A Life That Loved To Perform

Director Law Chi Leung on GorGor Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing

"Law Chi Leung, actually I have just collaborated with him having just completed another movie. In it I played a psychiatrist and it is a film which has dealings with the supernatural. I feel he's becoming more and more serious. He is definitely one of those directors who do not understand how to create an atmosphere, but in my opinion he is one of the more talented of the new generation directors. He belongs to the next batch of directors after Wong Kar-Wai who will have much hope overseas. I have collaborated with him on three movies and I have observed his skills are becoming more and more mature, but I hope… because I have been a director myself, as a director I enable the entire crew to be happy, all the cast to be happy; this aspect he has yet to accomplish." - Leslie Cheung

From my standpoint, I cannot analyse GorGor's performance whether it is good or bad, but I can share with you all the GorGor that I am acquainted with.

Similar to all of you, I am also of age thirty-something. I was around sixteen or seventeen years old when I first met GorGor. At that time I was not collaborating with him. As I recall it was at a bar lounge in Wanchai around Christmas time that I first met Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing. At that time I was a fan of Leslie Cheung. It was a special feeling because at that time it was not often that one could get to meet movie stars. Moreover at that time he already had his 'The Wind Continues to Blow' and he was already a recording artist. At that time very few recording artists would still sing in a bar lounge as some would think to sing in a bar lounge would mean a secondary status. Others who performed at bar lounges did so for monetary rewards and they would usually leave straight after their forty-five minutes or so performance. I absolutely did not get this feeling, but discovered however that he had a genuine love for singing. He sang for everyone in the audience; totally engrossed throughout the process and this indeed was his true self. He was one who loved to perform, he was one who loved to sing and he hoped his performance would bring much enjoyment to everyone in the audience. This was my first encounter with GorGor.

His caring Attitude towards Everyone

My second encounter with GorGor was during the filming of 'Ashes of Time'. I was the assistant director at that time. Just like what GorGor said about me, maybe because of the high standards of Wong Kar-Wai, assisting him was a laborious task daily. Each day was a stressful day and everyday the expression on my face was one of bitter suffering. I remember vividly one day while working I was feeling extremely exhausted and I was worrying about the next day's film schedules, pondering over how to solve some problems. GorGor came over and said to me, "Kiddo, don't worry too much. In everything if you take a step back to reconsider, it becomes no big deal. All matters become history when tomorrow comes. There is nothing which can't be solved!" I feel that these words have been very influential in my life and I also hope that everyone else will follow them. It is true: if you take a step back to reconsider any matter, when tomorrow comes it would become history. There is no problem that cannot be solved. This was my second acquaintance with Leslie Cheung. The feeling was very special because among big movie stars in those days, very few would speak to an assistant director in such manner. I could feel that he was very caring towards other people. Some movie stars after reaching a certain status would tend to establish a distance from the crew around them but certainly not GorGor. He even treated the worker that was in charge of refreshments very nicely. He was caring and attentive towards everyone.

GorGor in 'Ashes of Time'

In 'Ashes of Time', there was a shot of GorGor that required 30 takes. Although this is a regular occurrence in a Wong Kar Wai film, but what we witnessed was extremely painstaking. The camera was placed in a fixed position. GorGor had to manoeuvre a long sword moving from a distance towards the camera. The angle of this move had to be extremely accurate and GorGor performed this move backward and forward 30 times. Some actors would not be too happy about this and they probably would have questioned the director's requests. However GorGor never had any doubts at all; instead he placed his trust in the director. If the director so required, he would continue to perform as requested. This attitude of GorGor taught me a lesson which was the understanding of doing my best on my part in any given task and not to worry about other issues. This is my understanding of GorGor during my days as an assistant director.

My Encounter with GorGor in 'Viva Erotica'

After this was my encounter with GorGor in 'Viva Erotica'. In the initial selection for the leading man in 'Viva Erotica', GorGor was not the first choice. Initially we had approached some other actors. All of them raised the same question, "Is it alright if I don't have to take my clothes off?" I supposed all of you who have watched 'Viva Erotica' would be aware that in this film there were two stripping scenes that also exposed the buttocks. At that time many of the stars have similar expressions, "Your script is excellent but is it possible not to strip?" We finally attempted to approach GorGor. The reason why we did not approach GorGor in the first place was because we thought he would not be willing to perform in this film. We were of the opinion that GorGor at the time with his 'big star' status would never agree to do this film. In the end we decided to give it a try and gauge his response. What was totally unexpected was GorGor was the first person who after having gone over the script had expressed "OK". Following this we were quite worried wondering if GorGor would put forward the same question, "But I am not stripping, ok?" but he didn't say it. Instead his first words were "Have to strip, definitely have to strip!" He said to me that according to the script the director in the movie objected very strongly to making category III films and if there was 'no stripping' then the significance of making this film would be lost. He was following the requirements of the film. In that instant, he didn't think of himself as a movie star. His thoughts were focused on being an actor. To us this was a great encouragement for by then we were quite worried that we were never be able to find an actor willing to do this film. On the film set he continued to encourage us by saying, "Don't worry, this movie has to be filmed like this!".

This was my first film as a director and I was rather anxious. I was worried that although I have met GorGor before but perhaps he had forgotten that I was the assistant director for 'Ashes of Time'. However quite on the contrary he had a very good memory. He could remember very well even if he had met only once. When we met on the film set, we were both trying to re-capture our special kind of feeling from the past. There was a scene in which I had taken about 7 or 8 takes either in the second or third sessions of filming. I was getting worried that he would start to object but he did not. He carried on with the shooting. He would never bully a new director. Even my friends were concerned for me because I was a new director working with a big movie star and they wondered if a big movie star would bully me! The GorGor that I knew would never do this.

