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Director finds comfort in losing himself- AZ Central.com

 
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mu99le



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PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 3:51 am    Post subject: Director finds comfort in losing himself- AZ Central.com

thanks tonygrrl for this article Smile

Director finds comfort in losing himself

Chris Hewitt
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Aug. 27, 2005 12:00 AM

Tony Leung's new movie, "2046," opens Friday. That may not mean much to you, but, if you're a movie fan, it should.

A native of Hong Kong, Leung has never made a Hollywood movie, although he speaks fluent, British-accented English. But he is one of Hong Kong's most prolific actors. And if you made a list of the 50 best films of the past 10 years - OK, if I made that list - he'd star in at least five of 'em ("Chungking Express," "Flowers of Shanghai," "Infernal Affairs," "In the Mood for Love" and his biggest hit in the United States, last year's Oscar-nominated "Hero").

Not bad for a guy who didn't know what anyone was saying on the set of one of his first big films, "City of Sadness."

"At the time, I spoke Cantonese but not Mandarin," says Leung. "I don't know why the director picked me, because, when I met him, I couldn't understand what he was talking about. But it worked itself out. He said, 'Hmm. OK. I'll make his character a mute.' "

It was a silence Leung could relate to. His father abandoned his family in the mid-'60s, when Leung was 6. "He left one day and never came back. For a Chinese family back then, that was a terrible loss of face," Leung says. "My mother never said anything about that day. So, I suppressed my emotions."

While working at a job selling appliances, he met a woman whose brother was struggling actor Stephen Chow (now an internationally acclaimed actor/director, his "Kung Fu Hustle" is this year's biggest foreign hit). Chow turned Leung on to acting classes, and Leung decided he was done with refrigerators.

"I could hide my emotions behind the characters. People would think my anger or fear was the characters' when it was really mine," says Leung. "It was wonderful because my whole life up until then, I would talk to the mirror or talk to my soup, like my character in 'Chungking Express,' but I would never talk to people."

"Chungking," a fresh romantic adventure, was directed by Wong Kar Wai, who also made "2046," as well as "Days of Being Wild," "In the Mood for Love" and "Happy Together," all with Leung. Wong has been Leung's most fruitful collaborator, but he barely knows the guy.

"We never talk. We seldom see each other," says Leung of the director who has played Scorsese to his De Niro. "He likes to keep a distance and see how I change from film to film. He has the story in his head, but he doesn't tell it to me or the other actors, for that matter."

Famous for his painstaking, unscripted method, Wong can make filming of a single movie drag on for years - frequent Wong actress Maggie Cheung has said "2046" is the last time she'll work for him. When it was shown at Cannes, the "2046" screening had to be delayed because the director - who had shot enough footage for several movies - was still tinkering at the 12th hour.

"It can be frustrating, but it's also very creative," says Leung, who enjoys balancing more traditional directors with Wong, because Wong's films allow him to worry about his character and leave everything else up to the director. Another bonus of working with Wong: Until sitting down to watch the movie, Leung never has any idea what it's about.

"Our relationship is strange. He and I are like the men and women in his movies, always testing and teasing each other," says Leung, neatly summing up the theme of Wong's movies. Sometimes, they are comic, usually they are tragic, but they always feature couples who circle around each other, unable to connect.

Unlike Cheung, Leung will work with Wong Kar Wai again - Wong is about to start a film with Nicole Kidman, but he and Leung are planning a kung fu movie about Bruce Lee's teacher after that. In the meantime, Leung says he's open to working in Hollywood.

"I grew up on Hollywood movies. I'm a great fan of Martin Scorsese," says Leung. (Coincidentally, Scorsese's remake of the Leung film "Infernal Affairs" will open this Christmas, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.) "But they have a lot of talented people in Hollywood, so there are not a lot of opportunities for Asian actors."

Not that Leung is planning to go back to pushing dishwashers if Hollywood doesn't put him on speed-dial. He says he doesn't like to plan too far ahead, and he never expects much of his films, despite winning Hong Kong's equivalent of the best-actor award five times (including for "2046") and scoring huge hits.

That attitude is something he learned when he was selling appliances. "Expectations only upset you," Leung says. "I like to let things surprise me."



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