1999 - COUNTDOWN WITH YOU
Leslie had once said, “My career is the only thing that worries me. I am a very enterprising man and put all my focus on my career. They know I have done my best for my career. And after all these years, Leslie Cheung still stands here and does all these things for them. I am still commercially successful and get good responses from them. All this is due to my performance in my career. That is all they need to know, and my personal life is purely a matter of privacy.”
Three hundred and sixty five days of the last year of the second millenium passed quickly in Leslie’s life. On 18 January 1999, “A Time To Remember” premiered in Hong Kong. Although a copy of this visually beautiful film was dubbed in Cantonese, the dialogue of the version of the film that was screened in Hong Kong was still a mix of English and Mandarin. This last year of the millenium was still a year of hard work for Leslie. His career was the most important thing in his life. Leslie recalled his early days as a new performer when a radio host talked about the lack of respect that new singers displayed, and asked Leslie’s opinion. Leslie said that those new singers were definitely luckier than he was. Their success had come without having to put in too much effort, and they did not show as much respect as his generation did to the older singers. But Leslie said that he had once been a “newbie” too. “Give them a chance, they are still young,” Leslie commented. When probed on another topic, Leslie didn’t deny when the host called him a narcissist. “Yes, I am. But an artist should be narcissistic.”
Host: “Does narcissism equal treasuring oneself?”
Leslie : “Not always. Many narcissistic persons take drugs. It can be very different. A narcissistic person would like his appearance to always be perfect. But it doesn’t mean that he values his inner self, and it might have something to do with arrogance. Some people might be too narcissistic, regarding themselves as the most beautiful, to ignore everything. They don’t care what others think. If they never introspect, they might think they are still beautiful even when taking drugs, and it is very dangerous.”
Leslie had witnessed many examples of the lives of senior artists, whose experience kept his eyes open. “Actually their true stories enlightened me. I have seen many artists, who could have made a lot of money from their fame and lived a happy life when they got old. But for some reason or other, they didn’t practice discipline or value themselves, and wasted themselves on gambling or just dissipated away. They led miserable lives when they got old. It is a real pity. That would be the last thing I want.”
Leslie’s family background had a great influence on him. “A lot of people know my background. My father was a renowned tailor, but the whole family finally fell apart, which made me feel I should value myself more.”
Host: “GorGor, it seems that you like to use the word ‘introspect’ when chatting.”
Leslie: “Actually introspection means a lot to a person’s progress. Besides it, one should also have confidence in what he is doing. Otherwise, he will hesitate in his cause. I don’t mean that I regret what I did before. But one should look into the future while summarizing the past.”
Leslie considered himself a lucky man in terms of his love life. There wasn’t any problem at all in this aspect. He made it clear that his career was the most important aspect, and that his personal life was purely a matter of privacy.
Host: “But you sang the song 'The Moon Represents My Heart’ on stage.”
Leslie: “That was exaggerated by the media. That song was primarily sung for my mother, because I knew that it would be the last time she would go to my concert. It was the last night of my concert. As I said at that time, a friend in need is a friend indeed. This very best friend helped me when I was in trouble. There are a lot that make perfection still more perfect, but how many people can provide timely help?”
Host: “Actually the timing is important too. You won’t need people’s help now.”
Leslie: “That’s for sure. I might not cherish it as deeply as before. But at that time, we were both young, and had been close friends for many years. The feelings were really warm when got help from him.” Host: “Is it great to have no trouble in this matter?”
Leslie: “Really great. As I mentioned before, I am a career man. My good friend, he is now my investment consultant.”
Host: “Is he helpful to you?”
Leslie: “Yes, because as an artist, I have no idea how to handle money. And he makes appropriate investments with what I earn, which is very helpful to me.”
His sincere friendship reminded him of what Nat Chan (Lolanto) had said about his relationship with Alan Tam, “I treat all people I’ve known over 15 years as true friends.” Leslie said, “Why is he so close to Alan? I think it is because they met each other when they were still nobodies. I really appreciate Nat on this matter. I think he is a friend worth making and would be a real friend. It is their fate that they become good friends. I would like to be his friend. If Nat treats me as a good friend, I also hope that we can be friends. In the past when Nat said something unpleasant about me, I would ask myself why he did that. But I also know, if my friend did the same thing for me, I would cherish him very much.” In the 80’s Nat Chan had made very unpleasant comments about him, it was almost like putting a curse on Leslie. But Leslie still wanted to be a friend of his nonetheless. He gave Nat a pair of goldfish.
When the host asked if he had any regrets in his life, Leslie answered immediately, that how dare he say the word regret! It would spoil his blissful state of being. He had adopted a positive attitude: because he is healthy, kindhearted and successful in his career. He believed that in this world, having good health and happiness is the most important thing. He also believed it is also important that one should be fair. That people, won’t treat you bad as long as you treat them well.
Chitose Shima and her team rushed the production of the book that she finally entitled, “All About Leslie” as Leslie and Anita Mui were to act together in a new movie. Its temporary title was “Ruined Scenery”, which was to be directed by Stanley Kwan in early May.The film shoot was to be held in Europe so Chitose Shima had no choice but to hold the autograph signing event within the month of April. She got back to Hong Kong in early February of 1999 to show the layout of the book to Leslie. She stayed at the Hotel Hong Kong in Kowloon. Upon arriving in Hong Kong by the night flight, she called Leslie. The next day at 3 o'clock in the afternoon Leslie showed up with a cellular phone in one hand and a car key in the other hand. He looked very casual, wearing an off-white T shirt and worn-out blue jeans. In addition, a bit of his hair was tousled at the top, maybe because he had not smoothed out his hair! When he found Ms. Shima, he came toward her with his big smile and open arms. After their quick exchange of recent happenings, Leslie gave a quick look around the lobby and the coffee shop. He paid attention to many details, and he remembered the old atmosphere and appearance of the coffee hop. Ms. Shima was impressed with the fact that Leslie was familiar with the details of the hotels in Hong Kong. Then Ms. Shima showed Leslie the draft copy of the cover page. And it happened that Leslie actually blushed when his picture was seen and admired by the waitresses these. It was then that Ms. Shima realized that Leslie was actually rather shy, despite the fact that he had been in showbiz for more than 20 years! He then invited Ms. Shima to his house the day after, as he wanted to hold a party for them.
At that time, a group of Leslie’s old fans from Hong Kong complained about him as they felt Leslie showed more favouritism towards the Japanese market and fans. Leslie held a private gathering exclusively with the Japan Fan Club members. There were more than 300 fans from the club, and each of them paid a large fee to attend this gathering with Leslie. Leslie also put three of his concert costumes up for auction so the Japanese bid on them. His Hong Kong fans were dismayed with this. They wanted Leslie to consider his Hong Kong fans who had been loyally with him since the 80’s.
On her second night in Hong Kong, Ms. Shima visited Leslie’s house. As soon as she rang the doorbell, Leslie showed up at the front door, wearing a shiny blue shirt and a pair of slim pants made of a soft material. Ms. Shima was charmed by his good looks and thought to herself, “How wonderful this man is!” The party had already started and there were several guests, they were involved in the photo book. They put the 200-paged draft layout on the floor of the living room. Leslie looked at the pictures carefully, starting with the first page and the rest of the guests followed suit after Leslie. Leslie reacted differently depending on the pictures; at times he was a bit embarrassed, shaking his head or frowning. Then finally he gave his approval to all of them except for two photos, both of which Leslie would not use at all. They are so similar to the pictures in “Stark Impressions” so it looked as if he had not grown up at all in the 10 years between. When they finished checking all the photos, Daffy Tong joined them. Leslie was standing between Daffy and Ms. Shima, and he introduced them to each other.
After finishing checking the draft of the book, Leslie invited his guests to the dining table. A female chef, who was a long-time friend of Leslie and a chef of a very famous restaurant in Hong Kong created all the delicacies for the dinner. After dinner Leslie brought out some bottles of his treasured red wine from his wine cellar and poured some into their glasses. In Leslie’s living room there was a large black sofa set and a white sofa bed for his nap, and by the pillar was a small antique chair. With a wine glass in hand he sat himself down on the small chair. He looked so cute in that antique chair.
At first, the photo book was supposed to be published only in Japan since photo books and magazines were customarily sold by the street venders in Hong Kong. Leslie did not want it to turn into a cheap book. Also, Leslie was extremely afraid of the emergence of a pirated edition. He was therefore very much against having his book printed by the publishing companies in Hong Kong. Leslie was aware that there would be complaints by his older Hong Kong fans if his photo book was only published in Japan, so he agreed to sell the book in Hong Kong as well. They chose one book store and asked them to sell only 300 copies. Leslie would autograph all of them.
That night Leslie told Ms. Shima that he was very interested in designing interiors, and in making small items. He was eager to make those items and design some souvenirs like mugs, cups and spoons with his signature in English. Leslie had a dream to open an interior decor and bedding shop in Japan in the future. He also said that once he started drawing rough sketches on his design notebook, and he enjoyed it so much that he forgot the passage of time. After this, Ms. Shima went back to Japan to prepare the book’s production.
Leslie appeared at “Planet Hollywood” in Hong Kong on 8 March 1999, at 2:00 pm as he was invited to present an award in an event organized by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. Right after he presented the award, he was surrounded by reporters who were anxious to hold interviews with him. He was overheard saying, “Sorry, I have to leave. I am in a hurry”. So he didn’t stay long and left by the back door. He was in a hurry heading to the airport, leaving for Japan.
