[2024.04.11] BOWIE LAM PLEADS WITH 5 TIME BEST ACTOR TONY LEUNG CHIU WAI TO GIVE WAY

Bowie Lam says that if he would win Best Actor at his first try, he would be very happy

Best Actor nominees
courtesy of mingpao.com

The 58 year old Bowie Lam Bo Yi has been in the business for 35 years, with the film IN BROAD DAYLIGHT (BAK YUT JI HA)'s nursing home director role he has been nominated for the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor. He said that the nomination was very surprising, before the race he was of two minds, one was confident in myself while the other was keeping a normal state of mind. Because he has already seen his opponents, THE GOLDFINGER (GUM SAU JI)'s Tony Leung Chiu Wai and A GUILTY CONSCIENCE (DUK SIT DAI JONG)'s Dayo Wong Tze Wah's performance. In particular the latter in which he also took part in. Although he has not yet seen the performance of the other two, TIME STILL TURNS THE PAGES (NIN SIU YUT GEI)'s Siuyea Lo Chun Yip and DUST TO DUST (DAI BAK GOR YIM YI YUN)'s Da Peng, he only hoped that everyone would give away this year.

Lam Bo Yi felt that winning an awards would depend on timing, location and people. He said, "Everyone taking this step would like to win the award. Leung Chiu Wai is very amazing, he is a 5 time Best actor. I don't dare to comment on Leung Chiu Wai's performance, but I want to tell him to hold back on winning this year." He admitted that visions of victory has flashed in his mind. If he would nail it in one try, he definitely would be jumping for joy but he has not thought about how to celebrate or what to say in his speech. "I treat the nomination like an award, with a lot of things you can only let it take its natural course; like making IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, I originally turned it down. In the end it took the long way around to end up back in my hands. I thought the box office was going to be mediocre, I never would have guessed its great box office performance. The most important is filmmaking is giving your all and having fun doing it, but the result is also very important. However a lot are beyond your control, you can only take it easy."

Would he feel that he invaded the film industry too late, if he made movies earlier he might have even more opportunities to win awards? Lam Bo Yi joked, "Many people have asked me that, I haven't thought much about it. Everything is Heaven arranged, how much you eat, how much you wear are all set. Maybe because I behave normally, I have the opportunity to be nominated this time."

Lam Bo Yi never would have guessed that he would be able to play the home director role, which he felt that was a major breakthrough. "The entire character is the bright spot, during the shoot I didn't watch playback. I didn't know during editing which of my shot the director would use. I didn't watch IN BROAD DAYLIGHT until the Copenhagen Film Festival for the first time. When I saw myself appeared, I couldn't help but say wow. With the facial hair, big belly look, I never thought the resulting visual effect would be so outstanding -- especially the amblyopia. The tone and body language I wanted to express I was able to do, I really admire myself for that. I also thank the film company for arranging friends with amblyopia to meet with me, so I would get an understanding of every move those with amblyopia would make."

Lam Bo Yi revealed that he has seen IN BROAD DAYLIGHT twice, both times when he saw the group of seniors being stripped down and pushed outdoors to bathe, he felt very cold, cruel and merciless and cried as his heart ached. The film was popular with the audience, for which he already felt very pleased. He admitted that early when he accepted the role he did not have much expectation, ultimately the subject was more alternative. He never would have guessed that viewers would have such high appreciation quality. Some viewers even went to see it two or three times.

Lam Bo Yi now felt that as long as he was happy and felt that the job was suitable for him, he could work in music, film or television. "As long as it has potential, I wouldn't mind the size of the role. Actually I still have a lot of characters I haven't tried yet. In the future I hope to be able to bring even more surprises to everyone, like IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. Everyone would have never guessed that I would play this type of character, so they had a lot of fun watching it."

Would he return to TVB and work on a series? Lam Bo Yi said, "I am happy, now I am reading a script that is very brain burning. I would work hard, and I am looking forward to it. If I win Best Actor then return to TVB for a series, it would be like a glorious return. Wow! I would immediately celebrate. Many people are TVB trained, including myself, but I still have to improve myself, understand how to do it, and transform from within. Other people can't teach you too much; back then when I left TVB it was a transformation, having the chance to go back is a good thing."