[2024.04.10] LEE SHEUNG CHING TREATS THE NOMINATION LIKE FOUND TREASURE

Lee Sheung Ching has been nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Supporting Actor.  He admits that his acting is inferior to his opponents, and he is not as handsome as Wu Kang-Ren.  He concludes that he would mostly be also ran.

Stephen Chow

The Best Supporting Actor nominees
courtesy of mingpao.com

The 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards Ceremony would take place Sunday (14th). Lee Sheung Ching would compete for Best Supporting Actor for the first time with OVER MY DEAD BODY (SEI SI SEI SI SEI SUP SEI), facing Wu Kang-Ren who won the Film Critics Society Award Best Actor and the "Online Film Critics Highlight Award" for Best Supporting Actor. As for Best New Performer nominee Hui Yuet Sheung, she too ran into a strong rival in Yoyo Tse Wing Yan. The latter has won the Golden Horse Award, the Film Directors' Guild Annual Award" and the "Online Film Critics Highlight Award" New Actor Award. Hence Lee Sheung Ching and Hui Yuet Sheung both admitted that their chances were low and would mostly be also ran.

Lee Sheung Ching has been in the industry for 21 years, initially he worked as a TV station program assistant and a screenwriter for Stars Overseas Film Company until 2008, when he caught Star Overseas boss Stephen Chow Sing Chi (Sing Yeh)'s eyes. He took him from behind the scenes to in front of the cameras. Because of his outstanding performance in CJ7 (CHEUNG GONG CHUT HO), JOURNEY TO THE WEST: CONQUERING THE DEMONS (SAI YAU GONG MOR PIN) and MERMAID (MEI YUN YU), he established the image of a comedic actor. Lee Sheung Ching said, "Actually, Sing Yeh has said that my acting is crap." This year he finally was able to stand on his own, competing for the Best Supporting Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the first time with the role of Lee Bo On in OVER MY DEAD BODY. He would challenge the Best Actor class Gardner Tse Kwan Ho of A GUILTY CONSCIENCE (DUK SIT DAI JONG), FLY ME TO THE MOON (DAN YUEN YUN CHEUNG GAU)'s Wu Kang-Ren, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT (BAK YUT JI HA)'s John Chiang Dai Wai, and the TIME STILL TURNS THE PAGES (NIN SIU YUT GEI)'s genius child star Sean Wong Tsz Lok. Lee Sheung Ching felt that he would most likely to also ran, but also joked that he might have a chance. "I may have a chance because the judges may not choose the best actor, they may choose the most talked about, or the most handsome. When I get handsome I can be very handsome, but Wu Kang-Ren is even more handsome."

What did he think he had that could know down the crowd of fierce opponents? Lee Sheung Ching said, "I would win by......nothing, I think it's more difficult for me to win. I already treat the nomination like I found treasure. (Who would you pick?) I would always pick the youngest one. I believed (Sean) Wong Tsz Lok would be very happy to win the award, and it would also reflect the value of encouragement. It would be explosive, because if either Tse Kwan Ho, Wu Kang-Ren or Chiang Dai Wai won they may only go yeah and think that it is just the icing on the cake; just like if I got the award, I still have to keep working." He pointed out that the Lee Bo On's role was not difficult to play, because his depressed and could not throw a tantrum personality was similar to his. Lee Bo On's behavior, language and actions were very reasonable, on the other hand the one straight take long dialogue was the challenge. Although he was used to being the host as many people thought that he could be very talkative, actually he only rehearsed the lines well.

Lee Sheung Ching looked back on his past acting career and felt that his performance in MERMAID was decent, unfortunately he was not nominated. "The effect I wanted came out. I played a policeman, in one scene someone called the police, when I arrived I let my true feelings flow. People could not stop laughing. Whatever the script and the director required, I did it just right. However it was only an one-minute scene, it would be so hard to get nominated!" Speaking of working with Sing Yeh, he said that he has benefited a lot, "When I had a meeting with Mr. Chow (Sing Yeh), I kept writing down what he said; because I didn't pretend to write, he would ask me to talk. At the time I didn't understand what he was saying. Looking back now, I realized that it was very useful. I gained a lot from that." He revealed that he once wanted to direct a sci-fi film, "Mr. Chow asked me what kind of film I wanted to make, and rushed me to write a script quickly; but in the end I made no contribution."

Lee Sheung Ching liked to work with Sing Yeh, especially when making movies; he obviously felt his passion for movies, "At the screenwriters' meeting, he will invite a few well-known screenwriters to it. Among all the people, he liked to telling stories the most. Having this attitude is equal to winning, and you are not outtalk him. As soon as he tells a story he would lose himself in it, he would talk until late at night and when he suddenly felt hungry he would break for meals. His creativity could suppress biological needs!" He pointed out that in addition to the most profound influence from Sing Yeh, Fruit Chan Gor was also quite energetic. "His kind of energy was his willingness to make sacrifices for the movie. He was so flexible, I remember when filming THE MIDNIGHT AFTER (NA YEH LING SUN, NGOR JOR SEUNG WONG GOK HOI WONG DAI BO DIK HUNG VAN), there was a group scene; in order to have a better result, he shot it in one straight take. He used almost 20 cameras to shoot at the same time, in the end he was done in two takes. He was very confident in himself and so bold, which left me in awe. I learned a lot, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with directors such as (Johnnie) To Kei Fung and Ang Lee in the future."

As a pillar of HOY TV, Lee Sheung Ching also wanted to jump out of his comfort zone; but he is worried that it would be difficult to make a living after resigning. "If I am 23 years old now it's one thing, but I am 43 years old already, better the devil you know than the devil you don't. The latest update would depend on whether the company will give a raise next time." (HOY TV will start filming series, would you like to give it a try?) Even if I work on a series, my salary remains the same. It's monthly, if it is by the show then I would throw myself into it. Many pepole think that I have worked in Cable for many years I must be rich, but the truth is only because of my monthly salary do I have so many more work. If the series is well-made, I want to give it a try; but I am worried about losing my original job during the filming. I charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for some advertising endorsements. I couldn't shoot a commercial because I had to work for the company before, I still mind!"