Leslie arrived in Japan on 8 March for the promotion of his new movie, “Moonlight Express” which would be held on 10 March. His co-star Takako Tokiwa said, “Amongst everybody, everything, even amongst every being that exists in this earth, the person whom I respect most is Leslie Cheung. Up till now, I have never met a person who has always shown such a deep affection for others as Leslie. Leslie is like a brother to me. He has a caring heart for others, paying particular attention to them even in minor details. Although I think nobody is perfect in this world, he is considered as a "near-to-perfect” person to me. He holds such an extraordinary perception about life, regardless of whether it is in handling different matters or in treating other people. He is such a special person. I hope that being a woman, I can possess his character. And he is indeed the most ideal type of husband who I am looking for!“
The film company had secured sponsorship of over HK$10 million, which included credit card, airline, travel agent and jewellery companies. In line with the "Moonlight Express” screening, the film company was to launch premium items like the movie photobook, mousepad, postcards, the making-of the film, bookmarks, etc. Two version of the movie photobook would be published, there would be a Japanese version as well as international version. An article, written by Leslie regarding the shooting of the movie would be part of the photobook. There would be pictures from shots that we would not see in the movie. It was reported that more than 200 reporters attended the press conference on 10 March at the Park Hyatt Hotel, and 70 media have registered for interviews with Leslie. The press conferences for “Moonlight Express” continued in Hong Kong on 26 March 1999.
Dressed in a grey sweatshirt, Leslie attended the Spring Dinner of the Mandarin Movie Co. Ltd. CTN interviewed him. Leslie disclosed that he had formally declined TVB’s offer to play the role of Wong Chong Yang in “The Condor Heroes”. He also said he would not renew his contract with Rock Records, which had already expired, but would sign up with another record company. Further details were to be announced in April and his new album would be released in the Summer. Also, he would take part in two movies that year, he would star in one and be the director in the other. As to the movie he was going to direct, he said it would be a love story about three couples of different ages (old, middle-aged and young). When asked about who would star in the movie, he said he had not decided yet but one of the lead actresses must have a “classical” look. Someone suggested Shu Qi but Leslie said he would not consider her as her Cantonese was not perfect, and the movie would be in synchronized-sound. He thought that Karen Mok might be suitable. However, he very much hoped to have Josephine Siu Fong Fong as one of the actresses, but Siu had announced her retirement for health reasons. Filming of the movie was to start in Autumn that year. Rumour also had it that he and Tong Leung were to play the role of Nin Choi San in the forthcoming musical “A Chinese Ghost Story”. Leslie said it was not true and he would not take part in Lee Chun’s production of “A Chinese Ghost Story”. During an interview in Korea, he had mentioned that the role he loved most was Ning Choi San from “A Chinese Ghost Story”. He said that this character was very lovely because he could love a ghost unconditionally, and was even willing to risk his life to save her. He further added that if everybody in this world was like Ning Choi San, the world would be a peaceful one.
Leslie and Brigitte Lin were invited to be the guest speakers at a talk on the movie “Ashes of Time” at the University of Hong Kong on 29 March 1999. The talk was supposed to start at 5 p.m. but at 4 p.m. there were already some 30-40 people lining up outside the auditorium, obviously attracted by the two superstars. The talk was held in a lecture hall able hold about 500 people, and it was almost full on the day. Leslie and Brigitte arrived shortly after 5 p.m. and they were greeted with thunderous applause. The talk was moderated by a Mr. Abbott, Chairman of the Department of Comparative Literature. Leslie said Abbott was an old acquaintance but later Abbott corrected it as “more than that”. He was Leslie’s ex brother-in-law, and they hadn’t seen each other for thirty years! So the lady interpreter commented that it was really a family reunion. The talk was conducted in English and Chinese (with English translation) as Abbott did not speak fluent Chinese, and there was also a foreign lady on the stage. The guests were free to speak whatever language they felt comfortable with. Leslie was fluent in both languages and he switched smoothly from one language to another throughout the talk, while Brigitte only spoke in Chinese. The talk was divided basically into three parts, the first part was on the general state of Hong Kong cinemas, the second part was on their experience working with Wong Kar Wai, and the third part was a question and answer (Q&A) session.
After a brief introduction of the two guests, the talk began. As a start they were asked to talk about their experiences and also the difficulties now faced by the film industry. Brigitte was asked to begin the talk but she was a little shy, and asked Leslie to speak first. Leslie then talked about the reasons attributable to the slump in local film industry, most of which we have read or seen before in magazine reports or TV interviews. For example, he said the film industry is 'almost dead’ and that copyright piracy, though a main factor, is not the only factor attributable to the slump. Some movie makers who only had money making on their mind, and didn’t care about making good movies, should be blamed. Hong Kong people now preferred to see Hollywood movies, which in comparison were more serious in terms of production. Commenting on some of the problems , he recounted how he considered sound dubbing in movies “uncivilised”. Lamenting on the negative impacts on actors, he related how many of his fellow workers had become taxi drivers or worked as masons. But he believed the good ones were still around and he hoped there would be a rebound in the near future.
On the question of going to Hollywood he said it was not that easy, they have a big union. He then talked about Chow Yun Fat. He said that he was quite disappointed with Chow’s movies in Hollywood. “He’s a superstar here and the 'hope of Asia’, said Leslie, referring to the fact that a high calibre actor like Chow deserved something more, at least a better script. Leslie also didn’t agree to the reports he heard stating that Steven Spielberg was going to make a "Geisha” movie next year which had the main cast for the role of “Geisha”, a clearly Japanese character, played by a Korean actor. Further he said the Hollywood people very often got mixed up the Asian races.
The moderator then asked Brigitte about her experience in Taiwan cinema world, and how she would compare the industry in these two places. Brigitte did not seem to be too familiar with Taiwan cinemas even though she came from Taiwan, and then asked Leslie if he had anything to add. Leslie made a weird expression and then said,“ Me? Taiwan cinemas?”. Then he did help to contribute something from his experience with Taiwanese TV programmes. He thought Taiwanese people were too “square” and often stuck to the rules whereas Hong Kong people were more flexible. He also reminded Brigitte about the cases of violence in the 80s at the time where the industry was booming, when superstars like Brigitte were captured from the studios at gun point by the triads, to make movies for them.
The moderator asked Leslie whether he thought Hong Kong cinema had a future? He was asked to speak in English. He said, “Yes, we still stand a chance as Hong Kong people are very hardworking and talented. There are also some idealistic people who want to create miracles. Though financiers are going away or will not invest in big projects, except for Jackie Chan’s movies, we still have some people here with fantastic ideas. We have good actors and actresses, so we still stand a chance.” Brigitte was also optimistic about the future and hoped the situation would improve.
During the second part, the moderator began by asking Leslie, “I want to ask you an academic question”. Leslie made a frightened expression. “What are your experiences working with Wong Kar Wai? Since you were both in the movie "Ashes of Time”, all of us would actually like to know if you understand the film?“ There was a burst of laughter. Leslie began by saying, "Working with Wong Kar Wai is really a painful experience. This guy is so talented. He had so many ideas that he’d never let you know. Each time he would give you wonderful guidelines. Afterwards you go to meetings with him, try to work with him, but right away he would switch his ideas. He’s more or less like a painter. He’s got plenty of good material in front of him, including us, we are the good material. He picked up the brush and started his first stroke, and after that maybe he would dump it away and then we would have to wait till the next right stroke comes. Maybe you would have to wait for 3 to 4 months. I mean this is a very selfish way of making a movie.” Brigitte nodded her head and said “I agree, that’s true”. Leslie continued, “Especially at this moment, nobody can afford to waste a single day for shooting. It’s so expensive, like spending a hundred thousand a day because there are, say, 40 members in a crew, a lot of people working with us, drivers, the lunch-box people, dinners and lot of stars around. Yes, this is how I feel. He’s talented but nobody knows exactly what he wants. You don’t know what you did. Only until the final day comes, that is the premiere. That’s how he works. He would start the whole thing, suddenly he finds that this it is not exactly what he wants, another day another new scene. So it’s very hard to handle this guy”.
At this point, Leslie reminded Brigitte again about Wong’s initial project in which Brigitte and Joey Wong were the only cast for the film. Brigitte was asked to play Devil East and Joey plays Poison West, and Brigitte said, “Probably yes.” Leslie feigned a fainting spell. Leslie went on saying, “Abbott asked me if I understand this movie. Are you kidding? Of course not, how are we supposed to understand it?” Leslie was obviously joking with his audience, everybody was so amused and clapped their hands.
The last part was a Q&A session. Due to the limited time, only 3 students were able to ask their questions. The moderator emphasized, “No personal questions.” The first question was about Peter Chan’s Hollywood movie, “Love Letter”. The student said this was clearly not a stereotyped Kung Fu movie. Leslie considered it a good start. The second question was on what type of movie they felt could stimulate the market again. Leslie said any movie with 'heart’ would do, “If you want to make a kung fu movie, then make a good one. If you think movies reminiscent of the sixties is the trend today, then do it in a serious manner!” He said movie makers have to do serious research and pay attention to every detail. The student then asked Leslie if he had acted in movie with 'heart’. He said he would consider “Farewell My Concubine” as one. The last question was about Wong Kar Wai’s movie. The student asked Leslie which movie he thought was Wong’s best. On this matter, Brigitte responded immediately, “Happy Together”! She said Leslie’s performance was excellent and it was a pity that he couldn’t have more time for shooting, if not it could have been a much better film. She wanted to see more of his performance. Leslie also said that his first pick is, “Happy Together”. “Wong Kar Wai was daring, to be the first one to talk about the gay issue. He is also very clever in telling the story that gay couples are no different from any other couple. As I said before, if you speak with your 'heart’ about what love is then it works”, said Leslie. The talk came to an end after this Q&A Session which lasted for about 80 minutes. Leslie and Brigitte Lin were each given a souvenir book. The foreign lady went to Leslie’s side to thank him and he kissed her on the cheek. As the students began to leave, some took the opportunity to ask Leslie for his autograph, one even brought a big poster, and it began to look like his “mini autograph” session. Brigitte left the lecture hall while Leslie was busy signing autograph for fans. After some 10 ten minutes, Leslie joined the rest and took a group photo before leaving. He was accompanied by the foreign lady and followed by his fans to the parking space.
