Inside Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung’s legendary friendship: new biopic Anita portrays the Canto-pop stars’ close bond, from collaborations on films like Rouge to dazzling duets
- Biopic Anita portrays the close bond between Anita Mui (played by Louise Wong) and Leslie Cheung (played by Terrance Lau Chun-him) and their rise to stardom
- Mui and Cheung worked together on films like Behind the Yellow Line and Who’s the Woman, Who’s the Man, and awed audiences at their Hong Kong Coliseum concerts
It wasn’t clear when exactly Mui and Cheung met for the first time, but in 1982, Mui won TVB’s first singing competition, the New Talent Singing Awards, and was signed to local record company Capital Artists. Cheung was a fellow label mate and the two had joint overseas tours at the beginning of their careers.
Mui and Cheung worked together on a few films too, including romantic comedy Behind the Yellow Line from their early days and Who’s the Woman, Who’s the Man from 1996, but it’s the classic Rouge from 1988 that’s talked about most.
According to local legend, director Stanley Kwan Kam-pang revealed that the role of Chan Chen-pang, played by Cheung, was supposed to go to another actor, but it was Mui who suggested Cheung to the filming crew. As the two actors were under different companies at that time, Mui had to work on an extra film with Cheung’s management company to make Rouge happen.
On stage, their performances were amplified by their close friendship and chemistry, and their actions were easily in sync even without much rehearsal.