Instead he went to great lengths to assist the other actors. I should point out that at that time Shu Kei was a new artist. Another one was Karen Mok. I remember vividly at that point in time, we were filming the first scene. We were thinking of shooting the scene with an 'over-acting' effect. We wanted to bring across an exceptionally comical effect and this was a love scene. If we did not make use of an 'over-acting' process, the resulting effect would not be the same. When GorGor performed an extreme 'over' performance, he would say to me that it wasn't quite enough, he would like another take but actually I was already very satisfied with his performance. When it came to Karen Mok's performance, at that time she was a new artiste, she was not able to achieve that 'over-acting' part. As a new director, I thought that was it, that was her limit but then GorGor said to me, "It is not finished. Give it another try, continue filming. There's got to be more to it. It should be there." There were some shots where GorGor was not seen on camera when we were filming the sequences of Karen Mok. Behind the scene GorGor was helping Karen Mok. He tickled Karen Mok's foot to help her achieve that 'over' reaction. Actually when an actor has finished all his scenes, he has no obligation to look after the other actors. He could have easily taken off, but GorGor treated everyone in the cast as a whole unit. He did not think performing well on his own was enough. He also wanted the other actors to perform just as well. As a new director, when I was not able to achieve the same degree of satisfaction from the other actors, he was there to assist me to complete the job. He also made every effort to assist Shu Kei. In my opinion there were some scenes that, without GorGor's assistance, would never have had the effects that we have now.

GorGor directed a film within a film

We were having a delightful time in our work midway through our filming schedules. Towards the end after the third and fourth love scenes we wanted to have one final love scene. The director in the film was shooting a pornographic film. The interesting thing was when my producer and I were discussing about the direction that we should take with this scene, GorGor expressed that since this was a film within a film, it would be best to let him direct this scene himself. That love scene between Cheui Gaam Kwong and Shu Kei was solely directed by GorGor. The feeling was very good. It dawned on us then that letting the actor direct a film within a film could bring so much happiness to everyone.

There were people within the industry who promptly queried whether I was the one who had directed this scene. Of course it didn't come from me and there was nothing wrong about this. The entire feel is different. He went after a beautiful style and this was his view. I remember we didn't pay too much attention to him. In fact when GorGor was directing that scene, we actually left the set. This was a happy incident because he made me realized that making a film is not just the work of one person. A film consists of a whole unit. In 'Viva Erotica' because of GorGor, I learnt how to co-operate with others, how to put my trust in an actor and how to help some actors.

My Encounter with GorGor in 'Double Tap'

When it came to the days of 'Double Tap', it led me to an understanding of GorGor's unceasing spirit in his pursuit of knowledge. GorGor did not know how to fire a gun. GorGor diligently practised firing a gun for a whole month. First he learned how to handle a real gun and then later he learned how to use a toy gun. Firing a real gun is very tiring. Here we could see GorGor's professionalism as an actor.

Another thing that has always impressed me was the way in which GorGor always went out of his way to help other actors. Perhaps actors from the 80s are different from those actors from the 90s. These days I feel that all directors and all actors are doing one and the same thing. A lot of times when an actor has completed all his given scenes, he would still act out the scene in full dialogue with his co-actor even though sometimes he may not be in the scene itself or within the range of the camera. Often even if an actor has given his dialogue in full, chances are he would tend to hold back a little and he is doing this not out of selfishness. The reason is very simple.

I am not sure if any of you understand the camera term that we call '... cut'. '...cut' is when we shoot an actor's close-up first followed by the close-up of the other actor. Actually very often the sequencing of this shot in order of priority is rather awkward and a bit worrying. For example if we decided to film the other actor first while he, on the opposite side and out of camera range, had given out everything (in full dialogue) to his co-star, I'd worry that when it comes to his turn to be in front of the camera, he would not be able to repeat his performance. However GorGor always gave his best performance to his co-star because he always wanted to help others. This is a very difficult process because if GorGor was to shoot an emotionally upsetting scene and I chose to shoot the scenes of the other actor first, I would ask him to hold back his tears and not to cry because I am afraid that he might not be able to recapture this mood when I have to film him afterwards, but GorGor would turn around and said to me that he has to cry and to give it all or his co-star would not be able to perceive the tearful emotion. Then while completely out of the range of the camera, he would genuinely perform the whole scene on the opposite side reciting his lines in tears. I feel this is a most difficult thing to do especially when immediately afterwards I have to shoot his scenes. It is not easy to return to the former upsetting mood in the first instant after one has been emotionally drained moments before. I feel this is something that is worthy of our respect.

My Encounter with GorGor in 'Inner Senses'

Next I would like to discuss GorGor in 'Inner Senses'. This film was slightly different in some ways because GorGor made many contributions midway through the film in the sense that he put in some of his personal experiences into the film. Actually he had also done this in his past movies, but in this film he shared certain things with us with regards to his outlook on life. One of his most personal experiences I recall was his childhood sleepwalking. He told us he used to sleepwalk when he was a young child. He said in his role as a psychiatrist he would like to include this in the film so we had to add this into the script for in the original script, sleepwalking was never in it.

My feeling about 'Inner Senses', especially the rooftop scene, a lot of people have commented that GorGor performed brilliantly in this scene. I personally reckon that it was a near perfect performance because it was an extremely difficult scene to do. In the actual filming, there was absolutely nothing there at all. You just have to perform what is required of you in this empty space. Personally I feel GorGor performed superbly in that scene.

These are my personal feelings about the GorGor that I am acquainted with. Yes…I guess that’s about all that I know about GorGor.

Note: Director Law Chi Leung was special guest speaker at the 'Dazzling on the Stage – In Reminiscence of Leslie's Artistic Life Seminar' on April 3, 2004

Source: GorGor's Homepage

kindly translated by Simie

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