Hong Kong University Lecture – Ashes of Time 香港大學專題講座 ~ 東邪西毒

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Author: Unknown

Date of Lecture: March 29, 1999

Translated by Daydreamer on May 1, 2007

PART 1
http://lesliecheung.cc/Special/hku/part1.htm

That day, I was a little bit surprised to learn that Gorgor would attend at the Hong Kong University as a guest speaker. However, after reading the topic carefully, knowing that the other guest speaker would be Brigitte Lin and the lecture was to talk about the movie “Ashes of Time”, then it was just natural as they were the two main roles in that movie.

The lecture stated at 5 p.m. but people started to line up at around 4 p.m. No doubt, many attended because of the fame of these two superstars. The lecture hall could hold 500 people and was about to be full that day. At about 5 p.m., Gorgor and Brigitte Lin arrived together causing some acclamation. They then took their seats. The host was the president of the “Department of Comparative Literature”. Gorgor said they were old acquaintances, but the host corrected him by saying that “not merely knew each other”, he was Gorgor’s ex brother-in-law and they had not seen each other for over thirty years. The female translator described it as a family reunion. The course was in English, but since the host’s Chinese was not very fluent, besides, there was a foreign lady on stage, the part in Chinese therefore had to be translated instantly. For the two guests, they could choose to speak in either Chinese or English, and Gorgor had been using fluent Chinese intertwined with English throughout the course, while Brigitte Lin spoke in Chinese. On stage, Gorgor had a lot of petty actions and he drank a lot of water.

This lecture was divided into three parts. The first part was for the two guest speakers to talk about their experience in the movie world and the difficulty that the movie industry was facing. The second part was about the movie “Ashes of Time” and the collaboration with Wong Kar Wai. And the third part was the Questions and Answers session.

After the two guest speakers were being introduced, the lecture officially began. Originally, the host intended to have Brigitte Lin speak first, however, she was a bit shy, so Gorgor started to talk about the first topic, details of which had been widely publicized in magazines and television interviews. Roughly, he mentioned about the Hong Kong movies which had almost come to its end. Audience preferred to watch foreign movies rather than Hong Kong movies. Piracy was not the only cause. Some movie people regarded movies as a money-making tool and they did not produce them seriously. That became the main cause of the disaster. He also criticized that it was “not cultural” to dub the movies. Because of the poor market, a lot of the move workers had become taxi drivers or masons. Lastly, he wished that the weak ones would be eliminated and left behind the strong ones hoping that movie industry would recover soon.

On the other hand, he expressed that many people asked him whether he would go to Hollywood. He said it was not that easy as movie workers were under a very big union there. Some people once told him that he had watched a lot of his good movies but then asked him whether he knew kung fu or not. He felt that Hollywood’s point of view was always like that. He also talked about Chow Yun Fat and was disappointed with the movies he made in Hollywood. He was a little bit excited when he came to this issue. He described Chow as the best actor and the hope of Asia. (Before this, I read someone criticizing Gorgor that it was a matter of “sour grapes” when he talked about Chow, for he was merely jealous. However, I felt that he was only outrageous by the injustice done to Chow, as it was a waste for making him play roles like those. As a matter of fact, Gorgor merely spoke out what many people, including the movie critics, wanted to say).

He also disclosed that Steven Speilberg would be filming “Memoirs of a Geisha” soon and had invited Maggie Cheung to play a role. He said it would be stupid if he found a Korean to play the role of a Japanese geisha. He felt that the Hollywood movie people did not know how to distinguish between Asian people. Michelle Yeoh Chu-Kheng who had a role in the James Bond movie once complained her dissatisfaction to him that she had to play the role of a Vietnamese.

Brigitte mentioned that when the movie “The Legend Of Zu 蜀山” was filmed, she was doing a sentimental love scene with Adam Cheng (鄭少秋), but suddenly Tsui Hark shouted “cut”. Brigitte did not understand why. He said he dared not touch the issue of “sentiment”, he feared that he could not stand it. Gorgor who was sitting beside Brigitte knit his brows showing the expression that he did not understand what she was saying. Brigitte then said that she loved to watch movies of love stories, not necessarily between men and women, they could be between friends, parents and siblings. Then she announced that, “Next year all of you will see a good film, because Leslie is going to direct one!”. Everyone then applauded. Leslie laughed and said that everyone should ignore her, as she was too hard-sell.

The host then asked Brigitte Lin about her experience and the difference between making movies in Taiwan and in Hong Kong. She looked as if she was not familiar with the topic, merely said something and then asked Gorgor, “Do you have anything to supplement?” Gorgor then said, “in Taiwan?” (he had never made any movies in Taiwan before), but he did contribute some information. He said he had appeared in a Taiwan TV show before and felt that the Taiwan producers were not as flexible and accommodating as the Hong Kong producers. He also reminded Brigitte that there was some violence happening in the Taiwan showbiz and some famous stars were threatened to make movies by force. Brigitte said it happened to her once. She said, “For a woman working outside. …” Gorgor made fun of her by repeating “a woman”. And she said finally, “If you are famous you are scared, and if you are not famous then you are not comfortable!” This caused everyone laughed.

