[2010.08.29] STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN TO SHAWN YUE

courtesy of singtao.com

Shawn Yue Man Lok and Kitty Zhang Yuqi worked together for the first time on a romantic mystery thriller CURSE OF THE DESERTED (FONG CHUEN GUNG YU). They shot on location in Beijing in the dead of winter. Ah Lok toughed out the cold for months as they shot in the mountains. During the period they ran into supernatural events, but he joked, "I was more afraid of the cold and the exhaustion than ghost!"

CURSE's director Law Chi Leung directed KOMA (GAU MING) and INNER SENSES (YI DOH HUNG GAN). Ah Lok revealed that he took the role completely because of Director Law. "I saw INNER and really liked his production style. Working with new people you never know what the result will be like, the feeling is a lot of fun!"

The shoot in Beijing last Winter had Ah Lok begging for mercy. "We lived in the remote mountains, for over a month I stared at the same mountain, the same goat, and the same abandoned house! The weather was cold, even two pairs of wool pants were useless. The dry climate triggered reactions from my trachea and nose, sometimes I even had nosebleeds! When we had our rice boxes, the cold rice could be poked with chopsticks and picked up. Really people could go mad, everyday we counted down to the completion!"

Ah Lok toughed it out but felt that lead actress Zhang Yuqi was even more professional. "In one scene she had to jump down a well. The well went up to the chest. Since I didn't have to go in I tested the water temperature with my finger and the chill already went into my spine! She jumped in without complaining at all and got it done in one take!" Someone joked that they could warm up with intimate scenes. Ah Lok joked, "In the film we only had a peck, if we had to take off our clothes for the intimate scenes, wouldn't we be even colder?"

Aside from the cold, Ah Lok also ran into a supernatural event. "At first when we shot on location, the camera was out of order for no reason. After lighting incenses it was immediately fine! During the first few nights at the hotel, the door locked on its own. I told 'it', 'I came to make a movie and would be in this room for over a month, sorry for the trouble!' then I was fine again! I am used to seeing the strange and not be surprised. Actually I was more afraid of the cold and the exhaustion than the ghost!"

CURSE opened earlier in the Mainland, its box office put Ah Lok at ease. "I know that after 3 days in release it already accumulated 30 million in the Mainland box office. Subjects like CURSE have already had poor response in the Mainland. This performance was enough for me and the director."