Hong Kong Entertainment Industry in Crisis
On 1 April 1999, Moonlight Express screened in Hong Kong for the first time. Wong Yuk Man used to be a lecturer on journalism in one of the universities in Hong Kong. He was now a host of a radio programme. His voice was on the air, “Isn’t it said that a star should be outstanding of acting and singing and having a handsome face? Gor Gor has unassailable singing and acting skills, besides, he has a handsome face, which is attractive to both female and male. He is a real super star! His face doesn’t age as years go by, instead, becomes more and more mature and attractive, as does his voice.” Wong had a wide knowledge of history and politics, he was very bold with his words, making criticisms of many political issues. To a large extent there were people who did not like him. That day he continued with his comments, “Anyway, despite being a super star who is so handsome and successful, Leslie Cheung still has the complaint of being unable to live a peace life and enjoying his career. For, his privacy has no security, and the entertainment circle in Hong Kong is under such bad circumstances that he can not enjoy his career. Leslie yearns for those pure days when media and performer can be friends, and experience hard times together. If even Leslie Cheung has such kind of complaints, it says nothing of those 'Paper actors’ covered full of negative reports! The media are also responsible for the recovery of entertainment circle!” And all this while, Leslie was by his side, waiting to be interviewed by Wong for the Commercial Radio program.
Wong: How about the box office receipts for “Moonlight Express”?
Leslie: The film was released on April 1st, and pirate VCD was released one day after, the final box-office returns came out to be 6 million HK dollars, I’m lost for words".
Wong: It’s lucky to have Japanese investors, otherwise the film would lose money.
Leslie: Yes, Japan has no pirated VCD market, they can benefit from the release of the Video tape, so they are satisfied with this cooperation.
Wong: Never expect to benefit from shooting a film in Hong Kong! What an irony!
Leslie: Entertainment circle will surely die if the pirated VCD problem cannot be solved.
Wong: The entertainment circle is experiencing hard times.
Leslie: Yeah, and the actors are facing a life-and-death struggle. So, I’d rather not accept shooting invitations. If I do, then I hope it will be like the cooperation at this time, Jacob Cheung’s work, I do my best everyday with sincerity, only when the film is about to finished do we sit down discuss the assignment and payment. Under such a circumstance, we can’t be so calculating.
Wong: I agree with Jackie Chan’s coming back to Hong Kong to shoot a film every year to excite the film industry. And Andy Lau’s discounting his price of shooting a film.
Leslie: It’s so hard to find a film investor in Hong Kong, they care too much about the cast instead of the standard of the making of the film. They always ask: “No, super stars, who’ll buy tickets to see the film?” Well, the cost of making a film is totally about 10-15 million, cut down the payment for the cast, how much will be left? Besides, when there is a theme for the film, they’ll say: “Very creative but, will not get good box office.” What else can I say? Instead some Japan and Korea investor would like to investigate.
Wong: How about your new directing work?
Leslie: Though the responses of the Hong Kong investors are not so satisfying, I think I’ll still shoot it. I want to shoot it with my heart, not take it as a business matter.
Wong: How about singing career?
Leslie: Just one album every year or every half year, maybe a concert next year.
Wong: The economy will recover next year, a good time to give concerts.
Leslie: I care nothing about the economic circumstance, just do it.
Wong: Cheung Kwok Wing is a man of intention. In fact, not every concert can gain money, sometimes he also loss, but he never stops so as to cheer up the market.
Wong: Are you busy recently?
Leslie: (smile) If some performer tells you she/he has been busy recently, she/he must be cheating.
Wong: Have you ever thought of going to Hollywood?
Leslie: Never! I think their way of thinking is different from ours, and so is their cultural background. Even our stars are called 'Kings of Asian Cinema’, they still have that limited frame in their mind. Every time they invite a Chinese actor to shoot a film, the characters background will be either be that of a Chinatown hatchet-man or someone wearing a cheongsam being a prostitute!
Wong: Jackie Chan’s 'Rush Hour’ is somewhat a breakthrough.
Leslie: Chow Yun Fat is going to cooperate with Jodie Foster to shoot “Anna and The King”, I feel it is so wrong! Since the original film was “The King and Anna”, now it becomes “Anna and the King”!
Wong: Primary and secondary exchanged!
Leslie: The leading roles in Hollywood’s films are all men, but this time its changed. In fact Chinese films are no worse than foreign ones, why they do look down upon us? “Farewell My Concubine” had won the Cannes Film Award, and Maggie Cheung, Gong Li, Josephine Siu had their names raised to the world. Things turned out to be that, if we shoot a film from the heart, the quality can compare with foreign ones! Previously I didn’t like Zhang Yi Mou so much, since his films are all about tearing off the scar of China’s past. Although he won a lot of awards, I think it’s a way to gain admission or acceptance, that is, by bringing shame on China. Recently though, I’ve come to appreciate him a lot. Because, the person in charge of Cannes Film Festival had commented that his new film (“Not One Less”) “is not shocking enough”, “doesn’t tear off the scar of China”, and he’d rather withdraw from the festival.
Wong: Japanese director Hei Ze Ming needn’t get fame by bring shame on his fellow country man.
Leslie: In fact, it is a 'calculated’ move to win foreign film festival awards: children and war are two favorite elements of the foreign film review circle, that’s why “It’s a Beautiful Life” can be the winner of the Oscar.
Wong: Find a favorite element first, then organize story according to this element. Hong Kong films in past days were just not seeking to make progress, for it was too easy to earn money, neither director nor actor put their heart into shooting it and making it better, they thought of nothing but the benefit, and now comes the retribution!
Leslie: Yes! The pirated version is an element of the fall of the film industry, but the fatal reality is that the Hong Kong film industry makes no progress, only indiscriminate shooting, earn easy money! After the success of “A Better Tomorrow”, how many films will shoot the same plot? “A Chinese Ghost Story” had good box office, how many films will copy from it? Thus I admire Tsui Hark a lot, he’d rather bring forth new ideas, and lead the trend.
Wong: They never thought of the future in those days.
Leslie: A star of my grade passably has chances to choose the script, I have to consider a lot of other elements, such as human relationships… I clearly know that some of the scripts are not worth shooting, but since it is shot or invested in by a friend, “It would be ungracious not to accept the invitation”, so I have to shoot it. And no matter if the box office is good or bad, its all attributed to the actor.
Wong: How can the film industry have a hope under such circumstances?
Leslie: The media should also examine their mistakes. They do not help to achieve the film industry’s rejuvenation, but they hit it when it’s down, continuously giving negative reports on actors. Days ago reporters come to interview me, took hours talking about film and music, well, at last a 18 year old female reporter asked me: “Someone saw you kiss a boy in the street of Japan, right?” I really felt it was a senseless question: anyone who has brain will know that if I did such a thing in public, it would be beneath my dignity. Anyway, the headline of the next day magazines is: “Leslie Cheung kissed a boy in the street of Japan”, and all the topics we talked about the day before that question was gone without a trace. Sometimes I’m puzzled, I was so friendly and cooperative to the media when shooting “Moonlight Express” in Japan, I accepted any interviews and photo shoots requests without saying “No”. Finally for the audience’s phone call during the 'Fat Woman Show’, I became the headline for entertainment magazine. Well the interviews that the reporter went to Japan to do were all in vain, I feel it was an insult to the reporters. The interviews that they put their heart in to do becomes nothing, but the rumors and gossips become so wild spread!
Wong: No readers will take those kind of rumors for granted.
Leslie: It’s meaningless to argue this with those reporters, so I’d rather not accept any interviews. Every one wants to live a peaceful life and enjoy their career, well we performers can neither live peaceful lives nor enjoy our careers. They take pictures secretly from behind doors from morning till night, which affects our daily life so seriously that we cannot live in peace; and the depression and pirated products makes us unable to enjoy our career. Does the media intend to make us extinct? To be honest, I can’t bear to be so bullied, at the worst I will leave Hong Kong!
Wong: Reporting should have been a respectful career… in the old days the relationship between reporters and actors was friendly, but now they have become enemies!
Leslie: In fact, in the old days, reporters knew a lot about the private lives and secrets of the stars, but they knew what to write and what not to write. So the relationship was good, some of them could even become friends. But the reporters nowadays, as soon as they hear some groundless news about a star, they impatiently expose it to public, and destroy the relationship themselves. In fact, do these so-called news items have anything important to say? Readers read entertainment magazines because they like a certain star, those who do not like stars will not have any interest to look at these entertainment magazines at all. Well the magazines nowadays only like to report negative news, who will have interest to read them if it is always like that? Another thing which makes my angry: Well, if you want to gossip, just do it. Why do you insist on describing us stars as 'sneaking’ around or being 'stealthy’? In fact, reporting about a “massage” or something else is nothing special at all! What is the worth of being made an issue of? I’m not a person who will act 'sneakily’. So, please stop describing me as someone who 'evades the camera’ or 'pulls a long face’!
Wong: ( Laughs) Because this kind of description will be more of a plot!
On that night Wong and Leslie didn’t achieve something significant to pass from the crisis.
Three films starring Leslie were shown at the 23rd Hong Kong International Film Festival. They were: “Nomad” (1982), shown on 6 April at 3:00 p.m.; “Teenage Dreamers” (1982), shown on 14 April at 7:15 p.m.; and “The Young Concubine” (RTHK’s series) made in 1980, shown on 2 April at 9:00 p.m. all at Hong Kong Science Museum Lecture Hall.
Leslie eagerly wanted to be a film director but not many people in Hong Kong’s show business supported him. When Leslie consulted with some directors who were his friends, they all said, “You had better be an actor as long as possible!” But he was not so interested in acting any more. Those who make the movies are not the actors, but the directors! After all, an actor is only one of the chessmen on the board. For the Hong Kong movie world, the movie industry was in its twilight years. Leslie didn’t think it would recover its past glory. Even though they were making movies, the pirated edition would come out very quickly. The police were reluctant to control them for fear of confrontation with the Mafia. Though the quality of the sound and pictures were often very poor, people in Hong Kong were contented with these pirated versions and wouldn’t come to the movie theatres any more. They did not care much about the movies. That is why the situation of the cinema world in Hong Kong had been deteriorating, and they could not make good movies. It became a vicious circle. They did not notice that they were standing in the way of their own promotion. Even if some of them did realized it, they would not do anything. Leslie thought the movie world in Hong Kong was going downhill gradually, so he didn’t have much hope in Hong Kong.
