[2024.08.25] CLIFFORD CHOI FACES TRAUMA WITH HIS NEW PLAY BERKELEY DAYS

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The 77 year old Clifford Choi hopes to make up for his mistakes while he is alive, as he does not want any regret

Alex Man suffered a broken hand at the hands of a professional fighter while working on HONG KONG, HONG KONG.

Cherie Chung gives her all in HONG KONG, HONG KONG
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Mary Jean Reimer and Danny Chan worked together on ENCORE 44 years ago
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Clifford Choi (third left) with the cast of his play BERKELEY DAYS
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Clifford Choi Kai Kwong, the director of the 1980 film ENCORE (HOK CHOI), will write and direct his first stage play BERKELEY DAYS at the Hong Kong Cultural Center Theater in September. The story is based on Choi Kai Kwong's own experience. In the process, he faced the trauma he has avoided. At the age of 77, he hopes to repair his flaws as much as possible during his lifetime. Having directed many films, he praised HONG KONG, HONG KONG (NAM YU NUI)'s Cherie Chung Chor Hung for having the courage to appear naked in order to get rid of her "flower vase" image. However, he was ashamed to face Alex Man Chi Leung who was injured during the filming of a free style fight scene. He also revealed that ENCORE's Danny Chn Pak Keung and Mary Jean Reimer (Yung Jing Jing) had such strong personalities back then that they would not shoot if they did not want to.

Choi Kai Kwong, who won the "Best Original Screenplay" at the 20th Golden Horse Awards in 1983 for the movie HONG KONG, HONG KONG, this time would bring to the stage his story with classmates while studying English literature in California from 1969 to 1973. He explained that he deliberately "buried alive" this experience for many years and it was time to face himself, dig open the wounds, see where they were broken and still bleeding, mend them and sew them up to heal himself. "While writing the script, my emotions kept coming up and brought back many memories. I have cried as I wrote, but there were times when I laughed."

As for what the trauma was, he said that he was afraid that if he talked about it he could not help but burst into tears and get upset. When pressed, he said, "During the student movement (the movement to defend the Diaoyutai in 1970) everyone should have charged forward together. My friends rushed forward and were injured. I actually didn't charge and hurt my friends intentionally or unintentionally. I felt very guilty, so I kept avoiding it and didn't want to face it." He pointed out that everyone would encounter many painful things in the process of growing up, such as breaking up, losing a job, failing exams, etc., but he felt that guilt was the most painful. "I have been guilty and suffering for many years, which I have only now faced myself. I am already 77 years old and almost at the end of my life. It is time to make a summary. I haven't seen some friends for decades, but I took the initiative to apologize to them and say I'm sorry. At that time I shouldn't have left without saying goodbye! I apologize when I have the chance. Sometimes I can't find the person, or he may have passed away; so I have to hurry up and do my best, hoping that I won't have any regrets when I die."

Choi Kai Kwong said that the happiest time in life was when he was at school, while making a movie was the most painful. "I am happy only when the movie is released. The production process is very painful, with many difficulties to face; including solving financial problems, finding actors, scheduling, coordinating with various departments during the production, etc. After work when I got home, I still couldn't rest as I continued to read the script (Why have you only made 11 movies in so many years?) Because I have made all the movies I wanted to make, and I didn't get the support for the ones I wanted to make; just like I originally wanted ot make BERKELEY DAYS into a movie, it would have to be shot on location in the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In addition, there would be many big scenes and the production costs would be huge. It was difficult to find funding, so I ended up changing it to a stage play."

Choi Kai Kwong put a lot of effort into each of his films, hoping that the audience would like them and they would achieve good box office results. The most talked about ones were ENCORE (HOK CHOI) and HONG KONG, HONG KONG (NAM YU NUI) back then. He was also more satisfied with these two movies, "ENCORE was my directing debut in 1980. Due to limited resources and the immature film industry at that time, despite having major production companies such as Shaw Brothers they were used to shooting in studios and dubbing in post-production; their live-action production techniques were only average. We, a group of new-wave directors, made movies in actual locations and on-site sound recording, so we had to understand every aspect. There was no art director at that time, so we took care of everything ourselves. There were not many people who knew how to write movie scripts. (Lawrence) Cheng Tan Shui and (Manfred) Man Jun each wrote a part, then connected them together."

Choi Kai Kwong said that the ENCORE actors Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing, Danny Chan Pak Keung and Mary Jean Reimer (Yung Jing Jing) were very young at the time and needed time to get used to each other. "Leslie was very professional. He had made movies before this film and had acting experience. He was fully prepared before arriving at the set. Danny had never made a movie before, so he didn't understand the work model and was emotionally unstable. Even though not a single shot was taken when he first arrived on set, he still left; but three or four years after filming ENCORE, I ran into Danny again and he said to me, 'Director Choi, I put a lot of effort into making movies now.' He wasn't ashamed to see me but of himself, because he knew that filming and singing were different. If you were in a bad mood or had a discomfort in your throat during the recording session, you could reschedule the recording and the loss would be limited; but there were dozens of people working on the film everyday. Actually he didn't understand it at the time, and I didn't blame him." As for Yung Jing Jing, Choi Kai Kwong praised her as a smart woman who knew what she was doing; but shew was not suitable for being an actress. "She had a strong personality and was very principled. She would never do anything beyond her bottom line, so she was right to become a lawyer."

Speaking of the Chung Chor Hung, Man Chi Leung and Kwan Hoi Shan starred HONG KONG, HONG KONG (NAM YU NUI), its scale was quite bold at the time. The sex scene between Kwan Hoi Shan and Hung Goo caused quite an uproar. Choi Kai Kwong said with a smile, "Even I don't understand; I have made many movies, why do people only remember this scene? It's so infuriating!" He revealed that Hung Goo was willing to make the sacrifice and gave a daring performance because she wanted to get rid of the "flower vase" image. "At the she has made many movies and become popular, but she still felt that there were still many shortcomings. Many roles had her playing flower vases, so she was worried that if she continued, the audience would soon be tired of her; so when I asked her to play a role with nudity, she immediately agreed and I was shocked. She was very sharp and knew what she wanted. She wanted a break through with the role of Meng Sichen in the film, sot here was no problem at all during the filming. She even took the initiative to ask me how the bed scene with Kwan Hoi Shan would be filmed and the level of nudity, 'Will his hand reach my butt?' Her ability of acceptance was very high, as long as the communication was done before hand we could start shooting as soon as we turned on the camera."

Man Chi Leung had a fight scene in HONG KONG, HONG KONG in which a professional boxer broke his arm. Choi Kai Kwong felt very sorry for the incident. Even though it was 44 years ago, he still wanted to say sorry to him. "He had a free style fight in the film. In order to make the competition realistic, I hired a professional boxer to fight with him. Man Chi Leung might know the opponent's history of killing someone in competition, so he was a little timid. When the opponent kicked in the air, he used his left hand to block it. Maybe he was too fast and a little high; he was kicked to the wrist that was not covered by the gloves, and his hand were broken. I was really sorry for him. Afterwards, I thought that he should have been fighting with a trained stuntman. The filming was stopped for half a year until he fully recovered and returned to work."