Donnie Yen, Fan Bingbing and Aaron Kwok lead tributes to Benny Chan, iconic Hong Kong film director behind Shaolin and New Police Story
Action film director Benny Chan Muk-sing passed away on August 23 from nasopharyngeal cancer – A-list actors have paid their tributes on Instagram and social media, remembering the iconic talent behind movies including A Moment of Romance, Invisible Target, Call of Heroes and The White Storm
Hong Kong cinema has lost an iconic action film director with the death of Benny Chan Muk-sing, who passed away at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital on Sunday (August 23).
Chan had started to feel unwell last year when he was shooting the action movie Raging Fire (怒火), starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse. He was then diagnosed with late-stage nasopharyngeal cancer.
After months of treatment at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin, the 58-year-old was transferred to the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital a few days before his death.
The five-time best director nominee at the Hong Kong Film Awards was no stranger to movie buffs. Besides the popular action thrillers of recent years – such as The White Storm (掃毒), Shaolin (新少林寺), Connected (保持通話) and Divergence (三岔口) – action romance film A Moment of Romance (天若有情), released in 1990, stamped Chan’s own mark on the Hong Kong film industry.
In the movie, Wah Dee, a young triad gangster portrayed by Andy Lau, became one of Lau’s iconic roles. The film is considered a modern classic of Hong Kong cinema.
Alongside Andy Lau, Chan’s directorial efforts also nurtured various award-winning actors including Aaron Kwok, Sean Lau, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung, Nicholas Tse and Daniel Wu.
Following the untimely death of the director, many celebrities have expressed their sorrow and paid their respects to Chan through social media.
Aaron Kwok As the leading actor in the action-crime movie Divergence, directed by Chan in 2005, Kwok won the best actor award at the 42nd Golden Horse Awards.