2002

Inner Secrets

  2002-04-10

After years as a 'bubblegum idol', Canto-pop star, actor and now director Leslie Cheung is daring to speak his mind - with revealing results, as Winnie Chung discovers

For someone who doesn’t want to talk about his sexuality or being a director, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing has an awful lot to say on these subjects. It’s a confusing situation as two of the several conditions attached to an interview with the actor are that no questions be asked about “rumours" surrounding his private life and no questions about his directorial debut.

And if that's not demanding enough, we are told that if we want to take photographs - of which Cheung would have to have final approval before publication - a $1,000 fee will apply to cover the cost of his make-up artist. We decline. 

Cheung isn’t the first entertainer to set such conditions, but it’s often difficult to decipher whether the directives come from the stars themselves or overzealous PR people. When the youthful-looking Cheung leans forward and breaks one of the interview’s conditions, it becomes a little clearer.  “You know" he says, “I’m actually doing my first movie as a director and I’ve asked Law for his opinion on the script.  William Chang, too, because I really, really respect him.”    Cheung is referring to Law Chi-leung, director of his new movie ‘Inner Sense’s, and the film's art director, William Chang Suk-ping.  ‘Inner Sense’s is why we're here in a suite at the Intercontinental Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.  But Cheung’s directorial debut makes for a more interesting discussion.

The film - the Chinese title translates as ‘Stolen Heart’ - is to be produced by Cheung’s new production company Dream League, so named because he wants to “create a dream team not only for movies, but concerts and showbiz”. It won’t be a light-hearted romance or comedy but a period drama set in 1940s China. "It's not that I don’t cater to Hong Kong but I have to broaden my vision.  To be very frank, all they (the local market) want is good-looking stars and soap opera melodrama. It seems Hong Kong people are getting quite “shallow" he says mournfully pointing out that director Wong Kar-wai is a notable exception. Cheung says he sees that shallowness in Hong Kong investors who are more concerned with box-office takings than quality.  “It’s quite depressing and very discouraging. I tried to outline my film to Hong Kong investors, but all they were interested in was who would star in it. ‘will you be in it, Leslie?' they asked.  I said no. I don’t want to be the director as well as the star, it gets confusing.”

"Then they said, “If you play opposite Sammi (Cheng Sau-man, Hong Kong’s box-office queen), then we can invest more: But I don’t have a role for Sammi.  They always have to work on that kind of chemistry - not on who actually can play the role better.  They don’t really care about the film-making.”

For that reason, Cheung’s cast and the principal investors for his $20 million debut behind the cameras - a huge budget for a new director these days - are from the mainland, with other cash injections coming from France, Japan and South Korea. The film is likely to star mainland actors, but none have yet been confirmed.

Cheung cut his teeth directing a 20-mninute anti-smoking film for the Hong Kong Government in 2000. Now he feels it’s time to make the leap to feature films. “No matter how much anyone (tries to) convince me about how good-looking I am, or how strong I am. I know I am ageing. Think about it, Leslie Cheung is already 45. I shouldn’t complain but obviously I am not as nimble as before. Hopefully there’s such a thing as ageing gracefully.”

And directing, he believe, is the way to do it, although he has no plans to give up acting altogether.  His ambitions have won support from his friends in the business.  Golden Horse winner Stanley Kwan Kam-pang, who directed Cheung to a best-actor award in l988’s ‘Rouge’ has no doubt he is making the right move. “He’s got so much experience that when he sees a script now, he doesn’t just look at his own part, he can see the big picture. He can see that the most important thing is how good the film is and not just his role. That’s a great step forward.” Kwan says.

Cheung is casually dressed in trousers, beige denim jacket and T-shirt. There isn’t any trace of foundation on his face although his make-up artist and hairstylist are sitting close by with a big bag of tricks, just in case we decide to stump up the $l,000, no doubt.  With his minders a comfortable distance away, I prod him about the photo conditions. “It’s just to protect myself, you know.  There are publications always trying to trap you. OK you show your face and they take some shots - and they don’t even use the best ones - and then they'll try to make up a headline to go with it.”

