[2014.03.27] STAR CLASS COLUMN: WHEN I MEET LEE CHI NGAI

courtesy of mingpao.com

I am very happy that starting today, every Thursday on the Ming Pao Entertainment Pages I will share with every reader people whom I have met in life. Most recently I made a movie called HORSEPLAY (DOH MA GEI), which was a very important job for me this year. This time first let's talk about director Lee Chi Ngai.

The first time I worked with director Lee Chi Ngai was on the second film at the start of my career. Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing Mo), Michael Wong Man Tak and I went on location to Scotland to make LOST AND FOUND (TIN NGAI HOI GOK). After finishing my first film WHATEVER WILL BE WILL BE (SIN LOK PIU PIU), I was still confused about the job of making a movie. At the time I was still very new, with little life experience. The character in LOST AND FOUND was complicated emotionally. Working with the director this time, I felt more certain. Perhaps I had more life experience or just experience in general.

Director Lee Chi Ngai this time took us to various streets and alleys in Prague and London for actual location shoots. The production was very serious, which was considerably rare in recent films. Everyone worked in a relaxed and light mood. (Tony) Leung Ka Fai, (Dior) Cheng Yi Kin and I traveled Europe pleasantly and enjoyed all the fun and excitement on the way.

The director had nothing but praise for the Czech production, because the locals surprised him very much. I felt that Prague was not only very pretty, its food was almost top notch, its weather was great, it absolutely was a great place to visit!

This time in HORSEPLAY I played an entertainment anchor who studied journalism, Ha Mei. She always wanted to switch to work in the news department but has not run into an opportunity yet; then at her friend's recommendation she investigated an underground auction, ran into "Nine Tailed Fox" and was swept into this heist.

The director said that my advantage was my quick reaction, so he encouraged me to improvise more in my performance. This acting method to me felt very fresh. In order to grasp the character better, manager Claudie Chung Chun found an American acting instructor to help me understand the script and get into the character. I looked forward very much to everyone's reaction to my new attempt this time when HORSEPLAY is released!

The Ha Mei that The director wrote was even a rock climbing expert. Before the shoot the director arranged for me to train and shoot at a rock climbing center. Looking back at the rock climbing process, I am still shaken. First that climbing wall was very high and I was a little stunned; although I had safety harness and ropes, I still could not overcome the fear. Yet by the sixth climb all the training came back. Finally I was able to calmly coordinate the performance with my expressions and complete the scene.

Yet, near the end of the shoot when I thought I could breathe a sigh of relief, an accident happened; the rope suddenly loosen and I fell, the back of my head almost hit the camera tracks! Luckily before the shoot I faithfully prayed for protection, it was just a false alarm.

-KELLY CHEN WAI LAM