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Richard James Havis

Want to make films in the Hong Kong style?
Read on for an unofficial masterclass in Hong Kong filmmaking, compiled from interviews with some of the city’s best known directors over the years.
Wong Kar-wai in 1988, telling City Entertainment how to model one’s film characters on oneself:
“I do not make up my stories up in isolation. As a story develops, the personality of the characters cannot be separated from your own preferences. The story can be developed in various ways, but it originates from you.
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“It is like, based on my own understanding, I think these characters would react in a certain way. My films are not about stories. I develop plots from the characters’ personalities. I believe the story is not important, but the characters are.”
Johnnie To Kei-fung, talking to Miles Wood in 1998 about how much reality to put in a film:
“I’ve rarely put scenes of real life in my films before, but in Loving You I did. Like the minute-long scene in which Lau Ching-wan fell asleep in his car – I experienced that in real life, and I know exactly how one feels in a situation like that.

“I just tried to put pieces of things that really happen in society together in one character. It doesn’t matter if he regrets his actions or not, it doesn’t matter if he does the wrong thing the whole way to the end, because these things happen again and again in Hong Kong’s everyday life.”
Wong Jing, talking to Lorenzo Codelli in 2002, on how to direct films to please the audience:
“To me, a director is like a chef. I make the dishes that the audience wants to eat. Most director loves their movies, but I never fall in love with mine.

“When they are editing, it’s like they are making love to a film. They hate to finish it. But I don’t. I always like to edit my movies very fast. I always try to give the audience what they want. That’s the way I have done it for the last 20 years.”
Yim Ho, after directing The Sun Has Ears in 1995, on filmmaking as a voyage of self-discovery:
“I feel that the filmmaking process is also a process of learning about myself – it’s kind of like swimming in a mental way, kind of roaming around and seeing what you find.

“A film reflects the mental state that I am in when I am making it. A film reflects my way of looking at life.
“With The Sun Has Ears, I didn’t actually realise that I was making a film to understand myself. It wasn’t until after I’d finished it, when I was talking about it, that I realised I had solved some personal problems, and learned something about myself.”
Herman Yau Lai-to, speaking in 2002, on being pleased with your own work:
“For a number of years I have been trying to make a film that would both allow me to express myself and entertain an audience. Looking back at my work, I don’t think I’ve ever succeeded.

“The Untold Story was criticised as reckless speculation, regrettably by a film critic whose opinions I highly respect. Ebola Syndrome had a similar fate in 1996. Apple Daily gave it one point out of a possible 33.
“Despite all of these negative comments, at least I am glad to say that I have pleased myself.”
Gordon Chan Ka-seung, talking about First Option in 1996, on why you should like making models:
“I love hardware. I love models, and when I was young, I used to spend hours making those Airfix (a popular scale-model brand in the 1960s and 1970s) models you could get.

“I got the little Airfix soldiers, too, and fought battles with them. I think that my storytelling techniques and my choreography originate in the battles that I played out at home with those Airfix soldiers.
“I learned a lot about guns, planes and war from them, and eventually became a pacifist. Actually, I still do make models, and I have a lot of them!”
Ann Hui On-wah, talking to the Post in 1992 about being a woman director:
“It’s a matter of give and take. If you don’t ask for the social advantages of being a woman, you won’t get the disadvantages.

“Filmmaking is an extremely competitive business. Movie companies seldom look at gender, or outward appearance; they look at talent.
“Women directors are not even an issue now. You don’t hear people saying, ‘Ah, there’s an interesting director – look what a woman can do,’ any more.”
Leong Po-chih, talking to Roger Garcia, on a quick way to write a script:
“In those days [working at Cinema City with Tsui Hark in the early 1980s] a movie had to be 90 minutes long – it couldn’t go beyond that. If it was 90 minutes, you could get five shows a day [in the cinema], but if it was 100 minutes, you couldn’t get all five shows in.

“When we shot on film, each reel was basically 1,000 feet (300 metres), which makes nine reels for a 90-minute feature. When we wrote the story, we represented each reel with an empty page. So we had nine empty pages.
“We figured out what the story was, and got the start, middle, end, and the resolution down. Then we filled in the blanks. It was very smart.”
Joe Ma Wai-ho, talking to Tim Youngs in 2002, on the differences between directing and producing:
“My work as a director and producer is quite different.

