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| Terrance Lau praises director and actor Nick Cheung as very attentive, constantly thinking of the actors |
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| Nick Cheung and Fala Chen play a loving couple in the film |
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Terrance Lau plays a psychiatrist who constantly crosses the line
courtesy of mingpao.com |
Best Actor Nick Cheung Ka Fai went from acting to directing. PEG
O' MY HEART (SHOOK MUNG), the fourth film that he directed and starred in,
recently won the "Best Director Award" at the Grimmfest Film
Festival in Manchester, UK. The new film would be released in Hong Kong
on March 27th. He admitted that there was no pressure, but he felt that
the style of this film was difficult to classify. Although it was
popular with foreign audiences, he also looked forward to the support of
Hong Kong local audiences. Cheung Ka Fai admitted that his heart was
full of rebellion and liked to take the alternative route. His new work
was "difficult to classify", and he would continue to have no limit to
his dream of directing. He joked "I 'Fa Gwut Lung' didn't get the name
in vain, I hope to have the opportunity to make comedy again!"
The past three films Cheung Ka Fai directed had a "dark" style.
He admitted that he was full of rebellion at heart and liked to take the
alternative route. This time PEG O' THE HEART took "redemption" as the
theme, which contained thrilling and criminal elements. It also had a
bit of "cult film" flavor. Ka Fai said that two years after the
completion of the film, it woul finally be released in Hong Kong. In
the long waiting process, he has experienced the overseas promotions,
visited major film festivals, understood the audience's reaction, and
has even seen it countless times during editing. Thus his feeling was a
little numb, not particularly nervous. However he was very happy to get
a lot of good actors to perform hard during the filming process, hoping
to give the audience a new experience through this theme.
Ka Fai bluntly said that current film productions would not be
limited to a single horror film or dramatic film. This time PEG O' MY
HEART was a bit strange, some viewers would feel the film would be
difficult to classify after watching it. "Actually I have been also
looking for answers too, I did not imitate any movies when making this
film. I saw on some channels that movies that are difficult to classify
as would be classified as 'unclassifiable movies'." He said that PEG O'
MY HEART was original and could bring freshness to the audience. "I
have the audience's appreciation overseas, but it does not mean that
it's all about me; nor does it mean that I am sure to win. Maybe
foreigners like it, but I don't know what Hong Kong audiences would
think."
Making a non commercial film this time, Ka Fai believed that
film was a creative industry. The market must have a variety of films
to give the most sincere feedback to the audience. Hence multi-genre
films such as "ET the Extra-Terrestrial", kung fu films and comedy
films appeared. However, he was more paranoid. Since he has found a
group of good actors, he wanted to take the alternative route, special
and difficult to classify direction; especially if the audience felt
that watching movies was dull now. They might as well come to watch his
film. As a director, Ka Fai has always been in a dark style that has
also become his trademark. He joked that someone has already evaluated
him as such, he considered himself rebellious and deliberately adhered
to this style. However his inner world was very unrestrained. PEG O'
MY HEART had many thrilling scenes. Ka Fai said that the initial
starting point was not to scare people, because the audience's
definition of fright may be very low. Some viewers would be afraid when
they saw the characters being a little more vicious, so he did not to
challenge scaring people to death. The film had two main tragic plots,
most of the scare spots were conceived on the spot on the set.
For his first international director award, would this be his
most satisfying work? Ka Fai said that he did not dare to assert that.
If he had the opportunity to make another film similar to hypnosis or
dreams, he believed that he could make an even better film. After all,
he still had a lot he wanted to say but not enough space to do it.
Directing and starring were not easy, so this time Lau Chun Him was the
real lead actor. Ka Fai hoped to concentrate on filming him well.
Regarding the movie release, Lau Chun Him said that he was
nervous. The psychiatrist he played in the film was also mentally
distressed. Actually in real life, Ah Him often had nightmares when he
was a child. He dreamed of people or monsters chasing him. "Maybe when
I was little I didn't know how to express yourself, or perhaps I was
only like that because I felt lonely." Playing this role, Ah Him said
that the most difficult thing was not acting, but restraining the
performance. "I couldn't resist acting during filming, I was guided by
a story and I communicated closely with the director." He felt that
Ka Fai was by no means a villain director. He remembered a scene in the
water the most. That night was very cold, the staff took a while to try
the position. He proposed to try it himself, but Ka Fai refused his
request and protected him. In addition Ah Him had a shower scene, which
was a bold performance on screen for him. "That scene was a dream, I
dreamed that I was naked after taking a shower at home. I didn't look
at it with bias, so I agreed to perform it right away." Actually if the
script required it, and he could accept it full rear nudity.
In addition to directing and acting, Ka Fai also sings the theme
song of the movie. He joked that finding someone else to sing would
cost money. "Earlier a reporter asked me how to withdraw from the role,
actually I withdrew as soon as the cameras stopped rolling. I found
that a lot of money had to be spent, and the whole person woke up. Do
you have any financial company to recommend?" When asked about his
expectations for the box office, Ka Fai said that the film has indeed
been appreciated overseas; but now for film productions in Hong Kong,
nothing seemed right in the eyes of the audience. "However if you do it
right, everyone will honestly tell you that you are right; of course you
have to work hard on getting it right. It takes the perfect combination
of creativity, screenwriting, cinematography and lighting. If you ask
me what acting is? I'm not an academic myself, but I personally think
it's like a door, being convincing on one hand and exciting on the
other. As soon as the door is opened, inside needs a lot of things to
help before the performance would be recognize. This requires
everyone's cooperation."
Ka Fai will continue his directing dream, but he is not sure
whether he will stick to the "dark" style. Because he has never limited
what he wants to shoot, he has left everything up to fate and Heaven
would make the arrangements. The audience has always been missed him in
comedies. Everyone to this day is still talking about the role of "Fa
Gwut Lung", Ka Fai joked that sometimes when he saw how much fun Tommy
Chu Pak Hong, Louis Cheung Kai Chung and Terrance Lau Chun Him were
having, he wanted to join in and go crazy. "I 'Fat Gwut Lung' didn't
get the name in vain, I hope to have the opportunity to make comedy
again!" As a senior he watched a group of young people's rise. Their
path was just like the one he walked when he was younger, full of
enthusiasm. So he wanted to work with them to bring a new atmosphere to
the film industry. As for Lau Chun Him, he also has been creating
stories. Would he want to direct and act himself like Ka Fai? He
expressed his interest in becoming a director, but if he would direct he
would not participate in the performance; because he has seen how hard
it was for Ka Fai to take care of both sides of the cameras.
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