EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED CONTEMPORARY URBAN CINEMA FROM HONG KONG'S MILKYWAY IMAGE PRODUCTIONS September 15-17, 2000 at the Anthology Film Archives, New York

	Lawrence Ah Mon Born in South Africa, Lawrence Ah Mon has always been an outsider in Hong Kong, bringing an anthropological gaze to his films. He went to USC film school in the 70's and worked for RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) in 1979, the breeding ground for many of Hong Kong's most important directors (Ringo Lam, Ann Hui and Tsui Hark all started in TV as well). In 1988 Lawrence Ah Mon directed his first film, GANGS, a docudrama about kiddie gangs, filmed with non-actors improvising their way through a story outline by Ah Mon and it was a breath of fresh air in a film industry that was then mostly concerned with how many guns Chow Yun-fat could fire at one time. Next up was his mother-daughter classic, QUEEN OF TEMPLE STREET, in 1990, after which he proceeded to make a movie a year until 1995 at which time he went into feature film hibernation until SPACKED OUT, directed under the name Lawrence Lau, in 2000. [top]
	Roy Cheung Yiu-Yeung With over fifty-three movies to his credit, Roy Cheung is an anomaly among actors: he has never played the good guy. From the sadistic Brother Smart in Ringo Lam's SCHOOL ON FIRE (1988), all the way to the psychotic Crow in 1996's YOUNG AND DANGEROUS 3 (a character so popular he was brought back to life for YOUNG AND DANGEROUS 4) Roy has played triads, gamblers, hitmen, corrupt cops, sadistic prison guards, shape-changing aliens, axe-wielding drug dealers and philandering cads, but never a good guy. There's something cruel about his good looks, something unsettling about his eternal youth, and that's what directors choose to emphasise: cranking up the acting volume and putting his buffed-out body on display as he double-crosses and murders his way across the Hong Kong filmscape. Finally, with THE MISSION, he plays a nice guy, in the most complex performance of his career. All the sneering hysteria of his previous roles is put to rest as he exudes a zen calm, playing his character with the patience and skill that fourteen years of waiting has taught him. [top]
	Leon Lai Ming Sort of like all the Backstreet Boys rolled into one, Leon Lai is a drop-dead teenybopper's delight. Hordes of 13 year old girls - and their equally enthusiastic mothers - mob him wherever he goes. He started acting in 1995, and is most famous for playing the hitman in Wong Kar-wai's FALLEN ANGELS (1995) and a mainland immigrant who falls in love with Maggie Cheung in the exquisite COMRADES: ALMOST A LOVE STORY (1996). His only movie for Milkyway is A HERO NEVER DIES in which he plays a riff on his hitman character from FALLEN ANGELS. [top]
	Lam Suet No one knows nothing about Lam Suet. The chubby guy, usually appearing with a mustache, one can track his presence on the Johnnie To horizon starting in 1997's LIFELINE in which he has a two second appearance as an arsonist dressed as a mime. He appears as a sewer worker at the end of 1997's INTRUDER and then plays a wordless henchman in THE LONGEST NITE. He gets a few lines in A HERO NEVER DIES, but his biggest role was in 1998's EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED as Wilson, the ordinary jewel robber who's just a good citizen. Audiences were simultaneously attracted and repulsed by his ability to shovel down large quantities of food while delivering a self-pitying monologue. He shows up as yet another henchman, this time with a memory problem, in RUNNING OUT OF TIME, before delivering the greatest performance of his career in THE MISSION as a pistachio-crunching, non-syllabic hitman. [top]
	Lau Ching-Wan Currently the most popular actor in Hong Kong, and definitely the hardest working, Lau Ching-wan started in the TVB training school when he was seventeen. For ten years he worked from 6AM to midnight or later doing back-breaking television work, but for all his efforts he was still unable to land any film work due to his looks, which many Hong Kongers feel are dark and ugly. Finally, he starred in a TVB drama about the stock market, THE GREED OF MAN, produced by Wai Ka-fai. It made him a star, but he still couldnąt land a part in a movie. He went to Taiwan and worked briefly in television there until he was cast by Derek Yee in the enormously popular romantic drama C'EST LA VIE MON CHERI (the only movie from the 1990's in a Hong Kong newspaper poll of the top ten movies from Hong Kong). From then on he was a star, and after slamdunking roles in comedies, romances, dramas, and action movies and loading his shelves up with awards he began to work with Johnnie To, starting with 1994's LOVING YOU. Lau Ching-wan continues to work like a dog, despite having recently married, and in an age when many of Hong Kong's most popular stars have priced themselves out of the market or immigrated overseas or retired, Lau Ching-wan is still in the game, still reasonably priced, and still turning out remarkable work. [top]