“When I direct, I look deep into my heart – creatively, I do what I want to do. Most of my films are entertaining youth pictures.
“But when I’m producing, I try and find directors who have their own style, their own personality. That is my number one aim as a producer.
“Creatively, I don’t try to change their style and I don’t change their stories. I just try to encourage them. I want them to make movies that they are proud of.”

Andrew Lau Wai-keung, who trained as a cinematographer, telling Cine East in 1998 about shooting your own films:
“When I first became a director, on Against All Odds, I hired a cameraman. But when we saw the rushes, it wasn’t at all what I wanted. I knew what I wanted, but I couldn’t describe it, so I took over the camera myself. It’s faster as there’s no need to talk!
“I don’t want to be telling someone what to do all the time. So I shoot all my films myself. It’s hard work, but it’s better.”
In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved industry.
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A Hong Kong filmmaking masterclass from Wong Kar-wai, for whom ‘story is not important’, Wong Jing, for whom a director ‘is like a chef’, Johnnie To and more

Wong Kar-wai at his office in Kowloon City, Hong Kong, in 1997. “I believe the story is not important, but the characters are,” he once said. Find out what other directors have said about how they make movies. Photo: SCMP

Johnnie To in his office in Kwun Tong in 1999. Photo: SCMP

Wong Jing in his office in Jordan, pictured in 2006. Photo: SCMP

Yim Ho in 1997. Photo: SCMP

Herman Yau in 2003. Photo: SCMP

Gordon Chan, pictured in 2008. Photo: SCMP

Ann Hui in 1999. Photo: SCMP

Leong Po-chih and his daughter Leong Sze-wing at a press conference for their film “Riding the Tiger” at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, in 1998. Photo: SCMP

Joe Ma in 2005. Photo: SCMP

Andrew Lau in 1999. Photo: SCMP

Enter the Dragon is Bruce Lee’s most popular movie, but is it his best? How it compares with Fist of Fury, Game of Death and Lee’s other films

Bruce Lee in a still from “Enter the Dragon”. The 1973 martial arts epic made Lee a global superstar, but was it his masterpiece? Photo: Criterion Collection

A promotional poster for “Enter The Dragon”. Photo: Getty Images

Jim Kelly (left) and John Saxon in a still from Enter the Dragon (1973). Photo: Criterion Collection

Bruce Lee in the Hall of Mirrors fight scene in “Enter the Dragon”. Photo: Criterion Collection

Bruce Lee (left) and Robert Wall’s fight scene in “Enter the Dragon”. Photo: Criterion Collection

Shek Kin plays the villain Han in “Enter the Dragon”. Photo: Criterion Collection

“Enter the Dragon” is Lee’s most popular film, but not all critics believe it to be his best. Photo: Criterion Collection

Bruce Lee (front) and Jackie Chan in a still from “Enter the Dragon”. Photo: Criterion Collection

How biopic with Maggie Cheung as Chinese silent-film star Ruan Lingyu, Center Stage, surprised movie-goers in Hong Kong with its experimental format

Maggie Cheung in a still from Center Stage. Photo: Golden Way Films

Maggie Cheung as Ruan Lingyu in a still from Center Stage, Stanley Kwan’s biopic of the Chinese silent-film star. Cheung won best actress awards for her portrayal, and Kwan felt she discovered how to be a true actress making the experimental film. Photo: Golden Harvest

Maggie Cheung after receiving the best actress trophy at the Hong Kong Awards in April 1993 for her role as Ruan Lingyu in Center Stage. Photo: SCMP

Chinese actress Ruan Lingyu (above) was one of the biggest film stars of her generation.

Maggie Cheung as Ruan (second from right), Carina Lau (centre) as Li Lili, and Chin Han (second from left) as Tang Jishan in a still from Center Stage.

Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Ka-fai, who also appears in Center Stage, arrive for the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards in April 1994. Photo: SCMP

Maggie Cheung in a still from Center Stage. 

