Comedia
Putting the media in comedian is Sandra Ng. Her number one influence for comedy is Josephine Siao. In 2022, the Hong Kong International Film Festival released a book about Sandra where most of the pages comprised of interviews instead of analysis pieces. Her best interview is in this book. Here is what she said about The Inspector Wears Skirts (released in 1988)…
Her own contribution: “I am the least important among the heroines. Ann Bridgewater and Kara Hui all have names. At that time, the script was written flying paper style. Each person had one sentence - A sentence, B sentence, C sentence. When I spoke the dialogue, everyone found it very funny, and there was also improvisation in it. I was added to scenes during filming, and I added things in return. I was responsible for all punchlines, and the film became an instant hit. At that time, Jackie Chan said he wanted to make a movie about a woman fighting. He went to work at Golden Harvest Studios every day. Carina Lau was also filming Naughty Boys (1986), also directed by Wellson Chin. When The Inspector Wears Skirts became popular, Wong Jing kept looking for me, and then Jeff Lau Chun-Wai.”
Set conditions: “Ninety scenes of The Inspector Wears Skirts were filmed, but they didn’t let us go home, and trapped us in the military camp. I was so angry that I threw the kettle at the producer. “When are we going to get off work? We don’t have food!” We have to fight and shoot again. It’s very hard. At that time, Ann Bridgewater was working while studying in college. She did her homework on the set every day, as if the professor would come to her tomorrow. She often said she didn’t know if there would be any filming tomorrow, and she needed to have some skills. Those were our youthful years, and we had no time to sleep during filming. At that time, I had a salary of HK$70,000, which was quite a lot. But I shot 90 scenes and there was no supplementary money. I had to make up for the filming after the work was completed. Later, Jeff Lau showed up and asked if he could sign two films with me for HK$250,000, so he signed it.”
Why Sandra Ng didn’t have many fight scenes in the franchise including Here Comes a Vampire (a 1990 cash-in): “First of all, I don’t know how to fight. It was not just one film, but many films. I shoot every day until I cry. I didn’t know how to use my strength, and no one taught me. I also had to wear military boots to jump from a high place. I sprained my body as soon as I landed and I was bruised immediately. After watching the bruise, I applied medicine and went back to work. Billy Lau Nam-Kwong carried me to the area near the public toilet on Cameron Road, where there were many stalls. He told the master that we were used to it, and he would apply a dose of medicine and go back. One time I had to shoot on three sets in one day, so I simply pretended to be sick and slept at home. I’m really tired and can’t stand it. Then the producer knocked on my door because he had come to my house to pick me up. Those were crazy times.”
Her Fatal Ways 4 (1994): “I guest-starred in Alfred Cheung’s film, playing the role of Carol Cheng’s cousin. I remember two things that I still find funny when I think about it now. First of all, one of the scenes required blasting in an old house. The blasting expert told me to count to three before starting to run. I thought to myself that the blast would hit me at the count of three then I would be dead and unable to walk. So I told Carol to ignore them and leave on the count of two. Then Alfred Cheung scolded the two of us for not having actor ethics. I was really angry because we were not action actors. The second thing was that fruit acid was popular at that time. We often applied it to make our skin fairer, but it turned out that our skin was peeling off after applying it. Alfred Cheung again scolded us for not having actor ethics, which made our skin rotten. How could we take close-ups of us? Can’t even play!”
The influence of director Jeff Lau on Hong Kong’s most popular comedy actor: “He knows what you want and even teaches you how to act. I sometimes suspect that Stephen Chow Sing-Chi is imitating Jeff Lau, and Jeff Lau’s rhythm is very accurate. I think he loves me very much. He later went back to Mainland China to film Just Another Pandora’s Box starring Ronald Cheng and Betty Sun Li. It was the last film we worked together on, and we didn’t work together after that. He knew how to use me very well. The one who can catch you and teach you is Jeff Lau. Many directors can’t act or teach, as long as you satisfy what they have in mind. Jeff will perform it for you once, and I will copy it. Jeff is a smart man and a man of that era. You cannot challenge him.”
