Eddie Kwan Fell for Maggie Cheung in “Police Cadet ’84”
Finding himself thinking about his co-star, exercise helped the then 22-year-old actor snap out of his persona.
Playing the role of “Man Sir” in the just concluded drama Airport Strikers <機場特警>, veteran actor Eddie Kwan (關禮傑) shared his memorable acting experiences on a radio program recently.
He spoke about acting as Liza Wang (汪明荃) and Patrick Tse’s (謝賢) son in his first drama, 1982’s Love and Passion <萬水千山總是情>. “The director wanted me to drink a cup of milk tea while doing a facial expression of looking forward to the future, but I couldn’t do it even after 10 takes. I only knew how to memorize the script, though both seniors kept quiet, I was so nervous about stopping everyone from getting off, and only blamed myself for not being good enough,” shared the 58-year-old actor.
Fell in Love with Co-star Maggie Cheung
Recalling his days in the artiste training class, Eddie shared how his portrayal of onscreen characters was nowhere near the gentlemanly Tony Leung (梁朝偉) or the expressive Stephen Chow (周星馳). As his classmates gained popularity one by one, Eddie felt jealous and inferior about himself.
His turning point was Police Cadet ‘84 <新紮師兄>, where he played Kiu Chi Ho aka “Good Sis”, and gratefully said he had co-star Tony to thank for nudging his progress. “He never said any encouraging words, but used his body language and actions to help me complete a shouting scene. This helped me level up in acting.”
Despite already dating his current wife, Eddie realized that he had developed feelings for and would think about co-star Maggie Cheung (張曼玉), his romantic interest in the drama. After filming ended, he found that exercise helped him disconnect from his onscreen persona, and eventually his feelings subsided.
How He Kept a “Clean” Track Record Over 38 Years of Acting
In 1995, Eddie’s eldest daughter was born, while he angered television station management when he went to Singapore to film a local drama. At that time, fellow actor Bobby Au Yeung (歐陽震華) jokingly said to him, “Luckily I left, so he has a chance.”
With a 38-year track record in the industry, Eddie’s entertainment career has been devoid of scandals with female co-stars. He explained, “I want to give my wife a sense of security and trust. Filming in China brings with it many temptations, but I don’t want to give myself any chance, nor would I give the other party a chance. I would actively reject (her), and at the same time ask my wife to turn up. Women are very sensitive, and would know if there’s anything amiss. These situations definitely cropped up over the years, but the other party would slowly leave upon seeing my wife.”
Source: On.cc
This article is written by JoyceK for JayneStars.com.
This article reads weird…some of it is the translation but on.cc itself is hardly a good news source, since it’s notorious for short nonsensical articles that make me think their news editors are lazy bums. If you want substance, go with Mingpao or HK01. Or better yet, just listen to the radio interview itself (and hear the words from Eddie’s mouth directly), since, as usual, the media always does a sucky job summarizing artists’ comments…
Anyway, Eddie is one of the good ones in the industry — he has the looks as well as the talent plus he’s a devoted family man with little to zero scandals in his 38 year career…his wife is a lucky gal…
@llwy12 Not just this article, lots articles on here are very weird-ly and or poorly translated for past couple years… Similar to reminiscing HK golden days as the leading entertainment, JS definitely lost its luster too. 🙁 I understand the translators on here on volunteers so … beggars (one who can’t read Chinese, i.e. me) shouldn’t be choosers 🙁
Though, how do you listen to these interviews in US? If it’s YouTube, what are the channels to subscribe?
Back on topic, to me – Eddie had the look but not the skills back in the days. I was not a fan; it was mostly due to series being cheesy. He never really had a good role. At least none that I can remember. I like him now though. Even as supporting, I can see the substance in his acting.
@jjwong You’ve definitely got a point!
The interview was on Candy Chea’s radio show HK Footpath on RTHK channel. I love her show because she always interviews veterans (many of the artists who were active in the industry in the 70s/80s/early 90s) and they reminisce old times together…it’s one of the few interview shows hosted by a veteran media person still in existence (Candy and her husband, who is also respected media veteran, have been around since the 1970s and know many of the biggest names in the industry…when her son got married a few years back, the guest list was a who’s who of the HK entertainment industry, lol).
As for how to listen to the shows, it depends on the radio station. Sometimes fans will upload the interviews to YouTube, but due to copyright issues, it’s usually not complete. The full show is usually accessible on the radio stations’ websites, though some require paid subscription (i.e. CRHK) in order to access.
Here’s the link to Candy’s radio show. Eddie’s interview is the newest one that just aired yesterday, so it’s the first one listed. The first box under the picture is the full version, the other 2 underneath are same interview but broken up into the 2 segments that had aired at different times. Check it out when you get a chance: https://www.rthk.hk/radio/radio1/programme/hkfootpath?lang=en
@jjwong Sorry, forgot to respond back to the rest of your comment, lol. 🙂
Yes, it’s true that Eddie didn’t always have the talent..some of his earlier performances weren’t that good…but his later performances (late 80s going into early 90s) were excellent. In Police Cadet ‘84, he was able to hold his own, but there were too many good actors in there who outshined him…Tony Leung and Andy Dai of course, but the veterans in that series were really the ones to watch: Lau Siu Ming, So Hang Suen, Helena Law, Benz Hui…they were definitely a huge reason why that series was so good (now I feel like re-watching the series again, lol). With Tony and the other younger (at that time) cast’s performances, I actually prefer Police Cadet ‘85 (which in my opinion is one of the few instances in TVB history where the sequel was actually on par with / exceeded the original).
@llwy12 Cool! Thanks for the link, mate. I wasn’t into the slew of Police Cadets series back in the days. I was all about wuxia then :p Still hope for one day, there’ll be a decent translations of all those novels. Or I wonder if there’s audio book version…
Anyways, yea Eddie was definitely not the top of the crop back then. There were too many competitions.
I loved him The Buddhism palm strikes back.
@tencents
Me too, one of my faves for sure.
@tencents
It makes me want to re-watch this after reading this comment. It was one of my childhood faves. I think I’m gonna re-watch it now. Lol
P.S.
Yes I replied Twice D;
In the pic above, this Maggie Cheung looks like the other Maggie Cheung lol
Eddie Kwan looks like Wu zun here haha
Jackson lai should take a leaf from this guy’s book.
@jetgirl112 Yes, exactly! I think at the end of the day, it’s really about whether the person has the discipline to not give into temptation. Like Eddie for instance, when he started working in Mainland in the 90s, he would “close the door” from the beginning and not allow any opportunity to be tempted. If in the event that he encountered a particularly difficult situation, he would ask his wife to accompany him for a few days so the other party would know to go away. It was a conscious, unwavering effort on his part.
That’s why for people like Jackson or Andy or Show Lo or any of the other guys who got caught cheating, I never buy into the “momentary lapse in judgment” or whatever sorry excuse they may have. If they were the type, like Eddie, who consciously put up barriers from the beginning (and every knows it because he made it very clear from the getgo), they would never be in a compromising position in the first place. It’s human nature to go for the low hanging fruit….from the potential 3rd party’s perspective, is it even worth it to waste time and energy on someone who you know is going to be an uphill battle to pursue?
Artists like Eddie are proof that it’s possible to still be a celebrity and have zero scandal (he and his wife Anna have been together 37 years – dated for 7 years and married for 30 years). Yes, it takes effort and discipline, but if you are truly committed to it, it’s definitely possible. 🙂
Right. Momentarily lapse of judgement is as bad as the esxuse of ‘oh, you fell on her/his lips/body part.