The book “All About Leslie” was supposed to be released on 15 April, so the books were delivered to the sales distributor agencies on 12 April. However on 7 April, the printing company had directly delivered 300 books to a bookstore in Hong Kong called “Page One” by air. There was a decision for the release date of book in Hong Kong to be on April 23, but one bookstore started selling the book on 8 April. Therefore “The Sun”, a new newspaper group in Hong Kong, got hold of one book. On the next day, 9 April, without prior permission The Sun published the contents of the book with 10 big colored pictures. They also reprinted excerpts from the article in the book, a specious report focusing only on Mr. Tong and worse still changing the context completely! Ms. Shima was shocked when she heard the news about The Sun. Her friend went to The Sun’s office immediately to demand an official apology but in vain. Because of this incident, Leslie was shocked and said that he would not accept any Hong Kong media interviews from then on, nor would he do anything for them! He didn’t want to do the autograph event in Hong Kong as he felt the media would make bad stories about it. Afterwards, when Leslie had calmed down a bit, Ms. Shima and her team convinced him that this event was not for the media but for his fans in Hong Kong. He realized that it would be very disappointing for his innocent fans, who had been looking forward to the event, if he canceled it because of his anger against The Sun. Leslie finally agreed to do the event as scheduled, but he insisted that the media should be not allowed into the event hall nor would he be giving any interviews at all. This also affected the autograph event in Tokyo. Leslie would not give any interviews or press conferences.
On 16 April, the eve of the autograph event in Japan, Leslie flew into Narita Airport on a JAL flight which landed in the evening. Leslie would not receive his fee as he wanted to help the publisher. He treated it as his trip with Daffy Tong to Japan, since spring was the best season to visit there. Thirty minutes prior to Leslie’s arrival, Ms. Shima made sure that the pick-up wagon had already arrived at the parking area. Then she went back to the arrival hall but to her great surprise, a lot of people were jostling in the lobby, though there had not been so many people there one hour before.
As soon as Leslie appeared at the end of the arrival gate, the crowds let off a loud cheer. Leslie whose haircut was shorter when compared to that of last February responded to the applause of fans with his charming smile. As always, standing in front of his fans, Leslie emanated a sparkling aura! Perhaps it was the consciousness that he was being watched and loved by a lot of people, which made him so brilliantly attractive. Ms. Shima was waiting for him at the end of the barricade.
Leslie said, “How are you?” and they shook hands. When they started walking, the situation changed dramatically. The fans who were standing along the barricade suddenly rushed towards them. They were being held up, surrounded by a lot of people. Some fans gave presents to Leslie, and some of them went as far as to touch Leslie’s body. Then the security guards who had been standing at a distance, watching them, hurried over to help them and pushed their way through the crowd to ensure their passage through. Leslie and Ms. Shima walked with hurried steps through the aisle, whisking away the stretched-out hands of fans, and blinking their eyes as cameras flashed in front of them. When they finally got into the car, Leslie drew a deep sigh of relief and took his seat but the car couldn’t depart yet, as Mr Tong, who came out a bit later than Leslie, still had not come to the car. Leslie looked out of the window anxiously asking, “Is he all right?” Just then he heard voices outside saying “Oh, he is Mr. Tong, isn’t he?” “Yes!! Mr. Tong!!” “Oh, really?” Under the covetous stares of the fans, Mr Tong was slowly putting the baggage into the trunk of the car. Leslie yelled out from the car, “Hurry up!! Get in the car!” but Mr Tong was doing his job at his own leisurely pace as usual. The fans seemed to be a bit hesitant to crowd around him for they were watching him from a distance. When Mr Tong finally got in the car, Leslie heaved a sigh to relief and said, “OK, let’s go!”.
Two cars, airport taxies filled with passengers all of whom were women, were following them all the way from Narita. The driver of Ms. Shima’s car stepped on the accelerator and began to drive the car in a zigzag manner on the narrow street. At this point Leslie gradually became displeased, and spoke less and less. He was enraged at the cars pursuing them persistently. He also lost his temper at the driver, who could not shake off the cars. Leslie, in the rear seat, was irritated and complained angrily, “What a pest they are!” “You have to do something about them, driver!!” Then Mr Tong, trying to pacify Leslie, said, “Well, it cannot be helped. Don’t be so irritated!”. They were afraid that the taxies might follow them to the hotel!
Finally one of Ms. Shima’s staff got out. She blocked the taxies way by standing in the middle of the street. She then shouted at the taxi driver and the female passengers inside the taxi: “Stop following us! It troubles us very much. If you don’t stop doing this, we will call the police!” All the women in the car lowered their faces, and only the driver was smiling awkwardly in embarrassment. They stopped following Ms. Shima’s car.
When he knew that there was no car chasing them any longer, Leslie became cheerful again. His mood changed dramatically, and he said with a gentle voice, “I feel sorry for her getting off the car in such a place! I wonder if she can come back easily” Then he said innocently, “I feel hungry after getting mad! Let’s eat something!” When Ms. Shima asked them what they wanted to eat, Mr Tong answered, “Crab Tempura! (Deep-fried crabs)” It was already after 10 o'clock at night, almost all the restaurants were about to close! Then Leslie said, “Well then, let’s go to Izakaya! (Japanese pub)”. Leslie seemed to be fond of the small Izakaya they visited that night very much. He said many times, “This is a very nice shop! I like a shop like this!” He drank sake (Japanese rice wine) out of a masu (a square wooden box) very well, and ate Yakitori (Japanese style grilled chicken) and so on.
Leslie and Daffy stayed in Four Season hotel in Bunkyo district. It was a small hotel which has a privacy oriented policy and the Victorian style. There is no public transportation facility to the area except for cars.
On 16 April night, at the Yaesu Book Centre at the Tokyo International Forum, where the autograph event was to be held, fans battled with the guards and the clerks. Each time they attempted to queue up, the authorities dispersed them by saying "Please line up at 5 o'clock in the morning of the event day! It is not allowed to queue up here until then.” When the Tokyo International Forum was closed at night time, fans who had been queuing there moved out of the site and stood on the street.
During the night, the queue kept getting longer. At 10 a.m. on 17 April, Ms. Shima had breakfast with Leslie at the Four Seasons Hotel coffee shop on the first floor. Leslie was seated at the terrace facing the garden and he began to take photos of the garden, terrace and the coffee shop with his camera. He asked Ms. Shima, “How is the Tokyo Forum?” and she answered “I heard the number of people has already reached 1,000 at 6 o'clock this morning.” Then he murmured, “Oh, is that so” and he wrote his signature in the air as if confirming once more what he was going to do. Ms. Shima asked him, “Is it really all right with you to pen 1000 signatures?” He said, “I woke up early this morning and had a good workout at the gym so my condition is perfect. Don’t worry!”
At first, Leslie was supposed to sign 300 autographs. They thought the number was very appropriate. Leslie said he would sign his signature on the book while shaking hands and having a few words with the fans, like the typical autograph event in the book store when a new book is published. It would take 20~30 seconds per person. If he would work without any break, 300 people would be the maximum number he would be able to deal within 2 hours. But in fact, this event became a big scale event which was later called, “The unprecedented autograph event for the newly published book”.
Finally, the autograph event was held in the Glass Hall of The Tokyo Forum. They divided the crowd of 1,000 people into 3 groups; each group numbering about 330 people. The event was held in 3 sessions, with a break in between each session. When Leslie showed up in front of the 350 fans that were waiting for him in breathless anticipation, the room was filled with an indescribable mood and sound. Leslie looked tense for a second; maybe because he felt the extraordinary atmosphere in the room. He was a bit nervous. He made a short greeting in front of the fans before the event in Japanese.
Ms. Shima had hired a conference room under the Glass Hall as a waiting room. During the interval, Leslie came back to the room via the rear stairs. During the first interval, Leslie was very cheerful. He was eating snacks and fruits on the table, drinking coffee, chatting and laughing a lot. He then sat on the floor and began to do many kinds of stretching exercises such as bending forward with his legs apart, stretching his body with his hands held up high to his head, or turning his neck. He was also reading fan letters written in English or Cantonese. When the signal for the start of the second session came from the event hall, he stood up saying “OK!”, and ran upstairs with dancing steps. At the second break, he looked a bit tired. He seldom spoke and ate nothing.
He said that he was afraid he might become sleepy if he had a full stomach but he was still reading fan mail. Beside Leslie, the staff was picking out the photos and postcards that had been put into the envelopes by fans who wanted Leslie to autograph them later. While reading the letters, Leslie sometimes asked Ms. Shima some questions about Japanese stars, as his fans wrote something about them to him. Ms. Shima was surprised that Leslie would read these fan letters very carefully, and always tried to find out what his fans were asking of him. It was scheduled for Leslie to attend a photo exhibition after the autograph event. If Leslie had showed up unexpectedly, it would be a great surprise for the fans there.
Leslie kept signing his autograph with a smile till the end of the event. He then left the hall waving his hand to the applause of all of the fans, but as soon as he came into the waiting room, Leslie collapsed onto a chair. He didn’t move, but he wearily leaned on the back of the chair for a while. When the staff thanked him for his strenuous effort, he responded with a tired blink of his eyes. He looked totally exhausted. He said, “I want to go back to the hotel, right now!” He couldn’t attend the photo exhibition. Ms. Shima still had a lot of things to do at the venue so she told Leslie that she would come later and saw him off.
After his condition had recovered, Leslie and Mr. Tong exercised in the gym in the hotel. Leslie had regained his cheerfulness, looked totally different from two hours before. Ms. Shima felt relieved and said, “You are hungry, aren’t you? Let’s have a bite to eat!” Mr Tong immediately said, “Well then, crab tempura!!” Hearing Mr Tong mention “tempura”, Leslie smiled and said teasingly, “You are really crazy about tempura!”
They went to the oldest tempura restaurant in Ginza by taxi. Mr Tong said he thought he had been to this restaurant before. As for Leslie, it was his first time at the restaurant. Mr Tong knew a lot about Japan since he had visited Tokyo many times with his family or friends. He was much more familiar with Tokyo than Leslie.
“All About Leslie” would be released in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan on 20 April 1999. An autograph session in Hong Kong was held on Saturday, 24 April 1999 at the Page One Bookstore, Festival Walk. It would open at 10:30 a.m. The person in charge said that they only got 300 copies of this autobiography.