The film that turned Mr. Chow Sing-Chi into a box office king: “Stephen Chow didn’t blow up until All for the Winner. At that time, I was filming When Fortune Smiles with him, and we watched the movie’s box office rise like a stock. The crew gave him the nickname “Master Sing”, and the box office revenue was 40 million. It’s hard for people who act in comedy to have that kind of harmony and tacit understanding. It takes a lot of acting to get that rhythm. You have to understand where the laughter is and when the audience will laugh, so that you can have tacit understanding. I think Stephen Chow is a very smart person. We are also good friends in private. As we get older and more famous, we start to grow apart. At that time, everyone would have dinner together after work. Everyone is obsessed with acting and exploring along the way. Stephen and I often play the expression of Leung Sing-Bo suddenly discovering something. It’s very difficult to learn. We like to play on the set and often imitate it, which is difficult to do.”
In Hong Kong, a narrative is referred to as a bridge because you may have an idea for a beginning and end (even to the extent of filming them first) but you might not know what happens in the middle. With that established, you can now understand the influence that Hong Kong’s most lucrative filmmaker has had on Sandra Ng since he has worked with her the most: “Wong Jing is a person with a very accurate business vision, and his bridge is very accurate, but I have never been the heroine of his movies. There are A-level dramas and B-level dramas. I will always be the heroine in B-level dramas, and I will always support in the A-level dramas. He has created many characters, and the nose-teasing in The Crazy Companies is also a classic. I was very unhappy and struggling. I understand that there are a lot of people who can turn their noses on, and he just wanted me to play those people. I was very unhappy during the filming and I felt very embarrassed, but the movie was a hit.”
More about The Crazy Companies (1988): “In the past, there would be midnight shows at Metropolis and Lisheng, and we would sometimes be forced to go and watch them. I invited several colleagues from the Happy Tonight TV series to watch The Crazy Companies. I felt embarrassed when I watched it, and they didn’t find it funny. In the sequel, I continued to tease my nose. I said, “Brother Jing, I don’t flirt.” He said no, you have to wipe it. If you don’t wipe it, it won’t be funny. He told me to flirt as soon as I opened the door. I hid at the bottom of the stairs and cried for a while, telling myself that this was the last time and I would never do this again. Now I have seen it again on the classic movie channel, and I will talk to my friends who used to film back then, how it used to be so vulgar, so bad-mouthed, and so cheap, but I didn’t feel it at the time. People nowadays are much more polite.”
Clifton Ko’s All’s Well, Ends Well (1992): “That was no problem, I had a lot of fun shooting it. Raymond Wong Pak-Ming is from another group. His bridges are very contextual and come from old Cantonese films. I accept this and learn a lot. At that time, Clifford Ko told me to give my expression quickly and not delay, so I practiced this kind of acting. Moreover, it is a Lunar New Year film, so everyone is very competitive, and the three couples have different screenwriters to follow up. Raymond Wong and I didn’t, because he is also a screenwriter. I told my “brother” to tell Raymond to faint quickly because he wouldn’t be able to continue acting. The two of us occupied the entire screen. The pairing of Stephen Chow and Maggie Cheung was written by Vincent Kok, who was a young man at that time. We work very hard to fight each other, and we can do things like beards, facial masks, and sh!t ourselves. It’s very fun, everyone has an opponent throughout the whole film. Originally I wanted to play the role that went to Teresa Mo, but later Raymond insisted that I play Ching, which is fine, it doesn’t matter.”
