Cont'd
Leslie: Therefore I thought I and Wong Kar Wai really do not match.
Lam: Is that right?
Leslie: Yes.
Lam: How?
Leslie: I just feel that each time the situation is getting more dangerous and worse than the previous times.
Lam: Really?
Leslie: Remember that time when I was being stung by the scorpion! The first time was at the shooting scene of the “Days of Being Wild” in the Philippines. I and Andy Lau had to run on the galvanized iron roof top of a train station which was some 60 ft. above the ground. And then the Philippino technicians told us that several pieces of the galvanized iron sheets were loose and we therefore should not step on them! But hey man, we were supposed to run for our life like crazy, and how could we take notice of the loosened iron sheets and not step on them. That’s why I said dangerous!
Maggie: Yes.
Leslie: The second time was the scorpion! You were there too, that time.
Leslie: The third time was the Amoeba. I really don’t know, perhaps the fourth time, I may loss my life.
Lam: It was like a reborn for you! Do you think so?
Leslie: I think so.
Lam: After that incident, have you changed at all?
Leslie: I feel I will treasure a lot of things, such as life, friends, i.e. friendship.
Lam: You felt reborn on your return?
Leslie: I felt I was.
Lam: Then with Wai, will you be more …
Tony: more friendly towards him.
Lam: Both are….
Leslie: Actually it is not easy to get along with Wai, I mean to communicate with him, but he is a very good guy. But I feel, as Maggie said, you have to be able to click with him!
Lam: Yes!
Leslie: We both have to feel the click. For instance Leung Chiu Wai loves rock music. I simply felt dizzy in his house. When I and Ka Ling were playing majong, he was playing his rock music outside. Wow, it’s simply unbearable, do you understand? Say for instance, drinking tea. Kenny Bee [singer/actor] is also Wai’s friend. For instance, Wai says tea should be prepared and tasted in a tea ceremony way, but for me, I don’t need that, just give me a tea bag and that will do. Don’t ask me to spend 45 minutes to make a cup of tea to enjoy it. It is of course more fragrant and he was doing it out of his kindness. Like for example when I and Ka Ling were playing majong, he would make us a cup of tea. He said when the cup was hot you could smell the fragrance of the tea, and the smell was different after the cup got cold. Is that right? Oh, sorry, I had a stuffy nose and I could not smell at all.
Lam: Hahaha.
Leslie: Do you understand?
Leslie: Do you understand what I meant? That is, he has another kind of life style, quiet and peaceful.
Lam: yes.
Leslie: I think he is really fun!
Lam: So may I describe he and you as friends in your hearts?
Leslie: Yes, when he comes back I will give him a call.
Tony: Because of the illness, so the two of you can click. Originally you two did not click, and you just cannot stand the way he drinks tea!
Leslie: We were clicked now!
Tony: Yes!
Lam: When you were seriously ill, you must be feeling sad. Did you think of anyone?
Leslie: I did not feel sad, I was really calm, I felt that…
Lam: Did you ever think that you would die?
Leslie: Yes, and I even thought immediately how I should distribute my assets! Hahaha.
Lam: For real?
Leslie: Yes. There were also many other matters, say, for example, my mother, she is old and she does not live with me. She has her own house which I bought her. She does not have much property. At that time, I thought whether I should wire her some money in advance just in case I could not go back to Hong Kong, or perhaps whether there was anything I should say. Also there was my good friend, and I had to arrange matters accordingly. That is what I was thinking then.
Tony: Is that serious?
Leslie: Yes. I might not be able to get cured, if that was for real.
Lam: (Pulling Maggie to her side) Come back here, don’t get close to him. I would like to talk to you.
Lam: (said to Maggie). When you was shooting a movie, you got injured very seriously. I remember that you injured your head, did that affect your mentality?
Maggie: You feel that I have serious problem?
Lam: No, what’s your feeling after that incident?
Tony: She got smarter after that.
Maggie: Actually that was my first time going to the hospital.
Leslie: Really?
Maggie: Yes. I am always in good health, seldom got sick, but that time was…
Lam: Seriously injured.
Maggie: I got 17 stitches on the top of my head.
Lam: But we can’t see it now?
Maggie: I just painted it black.
Lam (Looking at the top of Maggie’s head): Really?
Maggie: Yes, I have to use some eyeliner to paint it black, otherwise it is white in colour in a line, but it (the hair) loves to part there. As you know, since no hair grows there, so it just parts there.
