[2011.09.17] DEANIE IP IS NOT AFRAID OF DYING ALONE

courtesy singtao.com

courtesy of takungpao.com

Deanie Ip Tak Han with A SIMPLE LIFE (TOH JEH) won the Venice Film Festival Best Actress.  After less than a week, Sister Deanie has already returned to the ordinary.  This international Best Actor's relationship with Andy Lau Tak Wa was like mother and son, but in real life she and her children's relationship has been estranged as they had infrequent contact.  She even said, "I don't mind being the only one left, without any children or grandchildren."

Ip Tak Han yesterday appeared on a radio interview.  Speaking of her victory, she joked that perhaps because of her age, the excitement subsided very quickly.  Looking back, her most excited moment was when her name was announced.  She did not hear it clearly and needed Ann Hui On Wa to remind her.  She said, "When I went onto the stage I just kept thinking not to stop on my dress, otherwise it would be ugly.  I kept reminding myself to be calmer."  Sister Deanie pointed out that she first took the role mainly because she thought this film was like a French film.  The performance method did not need to be like television and act out the drama, which she thought was very grotesque.  Another reason was working with Wa Jai.  She said, "I don't work with everyone.  I work the most with Wa Jai.  The other one is (Patrick) Tam Yiu Man.)  She joked that she was very hard to get along with.  She had four prohibitions during the production, no smoking, no tardiness, no foul language and no phone.  She pointed out that Wa Jai now is not smoking, at work his phone would be off.  Yet other workers smoked.  Sister Deanie said, "I am already at the top, because the director is a smoking addict, the photographer is too, I would avoid them.  Their bodies and mouths all had the stench.  If they thought this was pretty, go ahead."  She honestly said that she asked Hui On Wa to quit smoking because it was bad for her health.

Speaking of knowing Wa Jai for 30 years, Sister Deanie praised Wa Jai for being very attentive.  He often called to greet her.  She also said that Wa Jai's life was so healthy that it was unprecedented.  Earlier she attended Wa Jai's birthday party, even Mother Lau praised Wa Jai as a good son.  Sister Deanie said, "He truly is very good.  The Lau family had to have several lifetimes of good fortune to have such a good son."  Over so many years, she and Wa Jai never argued.  Yet she knew that he was afraid of her nagging.  She said, "I wanted him to be thinner because when he was thin he truly was very handsome."  Sister Deanie said that now she had a nutritionist to maintain a healthy diet.  She said, "I hope to be healthy enough to donate all of my organs.  If I can be euthanized, I would choose the right day.  Actually hair and bones can be donated too.  (have you filled out a donor card?)  Actually after age 60, they don't want you.  When you age you don't have much use."

Sister Deanie has made not a movie for over ten years.  Was she able to sustain financially?  She honestly said that she was very thrifty, she was the most willing to spend on telescopes and food.  She enjoyed stargazing and did not live extravagantly; in addition she invested in real estate and saved money before.  She also did not have to worry about her children so she had enough to live on.  Why did she not make a series?  She said that she never ran into a good one.  Television series due to her numerous rules crowned her the "Queen Mother".  Sister Deanie did not mind at all and said, "Who cares what they call me, let them vent."

As for her love life, she said that she has not dated in over 20 years.  She discovered that actually she liked to live alone.  Not sleeping with another and living by herself was the best.  She did not have to accommodate another.  If she dated, he would have family and she thus would have many more relatives.  She could not handle that.  She once said that she and her children were estranged.  She said, "It's true!
Because I am someone demanding, I feel as a person I have to be a good person.  Don't be 'hea', they don't like me scolding (them), they would be upset.  This world has orphans.  Dying alone?  I don't mind being a widow and dying alone.  I don't mind being without children or grandchildren, then it's fine."  She said that sometimes she would miss her children but she would not call them.  She also said that she liked children very much but that did not mean she was not strict.  She said, "If you spoiled him you ruined his life."