My Two Minutes With Chow Yun-Fat!!!

The event was scheduled for 1pm at the Cumberland theatre, in the upscale fashion district of Yorkville, in downtown Toronto. Having heard rumours, as I posted here, that the "dialogues" portion of the event would take place as of noon or 12:30, I blythely arrived at 10:30. However, the Cumberland has no facilities for the large festival lineups, and people were already gathered in the dozens for some 11am show. A staff member informed me that the event would start promptly at one, and invited me to return at 12:45. :) Needless to say, I was back in line by 12:15 ish, and at that there were thirty or forty people in line ahead of me. Apparently the show did sell out (the theatre must have seated at least 400) but some rush tickets were also available.

One of the stills shown at the Toronto Film Fest event ... And thanks to Gordon Chan for the .JPG!

We all streamed into the building at around 12:45. In the lobby were at least six giant stills from TRK -- about two by three feet -- detailing CYF in various cool poses: standing by something on fire (a classic "urban jungle" kind of shot); pointing a gun at the camera, etc. It was extremely cool to see CYF in khaki again (!), but of course everyone was rushing to get a good seat, so we didn't get much chance to examine the images. (The stills were gone when we exited the film, presumably because the management feared eager fans would steal them.) I managed to get a seat in the second row, next to a fellow CYF-fan, Beric, and diagonally behind Eddie and Crystal (of Hong Kong Heroes) and their friend Fred, all of whom I met outside cyberspace for the first time that day (muahahahahahaha!). I was kicking myself for not having managed to find a tape recorder, but all recordings were prohibited anyways, and we weren't even allowed to take pictures until after the interview (they menacingly said people with cameras would be asked to leave). However, the dialogue was filmed by people wearing Rogers Cable and CFMT clothing, and apparently excerpts were played on TV in Toronto. (Needless to say, I would be very happy to hear that someone got it on tape.) Anyways, I took notes, and this is (as far as I remember) the sequence of events and dialogue. I'm a little fuzzy on the first part (whether he marched down the aisle, and then waited while he was introduced, or first was introduced, and then marched), so I'm replying on Beric's interpretation. Confirmation would be welcomed.

Almost exactly at 1pm, CYF appeared with a small entourage at the back of the theatre. A festival staff member came forward to give a short introduction. Beric identified her as Barbara Scharres (I didn't catch the name clearly), who is, according to Dan Helmick's post in a.a-m., the director of the Film Center at the Chicago Art Institute. Ms. Scharres began her introduction by commenting: "It is unfortunate that I am introducing him and not David Overbey, as it is he who is responsible for introducing Chow Yun-Fat's films all across North America." She made reference to the John Woo movies which (I gather) had played at the Toronto film fest in previous years, and then commented, "...He is known in North America mostly for his action films, such as The Killer and Hard-Boiled, which is unfortunate since he is such a great dramatic, and romantic lead actor". She specifically referred to Hong Kong 1941 ("when he's weeping and you're there weeping with him") and concluded, "He is definitely one of THE GREAT movie actors of the WORLD, so without further ado, please welcome Chow Yun-Fat!"

As he walked, smiling, down the aisle (dressed in a white suit evocative of The Killer (whoohoo!)) a wave of applause developed quickly into an enthusiastic standing ovation. The audience craned to follow his progress, as he stopped to shake hands with fans as he advanced. (It all reminded me of visiting royalty.) As he got round to the front, he paused, but fortunately everyone kept cheering, so he continued along the front row and shook hands with (among other people) Beric and me (whoohoo!). (A minor detail: people have commented before about the strength of his grip. Here, he didn't seem to me to really be clasping hands: he held out his hand loosely, and we successively grasped it. An energy saving strategy? Who knows. :P ) At any rate, CYF himself then gave a short introduction to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

As not all CYF fans may know, the flick was directed by Milos Forman, and stars Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. Based on the novel by Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest won huge numbers of awards for 1976, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Nicholson plays a petty criminal, Randle McMurphy, who escapes the rigours of jailtime by pretending insanity and being admitted to an institution. His humour and disregard for authority make him a hero to the other patients, but land him in serious trouble with the staff whose sterile control he threatens. It's a wonderful novel, and a truly stunning film: wholly deserving of its many awards.

In his initial intro to OFOTCN CYF thanked the film festival for bringing him to Toronto, and then led off with a joke that we should consider ourselves mental patients, watching this film. Jack Nicholson, he said, was his idol, and his performance in OFOTCN profoundly affected CYF. McMurphy, with his propensity for drugs, gambling, and girls was a role model on a personal level, CYF deadpanned (and then grinned hugely when the audience cracked up). More seriously, he added that he admired Nicholson's performance in this role because it was "full of power". He said that he hoped we would enjoy watching the film, and then without more elaboration, they started it rolling.

