting, it’s only going to have a negative effect. That’s why I told myself that I’m not going
to film TV series again – I had to tell myself that so I wouldn’t get
soft-hearted and agree to film again.
Thinking back on the experience now, it still scares me.”
In the 3 years she was filming for TVB, there was
no way for her to go on trips with her daughters -- this past Christmas and New
Year’s, Teresa made up for it when the entire family went on vacation trips
together: “The whole family spending
time together, very enjoyable! For New
Year’s, we went shopping, skiing, sight-seeing in Japan – it was only an 8-9
day trip, but we enjoyed every minute of it!
We talked about a lot of things too – it’s quality time that we got to
spend together!”
Teresa first joined TVB more than 30 years ago
[back in 1981] – back then, she was single and didn’t have kids, so it was fine
for her to live the ‘no night no day’ filming TV series lifestyle. If people think that filming series nowadays
is arduous and exhausting, it was even more so back then!
“Back then, we didn’t have trailers for costumes
and makeup like we do now – when filming off-site, we pretty much had to change
right there in the street or hide out in the car. Also, the makeup and costume people are much
nicer now then what we got back then – in the past, they were very mean and
would basically just ignore you. If your
hair got messed up and you asked them to help fix it, they’d yell at you and
say they didn’t come here to help you fix your hair, then turn around and go
back to what they were doing!”
When she returned to TVB 5 years ago, she agreed
to film sitcoms, but didn’t dare to film regular series because she knew she
wouldn’t be able to handle it: “0630
[6:30AM start time] schedule every day – definitely couldn’t handle it, unless
I’m prepared to drop dead afterwards!
This type of ‘system’ [TN:
filming night and day with little to no rest] can kill you – it’s very
inhumane! Tim Gor [producer Lee Tim Sing
(李添勝)] had actually
invited me to film No Regrets in a ‘love triangle’ storyline with Wayne [Lai] and
Sheren [Tang], but I turned it down, so they had to change the script. I’m actually very grateful to Tim Gor for
seeking me out, as he had told me back when I was filming Off Pedder that he really
liked my pace and I looked forward to the opportunity to work with him. I asked whether there could be a ‘system’ for
me to get some sleep, but unfortunately, TVB said ‘no’ and that the filming
schedule had to be 0630. In my heart, I
really wanted to film the series, as I felt that getting the chance to battle
acting chops with others who loved acting as much as I did was a very happy
matter, but if I wouldn’t get to sleep, then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it
anyway.”
Still desires to win awards
In both sitcoms that Teresa filmed upon her
return to TVB, she was paired up with 3-time TV King Wayne Lai (黎耀祥). When it comes to this partner of hers, Teresa
has nothing but praise and admiration.
“Wayne is a very mellow person – he doesn’t have
a temper and never gets upset. No matter
what happens, his mood is always pleasant and no matter what you ask him, he
always tries to accommodate. Oh and he
also has a superhuman memory! Other
actors only start to study the script when they get here and no matter how many
times they look at the script, they still forget their lines, which can get
quite frustrating. But Wayne is
different – he comes in, reads through the script, practices a little, and just
like that he has all the dialogue memorized!
That’s why whenever the 2 of us have scenes together, we finish very
quickly. Also, we’re both very punctual
– we start at 9am and after 1 or 2 takes, our scenes are done. Definitely enjoy having such a great
partner!”
For their Anniversary Awards, TVB had instituted
a ‘One Vote Per Person’ system to have audiences vote for TV King. Towards this, Teresa half-jokingly asked our
reporter: “Do you guys really believe
that?” As for Wayne winning TV King for
the 3rd time, she
states: “Wayne is always worthy of
getting that award! In fact, I
registered my phone number just so I could vote for him!”
For herself, Teresa admits that she doesn’t have
much affinity when it comes to awards.
In her 30 year acting career, she has never gotten any Best Actress
awards, whether in television or movies.
Her only award was back in 2006, when she received HKFA Best Supporting
Actress for her performance in the film 2 Young (早熟).
“My attitude towards awards is still ‘yes, I want
it’ – I admit that I don’t have Wayne’s nonchalant attitude when it comes to
awards. To be honest, my feelings
towards awards are a bit complicated – generally, I wouldn’t care whether I get
an award or not because after so many years in the industry, HK audiences
already know who I am in terms of acting.
But once you engage yourself in this ‘game’ [competing for awards], of
course the natural reaction is to want to win – it’s just like when you sit down
at the gambling table and place a bet, you’re not going to say ‘oh, doesn’t
matter whether the winning number comes out or not’…of course you’re going to
keep yelling out the number you bet on, hoping it comes out in the end! With all that said though, at the end of the
day, it truly is just a game.”