Following that, the host asked Gorgor whether there was any hope in the Hong Kong movies. He requested Gorgor to answer in English. Gorgor said there still was hope because there were a lot of movie workers in Hong Kong who had ideal. He hoped there would be miracle. Although a lot of investors did not want to invest on large productions, except Jacky Chan’s movie company, but we had a lot of movie workers who had brains and also there were outstanding actors, therefore he believed that there was still hope in Hong Kong movies. Brigitte Lin was also optimistic believing that one day the Hong Kong movies would bounce back..

PART 2
http://lesliecheung.cc/Special/hku/part2.htm

The second part related to the collaboration with Wong Kar Wai. The host said that he had to ask them an academic question (Gorgor made a “very startled” expression), then the host asked the two guest speakers about their working experience with Wong Kar Wai and whether they actually knew what “Ashes of Time” was about, this made the whole room rocked with laughter! The host requested that Gorgor answer in English.

Gorgor said that working with Wong Kar Wai was a painful experience. This person was extremely talented but basically there was not set way. He was like a painter having a lot of good material right in front of him. After he painted the first stroke, he found that he was not satisfied with it, therefore he threw it away. Then after that, he would stop for three to five months until new ideas came up. He believed that this way of making a movie was very selfish (Brigitte Lin who was sitting beside him agreed and said, “Yes, that’s true”). Gorgor continued to say that in the current circumstances, he [the director] could not afford to waste one single working day because the expenses incurred daily were thousands of dollars. A movie crew consisted of more than forty people including driver and actors, plus lunches and other expenses…. Wong Kar Wai was very talented but no one knew what he was after and what he had filmed until the last day, that is, the day of the movie premiere.

Gorgor also mentioned about Andy Lau. He said Lau was once very discontented. He spent three months in Kowloon City Wall waiting for the filming of “Days of Being Wild”. He had to wait and act at the bottom of the building which was less than five feet tall and was full of rats and Lau was extremely afraid of rats, so everyday he had to jump around trying to avoid the rats. He praised that Lau was a very professional actor. Afterwards, when Lau found out about the shots made at Kowloon City Wall were all abandoned, he was very angry. Gorgor then asked the students, “Have you all seen that classical movie? Did you see that section of the movie? There was none!” That was the method that Wong Kar Wai used in filming. He might discover that what he filmed today was not what he wanted, he therefore would re-film it the day after. It kept going on like this. This person was extremely difficult to deal with.

It was Brigitte Lin’s turn to talk about her experience. She said when Wong Kar Wai invited her to make the movie [Ashes of Time], there were only two main roles in the movie, i.e. Joey Wong (王祖賢) and her. He told her a very special story. But soon after that, Wong told her that “Swordman II東方不敗” was very successful so there was some changes to the story. He then told her another story, which was also very interesting. He also said that many big stars, such as Gorgor, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Kar Fai, etc. would also be playing. She therefore agreed. After trying on the costumes, for a long time, she did not receive any notice to work although she knew that Gorgor and Joey Wong had already made some shots. And then one day, Wong Kar Wai told her that the complete cast would play in the movie “The Eagle Shooting Heroes東成西就” made for the Chinese New Year. Brigitte then told us a very funny thing. She said that she did not know how to act in comedies especially those which did not carry much sense. Most of the time, she did not understand what she was to do. She once asked Gorgor what she should do. Gorgor said not to worry too much because in any case there was not any script. She remembered that in one of the scenes, that is the one shot inside the cave, the director (Jeff Lau Chun-Wai) told her that inside the cave, there were a lot of monsters, there were a lot of chickens and ducks, and she was pregnant…..

After she listened to that, she felt very strange and worried. She asked Leslie how to act. Leslie then said, “Oh! Then just act as told.” Brigitte was very depressed and told Joey Wong that the Director said she had a duck inside, and did not know how to act.

Seeing this, the director said “I was merely joking. No need to be so serious!” It turned out that the director was just joking with her. This made everyone laugh even though it had gone out of the topic. Here, Gorgor mentioned again the first idea that Wong Kar Wai originally had when asking him to act with Joey Wong, and asked Brigitte Lin whether he wanted her to play the role of Huang Yaoshi and Joey Wong as Ouyang Feng. Brigitte said “Very likely.” Gorgor made a “dying” expression.

Gorgor added that Abbott had asked him once whether they understood that movie, he said, “Are you kidding? How could we understand? You tell me!”, making all the audience in the room laughed (clearly Gorgor was merely telling a joke to make everyone laugh). Then the host asked Gorgor why at the beginning of the movie, the character that he played wore a beard but not later. Gorgor said originally Wong Kar Wai wanted him to play the role of Huang Yaoshi. After filming for a month, the whole crew went to Shannxi to continue filming. One day, Wong Kar Wai told him that “I want you to play Ouyang Feng”, because he felt that the key player should be Ouyang Feng. Therefore, what he filmed before that became useless apart from the opening scene which Wong had spent over $150 million. Because Wong did not want to waste it, therefore, he divided it into two halves, one for the opening and one for the ending. But originally at the beginning, he was to play Huang Yaoshi, and without a beard. In order to explain why the beard disappeared, Gorgor said, “Everyone may have forgotten that Wong used to be a very outstanding scriptwriter. He knew how to justify one’s saying. Very easily he changed the script a bit making Ouyang Feng frustrated in the realm of love, very sadly he set the inn on fire, and simultaneously he shaved his beard and came back to the kung fu world, and finally had a duet with Hung Chi and died. Therefore, the script was flawless.

