[2012.05.04] CHARLIE YEUNG'S OLD LOOK SURPRISES AARON KWOK

courtesy of singtao.com

courtesy of mingpao.com

courtesy of takungpao.com

Aaron Kwok Fu Sing in the film FLOATING CITY (FAU SING) played Tanka.  Because he was unwilling to spend his life on a fishing boat like the generations before him and had no idea when he would return from taking a risk at sea, he finally decided to try his luck on shore and changed his fate.  Yet he went too fast while his wife Charlie Yeung Choi Nei remained where she was.  The distance between them grew further as
Annie Liu (Lau Sum Yau) appeared around him.  Choi Nei played the role from her 20s to her 60s, Sing Sing thought Choi Nei's biggest sacrifice was making her skin darker and rougher.  At first glimpse even he was surprised.

Sing Sing said that not only director Yim Ho was demanding but also the most difficult was speaking Tanka.  Although he had a translator on the set, digesting on the spot was hard.  Long dialogue along with emotional performance was truly very hard to handle, luckily they got through it without too many bad takes as he met his own demands.  As for playing an old character, Sing Sing revealed that the make up was not deliberately exaggerated.  It was an spiritual old.  The most successful was the scene in which he and Choi Nei were at their oldest.

Choi Nei said that back then women at sea all listened to their men and silently supported their husbands.  Her character was even deaf.  Sing Sing joked, "Take a look at me and you know, every time when you ask something that is unrelated I become deaf -- intermittent hearing loss."  Choi Nei continued that in order to experience hearing loss for awhile she wore ear plugs.  At her most exaggerated she even wore them outside and on a flight.  Originally she would get frustrated when she could not hear the volume and did not want to speak.  She became lonely and was only willing to live in her own world.  Thus she experienced how old people felt when their hearing deteriorated.  She was sympathetic and her heart ached.

Choi Nei caught attention after working on an ad with Sing Sing and got into the business.  Earlier they worked together on AFTER THIS OUR EXILE (FU JI).  Years later, Choi Nei thought Sing Sing was more mature than before but still was able to maintain his childlike innocence.  In particular he had a lot of fun with the crew.  For such a sunny person to play a character who was tangled in pain, she understood why Sing Sing chose to be a happy person off screen.  She said that she seemed to be flipping through Sing Sing's diary.  Has she flipped through his love diary?  She said that when Sing Sing wanted her to she would.

The film's subject was very similar to the overseas award winning ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW (SHUI YUET SUN TAU).  Did they want the film to win as well?  Sing Sing said that an actor could only help the director fulfill one of the drams.  This time the story background was memories of the colonial era to introduce to a new generation that Hong Kong was just a fishing harbor back then and how times changed.  He said, "My character isn't a biological son, but (the film) is about how the biological mother isn't as great as the adoptive mother.  The film will open on Mother's Day, a perfect salute to the respected mothers."