10/22/2000, after three days in Taiwan, Tony, WKW and William Chang returned to Hong Kong. Tony was received by hounds of HK press. Asked his thoughts on the latest rumor, he answered, "Gossips make good sale for the magazine. Nobody would spend the time to write stories for someone who's not popular. But what does it have to do with me!" So all the stories have been fabricated? "Of course, buy another ticket to see ITMFL again. See if I look any different." Will Carina demand an explanation from him? "You think she is stupid?" Will he marry to quiet the rumors? "No, that would be just another show. I am not considering marriage for now." Where is Maggie? Why didn't she take the same plane. Tony joked, "it's a strategy."
Later in the day, Maggie, Tony and WKW attended a ITMFL Q & A session. After the 20 minutes session, they immediately board the plane to Europe. They are heading to Roman, Paris, London, and Japan at the end of the month.
10/20/2000, an affair between Maggie and Tony is the feature story of a HK weekly magazine. The magazine claims
they have been dating for over half year. Tony wasn't too happy with Carina's party lifestyle, and her interest in general (Majong, nightlife, shopping, and endless rumored affairs). He had moved out of May Tower twice in the past year.
Both Maggie and Tony were in a light mood when asked about the dating. Maggie says it makes good advertising for the new film. Tony says HK press had the most creative and imaginary brain one could find.
10/18/2000, Maggie and Tony held press conference in Taiwan. They had numerous interviews and
Q & A sessions with local press.
Together again
16 years ago, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung met for the first time in Police Cadet 84. In a scene where Tony kissed Maggie for the first time, Maggie's hand was trembling all over.
Tony had a hunch then Maggie would become a mega star.
Years later, they met again in WKW's "In the Mood For Love." How have the years taken the toll on them? Tony says Maggie is mature, thoughtful, and much prettier today. Maggie says Tony is still very shy and withdrawn, but he is easier to get along with.
Unforgettable experience
Maggie wore 30+ different types of revealing silk dresses in the film. She said the makeup and the hairdo took more than 5 hours to finish. In the script, she was to walk up and down the stairs all the time, holding a cooking pot. It became quite a tiring exercise. All the weight she lost on the exercise enables her to slip into the tight silk dresses effortlessly.
While Maggie was losing weight, Tony had to eat Wonton soup for 27 takes before WKW okay the takes. Afterward, Tony would vomit everytime he got close to the wonton soup. Tony's hairdo is mostly made of strongly glued gel. One time he had so much trouble washing his hair he had to turn to dishwashing detergent in substitution of the hair shampoo.
Thoughts on ITMFL
Maggie said she only starts to like the film after watching it for the fifth time. WKW is the type of director who could drive an actor completely insane by abandoning the original script and brainstorming new life into the character in the process of filming. But he also asks for the actor's input on different scenes. In one of the scenes, he asked Maggie how would
she act if she was the character, Maggie said she would cry. WKW was quite agreeable and filmed the take.
Tony had long used to WKW's style. He's quite thankful for his character in the ITMFL. At last, he had a name and occupation. In Chungking express and Happy Together, Tony did not have a name until the film went into the cutting room. But everytime he watches the film, he wonders where the rest of shots
end up. Only a quarter of the shots they took made into the film.
Caption: Tony and Maggie are busy signing autographs for the Korean fans during the ITMFL premiere.
10/17/2000, after a brief stay in Pusan, Tony has now come to Taiwan, promoting a limited edition ITMFL soundtrack. The EP records four tracks, all sang by Tony. He will be joined by WKW and Maggie Cheung tomorrow for the ITMFL Taiwan Premiere. According to the lastest schedule, they still have a long tour ahead of them. They are headed to Roman, London, Italy, Japan, Vietnam after Taiwan. (Judging from their latest schedule, you couldn't help to think they are trying to beat the odds of Around The World In less than 80 Days. With today's jet planes, maybe they should try to make it in less than 10 days. LOL) FYI, Tony is fully equipped to make the round. He's traveling with a suitcase of Chinese Herbs(for the allergy) and Cold pills (for the cold).
10/15/2000, all the traveling has finally catching up with Tony. He came down with a minor skin allergy while promoting ITMFL in Pusan, Korea. A group of Korean fans came to visit Tony at the Pusan Paradise Hotel; they brought along Korean Pumpkin Broth for Tony. Asked Tony if he felt better after eating the broth, he said the broth was very good.
Since the bright 21 century youth in the back seat, Wang Kar Wai travels 40 years back and the result was [In the Mood for Love], which was as slow as its staging scene. With Quizas, Quizas, Quizas, an enchanting music in the background, Chau(Tony Leung) and Li Chun(Maggie Cheung) cross each other`s path in 1962. Living in the same apartment building, they find out that their spouses are having an affair. As they try to comfort each other, their relationship develops into affection. "What would have happened if I married?", "You`d probably have been happier." But realizing that Li Chun will never love him more than her husband, Chau leaves in despair. 1963 in Singapore, and 1966 in Hong Kong, never realizing their passion, the porthole to the little chance they had closes.
Wang Kar Wai, who used to portray the pain and despair of the youth with Christopher Doyle`s stylistic techniques, has now matured even more with [In the Mood for Love]. To California, to Argentina, Wang Kar Wai, who has been relentlessly marching toward the unseen, has now returned to his once forgotten memories of the old. The sound of typing, playing mahjong with neighbors, noodles in a thermo, with these antiquities, the 39, still attractive Maggie Cheungs`s costumes, Nat King Cole`s [Quizas,Quizas,Quizas], and Brian Ferry`s [I`m in the Mood for Love] are enough to fill the eyes and ears of the audience.