Gorgor said Wong Kar Wai always changed his mind. This was most miserable for actors. If you were filming his movies, you would not know what you would do next. He would give the actor a piece of paper and then asked him to do as told. Asked Wong what he had filmed yesterday, he would say there was no need to pay any attention to it, probably it would not be used at all. Gorgor continued to say that when an actor acted, it seemed there was a chart in his mind, depending on the importance of the scene, he would work harder on it. However, acting in Wong Kar Wai’s movies, there was no way to know which scene was the beginning and which one was the end. All he could do was act lightly, i.e. as long as he was acting. Brigitte Lin said that Wong Kar Wai was a director who paid a lot of attention on feeling, but as an actor, she would wish that there were scripts so that she could make some preparation work.

PART 3
http://lesliecheung.cc/Special/hku/part3.htm

The third part was the Questions & Answers session. Because the time was limited, only three students could raise their questions and the host emphasized that “no personal questions were to be asked”. (Smile)

The first student mentioned that the first movie that Peter Chan (陳可辛) made in Hollywood “The Love Letter” was not the traditional kung fu movie any more, Gorgor said that was a good start. Besides, “The Love Letter” was actually the Hollywood version of “He’s a Man, She’s a Woman”, because Hollywood really liked the script of “HMSW”, therefore they decided to re-make it using its local movie stars (this point Gorgor was not correct). The student then asked Gorgor about his view towards Peter Chan. He said Peter Chan was a director with reasonableness and ideal, and he was one of the directors in the Movie People Company. His movies always managed to suit both refined and popular tastes, although rather commercial, but they could bring a message. He wished that Peter had a good development in Hollywood, like Ang Lee making some outstanding movies, such as “Sense and Sensibility”.


The second student asked Gorgor that in his opinion what type of Hong Kong movies might excite the market again attracting audience to go back to the cinema. He said as long as it was a movie with “heart”, any type might do. He said, “If you want to film a kung fu movie, then film a good one for the audience. If you think the trend now is movie about the 60’s, then seriously film a movie about the 60’s.” Then he mentioned “Comrades, Almost a Love Story”, a Hong Kong movie which was very well received. He said since he was an actor, he would watch the movie more careful than any common audience; he would pay attention on every little detail of the movie. He pointed out that in one of the scenes shot in Causway Bay shopping district, there was a mistake – on the road, there was a double-yellow line, but since this kind of line only started in the 80s, it therefore should not appear in the movie. He believed that movie people should seriously do some research and pay attention to each tiny detail. He specifically mentioned that another movie “Made in Hong Kong” was a low-budget Hong Kong movie, it was successful because its story and characters were very real, just like someone you could see in real life, the audience therefore was moved by the script and the acting skills of the actors. He said if there were more movies like this one, the audience’s confidence would come back again. This student then asking whether Gorgor had ever filmed one with “heart”. Gorgor said “Farewell To My Concubine” could be considered as one, however, Chen Kaige when came to the plot about homosexuality, he became hesitant and scared. This was why he considered him as not great enough because he required to use Gong Li to balance the relationship of homosexuality. Probably it was because of the market requirement, but generally speaking, it was a very good movie.

The last question related to Wong Kar Wai’s movies. A student asked Gorgor which movie he considered to be the best. Without letting Gorgor a chance to answer, Brigitte Lin said “Happy Together”. She praised Gorgor’s acting skills in that movie, but it was a pity that he could not put in more time for the shooting of the movie, thus his part in the movie was too little, otherwise the movie would be more attractive. She wished to see more of Gorgor’s acting performance . Gorgor said that his first choice was also “Happy Together. He said, “Wong Kar Wai was very bold in choosing such a theme for the movie, and what was so intelligent about him is that he managed to shoot a homosexuality story as if it was any heterosexuality story. As I said just now, so long as you use your “heart” to tell a love story, then it can move the audience.”

The lecture came to an end after the Answer & Question session was over. It lasted about eighty minutes. A commemorative publication was presented to Gorgor and Brigitte Lin to thank for their presence. A foreign lady came forward and thanked Gorgor and Gorgor kissed her on her cheek. Then the audience started to leave. Some of the students took the opportunity to ask Gorgor for autograph. One of them was well prepared and brought with him a large poster. It was like a mini autograph session. At that time, Brigitte Lin had already left the lecture hall. The autograph session took only 10 minutes and before Gorgor left, he took a picture with everyone. Afterwards, the foreign lady escorted Gorgor to the carpark.

-End-