	Andy Lau Tak-Wah One of the biggest pop stars in the world, Andy Lau is a platinum-selling artist who has made over 90 films, working with everyone from Johnnie To to Wong Kar-wai to Ann Hui (his breakthrough film was Hui's 1982 politically-charged Vietnam epic, BOAT PEOPLE). He got his start on variety shows in the early 80's and was an actor for eight years before he became a recording artist. At the height of his fame he was working on three movies at once, and sleeping in his car. Currently known as the "Tom Cruise of Hong Kong" he's as big a musician as he is a movie star, and rumor has it that he's eyeing Hollywood as his next conquest. His latest film, the romantic comedy NEEDING YOU..., a Milkyway production, was released in the summer of 2000 and quickly became the highest-grossing movie not only of this year, but of last year as well. [top]
	Carman Lee Yeuk-Tung 28 year old Carman Lee was a stewardess moonlighting in commercials when Hong Kong's uber-director, Tsui Hark, cast her in his comic book fantasy, WICKED CITY. From there she went on to work with almost every leading man in Hong Kong, from Stephen, to Aaron, to Leon to Takeshi. A Leo whose favorite foods are fruits, vegetables and bread, Carmen has played everything with Johnnie To, from an uptight doctor in LIFELINE, to a scruffed-out ex-con hitwoman wannabe in THE ODD ONE DIES. [top]
	Tony Leung Chiu-Wai coming soon [top]
	Yoyo Mung Ka-Wai A model, famous for TV commercials, it was a mobile phone advertisement with superstar Aaron Kwok that brought Yoyo Mung to the attention of Johnnie To, who cast her in EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. She signed a contract with Milkyway and has since appeared in A HERO NEVER DIES and RUNNING OUT OF TIME. [top]
	Francis Ng Chun-Yu Hong Kong's current wildman of the movies, Francis Ng is the kind of guy who answers interview questions with "I know why Woody Allen's movies are so bad..." and who was briefly banned from performing by TVB (who own every actor in Hong Kong due to the popularity of their drama series) due to critical comments he made about the station's casting policies. In 1996, Ng started getting noticed with his role as the villainous Ugly Kwan in the YOUNG AND DANGEROUS series. Since then he's played family men (TIL DEATH DO US PART) and psychos (ONCE UPON A TIME IN TRIAD SOCIETY). In 1997 Ng shaved his head, because "it's more manly" and came to resemble the cueball people know and love today. He's worked with Milkyway Image in TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 (pre-shave) and in THE MISSION (post-shave). [top]
	Johnnie To Kei-Fung Born in Hong Kong in 1955, Johnnie To started with Hong Kong's biggest television station, TVB, in 1973. He worked his way through the ranks from an office assistant to an executive producer, which, it's important to note, translates from Cantonese as "director/scriptwriter". He was enrolled briefly in an actor's program, but gave that up to direct television and his first film, THE ENIGMATIC CASE. Realizing he wasn't up to directing features, he returned to TV for seven years before restarting his feature film career with 1987's HAPPY GHOST III. A few years, and a few films, later he directed the hit father/son flick ALL ABOUT AH LONG, starring Chow Yun-fat, the first film To feels was his own. There followed a series of big-budget films including the classic HEROIC TRIO, but by To's account his career was on a plateau until 1994's LOVING YOU starring Lau Ching-wan as a nasty police officer who gets shot in the head and becomes...nastier. A rough-and-tumble REGARDING HENRY it's the first time one can sense the Milkyway to come churning in his head, and on a personal note, the film climaxes with the destruction of the old TVB studios, To's explosive sayonara to his first boss. After that he founded Milkyway Image to produce his work, and the work of young directors like Patrick Yau. Wai Ka-fai, an old friend of To's, came to Milkyway in 1997, and the To/Wai/Yau collaboration reached its pinnacle with 1998's "Dark Trilogy" of THE LONGEST NITE, EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED and A HERO NEVER DIES. Each Milkyway Image production was a critical success and a box office bomb, however, until To decided that enough was enough. Starting in 1999 he would only make movies that appealed to audiences, and although WHERE A GOOD MAN GOES, directed with Patrick Yau, was an admirable misfire, it was RUNNING OUT OF TIME, directed by To after losing Yau and Wai from Milkyway, that was the company's first financial success. Then in 2000 came the formation of a new film company, One Hundred Years of Film, under the studio China Star, with Johnnie To installed as the CEO. Milkyway still exists, however, and in the summer of 2000 Wai Ka-fai and Johnnie To co-directed NEEDING YOU under its banner. NEEDING YOU is the kind of hit Hong Kong hasn't seen since THE STORM RIDERS in 1998, making $34 million at the box office in 31 days, and trouncing MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2. NEEDING YOU represents the fourth time that Johnnie To has had the number-one grossing film of the year. [top]