Director Stanley Kwan at an interview with the Post in 1998. Photo: SCMP

From Jet Li’s rise to Wong Kar-wai’s art-house fame, Hong Kong cinema’s last golden age in the 1990s

Wong Kar-wai, pictured in front of a poster advertising his movie Fallen Angels, in 1995. Photo: SCMP

Jet Li in a still from Once Upon a Time in China 2. Li was one of the breakout stars of the 1990s, a decade that was the last golden era of Hong Kong cinema. Photo: Golden Harvest 

Tsui Hark receives the best director award for Once Upon a Time in China, at the 11th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1992. Photo: SCMP

A still from the 1992 film Cageman. Photo: Filmagica Productions

Film director Peter Chan Ho-sun in an interview with the Post in 1995. Photo: SCMP

Karen Mok Man-wai receives the best supporting actress prize for the movie Fallen Angels at the 15th Hong Kong film Awards, in 1996, as John Shum (centre) and Ng Yiu-hon look on. Photo: SCMP

Jet Li in a still from Fong Sai Yuk (1993). Photo: Eastern Production Ltd.

Film director Johnny To Kei-fung at an interview with the Post in his Kwun Tong office in 1999. Photo: SCMP

Wong Kar-wai at his office in Kowloon City in 1997. Photo: SCMP

(From left) Jordan Chan Siu-chun, Michael Tse Tin-wah, Ekin Cheng Yee-kin, Jason Chu Wing-tong and Jerry Lamb Hiu-fung in a still from Young and Dangerous (1996). Photo: Golden Harvest

Filmmaker Wong Jing, pictured in 1998. Photo: SCMP

Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia in a still from Swordsman II (1992). Photo: Golden Princess Film Production

Actress Veronica Yip Yuk-hing posing for a picture in her new swimsuit in 1994. Photo: SCMP

How Amy Yip, Hong Kong sex symbol, made her mark in erotic films without ever baring all – and insured her breasts for US$250,000

Amy Yip in a still from Sex and Zen (1991).

Actress Amy Yip on a film set in 1990. Yip, a Hong Kong sex symbol who reigned supreme in the 1990s, made her mark in erotic films without ever baring all. Photo: SCMP

Yip in a still from Sex and Zen (1991).

Yip was well aware of the secrets to her success, and even went as far as to insure her breasts.

Yip (left) in a promotional image for Sex and Zen (1991).

Yip (right) and Lam Kin-ming, pictured in Causeway Bay in 1990. Photo: SCMP

Yip in the spotlight at a promotional event in 1991. Photo: SCMP

The roots of Hong Kong cinema before Bruce Lee, from the first film – shot in 1909 – to the first film studio, and the Shaw brothers’ arrival

Lai Man-wai in a still from “Chuang Tzu Tests His Wife”, shot in 1913 or 1914 and considered the first true Hong Kong film but never shown in the then British colony. Lai was considered “the father of Hong Kong cinema” after founding the colony’s first film studio, China Sun, with his brother. Photo: Handout

A technician works on a Cinematograph in the world’s oldest cinema in La Ciotat, southern France, where the first films of the pioneering Lumière brothers were screened. A similar camera was brought to Hong Kong in 1897. Photo: EPA

Lai Man-Wai (left) founded Hong Kong’s first film studio with his brother and is considered “the father of Hong Kong cinema”. Photo: Wikipedia

Film magnate Run Run Shaw, head of Shaw Brothers, pictured in 1968. Photo: SCMP

A staff member prepares an exhibition on actress Linda Lin Dai at the Hong Kong Film Archive, in Sai Wan Ho, in 2009. Photo: SCMP.

Kwan Tak-hing (right) in the title role in “The Story of Wong Fei-hung, Part One: Wong Fei-hung’s Whip that Smacks the Candle”, filmed in 1949. Photo: Youqiao Film Company

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To make a film in the Hong Kong style, start with what directors have said about their art. Wong Kar-wai’s focus is on characters, Wong Jing’s on his audience
Herman Yau makes the films he wants even if film-goers don’t want them. When Johnnie To injects events from real life into his characters, it’s OK if they fail


For Wong Kar-wai, characters determine plot. For Wong Jing, filmmaking means giving audiences what they want. Film directors’ comments about their approach to movie making tell us a lot.
