MILK magazine January 2005

[mu99le]

scanned by abc (TL Forest). reeve/looney/lemonberry can u guys translate the juicy bits? thanks.
















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"Soon we must all face the choice between what is right...and what is easy"

[reeve]

okie, here’s the translation for the first part of the article that mu99le posted:


the opening’s just describing how tony has in the past five years inhabited the character of chow mo wan in 2046, then temporarily taken up the role of ling gui ren in tokyo raiders before going back again to chow. and that 2046 has wrapped, ling gui ren is the first role that tony has taken up since. during the interview, tony mentioned that he doesn’t want to talk about chow again after doing countless interviews on him. so the main topic of conversation became focused on ling gui ren, and of course, seoul raiders:

M: when reading the papers about the production of seoul raiders, it was reported that you injured yourself in some of the action sequences. did you do any kind of training before these kinds of scenes?
T: no. actually, i do undergo some preparations before going into an action movie production. Unfortunately, this time, i had been bogged down by promotional duties in several countries for 2046, so i was a little unused to the pace when production initially began for seoul raiders. it was a little more rough and tiring for me this time.

M: it was reported that the action this time around is a lot more different from tokyo raiders, in that the action sequences in TR were shot in short sequences and then edited to piece them together. SR required that the action sequences be shot in mostly one take with less editing. did this sustained action choreography become an added challenge to you?
T: like i said, it was rough, mainly because we had to complete each action sequence in one continuous take. in TR, we could film numerous short takes and then piece them together. it was more relaxed and easy. in SR, we couldn't do that anymore… *laughs*

M: when you were making hero, you once mentioned that you don’t intend to make another action movie. do you like making action movies?
T: i felt that this was an interesting project. if i have the chance again, i think i should probably do some preparation and training before hand.

M: do you have any unforgettable memories from this production?
T: yeah. there was the sequence where I was supposed to go to the hot springs to find richie, and then he was supposed to drag me into the water and we fight. it was a scary experience, it was an extremely cold day, and i had expected the water to be very cold. but the director was very kind and he made sure that the water was heated to a suitably hot temperature before letting us into the pool. unfortunately, after some time in the water, i was feeling feverish all over. the worst part was that i couldn’t get out of the water because it’d be icy cold the moment i get out. that was very unforgettable.

M: talking about richie, you had earlier collaborated with him and ekin cheng. what do you think of them?
T: i think they’re both very talented/competent actors. i’ve collaborated with richie before in gorgeous, and i think he’s got a good personality and kind heart. he’s also a very grounded/sincere person, so we got along very well.


next parts still in progress...
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[eliza bennet]

Thank you so much reeve!

I'll pay extra attention to the pool scene (if I get to watch the film inşaallah)

[mu99le]

oh thanks reeve u're an angel!!! i am looking fwd to the hot spring scene also!!
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"Soon we must all face the choice between what is right...and what is easy"

[reeve]

okie, here’s the second part of the interview:

M: talking about SR and TR being about 5 years apart, director jingle ma mentioned that when you recently reassume the mantle of ling gui ren, there were some noticeable emotional changes to you, especially through your eyes. what do you think of this?
T: is it because i am getting old? haha… i think my experiences have grown. maybe that’s why you’d see the change in my eyes. but on the character itself, given that TR and SR is a continuous story, i don’t think he had changed at all. it’s still the same ling gui ren.

M: director ma felt that during the production of SR, you sometimes switched between a comedy film persona and an arthouse film persona, although the film itself still carried it’s lighter comedy spirit. did you find yourself doing that during production?
T: perhaps it’s because i haven’t really gotten out of the character of chow mo wan. i’m not sure how to describe it, but i’ve been playing chow for a long time, and i do find myself sometimes listening to 2046’s soundtrack, as if i am still trying to retain some memories from 2046.

M: do you think you’ve become chow mo wan?
T: that would be a very strange feeling, even though i think that lately, i’ve been more myself. in reality, i think i haven’t really left chow’s character behind, because i think i was in character too long, so even my daily thinking and the things that i’d do have also been, in some ways, affected.

M: then, did director ma discuss with you on quickly disengaging yourself from chow and plunging into the character of ling for the more relaxed production of SR? (corrected -- sorry, guys, i misinterpreted this line earlier... )
T: i don’t think the emotional disentanglement process can be forced, although when i was working on the production of SR, i was able to forget chow and concentrate on ling gui ren’s part in SR. but the moment i leave the set, i’d inevitably return to chow’s world, not having able to return my own. even when i was in italy doing interviews, there was a reporter who had asked me about my feelings about chow, and i told the reporter that i wasn’t even sure that I’d played him well or he’d become a part of me.

M: did you feel pained that chow mo wan had possessed such a big part of yourself?
T: yes, you can say that. i think that currently, i’ve not really separated myself from chow yet. part of this is because when i completed filming 2046, i have had to do a lot of promotions for the movie, saying the same things repeatedly at every interview, including things that i had wanted to forget. this reenacted a lot of the memories and sentiments of the film (2046) in me. usually, whenever i’ve completed a film, i’d take a 3-month rest, without any contact with anyone from the film industry, in order to give myself sometime to recover my own self and identity. however, this time, there was no room for rest between 2046 and SR, hence whenever the cameras stopped rolling, i’d simply relapsed back into chow’s world. i can’t really explain this well, but i think as an actor, that’s just part of our job.

M: besides chow, have you ever had played other characters that you find hard to disengage from?
T: yes, i have, but never for this long. i think the longer it takes for me to enter a character, the longer it’d take for me to leave it behind. that’s how, i think, most of us would adapt to the transitions involved.

M: i think we should stop talking about chow, seeing that it’s pretty rough on you.
T: yes yes yes… i think so too. please don’t ask me anymore as I’d like to forget about chow for a while.

M: besides arthouse films, do you like making comedies?
T: personally, i am not a very playful/funny person, so i do like to make comedies to balance that out. comedies are very light-hearted and funny, for example, eagle shooting heroes, chinese odyssey 2002 etc. i’m not sure if the audience found the films funny or not, but i had a lot of fun making them. the same with SR, and ling gui ren is a very playful character as well.

M: did you get to display your comedic talents this time?
T: i tried to play a happier character this time, but director ma wanted a more “realistic” (err… looney and lemonberry, i’m not sure of the adjective used, could you help me out? sorry… ) feel to it, so i tried to express that. it wasn’t that comical, but it was still very light-hearted.

M: people usually say that you are very elegant/graceful, do you think so?
T: elegant? Hmm… i don’t think of myself as elegant/graceful, but i’m not a clumsy person.

M: carina once said that when you’re daydreaming, you give off a sense of elegance about you.
T: i think i was probably thinking through something instead of daydreaming.

M: what pastimes do you have? do you like to read?
T: every day, i’d get up to jog, exercise, go out drinking with friends, play chess, “…” (help again!! my best guess is play mahjong. ), go traveling… on reading, i guess i do read from time to time! *jokingly*



next parts still in progress... really sorry for the delay.
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[mu99le]

thanks for the great job reeve!!! and BTW (i hope u read this before u translate the last part!) the interview is actually already finished, so u don't have to translate anymore. the next part is just a synopsis of Seoul Raiders, which can be read in www.seoulraiders.com (click English). again, thanks!! *muacks*
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"Soon we must all face the choice between what is right...and what is easy"

[eliza bennet]

reeve, thank you so much! You did a brill job!

Reading interviews like this makes me like Tony more and more as a person (since I do not think he gives BS answers to the questions)

[reeve]

you're welcome!