IHT, AUGUST 12, 2005
Portrait: Big opinions from a big star
By Alexandra A. Seno International Herald Tribune

HONG KONG Like so many of the memorable characters he has played on the big screen, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang is a no-nonsense, straight-talking guy.

Critics have recently singled out his portrayal of the abusive, alcoholic father in "Initial D," the Hong Kong summer blockbuster. The film, based on a popular Japanese comic book, opened in late June in many cities in Asia. In Hong Kong, "Initial D" set records for outgrossing major international movies that typically dominate the box office; it proved bigger than "Batman," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and the latest "Star Wars" installment, "Revenge of the Sith." "Initial D" is expected to also do very well in Japan, where the series has a devoted following, when the movie finally opens there in September.

As noteworthy as his "Initial D" turn may have been for moviegoers, Wong reckons that he did fair but not great work in the film. He isn't too happy with some of his comic drunk scenes, which he says were "just for the effects. I know the audience will laugh at that point."

In fact, Wong says he believes that most of the audience didn't come for him but for the young pop idols in the movie, like Taiwan's Jay Chou, Chinese music's biggest act in his first starring role. Whatever the draw, Wong's scenes with Chou give credibility to the story and flesh out the singer's wooden and amateurish portrayal of the tofu delivery boy-turned-racing champion.

If anything, the performance by Wong, 44, has reaffirmed his reputation as one of Asian commercial cinema's most versatile and reliable talents.

At the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards, Wong was nominated for best supporting actor three times for different movies. He took home the trophy for his role as a senior policeman at the center of the prize-winning police drama "Infernal Affairs."

Thinking back on his pared down, yet tightly wound character, he says with obvious pride: "Yeah, that one, I did a good job there."

"Infernal Affairs" is currently being remade for Hollywood as "The Departed" by the director Martin Scorsese and a cast that includes Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen. Who, in the American version, is essaying the unforgettable figure he brought to life in the Hong Kong original? The typically outspoken Wong says: "Why should I care? It's not my film."

Wong, who joined Hong Kong's entertainment industry in the 1980s, says that by his count he has been part of some 280 movie projects. He did important movies in the 1990s, like "Hard-Boiled," directed by John Woo, and "The Untold Story," a thriller about a murderer who ground up his victims to be stuffed into dim sum.

According to Wong, however, the bulk of his work, except for about 50 titles, is "crap." He made projects with names like "The Jail in Burning Island," "Teaching Sucks!" and "Raped by an Angel 4: The Raper's Union." Most of these were made in the 1980s and 1990s, when the territory churned out hundreds of movies annually, some financed by figures associated with organized crime who didn't take an actor's no for an answer.

Seated in a windowless conference room, Wong peers from behind mirrored aviation sunglasses and gives an unsentimental shrug when recalling those movies. He had to make money, he says. He had to pay rent and support his wife, two sons and his mother, who raised him after his British father abandoned them when he was 4 years old.

"I'm just an actor," says Wong, who speaks fluent English but is more comfortable in Cantonese. "I'm not a very big star. I'm not working in Hollywood. I can't tell the boss: 'I'm going to do this project, you have to invest $2 million.' Never. Not in Hong Kong."

Hong Kong is making fewer and fewer films but with bigger budgets and the mainland market in mind. Perhaps only 30 films will be produced in Hong Kong this year. Wong, as someone who takes acting very seriously, says he is optimistic that the films' quality is being forced to improve.

"It is really frustrating before, where you grew up in the crap movies," he says. "No one was professional. No script. The directors didn't know what they're doing. And the actor or actress, they just stand there, not acting, just pretending to do something."

Pop idols, pretty young things and models-turned-movie-stars have typically been at the center of the Hong Kong film universe. That may change soon.

Wong says he loves that in China, acting is considered an art that requires years of training. As the Hong Kong industry grafts itself to China, the entertainment market of the future, Wong is finding that he likes the kinds of movies he is being asked to make.

This month he will work on a new film by the acclaimed mainland actor-director Jiang Wen, the star of "Red Sorghum" from 1987 and a talent Wong admires. In a few weeks, Wong is due on the set of his first American production, a period drama starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts that will shoot in China. Based on W. Somerset Maugham's novel "The Painted Veil," the film casts Wong as a Chinese soldier, a key character in the story.

The actor says: "They came to me. I read the script, and it's very easy. I asked: 'Why me?"' Told that they needed "a great actor," he replied: "O.K., lah."

He adds: "I'm a survivor. I did a lot of crap movies. It's like I battled in the jungle and still I survived. I met a lot of enemies. I can do any script, work with any director, any actor."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/11/opinion/fmlede12.php

 

 

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