Lau’s infernal climax (IA 3)

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Movies: Lau’s infernal climax
Chow Ee-Tan
12/1/03

MOVIEWISE, trilogies seem to be in these days. Like Hollywood big money spinners Matrix and the Lord of The Rings, Hong Kong blockbuster Infernal Affairs is a three- movie series. The much awaited concluding episode to Infernal Affairs 3, hits the local cinema circuit on Dec 12. It completes the unfinished stories in Infernal Affairs and Infernal Affairs 2 to give the trilogy an appropriate ‘ending’. The movie again centres on the complicated and explosive animosity between the police and the underworld, but one of its stars, Andy Lau, said you could expect a lot of inner emotions and inter-relationships being explored and it was rather less action- oriented compared to the first two.

In a telephone interview with Buzz, Lau expressed his belief that besides its entertainment value and the high-quality production, Infernal Affairs has a message. “I disagree that it glorifies the underworld triads. It actually shows there’s a high price to pay to be involved in the triads. They have to accept their karma for what they’ve done. It’s a way of telling people not to do bad. I don’t think the youngsters will join triads after watching Infernal Affairs,” he said. But at the same time, Lau said it was hard to determine what was right and wrong at times. “You may think what you do is right – but there may be a price to pay.”

Directed by Alan Mak and Andrew Lau, this final sequel has retained the original cast of Infernal Affairs with two additional main roles – Leon Lai as a brilliant police officer with a dark side and Chen Dao Ming as a villain.
There are two parts to the movie – set at the period before Tony Leung’s character Chen Wing Yan dies in 2001, and into the future in 2004. Speaking of his character, Lau Kin Ming – an undercover from the triads in the police force – Lau said the guy initially thought he could turn good again one day. “But in the third instalment, he realises it’s difficult to ask people to forgive you. So it shows how he struggles to help himself come out of the situation.” Lau discloses that he used a rather weird method to interpret Ming’s character.

“Besides just following the script, it’s hard for me to find a real live character who is similar to my character in the movie. So I had to use my own imagination. “I studied and learnt from the nature of animals when it came to survival and self-protection. In other words, I pretended to be an animal.’’ He admitted Ming was his most challenging role so far. “Only playing the role of a woman could beat that!” Lau liked all the characters in the movie as they all have their contradictory bright and dark sides. On the actor he admires most, Lau picked veteran award-winning actor Anthony Wong, who played the doomed Superintendent Wong who sent out an undercover agent into the triads. Lau only has two scenes together with Wong this time round.

With so many top-notch and award-winning actors working together, was there competition between them to outshine one another? Lau denied that, saying they all tried to do their best and there were no comparisons among them. In Infernal Affairs 2, which is actually a prequel to Infernal Affairs, Lau felt Edison Chen did a rather good job as a younger Ming. The two had discussed the actions and emotions of the character in depth and Lau was pleased that Chen was fast to get to grips with the role. To Lau, it was not too difficult filming Infernal Affairs 3 as most of the actors were familiar with their roles. But this time, the directors wanted to take the performances to a higher level. “The cast members received the script early and all the requirements were spelt out. If we wanted to add our own ideas, we would tell the director and work together.”

His favourite scene was in a hospital where Tony Leung’s image comes into Lau’s eye but it was only a hallucination. The scene has both of them talking and soon Lau’s character breaks down as he believes that he and Leung are one. One reporter asked about the impact of Infernal Affairs on Hong Kong movies. “When the first movie was being filmed, no one expected it to be so popular. Whether this one would spark off something greater in the future, it depends on the efforts of the people in the movie industry. “Sequels can be good and bad. The good thing is it shows people really like the movie but the danger is when the sequels are not well filmed. “People have higher expectations for the sequels so it’s important to ensure it’s a better movie,” Lau added. On a personal level, Lau said he wouldn’t be disappointed if he didn’t win the Golden Horse’s Best Actor Award for Infernal Affairs in December. He lost to Tony Leung who grabbed the Best Actor honour for Infernal Affairs this year at the Hong Kong Film Awards. “Everyone has his own preferences. I tried my best and I think I did good. But there’s still Infernal Affairs 3 as well as other movies to come,” he quipped.

©New Straits Times (M) Berhad

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