He said forgetting to zip his pants up at concerts would be quite embarrassing but after staging more than 100 concerts he would not regard it as the most embarrassing thing. Instead he remembered a recent occasion when he was going to attend a gathering, he named a few persons he did not want to see at this gathering while talking casually to his friends. These people finally turned up and his friend told everything Leslie said in front of these people! He felt very embarrassed indeed!
Leslie was thinking about moving abroad in about 5 years. Hong Kong was not the place to enjoy the rest of his life. He had failed when he had immigrated to Canada, so maybe he would move to England . He thought he is not the type to live in the countryside. For vacations, his favourite places were New York and Paris. He could learn about new trends in these two places. If it was just for a vacation with a group of friends, he thought Hawaii could be a good choice with beaches and plenty of sunshine. As for Asian countries, he liked Japan and Thailand, where he could enjoy the luxuries that he couldn’t find in Hong Kong. Choosing a place for vacation depended on the number of friends coming with him, and also the mood at that time when he was choosing.
He kept watching movies to learn. He watched “Sixth Sense” and he thought “Sixth Sense” was not a particularly good movie, except for the ending. He was rather disappointed after seeing Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” as he expected something more than that. Anyway he realized he couldn’t expect every one Kubricks’ movie to be a classic.
Leslie had a very good concept of economics. He had a strong principle that he was willing to spend money if necessary, but he would not waste money at all. Moreover this principle was applied to not only himself but also to the business counterparts. According to his principal, he would get the sales royalty from the books or the CDs, as that was a business stipulation but as for the autograph event, it was not a business but a result of the discussion between friends. Leslie did not want partners or friends to incur unnecessary expense. He tried to lighten the partner’s burden as much as possible depending on the partner’s situation.
His decision was supported by his ability for quick calculation and his very good economic concept. However, seen from a different point of view, it might be said that his policy was “Get money from those who have a lot!” Leslie wanted to be paid more if he was forced to do something he doesn’t like to do. He would not demand too much from those who did not have much money, but if they had a lot, he wanted to be well paid!
The interviewer of Esquire Magazine asked Leslie about a recent event that had touched him deeply. He said, “I really want to think about it carefully as I don’t want to give a routine answer. Can we go to the next question first?” The interviewer was rather impressed by his sincerity. Later he said he was deeply touched by, and was grateful to, Madam Pak Suet Sin, his childhood idol who had been so nice to a junior like him. He told her he had never been to the Chi Lin Temple and the Big Buddha in Lantau Island, and asked if she could help to make the arrangements because she had good connections. On the next day, she made all the arrangements for him! She even accompanied him on the visit, and took pictures for him. Chi Lin Temple, famous for its architecture modeled on Tang Dynasty, was not yet opened to the public. Visits could only be made by special arrangement.
He cited two incidents where he had said something for fun but was misunderstood. He thought that people took his jokes too seriously. Leslie said he would mind his words in future, since people often misunderstood what he said. “I have to compromise as I am not living alone on a desert island.”
Even as “The Best Artist of Asia”, Leslie didn’t change his working attitude a bit. The more successful he became, the more he missed the days between 1977 to 1983, the days when he was just start his career, when he experienced some hard times. “Not every beginner is as lucky as Nicholas.
I had my moments of confusion too. But I still value those days of hardship, because success is built on frustration and hardships. Now everybody says Leslie Cheung has good attitude and is punctual. Actually all these can be traced back to those old days; my conduct is a result of the past.”
Chow Kai Sang, the son of the late Hong Kong famous movie star Chow Gut, a pianist and musical composer commented about Leslie, “From the time he was young to when he became a grown up, Leslie loved "sticking” to people; in movie studio, he always wanted to hug everybody and “stick” his face to theirs, just like a cat !“
One night while Leslie was driving home, he saw a woman grieving in sorrow in a quiet place in Kadoorie Avenue. He was afraid that something would happen to this woman and he stopped his car. He walked towards her and asked her, "Can I help you?” She was very depressed after she was divorced. She did not know who he was as she did not look up but found his voice familiar. She was in a bad mood and was breathing hard. She did not want anyone to bother her and therefore she asked him to leave her alone. However, Leslie did not leave but waited patiently by her side though she told him to go away several times. He said, “I know you need someone to talk to right now.” She said, “I’m sick, it’s not that easy for you to help me, please go”. She said she could get the smell of wine from him. From his tone, she detected that he was unhappy too. She said the way he talked to her was very different from her friends so she was quite sure that he was not happy. Since she felt that they had something in common, she did not reject him any more and started a conversation with him. Her name was Jacqueline. She said Leslie fully understood how she felt and shared her feelings. She told him about her illness. They also talked about genuineness and affection that few people emphasized today. They talked until dawn. She said Leslie was really a very nice person. He always thought of others first, though he himself was not happy and yet he still would not forget to help her. His unselfishness impressed her very much. Leslie might not know he had saved her life. She listened to his advice to see a doctor for further treatment. She praised him over and over again or his kindness. After that night Leslie called her several times asking about her health and whether there was any improvement. When he was on overseas trip and whenever somebody mentioned the name 'Jacqueline’, he would remember her and call her to see how she was. She said she was only somebody that he had met on the street and talked for a few hours, yet he treated her so nicely. Jacqueline would remember every word Leslie taught her the other night on genuineness and affection. She also learnt from him to save as many lives as she could.
Leslie went to Vancouver on June 16, and the movie “Moonlight Express” would show at the theater Capital 6, downtown at 7.00 p.m. Leslie arrived at 6.45 pm. Everybody was attracted by him and shouted out “ Leslie!”. After a while, Michelle Yeoh came with Alison Chan, the Hong Kong Chief Secretary. In the theatre Leslie sat in the first row. Many people were taking pictures. A fan called out “Leslie!” He turned back and she asked,“ Can I take one picture?” He smiled and nodded, and then she did it! Leslie talked to a person next to him for a while, and Alison Chan gave a speech about the Hong Kong movie industry. Michelle Yeoh, Daniel Lee and Leslie were presented some gifts. When Leslie got to the stage, everybody shouted again, “Leslie, Gor Gor!” Leslie waved and smiled to them. Leslie left when the show began.
Leslie visited one of his sisters who lived in Vancouver at that time. She recommended a book to him, “Memoirs of a Geisha” written by Arthur Golden. Leslie liked the book, as he felt Arthur Golden was able to depict the emotions and feelings of Asians. He felt that it was rare thing as usually Western authors did not have a good understanding of the Asians. He heard that Maggie Cheung would take part in the film based on this book. This made he think of the roles played by Asian actors/actresses which are very often limited to some odd characters.
Many in the media had declared that Leslie had just decided to sign a two year contract with Universal Record. One media person started to write bad reports, claiming that he was slowing down, and that his contracted payment was not as big as that of his contract with Rock Records. But everybody knew that Leslie was still on top!
He has always dreaming of having his own production house, and this dream came true that year. Leslie together with his old partner Alvin Leong named their production house APEX, meaning top of the pyramid. Alvin Leong was grateful to Leslie, and he learnt a lot of things from Leslie who was fond of conversation. Leslie took the initiative to talk to Alvin and invited him to dinners, taught him how to open up himself and to communicate with other singers. Alvin took his advice and practiced conversing with the other singers. Alvin believed that different skills should be applied when communicating with different singers. With Leslie, Alvin would know everything by only looking at the expression in his eyes. For other artists like Hacken Lee and Faye Wong, Alvin would apply another treatment.
With APEX, Leslie could have full control of the quality and style of his own music. It did not mean the previous record companies were not good to him, but commercial considerations meant that differences were sometimes inevitable. It meant being one step ahead for his musical career. APEX would be responsible for the music production whereas Universal Record would take care of publicity and distribution. Leslie was happy with such an arrangement, which suited him best. “Same as making movies, if I am not working happily with the team why should I take up the job? When I come across a good project like "The Kid”, payment is not my prime concern. I don’t mind staying with Erikson (the little boy) on set, eventhough I am not part of the scene. I was there because I think Erikson needed me around.“
The Managing Director of Universal Records, Mr. Chan Siu-po, was also the Managing Drirector of Cinepoly in 80s. He wrote a book called "Will You Remember Leslie Cheung?” in 1989, in which he gave so much credit on Leslie and expressed the 'friendly’ relationship between them. Chan Siu-po was an experienced person in showbiz, and in terms of Leslie the thought that came to his mind, which he got from a lyric of song “Vincent” written by Don Mclean, was that the world was never meant for the one as beautiful as Leslie!
The contract signing ceremony between Leslie and Universal Record was held on Saturday, 3 July 1999 at 3.00 p.m. at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Fans from all over the world would witness this ceremony simultaneously on the internet at the Universe Records homepage on that day.
Leslie was wearing a white top (a semi-casual suit jacket), and black pants with black socks and black shoes. He was very happy and in a good mood. The interview finally lasted for 4 hours, and the questions asked by different media organisations were almost identical and boring (except those from Korea and Japan, who really brought up some new issues). Leslie said that he would be putting more efforts into the MTVs for his new album. When a Korean reporter started her interview with Leslie, he said, “Wow, we have met before, at least 3 or 4 times”. Leslie patiently answered every single (often repeated) question again and again, and kept the most attractive smile on his face from the first second to the last. And he asked politely whether he could take his shoes off. The reporter said, “Of course, no problem, no body is taking photos now”. But they forgot that the whole show was broadcasted on line. Then Leslie took his shoes off, and leant his body against the couch with his feet on it too, as if he was at home since he was too tired after the endless interviews. Of course the reporter questioned him about having duet with Alan Tam. It seemed that he had to say yes, or otherwise he would be considered as a “stingy” or “intolerant” person when compared with Alan’s 'professional answer’ about this issue. But Leslie’s answer was very smart. He said that he didn’t mind singing together with Alan Tam, and would do so whenever Mr. Alan Tam had interest in cooperating with him. Obviously he passed the hot ball back to Alan, and protected himself from being censured.
