Rarely in movies in recent years, Irene Wan Bik Ha in the film THE DRUNKARD (JAU TOH) played a still elegant Mrs. Wang whose husband was a sailor and only returned home twice a year. Due to her loneliness she had an one night stand with Mr. Liu (Chang Kuo-Chu). When did she accept first time director Wong Kwok Siu's rather low budget THE DRUNKARD? Irene explained that because the character was rather special. She said, "The director had two characters for me to choose, one was a prostitute and the other was Mrs. Wong. I have played a prostitute before, but I haven't played this role of Mrs. Wong. She is a lonely wife whose romantic world was very empty and lost. She had internal emotional scenes so I chose this character."
Although her role did not have much screen time, Irene had several scenes with a lot of potential. In one scene Chang Kuo-Chu turned her down, unwilling to develop a relationship with her. She broke down and sobbed. Tears like water rushing out of a broken dam could not be stopped, even when the director yelled cut. Irene said, "During the shoot I was very depressed. Luckily my personality and life were completely different from the character. I have a good family, otherwise I wouldn't be able to leave the character and I definitely will be confused." Reportedly she suggested to the director to add a bed scene with Chang Kuo-Chu? Irene admitted that because the story described their one night stand but the director handled it off screen, she was afraid that the audience would not understand her character's ending. Finally the director did not use her suggestion because he wanted to give the audience some space to imagine.
If she had a bed scene, would she need to warn her husband first? Irene said, "No, he gives me a lot of freedom so I have always done what I like to do. Even with bed scenes, we are just shooting the feeling. They don't have to have nudity." In her first collaboration with Chang Kuo-Chu, Irene praised her as a good actor and quite manly but she did not fall under his spell. She said, "Ultimately my husband is more attractive, no one can replace him!"
Those who have seen THE DRUNKARD said it felt like Wong Kar Wai's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and 2046. Was Irene worried that the audience would compare her with Maggie Cheung Man Yuk? Irene said that she was not and said that the film earlier participated in several film festivals. It had good word of mouth. Her performance also received uniformly good review. Would she like to win Best Actress with this film? Irene honestly said,
"I would like to the best! Which actor doesn't want to win an award. I wasn't nominated for EXODUS, I was a little disappointed but it was all depended on luck." In the future, Irene wanted to make more movies. Currently many directors have contacted her. One of the characters was a detective and was rather attractive. As for television series, she would not make any more because they took too long and were to tough. In addition she already had several representative shows. "I still haven't had one in the film. I have an emotional tie with film, which provides me with a sense of satisfaction."
