[2009.08.07] JOHNNIE TO IS FED UP WITH HONG KONG SUPERSTARS

Hong Kong's Summer International Film Festival 2009 opened two nights ago with the Johnnie To Kei Fung directed VENGEANCE. To Kei Fung led actors Anthony Wong Chau Sun, Simon Yam Tat Wa, Lam Ka Tung, Maggie Siu Mei Kei and Michelle Ye (Yip Suen) in attendance. Richie Jen (Yam Yin Chai) and boss Peter Lam Kin Ngok came in support. The actors shared the production experience. The host asked how To Kei Fung felt about working with famous European singer Johnny Hallyday. He said, "This is my official foreign production. Working with Johnny was very pleasant because he didn't have a lot of complaints, that is different from Hong Kong superstars." Chau Sun immediately joked, "I thought he was referring to me, actually he is talking about superstars." Ka Tung pointed out that Chau Sun had superstar quality without superstar ego.

Later To Kei Fung was asked which superstar was he referring to. He joked, "I have no idea what I was saying after I said it." Then Ah To praised Johnny as a very famous European artist and working with him was a pleasure. His tolerance level was rather high. He said, "I only found out how amazing Johnny was when I got to Cannes. He was rather famous there. His concert this year was already sold out in 2006. His fans chased his car and got into accidents." Again Ah To was asked which superstar had a lot of complaints. He only said, "Actually it's hard to say good or bad. Like Johnny, he does very well. He was already very happy with a broken chair, a cup of coffee and a bowl of noodles; unlike superstars nowadays, being prissy all the time and wanting several dozen assistants in person. He was fine all by himself."

Did Ah To suffer a lot of petty annoyance? He joked, "Then we compete to see who is more annoying." Which artist has the most assistants? He joked, "My entire company is assistants, I have the most. I was only talking about my own experience." Which actor is the nicest? He said, "That depends, (Stephen) Chow Sing Chi can be very nice, (Andy) Lau Tak Wa sometimes isn't nice." As for Chow Yun Fat, he said, "Who would object to Fat Gor, he definitely is great." Ah To expressed that he and Fat Gor have talked about working together for years. He hoped to have the chance again, like on a Lunar New Year film. He has not made one in over 20 years.

Yam Tat Wa was very upset about the countless financial company calls that he received. "I feel the government should keep an eye on this. When I got these calls I asked whether he had 500 million to loan me, he even told me how the interest was calculated. It's a waste of my time." Siu Mei Kei expressed that she lost a lot of weight. Aside from dieting she also spent a lot of time on exercises. She even said that communication was the hardest part of working with Johnny because her English was not fluent enough. She also praised Johnny for coming such a long way for a movie and still was very nice.