The Tao of Lau
In 2005, the Hong Kong International Film Festival published a book about Andy Lau. HKIFF is the closest that Hong Kong has gotten to having Inside the Actors Studio, so here are some choice quotes from Andy Lau on the subject of acting…
After 1985: When I was acting in TV dramas, they all regarded me as an actor who could act. After I left TV, that impression was gone. That was no one’s fault. It was just because I did not put the emphasis on acting skill. When I left TV for film, comedy and action genres occupied the whole film industry. Very few films were about solemn and thoughtful topics. So I changed my plan and began to improve my skills for action films. People could tell where you had put your efforts and what you had abandoned. It was not until 1997 that I realized acting skill is the most important thing. During the period of Island of Greed and Full Throttle, it seemed that no matter what I did, I could not get it right. I needed to induce a unique characterization into each role that was beyond the boundary of the director’s creation.
After 1997: I would figure out the characteristics of each role and then use those characteristics to improve my interpretation of the role. I did not get along with directors in the past because I was not seeing the whole picture. Now, I will use the character as the starting point of a discussion which reduces a lot of arguments with directors. We first analyse and agree on the characterization first then we decide whether that person will do a certain thing or not.
Method acting versus acting from the heart: When I am talking to the younger generation, I would define the difference between the two as whether you have studied acting or not. When we studied acting, we had to study improvisation as well. That is not Method. In improvisation, you respond directly to each specific situation. The response depends on the individual. For example, I had an improvisational scene with Anthony Wong in Armageddon. The scene had a fixed beginning and a fixed ending. But we were allowed to improvise the process in-between as long as it ended with us going for a midnight snack. This type of direct and improvisational acting is not Method, but I think it is the easiest way to touch people’s heart. However, not everyone has experienced first-hand how it feels to be dating, to kill someone or to be abandoned.
The most highly regarded TVB actors in the ‘80s: Chow Yun-Fat was Robert De Niro and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Al Pacino. Tony was so good at being Al Pacino already that there was no need to put in four or five times the effort to match him. If I wanted to find a route for myself, then I’ll have to find something new. The important thing is to understand yourself and your opponent. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were not considered handsome, but they were known to be good actors. No one said Marlon Brando was a good actor, but he was handsome. And that suits me well. In As Tears Go By, my acting style and gestures were almost a direct imitation of A Streetcar Named Desire. But for some reason, everyone said it looked like James Dean.
A director giving the same advice: Johnnie To often reminds me not to be so accommodating of the acting styles of my co-stars - “You have your own style. Don’t alter your style to accommodate your co-stars.” Through the process of accommodating different co-stars, I can also find a new style for myself. Understand the situation of the scene first and then decide how to accommodate the other actors. Then I will look good and my co-stars won’t look bad either.
