[2022.07.12] CYA LIU SIGNS AN UNFAIR CONTRACT TO BE THE LEAD ACTRESS

Cya Liu's 18 year career has not been all smooth sailing.  She feels that she has suffered like her character Wang Tao.

Cya Liu has nothing but praise for all of her fellow Best Actress nominees

Cya Liu has won Best Actress at the 28th Hong Kong Film Critic Society Awards and 2021 Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild Awards
courtesy of mingpao.com

The 40th Hong Kong Film Awards will take place on the 17th at the KITEC Star Hall. The Best Actress competition would be rather fierce. Mainland actress Cya Liu with her first Hong Kong film lead in LIMBO (JI CHI) was already nominated for Best Actress opposite Gong Li, Sandra Ng Kwan Yu, Chrissie Chau Sau Na, and Louise Wong Dan Nei. Cya Liu earlier with LIMBO won the 28th Hong Kong Film Critic Society and the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild 2021 Awards Best Actress and thus has been seen as the favorite. Cya Liu stated that she hoped to win the Hong Kong Film Award Best Actress. She analyzed that if she would win, aside from being luckier, in Chinese film no actress has been more tragic than she has been. She revealed that in order to make LIMBO she signed an unfair contract. She joked that this role of Wang Tao truly was very tragic, without any credit but with plenty of hard labor.

Cya Liu said that LIMBO's Wang Tao was very hard to play. She once worried that the director would recast if she performed poorly. She revealed that the contract was very unfair, one of the condition was "If he feels I am not suitable, he (the director) can replace me." She received this type of contract for the first time and felt very surprised. She felt a lot of pressure and was afraid of being replaced midway through the shoot. Even so, Cya Liu never thought of not taking the role because she really wanted to work with director Cheang Pou Soi. "I have watched all of his work and I really like them."

The 33 year old Cya Liu revealed that she performed like it was her final film and gave her all. "If LIMBO becomes the final film in my performance career, I feel it would be well worth it. This character Wang Tao is different from other roles. She has no social identity, her existence is hers alone. She almost doesn't rely on anyone to exist in this world. However she has a little regret. Now I want to this character Wang Tao to have more sides, more complexity, and make even more of her background stuff."

Bitterly waited 13 years before becoming a lead actress, Cya Liu hoped with the nomination and the awards more people would know that she exists and she would have more performance opportunities. Started in 2004, her journey has not been smooth sailing. Suffering just like "Wang Tao" did, twice she thought about giving up acting and retiring from show business. "At age 18 I went to Beijing to look for opportunities alone, I waited for 7 years without any job. At that moment I went to go home to Hunan. Luckily I ran into SO YOUNG. At the time I hoped after the film was release, people would know I was still acting. However due to approval issue, the wait turned into 4 years. During the period I made some small budget films and supporting roles and the thought of leaving rose again. Because I was reluctant, I felt that since I have become an actor I hoped to have a few good films to leave the audience with. So I grinded my teeth and persisted until now."

Speaking of her Best Actress opponents, Cya Liu felt everyone was very strong. "Elders Gong Li and Ng Kwan Yu are both Best Actress class, publicly recognized as good actresses. LEAP is very passionate, ZERO TO HERO very touching, MADALENA moved me to tears, Chau Sau Na performed very well. I really like Mui Yim Fong, when I watched ANITA I was led by naturally Wong Dan Nei and reminded of Mui Yim Fong's past. I felt the experience very deeply, playing a celebrity isn't a very easy thing."

Cya Liu's opponents indeed were very strong, with Best Actresses Ng Kwan Yu and Gong Li. Ng Kwan Yu with PORTLAND STREET BLUES (GOO WAT JAI CHING YI PIN ji HUNG HING SUP SAM MUI) won the Hong Kong Film Award Best Actress. This time with ZERO TO HERO (MAMA DIK SUN KEI SIU JI) she was nominated for Best Actress. Kwan Yu admitted that she really wanted to win the Hong Kong Film Award Best Actress again. She declared that she would campaign nonstop, and looked determined to win. Earlier she with ZERO TO HERO won the people's choice Best Actress.

Gong Li last year with LEAP won the 27th Hong Kong Film Critic Society Award Best Actress. Her substance should not be overlooked. As for the nominee with her film debut, rookie Wong Dan Nei's film ANITA has been a commercial and critical success. Its cumulative box office has passed HK$ 60 million and became the top grossing Chinese film of 2021. However Wong Dan Nei did not dare to pick herself as the favorite, saying that she never thought about winning. She was already very happy with the nomination and good word of mouth for the film.