After the film, CYF reappeared (to another round of applause) and jokingly stuttered that we should call him B-B-Billy Chow. (There was a stuttering character, Billy, in the film, brilliantly played by Brad Dourif; who knows if CYF also knows of the Canadian kickboxing champ and sometime-HK-movie-bit-player who is also called Billy Chow). After a little more bantering, he commented seriously that in his entire career -- sixteen years of TV acting, he said, and 20 years of movies -- he had never prepared for a role as complex as that of Randle McMurphy, and it was what he wanted more than anything else.

I couldn't help but be struck by the pathos of that statement, which was immediately followed by a deluge of questions concerning his action movies. In so far as I feel sorry for any multimillionaire celebrity, I felt sorry for CYF then: though he's been plaintively commenting that he wants to work with less commercial people (like Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Wong Kar-Wai) for a while now, no one seems to be taking him up on it. In one article, I read that the hassle of clearing things through William Morris isn't functional, given the frenzied pace of HK film -- who knows. Anyways, although I'm certainly a fan of movies like TRK (guns! violence! yay!), I hope that he can eventually get back to more serious roles, and realise that dream. As I said: the deluge of questions.

One of my many blurry pix: CYF at the front of the Carlton cinema, at the Q&A.

1. He was asked how, as an actor, he would prepare for such a complex role -- the questioner commented that OFOTCN was really "an actor's film". Again, CYF said that he wished he could have such an opportunity -- and then he commented that in such circumstances he would try to "copy my idol" (Nicholson).

2. He was asked which of his own flicks was his favorite. He jokingly said "What does that have to do with this movie?" and then turned to the festival staff and said "Can I answer that?" The questioner managed a creditable rephrase of the question to make it relevant to OFOTCN, which had everyone laughing ("Given that you liked this movie, which movie of your own has similar qualities...."), but from then on the discussion only rarely turned away from CYF himself. Anyways, CYF replied "Um....what about _A Better Tomorrow_" (to applause).

It's interesting, though: I've heard him give many different responses to the question, including All About Ah Long, The Story of Woo Viet, ABT, and God of Gamblers. I think that part of the reason he mentioned ABT here, is that he had the audience pegged as Woo-movie people, which was true -- hence the applause. As Beric commented, however, CYF's taste is not only the product of his audience! Chow Yun-Fat has often mentioned ABT's special sentimental and emotional value, though in general he prefers his dramas to his action movies.

3. The next questioner raised the point that part of OFOTCN's effectiveness is the dramatic ending: it's rare in American movies for the hero to die. Turning to films like ABT and his own character of Mark Gor, the questioner asked, what parellels are there, having the lead character die in both films? CYF said, the sadness of dying was also associated with release. In ABT, he said, in the context of triad society, the film's focus is a moral disaster; in OFOTCN it was a physical disaster: the patients afflicted with insanity.

4. Along the same lines, the next questioner asked about the parallel between the "trapped" protagonist of OFOTCN and similar characters in his own career. The questioner had a rough time articulating the question, but CYF was really relaxed and told him to take it easy. The end question ended up being something like, How would he create this characters?

CYF wrestled a bit with his answer, too, and commented to the audience that although he has learned to speak English he still thinks in Cantonese. He said that in creating his characters, he would respect the decisions of the director, whose power is final, and the vision of the rest of the crew too. He then reiterated his wish to participate in more dramatic roles.

5. The next questioner started off her question by praising CYF's talent -- to which he instantly replied "You are so kind ... [pause] ... You are so beautiful". Admirably, she was not flustered, and continued with her question, which was whether or not it had made a difference to his perception of OFOTCN being able to understand the English, rather than relying (as he explained he had) on the subtitles. He said no, that when he saw the film originally it had a profound impact on him, transcending the language problem.

6. CYF was then asked about the characters in Derek Yee's film _The Lunatics_ , and their relationship to OFOTCN.

Apparently weary of making the link to OFOTCN, CYF instead focused on the roots of _The Lunatics_. He discussed the fact that Yee's film was made in a very short time, with over 45 characters, which made it that much more challenging. "In real life," he said, smiling, "I'm a lucky guy" , and it's difficult to "justify madness to yourself" -- to understand what would make someone go crazy. The actor, he said, is caught between the director, who always wants "a little bit more" emotion, and his own fear of overacting. However, for _The Lunatics_, they used footage from police interviews with mentally ill people to identify how they acted, and to learn their mannerisms.

7. CYF was then asked whether he had read the book, _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_, by Ken Kesey. He replied that his English reading skills were not good enough.