Leslie: But after the incident, your hair seems to become thicker and stronger than before.
Maggie: I have a lot of hair. I don’t think it has anything to do with that accident.
Leslie: How come you have so much hair? But your hair used to be pretty fine before.
Maggie: That’s right!
Lam: (To Gorgor) The topic about hair is of interest to you, Gorgor!
Leslie: Because I do not have too much hair! That’s why I am interested in other people’s hair.
Lam: Maggie, have you ever thought of getting married at a certain age, or what your ideal partner will be like? Do you have any expectation?
Maggie: There’s no more limit any more.
Lam: That is, if suitable, you would get married immediately.
Maggie: Yes. If not suitable, then I would not get married that soon. Why do I have to set a certain age like 35, 36 or 37 to get married? This is something you can’t control.
Leslie: Just as we said earlier, everything is based on fate. Nothing much to talk about. You can’t set something up that can’t be changed. It just cannot be predicted. Nothing can be programmed.
Lam: Has he appeared already?
Maggie: I don’t know, because I believe we need time for this. Other people would say why you were so involved every time when you were dating, but then it turned out to be a failure? But I don’t really agree with this. I feel that if you don’t spend with that individual for over two to three years, how can you find out whether he is suitable for you or not? There was always an urge or anxiety to get married in the first or second month, but if I did, it would be another result. Whether the result is good or not cannot be predicted. So far, my fate has not made me to have the anxiety to get married in the first or second month. I feel I need at least two years to thoroughly understand an individual, and I can tell then whether I feel him to be suitable or not. From the time you found that he is not suitable to the date of separation with him will drag on for a period of time to see if that sentiment can be saved.
Lam: Do you think you will be a good wife?
Leslie: How can she know when she hasn’t been one before?
Lam: But what do you think?
Maggie: I think I can be a very good one.
Leslie: She’s the kind who would go out to get the grocery and cook. She can definitely do it.
Tony: From a friend’s perspective, I think Maggie is ready to be a good wife.
Maggie: Do I have potential to be a good wife?
Tony and Leslie: Yes, you have.
Tony: She has already prepared to be a good wife, but just that she has not found the right one.
Lam: You had made a 3x movie revealing your buttocks (referring to Tony).
Leslie: It doesn’t look bad at all.
Lam: Yes, how could it be so beautiful?
Tony: I’m ready.
Leslie: I’m ready.
Lam: Did you feel embarrass when filming it?
Leslie: No, there was no embarrassment.
Lam: How did you feel when it was filmed?
Tony: I am an actor, I am not an official singer as yet, I have already told myself that as an actor I am prepared and ready to do anything to show to the audience. I do not emphasize on whether I should show any specific part of my body to the others, but as an actor, when you have a role, your entire body should be ready to make a performance.
Lam: (Asking Tony) Have you ever thought of having a special portrait issued?
Leslie: I am the first male entertainer who had a special portrait album made.
Lam: I mean other kind of special portrait album.
Leslie: If you ask what is the thing that Cheung Kwok Wing wouldn’t dare to do now, then I would say up till this moment I still can’t let other people to completely look at my naked front body, the whole front. I have my own hold-back. I have a borderline; my borderline is I cannot accept to let others look at my whole front. My back, that’s fine. It has already been shown.
Lam: At the very early stage of your career, you had shot a 3X movie, and now you shot another 3X movie when you are so popular, what difference will there be?
Leslie: The former 3X movie was a bad experience and I was being cheated to film it, it was against my will. But this one I made it with my own wish. What is my wish? [Leslie heard Lam’s question wrongly]
Lam: What is the difference? [Note: wish and difference in Cantonese sound very close.]
Leslie: The difference is one is a 3X movie shot against my will and that I was being cheated to do so, while the other one is a 3X movie which was shot with my own awareness and willingness and that it also could enter for the Berlin Movie Festival. True, although the time span is over twenty years between these two films, but the difference was just as I said. Something I feel consoled about.
Tony: You really should feel consoled. Although it happened twenty years ago, it still looks like yesterday.
Lam: Maggie, can you accept doing 3X movies?
Maggie: Yes.
Leslie: Maggie, I want to ask you, are you willing to let others to see your breasts?
Maggie: I don’t really mind.
Leslie: Can you give me the first opportunity?
Maggie: The first one to see them?
Leslie: Let me be the first one to shoot such a movie with you.
Maggie: You have to see two, not just one.