	Elvis Tsui Kam-Kong Elvis Tsui Kam-kong is a familiar face in Hong Kong, known mostly to local audiences as the star of hundreds of Category III sex pictures. Trained as a painter, not an actor, in Mainland China, Elvis Tsui moved to Hong Kong and his acting style evolved over the course of hundreds and hundreds of films. Usually portraying a libidinous monk, or a leering over-sexed pervert, or even the flying sex hero of A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY, Elvis brings an air of gravitas to even the goofiest roles. The Category III stigma hasnąt attached itself to him (audiences love their Elvis) and when given a chance in a drama he always rises to the occasion (he basically plays himself in Derek Yee's VIVA EROTICA, and it's a surprisingly gentle performance). It's probably no coincidence that he's cast in Milkyway Image's only Category III movie, TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO.1. [top]
	Wai Ka-Fai Born in 1962, he joined Hong Kong television station, TVB's, writing class in 1981, and went on to write a great many television dramas for them. In 1988 he became a producer and moved to TVB rival, ATV. PEACE HOTEL was his directorial debut, although it's more well known as Chow Yun-fat's last Hong Kong movie. His second film, TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 was his first for Milkyway Image and with it he became an integral part of the studio. Wai Ka-fai has been called Milkyway's philosophical fountainhead by Johnnie To and the two men worked closely together with Wai intimately involved as a producer/writer on THE ODD ONE DIES, INTRUDER, THE LONGEST NITE, EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED and A HERO NEVER DIES. Wai left Milkyway for TV work in 1999 and To directed WHERE A GOOD MAN GOES, based on an idea by Wai, which Wai has subsequently disowned. Wai returned in 2000 to write and co-direct NEEDING YOU..., with To. NEEDING YOU..., a romantic comedy starring Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng, is as of this writing Hong Kong's biggest blockbuster of the past two years. [top]
	Anthony Wong Chau-Sang A graduate of both ATV's actor training course, and the Academy for Performing Arts, Anthony Wong, like most Hong Kong actors, worked in TV for years before crossing over to film. He spent years being cast as psycho killers and madmen, culminating in his unexpected Best Actor award for the serial killer cannibal film THE UNTOLD STORY (1993). After that, Anthony Wong always had a bit of the madman in his roles but was regarded as a serious actor fit for the big leagues. In 1997 he contracted a thyroid disease, a condition that almost killed him and caused radical changes in his appearance. Throughout his battle with his condition he kept acting, appearing in Gordon Chan's BEAST COPS, for which he won much acclaim. THE MISSION is his first film for Milkyway Image. [top]
	Ruby Wong Cheuk-Ling Originally a model, Ruby Wong made her debut in Johnnie To's LOVING YOU. He then cast her in TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 and LIFELINE (1997). With LIFELINE she signed a five year contract with Milkyway, although she continues to claim that she is only now learning how to act. [top]
	Simon Yam Tat-Wah Well-known in the US for his roles as Luke in John Woo's A BULLET IN THE HEAD and as the serial killer Lam Go-wan in Billy Tang's DR. LAMB, Simon Yam is actually a dapper former model who prefers photography to acting and who makes it onto Hong Kong's "Best Dressed" list every year. He started in TVB's training program, after working for a while in sales, and quickly became a well-known TV actor. He made his film debut in 1979's LAW DON and has gone on to appear in more than 80 movies. [top]
	Patrick Yau Tat-Chi Born in 1964, Yau joined TVB when he was 21 and became Johnnie To's assistant director two years later. He became a producer for TVB in 1991, but left in 1994 to work for To, co-directing LIFELINE, and directing his first film, the lop-sided THE ODD ONE DIES in 1997 for Milkyway Image. Since then he has directed THE LONGEST NITE and EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, and co-directed A HERO NEVER DIES and WHERE A GOOD MAN GOES. Since WHERE A GOOD MAN GOES, Patrick Yau has focused on television production. [top]

© 2000 Subway Cinema, LLC. All Rights Reserved.