[2024.07.04] JACKY CHEUNG BIDS FAREWELL TO ACTION FILM TO FOCUS ON SINGING

Jacky Cheung and Nicholas Tse team up, hoping to surprise the audience
courtesy of on.cc

The 62 year old Jacky Cheung says that it took him eight years to make a movie.  Eight years later he would be 70.  What kind of movie would he be able to make?

Nicholas Tse also serves as the action director for CUSTOMS FRONTLINE and insists on performing many high-risk stunts himself

Hok Yau plays Ting Fung's boss and has a lot of action scenes

Nicholas Tse spent a year on his chest and abdominal muscle training for the CUSTOMS role

Ting Fung jumps from a hanging container onto a SUV and says that he has practiced the stunt for half a month before hand
courtesy of mingpao.com

Jacky Cheung Hok Yau has not made a movie in 8 years. This time he performed in CUSTOMS FRONTLINE (HOI GUAN JIN SIN) all because of Nicholas Tse Ting Fung. The character he played in the film was a high-functioning bipolar disorder patient. Hok Yau revealed that he had suffered from depression symptoms in the past, so he could use his own experience to perform; In addition to performing this time, Ting Fung also served as the action director. He performed all the action scenes personally in his best condition, no wonder director Herman Yau Lai To had to add a last minute "shirt removal" scene to show off his fit figure.

Eight years after the movie HELIOS (CHET DOH), Cheung Hok Yau performed in CUSTOMS FRONTLINE (HOI GUAN JIN SIN). He pointed out that he and Ting Fung have collaborated in BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS (SUP YUET WAI SING), but he was done as soon as he appeared, so he did not meet most of the actors. Ting Fung also recalled that they passed each other on the set of HOT SUMMER DAYS (CHUEN SING YIT LUEN YIT LAT LAT) without officially acting opposite each other. Hok Yau stared at Ting Fung and said, "I accepted this role for Ting Fung. I haven't made a movie in 8 years. When I returned to the set, I was happy to see a lot of people; but at first, I felt a bit strange when filming and very different from those of them who were so natural."

This time being able to work officially with Hok Yau, Ting Fung truly was very pleased. Hok Yau was even willing to sing the film theme song VERY FAR PLACE, which Ting Fung composed. Why did Ting Fung not sing with Hok Yau? He said, "I wouldn't dare. I couldn't sing it. It's not my genre." Hok Yau revealed that Ting Fung has said if the film would perform well at the box office, he would sing it once live.

Hok Yau joked that the director "forced" him to play a senior customs inspector suffering from high-functioning bipolar disorder. He revealed that this time he drew on his own experience to get into the role. "City people all have some depression, so I have looked into symptoms that are similar to mine like being short of breath and feeling like a big rock was pressing against the chest. Most were aftermath of some major evens or concerts." He too was uncertain whether the appearance of these symptoms were due to depression after a concert, but he has tried to force himself to eat something despite having no appetite. Hok Yau already exercised regularly, has it helped? He said, "I don't know if I am hyperactive. When I can't breathe, I feel particularly want to move so I can focus on something else. In fact, when I was younger, I often couldn't breathe so I couldn't sleep. It felt like claustrophobia when I had to go outside. I have also waken up but couldn’t go back to sleep." When asked if Hok Yau has sought medical treatment, he laughed and said, "I haven't, because I am afraid of being called crazy. Now that I am older, I am not afraid of talking about it!"

Hok Yau performed for Ting Fung, and Ting Fung also specifically came up with stunts for Hok Yau. Ting Fung was full of praise for Hok Yau's hand-to-hand combat scene with a baton. He said that he knew his co-star loved to play tennis, so he specifically designed the fight scene for him. "I thought wielding a baton would be natural for him." Hok Yau joked that a few of the moves were indeed similar to playing tennis, but in terms of performance, this was Ting Fung's specialty as he performed 90% of the fights. Hok Yau in return praised Ting Fung for being an even better fighter. "He's so skilled, even if I would knock him down, it would have just been forced." However, Hok Yau was called "the copy machine" on the set because of his high comprehension skills and able to perform what he just learned. The stunt team once planned to spend 8 hours on an action scene, but he only took 4 hours to complete it. Hok Yau made fun of himself as he received praise. "They took my age into consideration. They thought the shoot would a little time so they put time on the schedule, but it was just a few moves; so I finished the shoot very quickly."

When asked Ting Fung if he thought Hok Yau had the potential to be an action actor? Ting Fung said that when he saw Hok Yau performing a split in concert he knew Hok Yau had the potential. Hok Yau defended himself that he was once an action actor, and there were no stunt double at that time. However, Hok Yau did not want to be an action actor anymore. If he said that he was good at action 30 years ago, it would be useless now. What other roles would he want to play? Jacky said he neither wanted to try, nor was he eager to win an award. "I don't have much time left, so I would choose singing. I want to focus on one thing. I have only made a movie in 8 years, in another 8 I will be in my 70s or 80s later. What kind of movie would I be able to make? I won't be able to work Ting Fung's martial arts action, so I want to do what I like or am good at." Ting Fung threw himself into his action performance, among which were many dangerous scenes. He pointed out that he has filmed the on fire scene in previous movies, so it was not as dangerous as the major scene of the hanging container. He pointed out that the filming was more complicated, as many infrastructure props weighed almost over a ton and the ship was very heavy. "If I fell off the platform I would be bruised and broken, but if something that weighed a ton smashed over there would definitely be problems. We all had to be careful. We practiced that scene for half a month, but due to rain we only filmed it for two minutes."

Ting Fung has become addicted to being an action director. He recently collaborated with Andy Lau Tak Wa in RAGING HAVOC (NO FOR MAN YIN) and continued to work even harder as an action director. Because CUSTOMS FRONTLINE was about customs officers, the action was a bit "restrained"; but the filming was relatively human. In the film his character was very principled and did not like to communicate with others. Ting Fung bluntly said that the character's personality was very similar to his own as he did not like to be with other people either, but as an action director he had to communicate with the whole team. However when actors were able to meet his demands and present the the desired picture for the audience to enjoy, he indeed had a great sense of satisfaction. Ting Fung has developed a lot of muscles earlier, so the director specifically arranged for a shirt-removing scene for him. Ting Fung said with a smile, "I wasn't training on purpose. Since the shoot ran into the epidemic, I naturally became thinner. The director during the shoot suddenly told me I would have to take off my shirt later." Ho Yau laughed and pointed out that he has not seen Ting Fung's abdominal muscles, and even reached out to touch him. Ting Fung laughed and said that keeping them would be very difficult, now he would probably only have one pack left. Hok Yau smiled and said, "Wow, they are still there. I felt that there are three layers! I have never thought about showing up muscles in my entire life, nor have I ever thought about relying on my acting skills. I only plan to rely on my voice and blab!"