Dicky Cheung to Lead TVB Anniversary Drama “The Handsome Marshal”
Never say never. After a 20-year absence, actor Dicky Cheung (張衛健) is finally making his long-awaited TVB comeback.
Yesterday, the 52-year-old—best known for his performance as the Monkey King in his last TVB drama, 1996’s Journey to the West <西遊記>—attended a signing ceremony in Tsim Sha Tsui with TVB executives Catherine Tsang (曾麗珍) and Virginia Lok (樂易玲). Dicky will be starring in TVB’s 50th anniversary drama The Handsome Marshal <大帥哥>, which is produced by Steven Tsui (徐正康) and begins filming next month.
The trio greeted the press as they walked through a red carpet, arm in arm. After a few hilarious exchanges with the MC, Dicky signed the contract for The Handsome Marshal.
The signing ceremony was both a press conference and a comedy show. Virginia Lok joked that the signing ceremony felt like a wedding, saying, “The last time I performed such a grand signing ceremony was when I got married to my husband.” Dicky added with a laugh, “The last time I got married, I also walked on a red carpet. At the time I only had one wife. Now I have two more wives.” Catherine Tsang piped in, “You mean two aunties.”
Dicky and TVB had always remained in contact. The actor had received many casting offers from various TVB producers in the last two decades, but he never agreed to any of them, until this year. Dicky listed out three reasons for his decision: TVB’s golden jubilee, the Hong Kong viewers, and Catherine Tsang.
“It is [TVB’s] 50th anniversary. Many of our families grew up watching this TV station. If this organization never existed I would have never debuted,” said Dicky. “I also really want to thank the Hong Kong viewers. Although the center of my focus has not been in Hong Kong in the last 20 years, I would always be greeted with enthusiasm every time I return. I really want to come back to do a drama for them.”
Dicky also added that he desires to do a project in Cantonese again. “I never had that opportunity where I could do a Cantonese drama. Of course, I could always speak my lines in Cantonese because my voice would be dubbed over anyways, but my costars would have no idea what I’m talking about.”
As for Dicky’s third reason, he said, “I want to thank one of the most important women in my life—Tsang Jeh. She’s seen me grow. She even knows how many girls I dated at TVB! But after all these years, she has never once pressured me to return. This is a big day, which she personally invited me to. I had to say yes.”
Did TVB hire Dicky back with a large paycheck? Catherine joked, “He doesn’t need to negotiate anything. Just trust me!” Dicky admitted that he was quite shocked when he first heard about the price, but after Catherine pointed out that it was in the higher end, he agreed to it. Catherine was touched by Dicky’s generosity.
“I am very touched,” said Catherine. “I’ve known him for over [30] years. I watched him grow and I’ve seen him succeed. He’s always upheld a good image, and when I asked him if he was willing to come back, he agreed to it immediately. People like him are hard to come by, especially in a time like this.”
“It’s like a dream,” said Virginia. “Never expected that we could invite him back. At this point, it really isn’t about money anymore.”
Catherine added, “His schedule was actually fully booked. He’s not coming back because of me, but because he’s truly thankful of [TVB]. He grew up here and was trained here. Now he’s walking so steadily, and though the training was difficult, it was an important cornerstone for him. My first words to him were, ‘It’s Dad’s 50th birthday. Are you coming back to celebrate?’ He said yes after only a second of thought.”
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
can’t wait!
Same. Haven’t seen his work for a long time. Ever since he acted as money king I felt all his characters were acted in a similar way or what not
Login just to say this… FINALLY!! I remember skipping Journey to the West 2 because he wasn’t going to play the lead Monkey King role. Recently I watched the Benny Chan version and I thought the story was better than the first drama (even with Benny’s mediocre acting).I can’t wait to see Dicky act again.
Love him! But sounds like TVB is still stingy as eff.
the title sounds very old-fashioned, it will probably change. it’s good to see dicky’s face again.
I saw this on YouTube yesterday – very excited for Dicky’s return! He’s right that the HK audience misses him and so does other Chinese overseas viewers like me!
I am very curious about this drama and who his costars will be. I hope TVB finds a female lead who is on par with Dicky (please no newbie MHK actress…).
I would actually love to see Dicky collaborate with Wayne Lai again, like they did in Journey to the West.
Oh no…I tried searching about this new drama and found out that Sisley Choi & Tony Hung will be in the drama…
Whoa…TVB is def doing work. There’s hope for Louis Koo lol
Yeah for Dicky!
The title seems to make me think a younger man should be playing the role…but hopefully its not meant to be an immature hero which he seems to portray a lot of.
Either way, am actually looking forward to his comeback. Usually I would rather not see old actors return in a role too young for them, but I used to watch dicky growing up and he has always given his characters an extra life.
Looking forward to see Dicky in a Cantonese drama again. Truly miss him on screen. I hope he will sing the the theme song for the drama too. I wonder if it’ll be a comedy. More importantly I want to know who he will be acting with in TVB. I really hope it is won’t be the likes of Eliza Sam or Rosina Lam.
Love Dicky! Happy to see him in a tvb drama again. But liked @coralie said. Sound like tvb is cheap as always.
Nice to see Dicky again! His roles are always fun to watch. I wonder who he’ll be paring up with since there’s a lot of young new actresses.
There’s a recent article about Esther Kwan on whether she’d make a comeback if the scripts good. Would like to see them pair up again like they did in The Luckiest Man.
I just finished watching May Fortunes Smiles On You, starring Wayne Lai and Amy Fan. Would also like to see Amy and Dicky pair up again like they did in Chess Warriors.
I love to see him and Roger pair up and do a reboot of Mystery of the Twin swords in the future
LOVE Dicky Cheung and miss him so much, so glad to hear he’s back!