[2022.07.14] LEUNG CHUNG HANG SEES BEST ACTOR AS COMPETITION BETWEEN HIS ELDERS

Leung Chung Hang only has average confidence in his Hong Kong Film Award Best Actor bid, because he faces three elders who are rich in acting experience 

Leung Chung Hang says that only because Will Or introduces him to the ZERO TO HERO director did he land the role of "adult So Wa Wai"

DRIFTING's Will Or is nominated for Best Supporting Actor and also competes against Leung Chung Hang for Best New Performer
courtesy of mingpao.com

The 40th Hong Kong Film Award will take place on Sunday, the 17th. The Best Actor competition will be fierce. The 85 year old Patrick Tse Yin with TIME (SAT CHOOK GOR WONG FUN) receives his first Best Actor nomination. Already won many awards he has been seen as the favorite. TIME's producer Gordon Lam Ka Tung with LIMBO (JI CHI) and HAND-ROLLED CIGARETTE (SAU GUEN YIN) received two nominations, but still saw Tse Yin as the favorite. DRIFTING (JOOK SHUI PIU LAU)'s Francis Ng Chun Yu is also a favorite. New comer and ZERO TO HERO (MAMA DIK SUN KEI SIU JI) star Leung Chung Hang should not be overlooked as he could end up with the award. Leung Chung Hang admired elders Ng Chun Yu and Lam Ka Tung and felt that the Best Actor would be a competition between the two. However he joked that he saw himself as the favorite.

This year's Hong Kong Film Award Best Actor nominees included TIME's Tse Yin (Sei Gor), LIMBO and HAND-ROLLED CIGARETTE's Lam Ka Tung, DRIFTING's Ng Chun Yu and ZERO TO HERO's Leung Chung Hang.

Sei Gor earlier at the 28th Hong Kong Film Critic Society Awards and the 2021 Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild Awards won Best Actor. His character Tin Lap Chau even won the Hong Kong Screenwriters' Guild's 2021 Best Film Character. With the triple crown he became the top favorite. His opponent Ng Chun Yu in DRIFTING played a homeless person and received rave reviews for his acting explosion.

With LIMBO and HAND-ROLLED CIGARETTE, Lam Ka Tung has two nominations and is also TIME's producer. He treated the award normally and felt that even if he would not win, he would still keep working hard, hope to do a little better and in the future make even more good movies for the audience to watch. Lam Ka Tung said that he was the happiest about Sei Gor's nomination.

Leung Chung Hang's big screen debut ZERO TO HERO was a commercial and critical success and brought him Hong Kong Film Award Best Actor and Best New Performer nominations, as he challenged elders Tse Yin, Ng Chun Yu and Lam Ka Tung. Leung Chung Hang said that he felt the nomination was already a reward. He looked back at when he first took the ZERO TO HERO role, he worried about performing poorly and the audience would jeer him. Luckily the film received good response and he was able to answer the team. He felt that his voice performance had more advantage and won many points, because he added a little creativity and not just impersonate So Wa Wai's speech. He still needed to change. He was more strict with himself, feeling that he could do better in many places. Out of 10, he would give himself a score of 6.8.

Leung Chung Hang admitted that his confidence was only average, because the competition was very strong. Earlier he had a chance to work with Best Actor Lam Ka Tung on a movie and sensed that his own acting experience was quite distant from his; whether his sensitivity to the camera, understanding of the screenplay Lam Ka Tung was very strong. In addition he was very familiar with the production operation, so he was able to be in full control without any stress. Performances of Lam Ka Tung in LIMBO and Ng Chun Yu in DRIFTING left him a very deep impression, so he felt it would be a competition between the two. However Leung Chung Hang joked that he would vote for himself. "Although I praised Ka Tung for how great he is, I still see myself as the favorite."

As for Best New Performer, Leung Chung Hang did not have too many ideas about victory and was happy that the other 4 other nominees, ANITA's Louise Wong Dan Nei, TIME's Chung Suet Ying, ZERO TO HERO's Fung Ho Yeung and DRIFTING's Will Or Wai Lam all received double nominations. It was a very encouraging event as it proved that people was able to see everyone's hard work. If he had to choose one, he would choose Or Wai Lam. Aside from his looks and his acting being very perfect, they were friends as well. Leung Chung Hang that day landed the "adult So Wa Wai' role also due to Or Wai Lam introducing him to the director.

Or Wai Lam was nominated for Best Supporting Actor with his DRIFTING co-star Tse Kwan Ho, ANITA's Louis Koo Tin Lok, TIME's Lam Suet and ZERO TO HERO's Fung Ho Yeung. The Best Supporting Actress competition would be between CAUGHT IN TIME's Best Actress Nina Paw Hee Ching, DRIFTING's Loletta Lee Lai Chun, ANITA and LIMBO's Fish Liew Chi Yu, TIME's Chung Suet Ying and LEAP's Bai Long.

Lee Lai Chun treated the award like normal. "Earlier I was nominated for several foreign awards but the awards brushed me by. This time I treat it normally." Due to the pandemic and death in the family, she was in no mood to watch movies. Thus she has not seen other nominees' performance; however she knew Liew Chi Yu had two nominations and heard that she performed very well. If she would win, as an elder she would give her encouragement and support. She felt that Hong Kong film needs new faces to pass the torch to. Tse Kwan Ho's performance in DRIFTING received raves, he like Lee Lai Chun also treated the award normally.