[2023.11.09] SUNNY LAU HOPES THE AUDIENCE FINDS JOY AT THE MOVIES

Lau Ying (left) appreciates Sunny Lau for being talented, not calculating, treating friends well.  Whatever he wants to do, she would fully support him

Sunny Lau holds the mannequin Eric Kot and talks about him agreeing to the "corpse"

Sunny Lau praises Ling Man Lung and MC Cheung for setting off a lot of spark in their first film together.  He picks them as the best couple in recent films
courtesy of mingpao.com

Social topic Hong Kong films like IN BROAD DAYLIGHT (BAK YU JI HA) and TIME STILL TURNS THE PAGES (NIN SIU YUT GEI) recently have become the talk of the town. After watching them many felt a sense of injustice or of hopelessness, as the film won over their tears and word of mouth. The Sunny Lau Yung directed ONE NIGHT IN SCHOOL (YEH HAU) in the heavy atmosphere would be able to enable viewers to "take a breather" and leave the cinemas laughing. Lau Yung is also the screenwriter, his wife Lau Ying one of the producers. The two from making commercials, television series to film have been working as a couple, professionally and personally they have been the best partners. Lau Yung loves movies and comedy even more, even though he knows that making comedy is very treacherous, he still is willing to risk a bet. "Very much like religion, go to the movies and you will be happy."

Lau Ying was inspired by the news of a rich man's burial being a long while after his passing and thought of many rich people had to choose auspicious day and time. With the mischievous idea he wrote the dark comedy ONE NIGHT IN SCHOOL. "If during the period the corpse is kidnapped, you would have a chance to make hundreds of millions. The risk is low too, so it develops into ONE NIGHT IN SCHOOL. The story nucleus is sad the 'no budget' culture. The film industry or every business and industry would face the issue of 'no budget'. The story is a corpse kidnapping case that takes place under 'no budget'. Hong Kong is an international metropolis; when even healthcare organizations have to cut budget on saving people, I integrate this culture into the film and believe when the audience watches the movie they would find places that they can relate to."

MC Cheung Tin Fu played the lead for the first time and worked with Ling Man Lung and Eric Kot Man Fai, Lau Yung revealed that MC and Ling Man Lung's characters were mixes of him. Ling Man Lung played someone straight laced who relied on selling creativity to make money; MC's role was a "unreasonable king", a little mischievous, a little street wise, but very convincing. He put his own personality into it. Both castings were the only choice. Lau Yung said that MC was very lucky to have a co-star like Ling Man Lung, whose acting abilities has been well honed into the blood and the bones.

MC was under Ling Man Lung's easy going influence. They resembled Stephen Chow Sing Chi and Jacky Cheung Hok Yau in CURRY AND PEPPER (GA LEI LAT JIU), he saw their potential as the best couple in recent film industry as they have opened the eyes of many. As for the other lead Kot Man Fai, Lau Yung called him his mentor and boss. When he first got into the business 10 years ago he learned from Kot Man Fai and his eyes were opened. Later they became collaborative partners. Kot Man Fai was his anchor. He agreed to play the "corpse" only because of their relationship.

Lau Yung said that comedy now already had changed a lot. It used to be very actor centric, like Michael Hui Koon Man and Chow Sing Chi. Now one actor could not carry the load alone. Each character, each scene had to be funny. The difficulty of writing comedy would be pleasing the viewers with every scene. Speaking of movies with social tops as the subjects would have an advantage in getting attention, why did he choose to make a comedy? He said, "(Vincent) Kok Tak Chiu also said that in this age making comedy would be very treacherous. I believe each director, creator would have their own original intention. We used to watch mostly comedy, comedy has become a part of everyone growing up. Now few would make comedy because it would be super hard to write. You had to have life experience, you had to see the dark comedy, the tragic comedy spots. If you haven't lived for 30 or 40 years, how could you see the world's tragedy and cruelty -- from which comedy take the material from would be the funny. When I was little when Mommy and I went to the movies every week we would choose comedy. Like a religion, go to the movies you will have joy and leave with a sense of satisfaction. Comedy has left a deep impression when I was growing up, I have told myself, in the future if I would have the opportunity to make a movie, I would have to repay film with comedy."

Lau Ying as Lau Yung's significant other as well as film producer. She said that any issue outside creative and production would be in the producer's purview. Financial administration was one of them, on top of contact, legal documents and agreements, her responsibility was to make her husband's production smooth. Lau Ying said, "with his personality, money is nothing. He doesn't care at all, but I have to answer to the boss clearly."

Lau Ying revealed that in everyday life, her husband after dinner would just get up and leave without paying. He also had no card or account, as she handled all the finances. When working together she only focused on keeping an eye on her husband. When he wanted to do, she would follow. They have been walking together over all these years. Lau Ying admired Lau Yung's talent. He treated his friends well, never calculating and was one in a million. The couple while working together has experienced some storms, thus they would not argue over a difference of opinions.

Her husband could make a 30 second commercial and make money, but making movies have the risk of loss. Lau Ying said, "When I was shooting a movie 18 hours a day on the set, I also constantly asked myself this question. We are willing to continue because film is very important to Lau Yung. He hopes to have his own work. Even if making movies can't make any money, as long as my hubby feels happy I am OK." Lau Yung felt lucky to have married his wife. He said that since he had goals in life he wanted to achieve, a good partner to march forward with was very rare. "What can be better than having your wife be the producer? Even if she is watching the money, in the end it is still in the family."

People who worked with Lau Yung needed not worried about being "owed", which he and his wife have reached an agreement on. "When I got into the business people constantly owed me money, especially in the creative industry; being owed money 3 months, half a year happened regularly. Some owed for 9 months to even a year. When I tried to collect I would always run into pregnant accountants or bosses not having signed off yet. I have been so poor that I didn't have enough money for dinner, the next day I had to dig for loose change in order to be able to leave for work. Although I don't have a lot of money, I insist on paying as soon as the work is done." Lau Ying in order to execute her husband's requests has dug into her own pocket for HK$ 4 million in advance.

At home, Lau Yung is the entertainment committee chief. The three children know if they want to find joy they have to find Daddy. As for school and other odds and ends Mommy has to take care of them. Before Lau Ying felt Lau Yung she was in the clothes manufacturing family business, they lived in different circles. Because they had friends in common they met.

Lau Yung revealed that his initial impression of his wife, seeing that she drove a Porsche, wore a Chopin watch, with valuable jewelry he evaluated from what she wore she was worth over HK$ 1 million. He joked, "I didn't even wear a watch, but I wasn't afraid that other people were talented; because this business has shown me even more talented people." Lau Yung targeted Lau Ying, from work partners to becoming his wife. "She is pretty strong, scares people with a presence of mightier than thou, but in her eyes I am the only one."