[2009.08.14] JOHNNIE TO SEES JOHNNY HALLYDAY AS THE KILLER

courtesy of takungpao.com

The Johnnie To Kei Fung directed VENGEANCE earlier competed in the Cannes Film Festival. He even attended with actors Anthony Wong Chau Sun, Simon Yam Tat Wa and French idol singer Johnny Hallyday. To Sir honestly said that the hardest part about making this film was the film required the actors to speak English. For example Lam Suet due to his not so fluent pronunciation required Chan Chi Chung's voice work. Chau Sun and Yam Tat Wa's English of course had no problem.

As for casting Johnny Hallyday, To Sir at first was not too familiar with him. When he arrived in Cannes he realized that he was a very popular idol singer with many fans. Did he have to put up with a lot with foreign actors? To Sir said no. Although Johnny was already in his 60s as an actor his professionalism received a score of 90. His acting was in the grade of 70s because he ultimately was an idol singer. Fortunately he looked like a killer, so during his performance he did not have to put too much effort.

How did To Sir persuade Johnny? To Sir expressed that originally he approached Alain Delon, but because the script was not suitable he turned it down. The producer wanted to make this movie though, so To Sir personally flew to Paris to approach Johnny. When they first met, Johnny dressed in all black already gave To Sir the impression of a killer. In addition, To Sir's first film THE ENIGMATIC CASE (BIK SHUI HONG SAN DUET MING GUM) was not released on video. Reportedly this film will be released again at Cine Art, but Sir To honestly said that he will not attend.