The title of new album was “Countdown With You”, counting down to the millenium 2000. There were some special songs on the album like: “Four Seasons”, “Left Right Hands”, “Little Star” and “Countdown With You” itself.
Leslie said the lyrics of “Four Seasons” were very positive. From the lyrics though you can judge that the person has been apart with his lover, the one he loves deeply, but in fact he has very positive opinion towards life and love, as it says in the lyrics, “I’m so lucky to meet you in this world by chance, enlighten the illusionary life?” It means that even though you are apart from your lover, anyway you have had the chance to meet him or her in this world, you feel that you have not spent the past time in vain: it’s worth it. Leslie thought this point was very important. He thought that at the moment of the end of the century like this, many people are very passive, always considering if they owe others something so Leslie wanted to thank Lam Chi Keung, the lyric writer. It had been a long time since Leslie had sung Lam’s song, there had been no cooperation for such a long time. “This time, when I got the lyrics by him, Waa! So wonderful! "Undle Lam”, Haha. I feel so lucky to have the chance to cooperate with some outstanding lyrics writers, such as Lam Tsik. This time the wonderful cooperation of the composer and lyrics writer made me comfortable singing these songs.
Let’s go back to “Four Seasons”, it’s a quite ordinary song indeed, but it plays an important role in the whole album. It’s an important cut because of the penetrating lyrics. In fact, you can feel what the song wants to reveal from the arrangement and the melody, well, Lam Chi Keung’s lyrics matches the feeling exactly! The tone of the song “ Four Seasons” reminded Leslie of a Korean movie “Christmas in August”, to which he gave a lot of credit. The film is about a man who has an incurable disease, how he faces death, and his opinion of love.
“Loneliness is Harmful” is a song that Leslie composed himself. The lyric-writer was Lam Tsik, and music arrangement was by C.Y.Kong. The song was a fast one, something which challenged Leslie because many people had said that Leslie was not good at composing fast songs. His previous hit songs such as “Red Face White Hair”, “A Man of Intention” were all slow songs, which gave the impression that Leslie would always have success composing slow songs, but he lacked “fast numbers”. Leslie did not want to be looked upon like that, so he composed some fast songs. He hummed the melody out and gave it to Alex San, his very closed friend. When Alex helped Leslie to write down the melody, Leslie told him that the song was a fast one. Then Alex would brief C.Y. Kong about Leslie’s opinion, and he would be the one to finally make the arrangement of his song. This song was sung at the end of the “Countdown With You” album. Leslie added some accent when singing the last few words of the first two lines. He felt that it was “so cool” how C.Y had arranged the song, that he needed to put something in. Lam Tsik also did good job writing the lyrics, so it was not difficult for Leslie to sing. He liked the song a lot!
About the song “Little Star”, that was on the soundtrack of “The Kid”, Leslie composed this song mainly because many people have proposed the idea of him composing a theme song for the film that he was shooting. The director had heard some of the songs that Leslie composed, such as the theme songs for his previous films, and he thought that they really matched the films. So he decided to ask Leslie to compose the theme song for this film. Leslie had thought of composing a song similar to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, to “tag the melody into my song”. But it would involve concerns over the copyright of the original song, so maybe he would have to buy the copyright at the price of HK $500,000. So the producer, Alvin, suggested that Leslie help it along. “The Kid” was shot about a child, describing the love between a kid and his foster father. So Leslie thought about the content of the song, and how it should have something to do with kids. People said it sounded childish and innocent, in fact Leslie had told the man who arranged the song that it was to have the feeling of a child singing it while he was arranging.
The song “Countdown With You” always reminded Leslie with a young male fan of his who died from cancer. He had gone to the hospital and talked with him. This young fan had to count the number of the days he had left to live, and it touched Leslie and always reminded him to cherish every second of his life.
The interview with Leslie about the “Countdown With You” album was broadcasted by Commercial Radio FM903 from Monday, 1 November 1999 from 9:00 pm till 11:00 p.m. for 2 consecutive weeks (Monday till Friday). There would be a series of interviews with Leslie (these were pre-recorded interviews) for which they gave different titles: 'Professional GorGor’, 'Serious GorGor’, 'Funny GorGor’, 'Kindhearted GorGor’, etc. The host was Vani.
Leslie was in Korea on 21 till 23 July 1999. He arrived in Korea on schedule at 2:40 p.m, and then went to the hotel and changed clothes. From there, he went to the KBS broadcasting station to film a TV program hosted by Lee So Ra, who had a very jazzy voice and was an acclaimed singer in Korea. He seldom appeared on TV programs for interviews these days, so it was a great honour for the TV station. Leslie was in a white suit. The TV program was scheduled to be broadcasted on 24 July.
Lee So Ra: Tonight I think I will write in my diary–something that I haven’t been doing for a while. I will write this: “Tonight I saw Leslie Cheung (Jang Kok Yung- in Korean)” (Cheers from the audience were heard). “Let us invite Leslie”.
Music played and Leslie came down waving his hand toward the audience. He kissed the hostess cheek and sat down.
Lee So Ra (clearly flustered) to the translator because she couldn’t speak Cantonese: “Tell him that I really want to thank him.”
Leslie listened to the translator and answered “Thank you” in Korean (gamsahamnida)!
Lee So Ra: “If I had known (he was going to kiss me) I should have had my hair pulled back! Please tell him, thank you so much for coming to my show 'Propose’, since we know that Leslie rarely shows up in Hong Kong TV shows.”
Translator: “She is very happy. She has heard it is very difficult to do an interview with you, so she is very grateful that you are here”.
Leslie: “Well… Korea… I have many fans who like me. And each time I am here I have wanted to come and do a program, but time was always limited. But this time I can specifically be here”.
Lee So Ra: “Can you explain to him that after "A Better Tomorrow” probably 50% of Korean guys started to part their hair in the middle like him.
Translator: “Did you know after "A Better Tomorrow” many guys started parting their hair in the middle like you?“
Leslie laughed: "Well, I want to say thank you. Thank them, and I know they may like my hairstyle and copy it. But I have down lots of movie parts with different styles. And even in my concerts I have done different things… like I have worn high heels… definitely, don’t copy me”.
Lee So Ra: “Wow… it seems that there are some things that suits some people. In Korea, he has a lot of female fans. Can he say something to them?”
Translator: “In Korea you have many female fans. Could you say something to them?”
Leslie lets out a sigh like laugh and looks a bit uncomfortable with this question, like not knowing how to reply: “I want to thank my female fans for all your support all these years. And I hope I will make very good movies and songs for you.”
Lots of applause and screams.
Lee So Ra: “Recently I saw "Happy Together” and I really became a fan of Leslie. His acting was simply brilliant. (Leslie seemed to know that the Lee was complimenting him, he smiled). This new movie, which he just mentioned, what kind of a movie is it?“
Translator: "This new movie, what kind of movie is it?”
Leslie: “I heard her saying "Happy Together”? OK, the new movie is about a girl from Japan who meets a policeman in Hong Kong and falls in love.“
Lee So Ra: "So it’s a love story.”
Leslie interrupted and continues: “In this film, since I am a cop, there are lots kung fu, lots of action and gun fire. It is similar to "A Better Tomorrow” type of film.“
Lee So Ran: "Then what is his favorite scene in the movie? He’s a cop right?”
Translator: “In this film what is your favorite part?”
Leslie: “In the past few years the movies I have made "Farewell…”, “Happy Together”. It has been sometime since I have made an action film. I found I really enjoyed the action. It made me feel like I can still kick some butt!“ (still can fight!), My favorite part is the action. It is like I mentioned before. There is a scene where I am betrayed by a fellow cop and I have to go on the run. I have to dodge bullets, and jump from a high place. I like this type of action. I did much of the stunts myself!
Lee So Ra: "Okay, we should bear that in mind when we watch the movie. Leslie has acted as different characters in each of his movies and each of them seem to show the real part of Leslie. All of the parts seem to suit and fit him very well. Out of all the characters, which most closely resembles the real Leslie Cheung?”
Translator: “Out of all your movies what/which is most like you?”
Leslie: “Not very much. Being an actor there are no parts that are exactly like me. I have made so many movies. But if I had to choose one I guess, the closest… just a little would be 'Days of Being Wild’.”
Lee So Ra: “Oh, I see.. "Days of Being Wild” was the first movie I saw directed by Wong Kar Wai. He was also very impressive in that movie, especially the dancing scene.“
Lots of applause and Leslie’s playfully requested Lee to dance with him.
Translator: "In 'Days of Being Wild’, she wants to know about the dancing sequence.”
Leslie: “Ask her to dance it for me?” (Lots of laughter and screaming) “Or better yet… what if I dance with her?” (More screaming and laughter) “Does she know how to dance the cha cha?”
Translator: “No. She does not.”
Leslie: “Let’s move the chairs. I don’t want her to kick it. It is very easy really.” (He repeats this line in English)
Leslie takes the hand of the translator and she looked like she was going to faint… she was so hot. She starts to fan herself.
Leslie: “That leg…” (and he shows her the movements and sings the tune for her)
Lee So Ra: (surprised and taken back): “Oh dear.. what am I going to do? Tell him that if I knew how to dance I would have become a dance singer!”
Leslie leads her to dance… he was so smooth and charming! He eyed Lee So Ra, who is sweating and baffled - in a playful manner.
Lee So Ra: “Oh my… Let us sit down and calm ourselves down. Please tell him that.”
As Lee goes and gets the stair, the audience chants: “One more time! One more time!”
Translator: “Can we continue to sit down here?”
Leslie: “Why doesn’t she want to stand?”
Audience starts to chant something.
Leslie: “I prefer to stand.”
Lee So Ra: “What? What do you guys want?”
Leslie says he prefers to stand and asks why the hostess wants to sit down.
Lee So Ra (after lauging): “Tell him that I can’t stand for a long time.”
Translator: “She says that standing is very difficult.”
Translator: “Standing is very hard, very hard to move.”
Leslie looked behind her at her legs: “Are you going to tell me she has something fake back there? (Lots of laughter)
Lee So Ra: "It’s difficult to stand!” (to the audience): “You have never seen me dancing in this show, have you? I don’t enjoy such unexpected happenings. But today I am very happy that Leslie kissed on my cheek twice and that I had a chance to dance some steps with him, although I’m a terrible dancer. Tell him it was an honor and that I thank him deeply.”
