Leslie's Charm Cannot be Resisted

張國榮魅力沒法擋

Written in 1998 by Zhong Lu-ming鐘路明

Downloaded from http://forum.lesliecheung.cc/guestbook/show.asp?id=69837 　　
and http://www.leslietong.com/blog/more.asp?name=pfdr&id=1638

Translated by Daydreamer on April 29, 2007

Surrounded by Media

There are many ways to observe the popularity of an entertainer. One of the relatively direct and effective methods is by looking at the number of media he attracts when attending press conferences, movie premieres or movie company’s dinner functions etc.

Mandarin Films Limited, which was operated by Raymond Wong Bak-Ming, has lately held a spring dinner function in Hong Kong. Many celebrities attended including Timothy Fok Tsun-Ting, Yang Shoucheng, Huang Yihong, Liang Fengi, Tse Yin, Tony Wong Yuk Long, Ann Hui, Roman Tam, Joe Cheung Tung-Cho, Teddy Robin, Kenny Bee, Peng Dan, Donna Chu Kit-yee, Tat-Ming Cheung, Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Anita Yuen Ying-Yee, and Ada Choi, etc.

Close to a hundred reporters from Japan, Taiwan, Macau, Singapore and the States etc. were attracted by those celebrities. However, the one with the most popularity had to be "him".  Some reporters who were originally interviewing other entertainers, when learnt of his arrival, immediately put down what they had been doing and, like the tide at its ebb, rushed to the door. It turned out that Gorgor Leslie had just arrived.

Gorgor was surrounded by media. Whenever he went, there were cameras flashing. Upon his arrived at the banquet hall, Gorgor basically did not have an opportunity to sit down, instead, he was forced to the corner of the platform. I originally wanted to take a few more shots of Leslie, however, he was tightly surrounded by three layers of reporters inside out, I could hardly see him. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me, I ran to the back of the platform and made my way out of the musical instruments. When I came out, my head almost bumped into Gorgor's shoulder. I finally found a good spot.

Reporters' questions were of all kinds. Japanese reporters even asked Leslie how he managed to maintain such good health. This was of no surprise because although more than forty years of age, Gorgor did not look a bit like a middle-age man. His mature thinking and agile response really made people jealous. Gorgor was used to this type of situation, therefore, he responded to all those questions with ease and humour. He said, "Basic maintenance is very important, however, the most important thing is to have a healthy mentality and always look on the bright side of life, then very naturally both mindset and body will be beautiful."

Leslie became famous as a result of his playing in TV series. After being successful in both the music and movie worlds, he had not played in TV series any more. Some reporters therefore asked him whether he would play in any TV series again. Leslie smiled and said, "Not now. I may consider it later." Leslie also expressed that "China Star"  was planning to shoot the TV series "The Legend of The Condor Heroes" and had invited him to play the role of Wang Chung-yung. However, he had declined because it took too long to make a TV series and he could not find time to do so. Besides, his schedule was tight.

This year, Leslie would film two movies, in addition, he would direct a movie of a love story. Shu Qi was the most popular and marketable female star in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the reporters asked Gorgor whether he would invite her to play in his film. Gorgor shook his head and said, "No, because her Cantonese is not that fluent. Since this movie will be dubbed on site, therefore, the actress has to be someone who can speak very fluent Cantonese." Actually, Gorgor had already found someone – Karen Mok. In his opinion, Karen Mok had acted well at the movie "Fallen Angel". Besides, he had collaborated with her in the movie "Viva Erotica" and the "Red" MV before, therefore they already had some sort of unspoken understanding between themselves. Gorgor said that Karen Mok had never been able to fully show her talent, he wanted to give her an opportunity. He had tailor-made a script for her, and the movie was estimated to be filmed in July.

No Intention to Go to Hollywood

Some reporters asked Gorgor that since the Hong Kong movie market was not good nowadays, would it be a bad time to be a director. Gorgor said seriously, "I do not think so. It has always been my wish to be a director."

