After 8 years, Johnnie To, Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng collaborated again in Blind Detective. Andy expressed that when creating the character Johnston Chong See Tun, several flavors of Johnnie To were added, for example wiping off sweat with handkerchief, loved to eat and the placement of hand on the tummy. Andy exclaimed that it's tough shooting this film, especially the chase in the forest as he was catching for his breathe and need to go back to his nanny car to rest thus Johnnie told reporters that Andy was not as fit, however what really anger him was this scene was completed but later being omitted out from the film.
Everybody knew that Andy is always cautious of his weight and body, in this film he had a lot of scenes where he was seem eating but he does not enjoy them at all. "Most unforgettable was to be blind and kept eating, a lot of things to eat, many scenes I'm eating, this is not I'm good at. Furthermore whenever arranged for the eating scene, when started the food was fresh, till the end the food had turned cold, those food had been bitten was placed back onto the plate again. There was a scene where I and Sammi went to a roadside stall to eat chicken feet, for the first few takes the chicken feet is ok, till the end the chicken feet will give out a foul smell." Sammi exclaimed that he wanted to eat too but she could not help him as she was not required to eat. When asked if Andy put on any weight? Andy said: "Of course, I still have space to put on weight. In front of the camera I would look fine, if I put on more weight then I will look fat in front of the camera. Follow up will be my concerts, it not easy to lose weight. Now I'm bigger frame and could follow the footstep of Nick Cheung, but I does not want to try, because it's hard to keep fit at that kind of figure, need to eat a lot of egg white."
Johnnie To was used for the handling for the character Johnston Chong See Tun, it's like the blind "Johnnie To", completely copied Johnnie style of kept scolding people. Although Andy was not the same as Sammi of kept fighting, but he could not use a body double and not wearing safety pads for a chasing scene in the forest. When asked if Johnnie scolded them during shooting, Sammi expressed she didn't while Andy act blur. Andy said: "It's time wasting, 3 scenes were set in the forest and was being chased. I just kept running, as I'm blind, I would knock here and there. At the set, I asked Johnnie for the action director which he told me that isn't one and I have to plan the knocks on my own. I asked him for safety pads which he told me there isn't, luckliy I brought my own and continue to suffer knocks, one take after another, there was no break for me to rest. I count myself unlucky and exclaimed that my shirt was soaked in sweat and need to change thus able to go to the nanny car to rest. Another shot required me to climb the tree, so tough, seeing me struggling, Johnnie asked me: "You turned old?" I really wanted to flew over and hit him, then at press conference he told reporters that my stamina had dropped and said bad things about me. I would not shoot an action film with him in future."
When asked if Andy injured himself, he quipped that he would not injured himself, he would not force himself, if he cannot make it, he would find chance to rest. Once the scene is completed, surprisingly Johnnie omitted the scene from the film, this angered Andy!
Earlier Andy exclaimed that Blind Detective is a representative film for him, when asked the reason, his answer was: "Currently not sure what's the reason, but I'm sure that this is one of Andy Lau's representative film." Clearly shown "representative film" is not related to "top-selling film", thus he feel that Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon is his representative action film, even though the film does not go well in the box office. "In the past when shooting action film, people will say that I have some similarity to Jackie Chan style." Supposed representative film means the originality of the film, even though it's the same character, the only way of presentation, box office taking is not important, Andy quoted different examples, "I find that Love On a Diet and A Simple Life are representative films." Whereas in Blind Detective, his way of presenting blind is different from Tony Leung Chiu Wai and the detective is different from Lau Ching Wan.
Source: Wei Wen Po, Sing Tao News, AM730, Metro Daily
Translated by: AndyLauSounds
