Francis Ng Admits Scolding Ron Ng All The Time
Starring acclaimed veteran actors Francis Ng (吳鎮宇) and Chilam Cheung (張智霖), viewership ratings for Triumph in the Skies 2 <衝上雲霄II> continue to reach above 30 points. While netizens praised the acting from the majority of the cast members, Fala Chen’s (陳法拉) performance received comments of disapproval. Rumors claimed that Francis had also been dissatisfied with Fala during filming, and had often scolded her. When questioned, Francis denied the tabloids and admitted to scolding Ron Ng (吳卓羲) instead.
Francis revealed, “The person who I’ve actually scolded from beginning to end was Ron. Sometimes, we would hang out after getting off work in the evenings. But the next day, he would forget his lines. Even I remember them! We’re really good friends though, so he doesn’t mind. But now I realize that scolding others is not really helpful. From now on, I’ll just put on a strict face. People think I look strict even if I’m acting normally anyway.”
Afraid of Scolding Women
Back in 1989, Francis filmed a comedy, Everybody Loves Somebody <公私三文治>, with Cutie Mui (梅小惠) playing his younger sister. Once, he scolded her so harshly that she broke into tears. Francis recalled the incident, “That day, I was late to work and everyone was urging me to take my place on set. However, Cutie wouldn’t stop chatting and so I told her to shut up. She started crying at once! Even though it’s been many years, I want to apologize to her once again. At the time, I was really treating her as if she is my younger sister. I actually shouldn’t have done that.”
Afraid of triggering women’s tears once more, Francis became more relenting to actresses. “I barely scold women, because they cry really easily and I really don’t know what to do if they don’t stop. Some people already approve Fala’s acting, and of course there are others who are waiting for her to improve. Her role as Holiday Ho is pretty difficult to handle. Holiday is a girl who constantly makes mistakes and gets into trouble, but Fala doesn’t know how to be someone who is not serious.”
Collaborated Well With Chilam Cheung
Speaking of collaborating with Chilam, Francis said they had good teamwork and often changed the script on set. “We made it so that our lines flowed more smoothly. When some parts didn’t really make sense, we spent time to fix them. Both of us thought that Captain Cool shouldn’t be too sharp. The audience may not accept it if a character goes overboard. His lines cannot make him seem like a nasty guy. We weren’t trying to interfere with the scriptwriters’ job. It’s just helping each other out. Don’t say that I’m trying to have control over everything.”
Source: Next Magazine #1221 via ihktv.com
This article is written by Shirley for JayneStars.com.
I don’t believe this article cos there was other articles saying franic praising Ron for his great improvement and coming to work well prepared and Francis was only scolding Ron onset
Francis and Chilam adlibbing explain so much! No wonder why their dialogue is better than the usual TVB garb!
Francis and Ron are close so Ron pretty much get that Francis is just helping him out.
Agree with the scolding at Ron bit- also, if I were an actor opposite to Francis, i’d rather him scold at me and tell me his opinion with my perfomance than him keeping silent. Silence is a deadly killer on so many levels lol.
Well, Francis can get a bit tempermental at times and he’s known to take his work quite seriously, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he scolded people on set. Artists nowadays might think it’s a ‘big deal’ (the mentality has definitely changed over the years), but back in the old days, it was actually considered a ‘blessing’ to be scolded by the veterans on set because it meant they cared enough about you to ‘put money in your pocket’ (give you pointers on acting and help you hone your skills). Francis ‘grew up’ in this type of environment (since he started in the 80s) so I wouldn’t be surprised if he has the same mindset (scolding = putting money in your pocket).
LOL…funny that Francis mentioned the sitcom Everybody Loves Someday (which I re-watched recently). Before his Sam Tong character came along, his Cheung Chi Fai character in that sitcom was actually one of my favorite performances of his (Another great classic series! TVB sure doesn’t make them like they used to!!)
llwy12,
I like “Everybody Loves Somebody” too; actually it was one of Francis’ more likeable roles from his early TVB career. The sitcom was very funny and Francis had very good chemistry with his sisters in the series.
Cutie Mui doesn’t come across as someone who would easily burst into tears. She has a sassy mouth, so I thought she would be a little tougher.
Oops…just realized I fat-fingered the name of the series — it should be “Everybody Loves Somebody”..LOL!