Translator: “In her life she danced twice. And she is very happy to have danced with you.”
Leslie: “Thank you.” And Leslie told Lee So Ra “I love you” in Korean.
Lee So Ra: “Tell him that I would accept everything!”
Translator: “She will try to accept this.”
Leslie: “Here I am the boy… I am coming here to love you! How about I sing a song for her too?” Leslie looked straight into the Lee’s eyes when he said he’ll sing.
Translator: “Really now? What song?”
Leslie: “A Thousand Dreams of you”.
Lee So Ra: “Oh… Okay, so he answered to a different question. Can you ask him again? Umm… actually I would like him to read this first. We prepared a special '101 propose stories’ (a selected propose sent by the people) written in English. And we would like to make a special request for Leslie to read this. What do you think?” Applause from audiences.
Translator: “She wants to know if you can read this first.”
Leslie read a card that the interviewer hands him. He said: “Okay”.
Lee So Ra hands over the message and tells Leslie “just a moment”, signals the session team and says: “Leslie Cheung’s 101 propose stories.”
Leslie: “I need a boyfriend who will let me cry when I feel like crying, someone said that a good friend is a friend who buys warm cookie after crying” … Music starts…
Leslie then sang “A Thousand Dream of You” in a very charming way.
This show of Lee So Ra was very popular in Korea. Sometime later Lee So Ra stepped down due to personal reasons. On her final show they showed highlights of her shows and Leslie, who was the only Hong Kong artist who appeared on her show, was also included.
After the TV interview, Leslie went to TGI Friday’s near KBS to have dinner. Some Korean fans were there and saw him through a glass door, and tried to see him in person. After dinner he took some pictures with the people from the restaurant. After one and half hour Leslie turned up with the guys who were the TV station staff.
On 22 July at between 3:30-4:30 p.m., Leslie who was dressed in black suit attended a press conference at a hotel in Seoul. Then around 7:20 p.m., he attended the Moonlight Express preview. Before the preview, Leslie and Takako Tokiwa made an appearance on stage and gave their thanks to around an 800 strong audience. All fans had to line up for a long time to get Leslie’s autograph , which was limited for a few people only. As it rained, it was somewhat inconvenient to line up. Leslie had changed his clothes to more casual ones. On her turn, a fan said, “Nice to meet you” and submitted the paper she prepared to get his autograph. Then Leslie wrote his name on it in Korean. The fan said “Thank you”, Leslie nodded to her.
When the movie premiere started, Ms. Tokiwa was first to greet the audience. She said it was second time that she had visited Korea. She had been to Korea when she was a student. At that time she saw a picture of Leslie for the first time, so she came to know Leslie. And after that it was Leslie’s turn. All in the audience shouted out his name after Leslie greeted them. As the preview place was so dark Leslie asked, “Turn on all the lights, I want to see the audience.” Leslie continued, “I know "A Better Tomorrow” was very popular in Korea. This movie “Moonlight Express” is somewhat similar to “A Better Tomorrow”, so I hope all of you in the audience like this movie.“ And then he said, "Hope you all enjoy this movie, tonight”. Leslie said good bye to the audience “Thank you Korea!” and Ms. Tokiwa also said goodbye to the audience. Then they went out of the preview venue.
A female reporter said that she was Leslie’s neighborhood when she lived in Vancouver. She did a short interview in English for an entertainment TV show. Leslie looked happy to meet his ex-neighborhood and enjoyed the interview. Leslie said, “I know why my fans love me, its because they knew I had given my heart to my movies, and my performances.” He looked extremely young and fresh in the interview.
On 19 August at 3:00 p.m. Leslie arrived at Kansai Airport. He would perform at a charity concert in Hiroshima two days later. On 20 August he attended the rehearsal. Eight singers would perform at the concert: 1 from Korea, 1 from Mongolia, 2 from Japan, 1 from Singapore (Dick Lee), 1 from U.S. (Stevie Wonder) and Leslie Cheung from Hong Kong.
On 21 August the concert got started 6:00 p.m. at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Most of audiences were Leslie fans. The host and staff of the concert were surprised that a lot of Leslie fans came from many parts of Japan, even though Leslie would only perform 2 songs at the concert. The concert was almost 3 hours long, and Leslie’s appearance was for only about 20 minutes. On the opening, Leslie appeared in a white suit and a black shirt to be introduced. A lot of fans gave shouts of joy when Leslie appeared on the stage. Another all guests wore black clothes.
Leslie’s white garb was so impressive among them. He didn’t smile so much, and looked cool. When next he appeared, it was about one and a half hours later. The music of “A Thousand Dreams of You” started but Leslie was not seen on the stage yet. And then, he appeared there while singing. He changed clothes, he had on a see-through black shirt, charcoal grey shining wide pants, and a colorful short jacket. Leslie looked very different from the opening. His eyes shone, his walking style charmed the audiences, his dancing made the audience satisfied, he looked sexy, relaxed and enjoyed singing. Moving fully on the stage, his performance was really fascinating. Every fan was excited, screaming “Leslie!” and waving many light sticks. The host introduced Leslie as a great star, both as an actor and a singer, recently well known for the movie “Moonlight Express ”.
Leslie was then interviewed by the host. He talked about his impressions of Hiroshima. And he said he was very happy because he could see many fans there. And he said he had visited the Peace Memorial Museum. Then the Singaporean Dick Lee joined them. Dick said he composed the song for Leslie’s famous movie “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man”, but there had been no opportunity to perform it together until now. The 2nd song was “Chase”, and Dick Lee played piano. During the last of the concert, the Japanese chorus was singing the medley with children. Leslie and other the singers appeared on stage holding a big balloon, skipping and hand in hand with children. Leslie looked so cute. Then Leslie and the other singers were in the line, holding the score in a traditional style, they sang the theme song of the concert “Sun of Peace”. Leslie and fans enjoyed the time together.
On 22 August at 1:37pm, Leslie left Hiroshima for Tokyo. Over 50 fans were at the station to say good-bye and thanks to Leslie.
On 30 August, Leslie attended the press conference to announce the nominations for the upcoming Asia Pacific Film Award Presentation in Hong Kong. “Moonlight Express” was one of the five movies nominated for best picture. Leslie disclosed that he had plans to star in four movies, the directors included Derek Yee and Fruit Chan. He was still considering whether to accept the offer from Raymond Wong to star in his coming Chinese New Year movie. He not so keen in those CNY movies since most of them were not very satisfactory in terms of script and production.
On 1 September Leslie attended two movie premieres. The first one, held in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, was a Chinese opera movie and the other was a Hollywood movie directed by Peter Chan. Many fans waited for him at the Cultural Centre and shouted his name on his arrival. Leslie has his hair cut relatively short and it was a new hair style. Instead of gelling up his hair, he let it fall down on his forehead which made him look 20 something!
A few local magazines reported that Leslie had had some problems with the top officials of UMG. Reports also said that he was not happy that he had been asked to do publicity for Alan Tam’s album, such as to appear in Alan’s show (he did not attend the show due to the Hiroshima concert but agreed to record a few words of congratulations and prepare a birthday gift for Alan Tam beforehand). It also said that he complained about UMG, and that he was being neglected after joining the company and all the publicity he was asked to do was not for his own album but for Alan Tam. Leslie denied all those rumours: saying that UMG had been very nice to him and his birthday wish was 'to stay away from rumours’. Leslie did in fact do a duet with Alan Tam: “Illusion” and “Love in Fog” which were Alan’s hits in 80s. According to Chan Siu-po, manager of UMG, the company was making arrangements with TVB for a music special starring Leslie, to be shot in Paris. Special guest star would be Cecilia Cheung. As to how he would celebrate his birthday on the 12th, Leslie said he would be out of town shooting his new MTVs in Paris on that day.
Leslie’s “Countdown With You” album, his first with Universal soon led the best selling album list in Hong Kong. Universal collaborated with TVB to make a drama musical “Left Right Love Destiny”, that told the story about the love affair between investment banker Sam (played by Leslie), Carol Sham (his girlfriend, played by Chingmy Yau Suk Ching) and Jane (Carol’s cousin, played by talented newcomer Cecilia Cheung). “Left Right Love Destiny” was unofficially directed by Leslie, who also wrote the story. This drama musical was also supported by the short appearances of Eric Tsang, Sandra Ng, Alan Tam and Anita Mui. “At present I put a lot of time and effort in music production and making movies. I think I can apply some theories in music to film-making and vice versa, said Leslie. For "Left Right Love Destiny”, Leslie paid special attention to the rhythm and flow of the story. Same as recording a song, he would use his own style to guide his audience to a particular scene. “I think music and movies are complementary of each other, like my left and right hands”, Leslie added.
Leslie thought that since he had just joint a new record company, he had to do some promotion. He never did any promotion during his stint with the Rock Record company because the attached term of their agreement was that Leslie would not have any promotion. Later some friends of Leslie said that among those 100 people who buy his CD, 90 of them will take it as a product, so he should not be so low profile. Leslie agreed with their advice. Ten years before, when he shot the Music Drama “Sunset in Paris”, he invited Maggie Cheung and Cherrie Chung as the actresses and John Woo as director. This time he chose a new actress Ceci (Cecilia Cheung), and his friend Dou Dou (Yau Suk Ching).
Paris, September 1999. All those who have worked with Leslie have said that he is a nice guy, and he is praised for his kindness and attentiveness. His crew in this musical drama regarded him not only the “gorgor” but a “father”. On the way to a far away location shoot, everybody felt tired because of the tight schedule and wanted to take a nap during the ride. Leslie’s assistant was busy using the computer to input some data, thereby making some annoying “beep beep” sounds. Since he was GorGor’s assistant no one dared to ask him to keep silent. Leslie therefore said, “Why don’t you enjoy the beautiful scenery of Paris, please save your typing for Shen Zhen.” Everybody laughed on hearing this and of course they felt grateful to Leslie. On another night, when they passed by the gas station, Leslie bought everybody hot dogs as a midnight snack. It really impressed the crew.