10/13/2000, Tony and Maggie is now in Pusan participating Pusan international Film festival. Yesterday they held a press conference, then a photo session for "CINE21" (a korean magazine). Later in the day, they were greeted by thousands Korean fans. One of the stages where the press sat was over-crowded, when push comes to shove, it collapsed momentarily. Fortunately, nobody was injured and the activities resumed afterward. Link: Pusan International Film Festival
10/11/2000, a lot of things are going on. Here is the brief: After NY Film Festival, Tony, Maggie, and WKW stopped by Los Angeles for a day (on the 5th or the 6th) and attended LA's film festival, then they left US and headed to Singapore. They are scheduled to make appearance in Pusan Internation Film Fest (Korea) which is about to take place in 10/14. After that, their next destination is Taiwan, around 10/18. By the end of the month, they will be in Japan, participating Tokyo International film festival, which starts at the end of the October. Busy, busy, busy.... I could hardly keep up reporting their schedule. :-)
10/2/2000, Tony, Maggie Cheung, and WKW made their appearances in the
new york film festival last night. They were greeted by 2000 enthusiastic
audience and NY Chinese mass media. WKW took the center stage, "There
are more than Hou Hsiao-hsien and Zhang Yimou in Chinese Contemporary
Film." A master of self-indulgence, WKW claimed," It’s my
style." Tony defended for him,"Great director should be
different from everybody else. He is my favorite director." Off the
camera, Tony was suave and quiet. In his shy childish manner, he told the
interviewers Carina couldn't come due to her film commitment.
Commentary quoted from New
York Film Festival: Set in Hong Kong in 1962, Wong Kar-wai's latest
film is a romantic idyll in which all the sex and confessions have been
excised, leaving gestures and shards of feeling in their place. Nominally
about two married people who discover that their spouses are having an
affair with each other, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is instead more about
aquarium-green and gold-vermilion, the moist tenderness at play in Tony
Leung's eyes and the way in which Maggie Cheung's fingers brush against a
doorjamb. As always, love is ephemeral, the mood indigo. More quiet and
still than much of the director's recent work, the film is achingly,
shockingly beautiful-somehow, and somehow rightly, it ends at Angkor Wat,
the great Hindu temple in whose shadow this idyll about love and time lost
comes to a whispery, mysterious close. 97 min. Hong Kong, 2000 A USA Films
Release 1D Sun. Oct. 1, 9:30pm 3A Tues. Oct. 3, 6:00pm
9/28/2000, Tony attended Healing Hearts premiere last night. During the
photo session, the spotlight fell squarely on Tony and his old flame
Valarie Chow. As usual, they stood as far apart as possible during the
session, at least 8 feet from each other, with no eyecontact whatsoever.
But HK press would not leave them alone(How could they miss such wonderful
opportunities for more gossips). So finally, Tony reluctantly agreed and
moved closer to Valarie, but they stood 1/2 foot away from each other.
(Imagine how comic the whole scenario is!)
Asked why would he keep a such distance from Valarie if nothing is
going on between the two, Tony said with a smile,"I won't answer to
that. Anything I said might lead to another preposterous rumor." More
film festivals for Tony, he is scheduled to make appearance in New York,
SF, Korea, France, etc... He said he would be on the road for the next two
months, but he will stop by HK to pack suitcases and attend Carina's
theatrical show.
9/24/2000, Long waited "In the Mood for Love" held the HK
premiere in the night of 9/22, many celebrities attended, including the
Chinese Ambassador Dong Jiang-Huang. He provided the comic relief of the
night when he introduced Maggie Cheung as a "Mr." The premiere
also suffered a minor technical problem. For the first minutes or so the
film was out of focus. WKW went straight to the dark room. Many audiences
had thought it's the typical WKW style, only to learn later it's out of
focus. (Ha!) Tony, Maggie and WKW all dressed up for the events. Tony wore
a 60's style tux.
After the premiere, the party continued with the post-premiere dinner.
The Birthday girl Maggie Cheung was greeted by friends and party-goers.
Later She said she received numerous gifts. Tony spent 15 minutes in the
party then left as soon as he could. He had two sleepless nights prior to
the premiere, trying to wrap up "Healing Hearts" (Formerly known
as Hero Bone Kind Heart).
9/17/2000, yet another wave promotion for the highly anticipated ITMFL.
Tony accepted a radio program's invitation for a five-episode of 'In The
mood for Love' Movie-Radio. He would be playing four characters all at
once, including the female lead, Maggie Cheung's part. Yesterday during
the press conference, he demonstrated just how absurd and difficult of a
job it is. Afterward he said, "It's awefully difficult to play four
part at once. I have to make myself pretending I am in a state of
paranoia, acting out an episode of the mental collapse when I am speaking
for the Maggie character with a high-pitched voice."
Both "Hero Bone Kind Heart" and "In The mood for
Love" are scheduled for the October screening. It would mark the
first time two movies starred by Tony go head in head. Which movie would
come out the box office winner? Tony would rather not speculate. He said
he's done the best as an actor. He will let the audiences make the
decision for themselves. Meanwhile he would spend equal amount of time
promoting both movies, which includes trips to US, Japan, Korea for ITMFL
premiere. Speaking of Premiere, Tony had just come back from Toronto
International Film Festival. He said the festival was tremendously
successful. Due to the overwhelming responses, many audiences were turned
down for the premiere of ITMFL