One of Sandra Ng’s most quirkiest films was an arthouse comedy called 4 Faces of Eve (1996). The film came about after Sandra had not filmed anything at all in 1995, but the story begins in 1994. In the following excerpt, she references a rap duo known as Softhard - Eric Kot and Jan Lam: “At that time, Roman Tam held a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum and invited me to be a guest. The producer was Yu Cheng. She told me a few jokes during the concert. After Roman Tam’s concert, Yu Cheng asked me to join a radio station to work on Sexual Harassment in Entertainment with Wyman Wong, which lasted three months. It was 1994. Yu Cheng was the go-between. She became friendly with William Chang Zuk-Ping and Kam Kwok-Leung. I got to know them and became very familiar with them, and later Wyman Wong became an old friend. We have always known Masters Soft and Hard because they often go to the radio station to promote. After getting to know these people, we started to prepare for 4 Faces of Eve.”
The film is comprised of four shorts, hence why Sandra said: “When we were about to film the fourth story, Eric Kot & Jan Lam said that they ran out of film and we should go to Salon Films to buy some. Which branch of Salon do I ask? How to buy? They told them that I said I wanted to buy it, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to finish this story. Everyone said they had no money, but in the end they raised HK$7,000 and went to Salon Films to buy film. The original fourth story was actually okay, but after reading it, Yu Cheng felt that it was not, so it’s good to take another shot. I was influenced by a lot of conversation at the time. Now If I think it won’t work, then it won’t work. I have that intuition. After all, in 1994, I was still very young. I have to trust a lot of people, I have to coax this and that, I can’t make a final decision.”
The inspiration behind the fourth story was Kam Kwok-Leung: “We talked about it a lot, and I agree with it. Play a prostitute, play a big woman. In the 1990s, many new immigrants came to the mainland. When we talked
about it, many people gathered around to read it. The last story, which I also agree with, is based on my sister Liza Wang Ming-Chun and is the fourth story. However, Yu Cheng said that the ending of this story seemed not good, so she decided to shoot another story. It is a pity that the film of that story has been lost and the copy has also disappeared. I, very naive, of course lost money. I have a nickname - “Cheque Eve”, signing checks all day long to pay back the money. When the work is done on set, I’m like the stage manager. Generally, the people who take out the garbage also come to collect the cheque and charge labor.”
How Sandra Ng became the H.K. equivalent to Howard Stern: “I then joined a radio station in 1997. I had worked there for eleven years. During this period, due to the decline of the film industry, the films I was asked to make did not have much money. I work from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., two hours, and there are no office politics. I would go in, turn on the microphone, and leave after I finished speaking. I shot those movies during my off-duty time, including Golden Chicken. I never paid attention to what happened to them. I often talk to Peter Chan. I do programs on the radio every day and hear my voice every day. Will people still pay to watch my movies? Peter Chan said it may be okay. Just because they listen to me, they will pay for the tickets. At that time, I also had a stand-up comedy set, filmed the Golden Chicken series, made films that were completely free of money, and relied only on labor from the radio station.”
More jaded than jade: “One day when I was promoting a movie and I was on Carol Cheng’s show, I said I didn’t want to do a comedy. She laughed and said that I was so heartless. I had done so many comedies to make me what I am today, and yet I said I wouldn’t do it?! I didn’t refute her because I felt that from the beginning, it’s not up to me to choose what to shoot. There seem to be many choices now, but in fact there are not. But if I don’t choose to do it, I can only sit at home and disappear. Although it is very corny, I have to say that there is no other way. When you go to the set, many people say you are not good, and when it comes to editing, they say you are not doing a good job. At my seniority, I have to face this problem. The fun part is to accept everyone’s criticism. I won’t hide in my room. As long as you choose to do it, even if you don’t do it to the extreme, you should try your best.”
A slightly older actor, a biracial one, summed her up: “I respect Anthony Wong Chau-Sang very much. I have acted in stage plays and filmed many movies with him. He said something that I found quite interesting: You are a smart idiot.”
Director Jeff Lau said: “How could Sandra Ng be stupid? Sandra is a very smart girl. Over the years, everyone has been able to respect each other. I will use two words to describe Sandra. Her nature is very kind.”
