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An
Interview with
Chow Yun-Fat ("Anna and the King") |
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AsianConnections: Who is the most inspirational person to you? Chow Yun-Fat: I think my mother. She is a very tough lady. And she taught me how to survive, because we grew up in a very poor, bad situation. When I was young, I had to carry two baskets to selling our dim sum from village to village, from mountain to mountain. So I have a very good experience with her as a partnership. She was my role model when I was young, how hard she worked, working so hard in such very bad situation, and everyday working and living in agony. Because my father was a seaman, so every year he just come back about three weeks, and then he'd be gone. So almost a single lady, have four kids in our family, and she put a lot of time to just for living. So she is a very optimistic lady, even though no matter what the situation, she still stands very firm. Very stiff, and very straight. She never bowed to her environment. So she is one of the heroes in my life when I was young. First when I was in high school, I had a lot of movie idols, like John Wayne, Steve McQueen, James Dean, and Marlon Brando. Especially, I don't know why in the old days we had a lot of good top guys in movies like Cagney and Clint Eastwood. AsianConnections: How do you feel about being called the "Clark Gable" of Asian actors? Chow Yun-Fat: Overwhelming. Too much for me. AsianConnections: What do think about men being emasculated now in the late 20th century? Chow Yun-Fat: Now, I can sense that even in Hong Kong, a lot of younger actors, they lost their strength to struggle, [they are] more aggressive in the luxury way. You know, "I want this, this, this." But in the old days, you can see especially after World War II, everybody was living in a very a calm situation, the whole country wanted to build up a society. Everybody worked in a very peaceful harmony. Now, after the economy boom in the eighties and nineties, now to the year 2000, everybody's?now you can see a lot of material things in the market. Because for the young generation, they cannot afford it, [to] buy all the stuff in front of them, and now the pacing of life is going very fast, all over the world. Maybe they have lost the security, because there are too many violent things going on. Especially in modern days, the parents must go out to work and leave the children at home just only watching TV, so they don't have a guideline to what is life. In the old days you can see the parents always take the kid, [and] taught them how to be a good man. Now everything is the TV as a media to guide them and as a baby-sitter. AsianConnections: The values are superficial? Chow Yun-Fat: Yes, yes. So you can see that no matter where, in the United States, Europe or Asia, the second generation can be very aggressive. [The second generation say], "I want to be rich, I might as well have a lot of money. [They say] "When I have money I have power." AsianConnections: Do you make your home here now? Chow Yun-Fat: No, I still stay in Hong Kong with my mom. We have a saying that, if your parents are still there, you cannot go far away. AsianConnections: Do you think King Mongkut, given a choice, would have taken a life with Anna, and say he didn't have to be king anymore or a life with all his wives. Which would he pick? Did he want to be with one woman? Chow Yun-Fat: Actually, I buy [into the idea as] one of the English kings. He sacrificed all his power. AsianConnections: King Edward? Chow Yun-Fat: Edward. Living in Paris. AsianConnections: To be with the woman you want to be with. Chow Yun-Fat: Yes. I mean, for reality, I'd hate to be a king, because everyday you have to manage all the documents and arrangements to meet all the ambassadors from all over the world, and plus your life line. Tons of tons of concubines to kill him. Waiting to be served. And we are not talking about one night. Every night! Oh, exhausted! [laughter] You know, that's why in the old days in China, you can see kings not living longer than 45! [laughter] |
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| AsianConnections wishes to thank Chow Yun-Fat for contributing his valuable time for the interview, for which this would not have been possible. |
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