The second movie "The Corruptor" that Chow Yun Fat made in Hollywood was screened in Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year, however, the box office was only HK$14 million, far less than his first movie "The Replacement Killers", which when screened in the States got a box office of US$500 million in the first week.

However, "The Replacement Killers" was evaluated in the States as one of the Ten Worst Movies. This year, following Chow Yun Fat's footstep, Jacky Chan's movie "Burn Hollywood Burn" was also evaluated in the States as 1998's worst movie, worst supporting actor, worst new person and worst script.

Gorgor smiled and said that for now he had no intention to go to Hollywood. Merely the markets in Japan, Far East, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China were big enough for him to concentrate on.

Raymond Wong seeing that the dinner had been delayed for a long time, immediately asked the reporters to go to the restroom to have dinner and asked Leslie to quickly go to the banquet hall.

As a special guest, I remained on the scene and sat with Peng Dan, Chen Manna, Michael Lai and the senior officials of "Oriental Daily"; and my table was right beside the one occupied by Leslie, Yang Shoucheng and Te Yin etc. I got the best angle to observe and "eavesdrop" on Leslie's conversations.

Michael Lai asked Leslie whether it was true about the rumour that he would go to Fitto Records. Leslie putting his arm around the shoulder of Yang Shoucheng, the chairman of Fitto, said, "Haha, Mr. Yang, there really is all kind of hearsay all over the place." Mr. Yang laughed and said, "I know him so well that it's not easy to negotiate a price."

I asked Leslie what kind of books he read during his free time. He said he did not read a lot but would choose some good ones; quality is more important than quantity. He seldom read the tabloids as he did not want to fill his mind with useless stuff.

During the course of conversation, someone mentioned about the movie "Destiny of Love" that Raymond Wong invested in. When it was filmed, the drama crew was dissatisfied with the working manner and attitude of the male actor, but because of his fame, they dared not speak out. Leslie had collaborated with this male actor before in the movie "Shanghai Grand" and thus understood his personality. In private, Leslie said to Raymond Wong, "Raymond, you thought everyone is like me who is so easy going. Spending so much money on someone who is incompetent, what injustice!"  Raymond Wong smiled bitterly in response.

Miracle Did not Happen

In private, Raymond Wong told me that tonight a special arrangement was made to have Leslie and Alan Tam sing together on stage. I was stunned because how could that be possible. In the 1980s, Cheung and Tam were in rivalry situation in the Hong Kong music world, they had never sung together on stage. If it happened tonight, then it would be a miracle in the Hong Kong music history. Raymond Wong said he had mentioned it to Alan Tam privately and he said it was not a problem and it was mainly up to Leslie.

Invited by Raymond Wong to come on the stage to sing, Leslie accepted it without any hesitation. A very unusual band therefore was born, with Kenny Bee and Pang Kin Sang playing the guitars, Michael Lai responsible for the keyboard, other entertainer playing the drum and Leslie singing solo.

After a song was sung, the audience kept asking for "encores", Leslie could not get off the stage. Shaking his head, he asked, "You really want to listen again?"  There was a disturbance below, Leslie then said, "Okay, the next one is for all of you."

At this point of time, Raymond Wong only hoped that Alan Tam would arrive quickly, wishing that the miracle would happen tonight. His cell phone rang and it was from Alan Tam. He said there was a car accident on the road and there was a traffic jam. He had been stuck for almost two hours. In view of that, he could not be there on time. Raymond Wong sighed, "This is really unpredictable. It's fate!"

People got restless and started going to the dance floor and dance. The banquet hall was full of lively atmosphere. Reporters were busy taking pictures. Veteran singer Fanny said to me, "Although I have been to many occasions like this before, but tonight is really exceptional with so many celebrities. I should have told Raymond Wong to sell the tickets to people who wanted to attend. I am sure one to two thousand tickets could be sold out easily."  

I thought, if Leslie and Alan Tam publicly collaborated and held a concert together, I believe it would cause a stir in the complete Chinese community, even the "Four Super Kings" could not compare; but then on second thought, could they really collaborate publicly? If they really did, who was going to sing first?