Raymond Wong Talks About the Hong Kong Movie Industry – It would be Nice if Leslie Cheung is Still Around

黃百鳴談香港電影要是張國榮還在就好了

Source: Chutian City News (楚天都市報), 2007-01-24 Issue

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Translated by Daydreamer on January 31, 2007

Raymond Wong is a name that cannot be ignored in the Hong Kong movie history. Most people thought that he was merely a supporting actor in comedy movies, actually he has been an outstanding film producer of many great movies, such as “A Better Tomorrow”, “A Chinese Ghost Story”, “All’s Well Ends Well” etc. On the 28th, to promote the “Raymond Wong Movie Week” in the Hubei Film and Television Channel, Raymond Wong made a special trip to Wuhan to meet with the audience. This big boss of the Hong Kong movie industry spoke frankly that Leslie Cheung was the actor he appreciated the most. He stated that now an actor better than Leslie cannot be found in Hong Kong any more.

Witnessing the Golden Age of Hong Kong Movies

Cinema City Enterprises Limited, the movie company founded by Raymond Wong, Mak Kar and Shek Tin, was the founder and witness of the golden age of the Hong Kong movies.

Recalling the past, Raymond Wong said that Cinema City had discovered many great directors, such as Tsui Hark, Lam Ling Tong, Johnny To, John Woo and Ronny Yu. Chow Yun-Fat who was alleged to be a “box office poison” became a “box office record-setter” after he joined Cinema City and made movie like “A Better Tomorrow” which was a classic. Leslie had been a contract actor with Cinema City all along. In ten years, Cinema City had four movies, including “A Better Tomorrow” and “Eighth Happiness” which have broken the records of the Hong Kong movie box office.

Be Perseverant in Difficult Situations

In 1990, Mak Kar and Shek Tin decided to leave the movie industry, therefore Cinema City had to be dissolved. Raymond Wong thus established Mandarin Films Ltd. and had made movies, such as ““All’s Well Ends Well”, and “All’s Well Ends Well Too”, etc. Afterwards, depression hit the Hong Kong movies. “The stocks of my company were put on the market on 911 [September 11th]. On that day, stocks all over world dropped to the lowest point. I told myself that one’s bound to get stronger if he grows up in difficult times and situations.”

Having waited patiently and seeing that the situation had improved a lot, Raymond Wong invested in the movies “Seven Swords” and “Dragon Tiger Gate” after mainland China loosened the rules in film-making. The huge mainland China market gave him a lot of confidence. His next movie “Po Jun” starring Zhen Tzu Dan and Fan Pingping, is in the process of being filmed.

Hong Kong Does not Have any Good Comedy Actors Anymore

Raymond Wong has created numerous movie stars, however, the one he appreciates most is Leslie Cheung. “Whatever role you asked him to do, he could and would do it well. He would never put on airs. When the movie had to be promoted abroad, Chow Yun-Fat would take one person with him which was his wife, but for Leslie, he would bring no one. Those so-called superstars nowadays, they bring assistants, make-up assistants, hair stylists; one person will turn into ten. It’s a huge sum of money paying merely for the air fares. [Sigh] If Leslie was still here, he would save me a lot of money!”

Raymond Wong excelled in shooting comedy movies, however, in recent years, he put his strength on action movies. Reluctantly, he said, “It is very difficult to find good comedy actors in Hong Kong. It is not possible to bring the cast – Leslie Cheung, Stephen Chow, Maggie Cheung, Sandra Ng - of the movie “All’s Well Ends Well” back together anymore.

Reporter: Zha Chao (查昭)
http://www.cnhubei.com/200701/ca1262083.htm