8. The next questioner asked CYF, if I got the question right, what earlier films (in addition to OFOTCN) inspired him to get into acting. Confusingly, he replied with "Hard-boiled" -- either a real early film, a reference to the old genre of detective flicks, a flippant mention of Woo's film, or just a misunderstanding. :)

9. "If you walked out of here today and ran into Jack Nicholson on the street," someone asked, "and for some reason he had never seen any of your films -- maybe he was locked in a cave [CYF smiled] -- which film of yours would you recommend to him? And why?" "I would kiss him!" CYF said, laughing, and mimicking extreme fan excitement. "I would say anything and just smile at him" (tilting his head and smiling adoringly into the distance).

10. Finally, Eddie asked CYF about ABT2, and the scenes where Dean Shek's character descends into madness, and Ken-Gor tries to awaken him to reality. CYF didn't seem to understand the question, so Eddie showed him a pic of the poster for ABT2. CYF was frowning at this in puzzlement when the staff appeared to have decided the meeting was over -- some people stood up and started taking pictures (including me!) while others rushed forward and tried to interact with him. They hustled him out a side entrance, and that was that, for most fans!

But not for us! Muahahahahahaha!

Thanks to the extraordinary connections of my Toronto hosts, Lisa & Shelly, I had already heard that Columbia was throwing a party for CYF after the event (unfortunately, they were not well-connected enough to actually get me INTO this party -- whatsamatter with you guys???). Anyways, the Globe and Mail of Wednesday Sept 10th gave the location and time: I had instantly decided I would try to hang around outside and maybe peer in the windows. Naturally I invited Beric, Eddie, Crystal, and Fred along, and of course, they were all keen on the plan. Thanks to Beric's unparalleled knowledge of Toronto geography (I kept trying to lead us in the wrong directions!), we were able to walk there (in the rain) and arrive in the nick of time, as CYF's car pulled up to the curb.

Chow Yun-Fat and Fred, at the Toronto Film Festival.

Mrs. Chow looks on as CYF looks curiously at printouts of CYF: God of Actors and Dave Lee's The Coolest Actor in the World pages. Eddie, of Hong Kong Heroes, stands in the foreground.

Led by Beric, we bolted up the stairs as they all moved up the escalator and intercepted him and Mrs. Chow & various handler-types as they were going into the restaurant. CYF kindly autographed Eddie's ABT2 poster ("How did you get here?" he said). Then I incoherently asked him if he ever looked at his English-language fan sites, and he shook his head (not reading English very well, apparently).

Beric, Chow Yun-Fat, and Fred at the Toronto Film Festival. CYF is mysteriously intent on Fred's shoes.

I had made two copies each of printouts of the first part of David Lee's The Coolest Actor in the World page (Dave couldn't make it to this event, unfortunately) and my own God of Actors page, with URLs attached. I intended to give a copy of each to him, in case he WAS interested in his fan sites, and ask him to sign the other ones, as momentos for Dave & me. Anyways, my brain humiliatingly melted under the adrenaline rush of this encounter, and I was too flustered to bring up the second set. :) But he gravely ("Are these for me?") accepted the printouts that I had made for him (slightly crumpled, as I had stuffed them in my pocket after the film fest event, thinking we wouldn't be able to see him!), stared vaguely at them, and then passed them to Mrs. Chow.

Finally, he gently suggested we all take photographs, we all rallied round beaming nervously, and then his handlers shooed us off and they went into the restaurant.

And that was, really, that!

The word that leaps to my mind is "surreal". Being incurably academic, I kept thinking to myself that I should be taking notes on the sociology of these interactions -- first Beric, Fred, Eddie, Crystal and I, meeting as "virtual" friends in real life, and then the slew of us joining as "fans" in front of CYF -- the star. It has been a really positive experience, interacting with all of you fellow CYF fans over the net, and it was great to meet some people in person -- and at a such an exciting event.

Beric, me, Eddie, and Crystal, grinning at Fred on the street outside, after our meeting with CYF.

I also enjoyed being able to participate in "fandom" for Chow Yun-Fat. I spent the whole time in a haze of adrenaline -- really thrilled to be able to "meet" someone I've admired on-screen dozens of times. And in retrospect, now that I've calmed down a little, I'm still impressed with CYF's graciousness, in the face of our excitement, and grateful for the time he and his entourage took on their way into the party. It really meant a lot to all of us, and will definitely remain etched in my memory for a long time.

And again, many, many thanks to Gordon Chan, Lisa R.-R., Shelly Kraicer, Don Matthews, Beric Leung, Eddie, Crystal, and Fred, for their many kind gestures and general suaveness. Whoohoo!)

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