Debra Li

    debra_lidan@163.com

    APART from news about his films, you seldom read gossip about Nick Cheung, a veteran Hong Kong film star who prefers to simply be called an actor.

    Being low-key seems paradoxical for someone in the show biz, where every player in the game appears to be vying for the spotlight, but Cheung said he likes it that way.

    “I don’t want to expose too much of my life in front of the public,” he said in a recent interview. “If you keep showing off how wealthy you are, what luxury cars you drive, what kind of premium life you lead, how would the audience buy it if one day you took a small-potato role in a film?”

    Being low-key

    Since his first film in 1989, Cheung has appeared in more than 50 movies and many popular TV shows.

    “It’s important to leave a blank space in Chinese paintings. It’s the same with my life,” he said. “Being low-key gives me room for creating new roles, as I always want to take challenges and try new stuff.

    “Being low-key has been the most useful strategy for me all these years, when I’ve been through ups and downs,” he added.

    Cheung said he never had the ambition to win film awards, although he has won many. His persuasive acting as a killer in the 2009 film “The Beast Stalker,” for example, won him seven awards, including the Hong Kong Film Award and Taiwan’s Golden Horse Award for best actor. His role as a boxer in the film “Unbeatable” has just won him another nomination for a Golden Horse Award.

    “If I am obsessed with winning an award while acting, half of the game will be already lost. Similarly, no one can calculate whether a film will be a box office hit. I’ve attended award ceremonies — sometimes I won and sometimes I lost. Either way, I would be happy about the outcome. You won’t see me thrilled to tears or sad without a word, because I have a well-adjusted psychology,” Cheung said.

    He said his motto is to become neither dizzy with success nor discouraged by defeat. To that end, he leaves the dozens of film awards he’s won in an inconspicuous corner of his apartment.

    Devotion and hard work

    Although Cheung said “workaholic” was not a word he would pick to describe himself, it’s undeniable that he works with whole-hearted devotion.

    “It’s as if I will turn into another person once I’m at something, whether it’s work or just play,” he said. “That person wants to bring out the best of himself. Lam Chiu-yin (director of ‘The Beast Stalker’) can tell you about it. Before we start shooting, we will chat about the story and discuss the script leisurely. Once we begin, I will become very serious. I will become prudent and clearly aware of how I should do my job and how others should do theirs. You need to show respect for your job.”

    A glimpse of that transformation appeared on a recent live TV show, when cast members from “The White Storm” were asked to play “Plane Wars,” a popular WeChat game. Cheung, who has never been a computer game fan, scored the highest among all participants.

    “When I was playing it, I just turned into the other me,” he said.

    When he became interested in Thai boxing several years ago, Cheung went to a club to train with a coach.

    “I practiced daily for more than a year, never chatted with others during the training, and at some point had really wanted to challenge a professional to prove myself,” he said.

    When the “Unbeatable” role found him, he started an intense nine-month bodybuilding regime.

    “I’d got the figure I wanted by the time shooting started. But I wanted to keep it that way during the shooting process,” he said.

    Cheung accidentally broke a finger one week into the shoot, but continued to work out in the gym for three to four hours a day.

    “It’s not just showing respect for my audience, it’s also showing respect for myself. People will respect you only when you respect yourself,” he said.

    Not a fan of “tedious” gym work, Cheung said he didn’t expect himself to stick it out for nine months.

    “But I did it. Sometimes you should do things with a reasonable impulse. Once decided, it should be done,” he said. “It’s the same with your job or relationships. Quitting a job and separating from your partner is a quick and easy way to solve things, but carrying on will earn you better results. I never give up on myself or the things in my life. I’ve fallen, made difficult decisions, and done things against my will. But I persisted.”

    Balance expectations

    Although film stars may appear to have it all, particularly to people outside the industry, Cheung said being an actor “is a passive thing.”

    “You have to balance what people expect of you and what you want for yourself. People will criticize you for being too commercial. But then film is, above all, a mass art. Many things come into consideration before a movie is shot, and the investment is not a small sum,” he said. “I’ve been in show biz for more than 20 years. There is no particular role I want to act now. As long as the script tells an honest story, and the character has his own perspective which can get me excited with fresh elements, I will take it. Movies fall into categories: romance, horror, action, thriller, song and dance. For every type, there are thousands of them. But no roles are completely identical. As long as there is room for me to exert my own creativity, I will take the job.”

    Cheung said he’s thankful for the roles he has experienced.

    “There were great films I was not a part of and great actors or actresses I haven’t worked with. But I don’t care. For me, it’s not that other people’s dishes are tastier,” he said.

    Having dreamed of being a detective before he turned to acting, Cheung always identifies with roles of ordinary people who are brave and willing to shoulder responsibility when it’s called for by necessity.

    “No actor can empty himself out and plunge into a role that has a completely different background and character from what the actor has had since birth,” he said. “You have to decide what part of yourself you want to bring out and project into that role.”

    When presented with a job, Cheung said he does extensive research, including talking with people in real-life situations similar to the role. But that strategy doesn’t always work out.

    “I once had a friend arrange an interview for me with a member of a criminal syndicate, to get a closer look at the life of a real killer, but the interview was finally canceled because it was too sensitive,” Cheung said. “Being an actor is kind of being an anthropologist. I carefully observe society, things that happen in the real world and in cyberspace. In acting, you need to understand the uniqueness of the character and bring it out, using your imagination and inspiration from the script.”

    A common man

    While at the peak of his career, Cheung said he has often thought about retirement.

    “When the day comes for me to retire, I will sever all ties with movies and take a good rest. I won’t take cameo roles like some do,” he said. “Where will I go? China is so big, there is also Southeast Asia where Chinese live. I just want to find a place where people will see me as a common person. I won’t worry about being caught picking my nose or eating at a cheap small restaurant. After I eat my breakfast, I can read, do some work, take a walk, go home, have dinner, watch some TV and go to sleep.”

    But right now, that is still a faraway dream.

    “I have four to five films to be released next year, including a directorial debut, and two or three more are in the shooting process. You will see a lot of me on the screen at least until 2015. I hope the audiences don’t get fed up,” he joked.

    “Being low-key gives me room for creating new roles, as I always want to take challenges and try new stuff.

    — Nick Cheung, a veteran Hong Kong film star