Leslie managed to find a “Spider”, a luxurious sport car for use in the drama. The “Spider” was Leslie’s favourite car. He enjoyed the speed and fun each time he was driving a manual transmission car. Ceci skillfully manoeuvred the UD$30 million worth red Renault Spider, and she said she inherited her driving skill from her mother. Leslie did not like driving too fast. What he was looking for was comfort instead of speed. After some instructions Leslie and Ceci drove the car away and disappeared on the road. Worst case scenario was that they didn’t have any cellphones and money with them. The crew therefore lost contact with them, and got very worried. After 30 minutes, Leslie appeared in a red car followed by Ceci driving the Spider. Knowing that they lost their way, Leslie was lucky to find a nice guy who kindly guided their way back to their meeting place. Ceci was so afraid that when she saw the crew again she was so happy, and burst in tears.
On 12 September the crew celebrated Leslie’s 43rd birthday. They bought him a birthday cake, and then Leslie treated them to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant in Paris. The owner of the restaurant, a madam gave a bottle of a red wine as a gift to Leslie. And indeed Leslie was famous in France. At every break during the shoot, there were always people who wanted to take photo with him.
The shooting process continued in Hong Kong, and Leslie used his “Wei Ni Zhong Qing” restaurant as one of shooting location. Alan Tam happened to visit Leslie at a shooting location. The title sequence at the beginning of the music drama shows the words, “Product of Leslie Cheung”. TVB had never let an artist be both director and playwright at the same time. So TVB did not add in the credits that Leslie was the director, but everybody should have known it at heart. Leslie was happier when he heard that Cathay Airlines was showing his TV drama. There are so many TV dramas every year but they chose his! Maybe they thought this one was somehow special and therefore to be welcomed, or maybe they considered it their masterpiece!
The music drama was the last work of Chingmy Yau, second runner up of Miss Hong Kong 1987. She left the entertainment world to marry with a businessman. On the contrary, Cecilia Cheung had just begun her steps in the entertainment world. So it was like an 'relay race’, passing the relay stick from a senior to a junior.
On 27 September Leslie participated in the recording of a special song dedicated to the Taiwan earthquake victims in a fund raising program organised by TVB. Chan Po Chu made some fried rice for the donators. Leslie gave HK$250,000 for the rice. In another charity show Leslie and Maggie Cheung, and also Tony Leung Kar Fai, showed up on the TV screen. They played badminton with groups of youngsters.
Leslie arrived in Singapore on 1 October 1999 at 5.00 p.m. He was received by a group of about 20 fans. Some fans presented him with bouquets of flowers. He had to rush off to the hotel to make some shots for the Media Corp All Star Charity Show. However, while waiting for his transport, he did stop to sign autographs for fans. Leslie looked tired, probably from the tight schedule which he had due to the filming of his MTVs. But he smiled, sang “Little Star”, the Mandarin version of “Left Right Hand” and “We Journey Together”.
The TVB magazine, “TVB Weekly” (Issue No. 124), featured Leslie and Cecilia Cheung in one of the parts of the musical drama on the cover. The music drama was screened by TVB on October 10. Then Leslie attended the press conference held by RTHK on the occasion of “Welcoming the Millenium”. Leslie’s “Monica” was nominated as one of the 50 songs which could represent this century. Audiences could vote for their favourite song, and the song which got the 10 highest votes would be performed. In the history of Cantonese songs, everybody must vividly remember Leslie Cheung’s “Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Monica! Sui Neng Doi Thai Nei Tik Wai.” Many people were and would be attracted by the fact that so many fans were hysterical when Leslie performed the song.
And “Monica” was voted as “The Song of the Century” by RTHK. At 9:00 p.m. of a night in October, Commercial Radio was broadcasting Anita Mui’s concert live. Leslie was her guest star and one song he sang that night was “Monica”.
On 14 October “The Kid” premiered. Two days before at 8 p.m., “The Kid” was screened at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre to raise funds for the charity Against Child Abuse Ltd. Tickets were priced at HK$100, $250 and $1000.
On Saturday, October 23, Leslie held fascinating promotion activities for his new album at the HMV record megastore in Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Leslie stood on a scaffold at about 4th floor level, outside the HMV in Tsim Sha Tsui, to sign on a huge poster that was itself about 3 to 4-stories long hanging outside the HMV building. Then Leslie officiated the first screening of a “HMV video” on the first floor at HMV and approximately 100 fans were permitted to attend the event (all permits to attend the event had been given out to the first 100 purchasers of the new album in the morning of 13 October.
An article in Ming Pao reported that Leslie gave a debut performance singing Cantonese opera (the famous suicide scene in Tang Dinasty’s opera Di Nu Hua) with Lisa Wang in a TVB tribute to the late great Yam Kim Fai. It was apparently a really wonderful performance. When hearing that Leslie would sing Chinese operatic song, Chan Po-chu volunteered to help him. Leslie sang so well and so touchingly, that everybody clapped every time he started singing! Although he was a pop singer, he sang cantonese opera with the feeling and atmosphere. His fans were amazed by his performance and were sure that he was a genius. Many people said Liza Wang’s performance was not too perfect, perhaps she was feeling a little panicky.
In Japan Leslie once again was voted as “The Best Actor”. Leslie won this title for a straight 10 years. He was also No. 1 Winner of “All Time Best Hong Kong Actor in Japanese’s Heart” voted on by 15,000 members! New City Hong Kong named his song “Left Right Hand” as Best Song in its awards. And his album “Countdown With You” was voted one of “Top Best Selling Albums of the Year” by IFPI.
On 14 November 1999 Leslie and Stephen Chow were given prizes at a ceremony by a French wine concern for being “wine experts.” After the presentation, Leslie humbly stated that he didn’t know too much about red wines.
During another interview with his good friend Suzie Wong, for Commercial Radio, Leslie spoke about death and heaven. When they also talked about the residences he had lived in ever since he entered showbiz, Leslie was asked which one his ideal home was. He said, his dream home had not come into being yet. It should be something in the air, a place where no stranger would knock on the door and he would not be disturbed.
Leslie and Suzie also talked about their friend who had great taste, the late Danny Chan.
Suzie: Yes, that’s where our friendship began… Tell me this fact. Was it Danny Chan or Leslie Cheung that first used Louis Vuitton bags. This was such a controversy in those days.
Leslie: Definitely Danny!
Suzie: Definitely Danny! Haha… he had an abundant.
Leslie: He was full of water (money).
Suzie: Let me tell you something. As kids we played together, one time I remember we caught a taxi together. Danny carried many LV bags with him. One of them was a brief case; he opened it up and showed us a pile of one thousand dollar notes. He told us to look at the money…
Leslie: Did you ask him if was only to look at or could you have it?
Suzie: Hahaha… so I really opened my eyes wide to look at this pile of a thousand dollar notes. He told us that there was $20,000. He was going to use the money to buy a watch. I thought to myself, wah… $20,000 that was my annual income.
Leslie: He was silly. Why did he need to buy a watch? His father owns a watch company.
Suzie: Well, maybe he wanted to buy a watch that his father’s company doesn’t have. So he took $20,000 to buy the watch.
Suzie: Of course I miss him.
Leslie: I miss him too. In fact, this friend is worth missing.
Suzie: Because he likes clowning around.
Leslie: He is quite unpredictable; I’m talking about his character. We’re not talking behind Danny’s back, but I just think that he is quite unpredictable. He has never hurt anyone, he just liked to do whatever he likes. He is always in his own world.
Suzie: He was also quite like you. Enjoyed inviting friends out to dinner. He liked to arrange the place so it was nice and pretty, so I’d think we’ll have many people companying us. But it was in fact just the two of us dinning.
Leslie: You’d be considered as a house friend, meaning you have been into his house. Isn’t it incredibly beautiful!
Suzie: His house is beautiful.
Leslie: Very beautiful. If you talk about taste and style in wardrobe, if Danny was still here those awards…
Suzie: Yeah, those people should step aside…
Leslie: Move over! Move over…
Suzie: That time he lived at Elizabeth Apartments. The outside looked very plain and bare, but when you went inside…
Leslie: Wow! How come it looks like this!
Suzie: Wow, so beautiful!
Leslie: It looks like one of Tam Ka Ming’s movies, and William Cheung is art director. Every house was the same.
On the last night of the 20th century, Leslie together with Jackie Chan, Alan Tam, Christy Chung and Chow Yun Fat, accompanied Hong Kong leader Tung Chee Hwa and Hong Kong citizens welcome the first second of 21th century. They appeared on television screens in every corner of the world. They were at the Hong Kong Jockey Club (Happy Valley Race Trace). Leslie wore a red suit by Gucci, sang “Countdown With You” at the event, which they titled “Millenium Extravaganza”. When he was asked to say something by the TV reporter, Leslie wished happiness and health to everybody.
Since 1977, it had been 22 years that Leslie had been in show business. To him, from the point of starting as a 'nobody’ to becoming a 'somebody’ who had almost everything, Leslie truly treasured more of what he had, all his belongings which were not easy to acquire. He had to work hard every time, so he really appreciated his treasures very much. But Leslie had only a very small wish, “I hope from now on every person that works with me would cherish the time we work together, and feel happy and interested to work with me. At least when people mention me, they would say from their heart, "No, GorGor is not difficult to get along with at all. At least nobody can criticize me on my work. In this business, I would like to have a good reputation. To others, Leslie Cheung should be a person who is never late for work, always on time and someone who does all the needed preparation in advance.” Lately, Leslie had a mind to make some changes and work behind the scenes. “I have made some MTVs, and I did some behind-the-scenes work in my last music mini movie shown on TVB, involving myself in the script writing, directing and starring in it.”
No matter what his position, he was always on time, because that stood for his professionalism and respect for his work. Further he said, “Everyone will have his time of bewilderment. When I’ve done a thankless and demanding job, when I am caught in a dilemma, then I will feel bewildered. But, I am not a person who easily gives up.” (He repeated once again). These 22 years we have indeed witnessed that he is indeed did not easily give up on anything.
Credits to original and read more here: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/nadiagui/biography03.htm
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