Nominated many times, but lost many times as well
– how does she prevent herself from getting discouraged?
“Luckily, I have my faith. I believe that God has his timetable – if he
feels it’s not time yet, that’s fine, I’ll wait and leave it up to him. Every time I lose the award, I always
self-reflect on why I didn’t win – there are many factors, but the main reason
is because my acting isn’t good enough yet.
Also, the comedy genre is still at a disadvantage in HK – even though in
my opinion it’s sometimes much harder acting in a comedy than in a drama, the
reality is that most people still think of comedies as lighthearted fun that
doesn’t need to be taken seriously.”
Eric Tsang vs. Raymond Wong
Nevertheless, Teresa is still very willing to
film comedies, as the ability to bring happiness and laughter to audiences is
very satisfying. Last year, she starred
in Eric Tsang’s Lunar New Year movie I Love Hong Kong 2012, however this
year, she ‘changed camps’ and decided to film Raymond Wong’s Lunar New Year
comedy Hotel Deluxe instead.
Teresa expressed that filming for Eric takes some
getting used to, as his scripts are usually done ‘on the fly’ – for someone
like her who needs to sufficiently prepare ahead of time, it’s difficult to
adjust.
“[When filming ILHK last year], I would rush them
all the time to hurry up and get me the script.
They give me the script the night before and I study it, memorize it,
but then when I go in the next morning, I realize it’s not the final
version. The funniest thing is that even
the script you receive the day of filming or while in the makeup chair right
before the scene, it’s still not the final one, so you shouldn’t spend too much
time trying to memorize it because as soon as you get into place preparing to
do the scene, Eric suddenly has a new idea – he’ll tell you to do ‘this this
and this’ instead – I usually reply back with ‘what what and what?’ and ask him
to slow down. Doing things last minute
like this makes me very nervous, as I’m the type of person who needs to know
clearly what will happen when it comes to filming – I need to know the
storyline, the dialogue, the logic behind the flow of the story, etc. With Eric, preparing in advance is impossible
– of course I complained about it, but it’s no use because he’s too busy and
doesn’t have time to prepare the lines for you in advance.”
Teresa has played Eric’s wife many times already
in movies and since they’re good friends, she understands his filming style and
doesn’t fault him. As for why she
decided to ‘switch camps’ this year and film Raymond Wong’s LNY movie instead
of Eric’s, Teresa expressed that when she filmed Raymond’s movie Love
is…Pyjamas (男人如衣服) last year, she had already promised him that she would participate
in his holiday film. She had also
already let Eric know in advance so that he could prepare and find someone else
for his movie.
Both Love is…Pyjamas as well as Hotel
Deluxe are directed by Vincent Kuk (谷德昭) – his directing style is
entirely opposite from Eric’s in that he not only refuses to do ‘on the fly’
scripts, he also doesn’t allow actors to change his scripts.
“When it comes to the script, Vincent is always
fully prepared before filming even starts.
His scripts are very meticulously written, so he doesn’t allow people to
change the dialogue – if you want to change something, you have to discuss with
him ahead of time. Also, all the
dialogue must be recited word for word from the script – can’t change even a
single word! This is both good and
bad: good is that the director has
already fully prepared everything for you, so all you need to do is the acting
– makes it easier to film other projects at the same time, since everything
runs exactly according to schedule; bad
is that if the director isn’t good or doesn’t know what he’s doing, you’ll
regret not having the chance to change things.”
For Hotel Deluxe, the filming takes
place almost entirely at a 5 star luxury hotel in Qiandao Lake, so filming is very
relaxed and comfortable. In the movie,
Teresa plays a slightly perverted manager and has many scenes with co-star and
fellow comedic actress Sandra Ng (吳君如).
Her ‘artist’ husband
When we read through the names listed in the
ending credits to renowned director Wong Kar Wai’s (王家衛) latest
masterpiece The Grandmasters (一代宗師), one name in particular
stands out: Tony Au (區丁平). Tony is not only a famous art director in the
HK entertainment circle, he’s also Teresa Mo’s husband.
“He participated in the art direction for the
gold building scene in the movie!” Asked
whether being married to an ‘artist’ is a difficult chore, Teresa responds in
her usual humorous way: “Being married
to anyone is ‘difficult’! In fact, 2
people in a relationship together is already difficult, as you really need to
put in the effort to learn how to love each other and accept each other’s
differences. It’s a mutual thing – I
accommodate him in certain things, but he also accommodates me too.”
When he’s working, he ‘forgets’ about home? “All men are like that, not just ‘artists’ --
HK men are especially that way – work
always comes first!”
