How Lau Ching-wan added subtlety to complex role as father of a killer in new film Papa

Lau talks about the nuances of playing a father whose wife and daughter are killed by his schizophrenic son in a film based on actual events

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Lau Ching-wan as Nin Yuen (front) in a still from Papa, written and directed by Philip Yung Tsz-kwong and based on actual events in Hong Kong. Photo: Golden Scene

Published: 5:15pm, 3 Dec 2024Updated: 12:51pm, 5 Dec 2024

A sorrowful Lau Ching-wan is featured on promotional posters for Papa, a critically acclaimed new film inspired by the case of a schizophrenic 15-year-old who killed his mother and sister in Hong Kong in 2010 before turning himself in to the police.

Lau plays an emotionally haunted father who grapples with the brutal reality that his only surviving child is also responsible for the deaths of his other loved ones. The script’s appeal, to him, was that “it’s not loud or moralistic”, he tells the Post.

“More importantly, it’s not heavy on dialogue. Many of the lines are very normal, regular family conversations and not about life lessons or describing what had happened,” he adds. This made it “more difficult” to portray his character’s emotions on screen.

However, Lau, who took home his third Hong Kong Film Awards best actor trophy in 2023 for the crime thriller Detective vs Sleuths, thinks certain emotions “should be seen and felt” and that over-explaining was “unnecessary”.

His character, Nin Yuen, is a typical, stoic Hong Kong Chinese father who does not overtly express his deep devotion to his family.