Leslie: I know I have to see two. Save it for me, alright?
Maggie: Why do I have to save it for you?
Leslie: I think it will not look indecent if you make the movie with someone who is good in acting.
Maggie: Whether I do it or not, I just can’t plan ahead to save it for anyone or for which movie.
Leslie: I am just saying. I just want to ask you whether you are ready or not for that thing.
Tony: Just asking you for your opinion. You don’t have to be offended.
Leslie: Just wanted to ask whether you are ready to do that or not?
Maggie: Not ready but I don’t mind to do it. So far, I don’t have any plan to do anything, but perhaps in the course of making the movie and there’s a requirement to take off the clothes, I may do it, but I don’t know.
Leslie: It depends very much on the film itself.
Lam: Will you be naked in the front completely, or otherwise?
Maggie: Actually I don’t feel anything about being naked, it’s a beautiful thing.
Leslie: But I thought that, Sister Ming, to shoot such a movie, atmosphere is very important. I feel that no one can just stand there [at this moment, Leslie stands up and says to the cameraman], you just zoom in and then you zoom down here [the camera moves down to Leslie’s lower body], does that look good? It will not look good, it definitely will not look good. The issue is you’ve got to have lighting, to have atmosphere, to have a director to tell you how he is going to shoot it and why you have to strip. You have to convince me first why I have to do it. If you just ask me to take off my clothes, then why should I do so? I am not a prostitute, right? Do you get what I mean? I am just selling my art. There is only a slight difference between “cheap” and “artistic” if you have to distinguish them. Therefore, what I am trying to say is if I am doing that, I must determine first that it is artistic to do so.
Tony: Something bad happened to me.
Leslie: What is that?
Tony: When I first took off my clothes I thought it was very artistic, but then at the end, people just used it as a selling point.
Leslie: No, your “Lover” is really artistic.
Tony: No, I didn’t think so at the beginning.
Leslie: Why?
Tony: Initially I did not think taking off your clothes or trousers is an artistic action, I just felt that who would wear their trousers when taking a bath, right?
Leslie: That’s right.
Tony: But at the end it became a selling point and I felt hurt. When someone told me that my buttocks were really beautiful but they did not remember what expression I have had….
Leslie: That is to say the buttocks were larger than the face. The buttocks outshone your face.
Tony: What should I do then? How can I mend it?
Leslie: Paint your face on your buttocks.
Lam made a conclusion.
Lam: So far have you done anything regretful?
Tony: There is something that I cannot do again. For example, I worked with my teacher, but it is not possible for us to do so any more, so I think it is a regret. I wish in future, there is something that I really want to do, but I don’t know if it can be fulfilled in my artistic life.
Lam: Such as?
Tony: Such as some performance or some roles that I may not be able to perform. First, it may not be suitable for my style; second, something that doesn’t suit my character, thus no one will ask me to do it.
Lam: Such as what roles?
Leslie: Like Cheng Dieyi in “Farewell to my Concubine”.
Tony: Yes, after I put on my make-up, others would say that I looked like a monster. Of course, the make-up was being put on according to or aimed at a specific movie, I can’t ask for the effect of “Farewell to my concubine”. But I do believe that in one’s life there is bound to be some regrettable things.
Leslie: If you ask me whether I have anything regretful? Actually, I really don’t have any. However, there’s one thing that I feel really happy about, that is I have not gone to Hollywood. On the contrary, I feel that Hong Kong is a good place to develop. In Asia, all of us who are here today do have a little bit of fame.
Leslie: Not just a little, we do have quite some fame. I feel that Asia is a very big market. After 1997, the market in China will open up. I think even Americans will come over and beg us to make movies with them. It is going to be such a big market. For some time, the movies here had been roughly made, thus the return was poor. But now, the people who stay behind are those with real power and talent, including the people in front of and behind the screen. I feel that it will even be better if these people can strive to improve and produce some good movies that can hit the international standard.
If you say the American Hollywood does not discriminate Chinese, then you are lying. If you go and shoot an international film with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Hanks as one of the three leading actors, you may chop off my head and sit on it [that means he could not believe it to be the case]. The politics over there are more serious than anything.
Tom Hanks can designate whomever he wants to be his supporting actor. It’s like that, as written down in his contract.
Why do I have to do that, right? I’d rather to be a leading actor here in Hong Kong rather than to be someone who only does odd jobs in Hollywood. I really do not want that. I will not agree to do so.
[to be cont'd]
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