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Lau Ching Wan talks about his role in Overheard 2

Posted: 22 Aug 2011 12:57 AM PDT

Lau Ching Wan loves his role as a rich man who drives fast cars in Overheard 2.

THE bankable hot-shot trio of Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu is back in the thick of action with another Hong Kong crime thriller – Overheard 2.

Also written and directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong and produced by Derek Yee, Overheard 2 may have a theme similar to its predecessor of the same name, but is not really a sequel as it features a whole new scenario and casts the three hunks in brand new roles.

After crashing his luxury sports car, reputable Hong Kong securities dealer Law Man-seng (Lau) is admitted to the hospital where he meets police officer Ho Chi-keung (Koo) from the Department of Homeland Security. Inspector Ho has found some surveillance devices in the wreckage of his sports car, which are for military use.

Meanwhile, Inspector Ho chances upon the mysterious and elusive Joe (Wu) hanging around Law's securities firm.

Hiding in an old folks home, Joe is wiretapping Law and other members of "Landlord Club", where all the business tycoons and entrepreneurs who initially gathered to play cards and mahjong, eventually end up as a syndicate that manipulates the stock market.

Lau, 47, shared his experiences on the set of Overheard 2 in a recent e-mail and phone interview from Hong Kong.

Playing a character that was very different from his police officer in the original Overheard, Lau said he had a very enjoyable time filming Overheard 2.

"This time, I am a financial genius, owning billions in properties and driving luxury cars. It's so different compared to Overheard.

"Also, it's quite rare for me to get cast as a rich man in a movie, with a beautiful house, luxury cars, nice attire and enjoying delicious ... I think I should get to play characters like this more often," mused the tall, dark actor, who has been married to former actress Amy Kwok (Miss Hong Kong 1991) since 1998.

Playing a rich man, Lau doesn't have to get down and dirty, but he is not exempted from dangerous scenes either.

"I don't have many action scenes in the movie unlike Louis and Daniel, whom I heard have fight scenes of some sort. My main responsibility here is to drive fast."

In fact, he counted "speeding in a luxury sports car for a car chase scene" as a major challenge for him in the movie "because I was really speeding and it was difficult for me to handle the vehicle."

Lau expressed how he enjoyed working with directors Mak and Chong.

"I think both of them are very well-prepared directors. While shooting the scenes with the car, it was apparent that they had a very strong sense of how the shoot should go. They also had concerns about safety, and gave clear and appropriate instructions to the team.

"Director Felix Chong told me many stories about his friend in the finance industry and the Law Man-seng character was written using all this information," continued the prolific film actor, who has more than 90 films under his belt.

Although he had several best actor kudos from other film awards, Lau finally won his most elusive – Hong Kong Film Awards for best actor in 2007 for his role as a washed-up actor in My Name Is Fame (his eighth nomination for the same category!).

Since he seldom gets cast as a wealthy finance expert, Lau considers it his breakthrough performance in this movie.

"This is because the characters that I portray most of the time tend to be characteristically righteous and loyal. However, this is a different character altogether; he appears to be righteous on the surface but he is actually a cunning person."

What about his most unforgettable scene in the movie?

"It was the love scene with Chinese actress Huang Yi, who plays my wife. We did not even know each other before that, and we were required to shoot such an intimate scene during our second meeting. So, in that sense, it was difficult for me."

Apart from Overheard 2, Lau also has three other movies this year – Danny Pang's Perfect Fairy Tale (co-starring Elanne Kwong and Wang Baoqiang), Johnnie To's Life Without Principle (co-starring Richie Ren and Denise Ho) and Derek Yee's The Great Magician (co-starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Zhou Xun).

With so much on his plate, it's no wonder that Lau said he was looking forward to catching up on his sleep and taking a much-needed rest in the later part of the year. – Seto Kit Yan

Overheard 2 opens in local cinemas on Thursday.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 22 Ogos 2011

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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