Since coming runner-up in ATV’s Asian Music Contest in 1976, Cheung has seldom been out of the public eye - first as a singer, now more often as an actor.  Is he getting a little tired of talking about himself?  “I just don’t want to explain any more.  After all, this is my life and so I can’t compromise that much.” he says.

"I have a very clear mind about one thing: a job is a job, privacy is privacy.  I don’t want the two to blend together.  Maybe I have a different lifestyle to the rest of the crowd but I don’t want to give so much of me. I will only give all of myself in my work.  I don’t want anyone to intrude into my life.”

As Cheung has already broken one of the interview’s conditions, I decide to push my luck on another: the rumours.  There has been increasing speculation about the actor’s sexual preference - sparked in part by the 10 outrageous Jean Paul Gaultier designs he wore for his 1999 Passion show.

Cheung admits he told Time magazine in May last year when quizzed about his sexual orientation that “it’s more appropriate to say I’m bisexual''.  Was that a "coming out" statement, as most people took it to be?  “Coming out? Coming out?" Cheung asks, his voice rising several notches in amusement. "No, it’s not.  It’s not the first time I've said something so daring."

He says such “daring” grows as he increasingly breaks free from being “Leslie the idol” “I am more myself as Leslie instead of selling an image. I am more solid as a person and financially.  You know sexual preference or whatever. I wouldn’t have dared say anything like that during that time (the height of Canto-pop stardom) because my personal identity could never be allowed to overshadow my image as an idol. It would shatter all of those (fans') hearts - not because of what I prefer but even being attached to one person would shatter dreams.”

Cheung is one of the original Hong Kong male divas - from long before Hong K0ng had its four Canto-pop kings, Andy Lau Tak-wah, Leon Lai Ming, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau and Arron Kwok Fu-shing.

Since he announced his retirement from the stage in 1990, his shoes - those of the good-looking entertainer who can sing and dance - have been hard to fill. So much so his return two years ago was widely welcomed.

Despite his run-ins with the press and his guarded manner. Cheung is a lot more relaxed these days - a change that has been remarked upon by people who have known the former “bubblegum idol" – as he describes himself - since the early days. “He’s a lot more easy going now,” says producer-director Derek Yee Tung-sing, who has known Cheung since he started his career.  “As a singer fighting to rise up the rank, he was a lot more up-tight. But having been through so much, you can see there are things that don’t bother him much any more. Now and then, there are little tantrums but nothing major.  He derives a lot of enjoyment from his work now.”

His versatility as an actor has never been questioned: from staring out as the rash young cop in John Woo’s ‘A Better Tomorrow’ to the flamboyant opera singer in Chen Kaige’s ‘Farewell to my Concubine’, or even the campy look in ‘All’s Well Ends Well’, Cheung has always delivered. He says his motivation these days is to achieve artistic merit rather than financial success – ‘Okinawa Rendezvous’ and ‘Double Tap’, for example, didn’t make much of a dent at the local box office.  “Money isn’t the deciding factor.  I just want more good movies for my CV.  I want more of a chance to act instead of just doing hanky-panky comedies.”

He reveals he was paid only $l for his work in Jacob Cheung Chi-leung’s ‘The Kid’ because he liked the project so much. The movie bombed in Hong Kong but won good review overseas.

In ‘Inner Senses’ which also stars this year’s double Hong Kong Film Awards nominee Karena Lam Ka-yan, he plays a psychiatrist treating a schizophrenic patient who sees ghosts.  He ends up with problems himself.  Viewers might find the first 30 minutes of this psychological thriller similar to Hollywood blockbuster The Sixth Sense, but ‘Inner Senses’ has a twist of its own.  “I really like this character because he turn in the second part of the movie,” says Cheung. “Instead of the healer, he becomes the one in need of healing.”

'Inner Senses’ represents the third time Cheung has worked with Law (after ‘Viva Erotica’,  ‘Double Tap’), on whom he heaps high praise. “Some new directors wouldn’t demand much, especially from someone like me who is already established.  They just let you do whatever you want to do. I like demands. Well, sometimes.”

'Inner Senses' is currently showing in Hong Kong.

South China Morning Post