Love is blind

[Tony Grrl]

Award-winning actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai takes on a new challenge, playing a blind man in Sound of Colors. MAJORIE CHIEW was in Singapore to meet Leung and his co-star Miriam Yeung.



WHAT is a world without sight? For the visually challenged, their world is made up of sounds that colour their lives. Sound of Colors, a Cantonese romance story for Christmas starring Hong Kong mega star Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Miriam Yeung as blind lovers, also offers glimpses into the colourful world of the blind.

“It is unlike the standard romance movies. There’s a fairy tale twist to it,” says Leung who was in Singapore with Yeung to promote the movie last Monday.

“When you see the movie, you’ll feel as if you’ve eaten marshmallows,” he says in Cantonese. Emphasising the word “marshmallows” in English, he mimics savouring the heavenly delicacy with eyes closed, as if to say: “O, what a great feeling!”

Leung reckons that it is easy to dismiss the movie as another love story.


Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Miriam Yeung co-star as blind lovers in Sounds of Colors
“But, it’s different,” he assures. “The movie’s very special,” he says of the film which took two months of filming in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Sound of Colors , a Joe Ma Wai Ho film based on the illustrated storybook of the same title by best-selling Taiwanese author/artist Jimmy Liao, features two couples who found love while travelling on the Mass Transit Railway (MTR).

Leung and Yeung portray a couple that fate brought together, thanks to the matchmaking efforts of a jolly angel, played by Taiwanese actor Fan Chih-Wei (nominated for best leading actor in Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards for Best of Times). The other couple are played by Chinese actress Dong Jie (Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl and Happy Times), who portrays a Shanghai girl falling for a Taiwanese guy, played by Taiwanese actor Zhang Zhen of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon fame.

In the movie, Yeung plays York, a blind girl who loves taking the MTR and shopping in the supermarket. Leung plays Keung who owns a dating agency. Even though York lives near Keung’s office both never got to know each other even though they cross path while taking the MTR.

One fateful day, York shows up at Keung’s office with a handout she has picked up at the MTR station. She came to look for a dancing partner for her father but Keung who is eager to make business decides to convince her to look for a boyfriend. Keung poses as York’s new date, Ngau. Surprisingly, she falls in love with him on their first meeting.

Keung decides to play along and continues seeing York. One day, Keung sends York a Christmas card and she is overjoyed to receive it. Little did she know that an angel has gingerly entered her life.

The Christmas card is no ordinary card. An angel has cast a magic spell on two Christmas cards and they fall into the hands of two different men (one of which is Keung) and thus, trigger two extraordinary journeys of love – one in Hong Kong and another in Shanghai.

One day, Keung drinks a special diet juice to lose weight but becomes blind instead. York becomes Keung’s mentor and teaches him survival skills. She teaches him how to see the world in another perspective. Soon, he discovers that he can see things clearly without the need for eyes.

This is Leung’s first time playing a blind man.

Asked how he prepared for his role, Leung said: “I visited a school for the blind to speak to the students as well as their instructors.

“In my research, I met some people who became blind at birth as well as those who lose their sight later in life. I asked them about their feelings and their difficulties in getting on with their daily lives.”

According to him, it was not easy pretending to be blind.

“Some people say that when one blinks (while acting as a blind person), that’s a dead give away. I tried hard not to blink. However, in reality, blind people do blink once in a while,” he says.

Yeung emphasises that the blind are not exasperated folks.

“Blind people are very calm when doing things. They listen and think before making their moves,” she says. Like her leading man, she too had to research for her role in a blind school

Rumours in the Chinese dailies overseas reported that Leung was not happy with Yeung’s acting in their earlier film, My Lucky Star, because of different approaches. Yeung is supposedly the happy-go-lucky type, a trait that somewhat affects her acting, while Leung takes his role very seriously.

Leung denies the rumours. “It’s all media hype to sensationalise a story to sell papers,” he says.

He explains, however, that they probably hit it off better in Sound of Colors because “they were more open to each other’s views and thus, compliment each other better.”

To another gossip that Yeung was constantly laughing at him while filming the movie, Leung did not appear perturbed. He merely retorts with a smile: “Well, she livens things up.”

asked about Turn Left, Turn Right, another movie based on the illustrated love story by Jimmy Liao starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Gigi Leung, Leung says he can draw similarities in the story with his own life.

“In the story, the character is lonely and live in the city. He is like my own character,” says Leung.

On an incident reported by Chinese gossip tabloids that he once reluctantly signed an autograph for Liao in a book store in Taiwan several years ago Leung explains: “I was in a book store looking to buy a book. You know how it is when you’re caught unawares. Browsing for the right book can be a headache and I wasn’t mentally prepared when he (a total stranger) approached me for an autograph.”

Leung says he has since met Liao and has read Liao’s books and likes Sound of Colors best.

This year, Leung appeared in The Hero, Infernal Affairs III and Sound of Colors which he finds too much of a strain.

”To be involved in many movies tend to zap away your energy. You need time to be yourself and to lead a normal life. You need to regain your stamina, to have your sanity back and to do the things you like.”

“This has been a difficult year. However, it’s a year full of praise as well and (overall) I’m happy.”

In the public’s eye, Leung has achieved monumental success this year by winning two major film awards – the best actor award for Infernal Affairs at the Hong Kong Film Awards in April and recently, the Golden Horse Awards 2003 for the best actor for the same film.

In Sound of Colors, Yeung feels Leung is “a very experienced actor and is able to lead her in her role”.

Her role involves delving deeper into emotions.

“I feel that I have to act from the heart,” says Yeung, looking candy sweet and attired in a sleeveless tee-shirt and sporting aubergine-coloured hair.

“Moreover, the character is of a young girl and I have to get into the mood.”

Asked what is the most touching scene in the movie, she says: “It’s the scene in which Tony’s character regains his sight but did not tell his girlfriend. He still pretends to be blind and woos her in all sincerity. I was so touched,” says Yeung who is also a recording artiste.



Sound of Colors opens in local cinemas nationwide on Dec 25.


Below is the link to this article.


http://star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2003/12/22/movies/6940249&sec=movies

OMG...now I am sitting here trying to visualise and hear in my head Tony saying "marshmallows" in English.
_________________
Sheila

TLCW Fan UK