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| Michael Hui |
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| Michael Hui mentions the scene in which Michelle Wai helps him bathe and praises her performance. courtesy of on.cc |
"Cold-faced Comedy Craftsman" Michael Hui Koon Man with the Emperor Motion Picture THE LAST DANCE (POR. DEI YUK) would compete for the Best Actor at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards. Because he subverted his own Westernized character in the film and played the role of the serious Old Man "Hello Man" who adhered to the tradition, his superb acting skills have earned him the "Movie God" title online! Although he has unanimously praises before the race, Michael bluntly says that he would like the film to win the "Best Film" the most.
"The 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards" will be held grandly at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre tomorrow. Nominated for Best Actor with THE LAST DANCE, Hui Koon Man won Best Actor at the first Hong Kong Film Awards in 1982 with the movie SECURITY UNLIMITED (MOR DUN BO BIU). After 43 years, he played the role of a strict father with a hard mouth and tender heart, a fiery personality and adherence to tradition in LAST. The performance has received many good reviews and has become the favorite. Earlier when he was on Manfred Wong (Man Jun)'s online program, he joked that his younger brother Sam Hui Koon Kit is the "Song God" and he also wants to be awarded the title of "Movie God". The ordinary joke has received a lot of support online, citing that he absolutely has the qualification to be "Movie God"!
Michael recently mentioned the "Movie God", laughed and said that he was just joking; but he also pointed out that he felt intimate with everyone always calling him Michael. Recently more people on the street have called him "Hello Man", which makes him very happy. "After many years of acting, I finally have a role that has penetrated the hearts of the people, which is pretty good."
In this year's Hong Kong Film Awards race for Best Actor, Michael has worked with two opponents, Sean Lau Ching Wan and Aaron Kwok Fu Sing. Raymond Lam Fung and Neo Yau Hawk Sau are younger generation actors. What does he think his opponents? He humbly says, "I am very lucky to have been nominated this year! Many thanks to the Hong Kong Film Awards voters, director Chan Mou Yin and Emperor Motion Pictures. Right now the audience is high quality and highly demanding. I was able to nominate with Lau Ching Wan, Kwok Fu Sing, Lam Fung and Yau Hawk Sau, which represents the recognition of the audience and the voters. I know that everyone have worked very hard and performed rather well."
On the eve of the Hong Kong Film Awards, many pre-competition predictions have appeared on the Internet. Most are optimistic that Michael would win the award, but he has a different opinion. "I think being nominated is already great, I have seen that I am lagging behind, haha! No matter what, actually friends who have noticed my interviews over the years know that the award I most hope to win is the "Best Box Office Award". I feel this time THE LAST DANCE has really done it. Many online want LAST to win the "Best Film", I really do too. The film has been able to be recognized by the audience, which to me is the best award."
Earlier director Anselm Chan Mou Yin in an interview once revealed that in the film daughter Michelle Wai Sze Nga helped Michael bathe but he kept struggling. Due to the narrow place during the shoot, he fell from a wheelchair in the chaos and even injured his hand. Although it was extremely painful, he still insisted on continuing. Michael bluntly said that this shower scene is really unforgettable. "I considered it one of the major emotional scenes in LAST. First the bathroom constructed on the set was so realistic, detailed, and felt like home. On the other hand I have to praise Wai Se Nga for her dedication to the performance, which made me forget that I was acting. I directly treated her as if she was my own daughter."
Many film critics praised Michael's performance in LAST as a completely different person, which is very different from his own more Westernized personality. Has he made a lot of preparations in advance? He said, "The character 'Brother Man' in the film is rather drastically different from me in real life. For example I don't know much about Taoism and the Namo tradition. Perhaps due to my Western education, so I have been more open-minded in communicating with my children and grandchildren. However I don't consider the role of 'Brother Man' very difficult to play, because he is so similar to my father. Most of our parents in the previous generation were like this, so it is not very difficult."
Neo Yau Hawk Sau was nominated for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the first time this year with the movie THE WAY WE TALK (HONG NGOR GUM TIN JUM MOR SUET). Earlier he competed for Best Actor at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, but lost to BEL AMI' Zhang Zhiyong by a very small number of votes as he came in second. This time at the Hong Kong Film Awards he ran into the super strong favorite Michael Hui Koon Man, would he lack a little confidence? Yau Hawk Sau joked, "When LAST was released, after I watched the performance of elder Hui Koon Man I have already said many times that 'this year Michael would win the Hong Kong Film Award for sure'. His acting skills were really superb." Many of this year's Best Actor nominees have won the prize before. In addition to Hui Koon Man, Aaron Kwok Fu Sing and Sean Lau Ching Wan have all won before. Only Yau Hawk Sau and Raymond Lam Fung are first time 'rookie' nominees. Yau Hawk Sau joked that he and Lam Fung belong to the same company, so their relationship is good. He has no animosity to compete for this award this time, and even said that Lam Fung would take him to look for good food in Hong Kong.
The crew of WAY has very high demands for the role. Originally they wanted a hearing-impaired actor for the lead, but in the end because they were unable to find a suitable candidate, the role fell into the hands of Yau Hawk Sau. He also cherished the opportunity very much and spent a whole year to learn sign language, of which half a year was a "hellish" vow to achieve the "essence" of sign language so he would live up to the good role.
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