@Jayne: Yup, definitely agree that Francis’ role in that sitcom was one of his more likeable ones at the time (especially since he played so many serious, villain roles prior to that, so it was definitely refreshing). Another performance of his that I like alot was in the series On the Edge (the one with Deric Wan, Sheren Tang, Michael Tao, etc.) — despite how much I love Deric, Francis was definitely the one to watch in that series (I would say he ‘stole the show’, but he was lead in that series along with Deric and Deric was still excellent with his performance, though his character was less complicated than Francis’). Oh and I still cry my eyes out every time I re-watch that series, especially the ending…
@Jayne: Regarding Cutie Mui — that’s what I thought too…hmm, maybe she was too much into her character at the time, since her ‘second sister’ character in that sitcom was a ‘crybaby’ of sorts who would burst into tears very easily….
llwy12,
I actually prefer Francis in sitcoms such as “Everybody Loves Somebody” and “Family Squad”. I find that he’s too serious in the heavy-handed dramas.
I found “On the Edge” too depressing at the time. In the 90s, Deric was my all-time favorite, and few outshined him at TVB. This may have been due to the roles he was given, as Francis’ acting was on par, but he did not lead as many grand productions.
Yes, if the veterans are bothered enough to scold you, it means you’re getting really wise lessons from them! Otherwise, how to improve??
Actors nowadays shouldn’t be so pampered so to me, Ron is bloody lucky to get Francis’ mentoring.
I think it can be hard remembering everything u got to say
That is one of the biggest challenges of being an actor/actress… it must be really challenging to remember pages and pages of scripts.
Poor Cutie Mui. Where have she been? She’s should come back to TVB. She’s funny.
doubt she will ever come back since her sister left tvb already.
Has Francis had anything nice to say about any of his costars from TITS2?
Yep Ron comes to work on time these days
He did just say that he collaborated well with Chilam and I feel like he’s only half serious about Ron. I bet Francis is the old school type who doesn’t believe in praising young people so they don’t grow a big ego. Ironic of course, lol
Couldn’t agree with you more! Nowadays, you do not scold people, you coach them. Just because Francis is a veteran, it does not give him any rights to scold anyone. I never did care for Francis to begin with – too egotistic and termpermental, he should pattern himself after Chow Yun Fat, now that is a a”superstar”, Chow is not only humble, personable and gives advices to the younger actors.
maybe francis got a lot of scoldings from his parents during his childhood
Ah. So in the other article Francis meant that Fala didn’t choose a role that’s fit for her, not that she doesn’t come to set prepared? “Holiday is a girl who constantly makes mistakes and gets into trouble, but Fala doesn’t know how to be someone who is not serious.”
Did they become good friends after filming the second one? or have they always been friends since the first one?
Good for Francis trying to diffuse the situation by drawing attention to Ron instead. Obviously he is on damage control.
“公私三文治”
I still remember this hilarious series. If I remember correctly it was MArgie Tsang who was criticised by colleagues as rude.
really? Margie? I love Margie.
The series was so good.. i recently rewatched it again when they aired it in HK.
There are still many old dramas i want to watch again too!!!
Really?? I have not heard about Margie being rude before. Maybe it was too long ago for me to remember.
Isn’t it the director’s job to do the scolding instead of the actors’? I don’t think it’s nice at all for fellow actors to ‘scold’ one another though it’s usually the more senior ones that do it. They should be more patient and encouraging towards the juniors.
I agree that the seniors should be more supportive, but each person is different. I believe that the seniors should provide constructive criticism,however, need to be careful with the way they say things and what they say or else it can hurt their junior’s feelings.
Ron and Francis are buddy buddy. In an interview recently, Ron said he loves filming with Francis as he teaches him a lot of stuff. Ron is really grateful to have met Francis in TITS1 and now again in TITS2.
They do meet for meals now and then.
Quite a few of you mentioned Everybody Loves Somebody. Any ideas how I can get a hold of the series? It is one of my favourites.
maybe francis has bipolar disorder too
Francis is obviously “borrowing” Ron, his buddy, to deflect negative news arising from his unfriendly relations with Fala.
Not sure why he bothers though! He has alrwady built up a reputation.
I would say it’s probably because all these negative news is affecting fala more than himself, so he’s actually trying to help her out.