Acting Legend, Alex Man, Recalls Classic Performances
Alex Man (萬梓良) is, in many ways, considered to be a method actor. Devoted to his craft, Alex researched her roles thoroughly and put himself in situations that were similar to his characters. Once, in order to shoot a drunken scene, Alex drank eight cans of beer in a row and vomited it all out. Another time, Alex painted a “blood letter” on his T-shirt and demanded TVB to reschedule the ill-handled studio shoots for his drama.
Alex debuted as an actor for RTV – now known as ATV – in 1977. One of his more popular dramas with the station were Tai Chi Master <太極張三豐>, where he portrayed Zhang Sanfeng, and Dynasty <大內群英>, where he gave a memorable performance as Emperor Yongzheng. In 1982, he left RTV for TVB and starred as the first male lead in numerous famous, big-budgeted TVB productions, such as The Feud of Two Brothers <流氓大亨>, Genghis Khan <成吉思汗>, The Justice of Life <他來自江湖>, Big Family <大家族>, and The Key Man <巨人>.
Well-known for his dramatic and passionate acting, Alex’s performances have been criticized by some to be over-the-top. But Alex does not mind the criticism. “That’s actually not bad. Better than being forgettable. Right now, I really want to say something truthful, and that is, I really want to thank the audience for supporting me many years, whether it is my films, my dramas, or my stage performances. Thank you for cultivating me as a performer.”
Stephen Chow’s Inspiration
Working on several TVB dramas together, Alex also inspired Stephen Chow (周星馳). Alex said. “When Stephen filmed [the 1987 drama] The Price of Growing Up <生命之旅> he just got out of hosting children’s programs. I told him that filming children’s programs and filming dramas were completely different and that he should be mindful and watch how his seniors do it. He was very talented and learned quickly.”
Filming 1989’s The Justice of Life together brought Alex and Stephen’s friendship closer. When Alex got married in 1992 to his first wife, Tien Niu (恬妞) in a televised wedding celebration, he chose Stephen to be his Best Man.
Rumors claimed they fell out after Stephen replaced Alex with Ng Man Tat in King of Comedy. But Alex clarified that it was only their schedules clashing that prevented them from working together. “My schedule was only free for a few days, so we couldn’t find a right time. I told Stephen to quickly come up with something else, so he told Tat Gor to come back. There were no misunderstandings. We’re all good friends!”
The Blood Letter
In 1991, while shooting for Big Family, the cast was not given enough time for studio shoots. Disgruntled at TVB’s poor handling of the drama’s shooting schedules, Alex wrote a “blood letter” with red paint on his white outfit to protest against TVB. He walked around the studios and recited a phrase from Wen Tianxiang’s (文天祥) poem, Song of Righteousness <正氣歌>.
“It wasn’t really about righteousness. At the time the company gave us a very tight studio schedule, and the artistes had to shoot day and night without rest. If you’re not done with the scene in time, then you’re screwed because you wouldn’t get an extension. This was a major problem at the time.”
In Alex’s blood letter, he mentioned a commander. Asked if the “commander” was TVB’s golden producer Lee Tim Sing (李添勝), who was in charge of scheduling the studio shoots at the time, Alex said, “I didn’t specify anyone. I don’t know.”
Often described to be full of fire, Alex was regarded as too serious and even maniacal on the shooting set, but Alex argued, “Being serious is your basic responsibility. You’re getting money out of this. Your boss hires you so you can do your job. Do you think he hired you to fool around? Those who once took my words seriously, like Francis Ng (吳鎮宇) and Sean Lau (劉青雲) have all become film kings, haven’t they? This is not a joke! You must be serious about your work, because you are already very lucky to be able to have this job. If you’re not serious about it, where will your future go?”
Source: ihktv.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
I remember poor Dodo with the spit flying all over her face! He was a very emotional and passionate actor but an excellent one. Nowadays a rarity in the entertainment world.
yes he is a rarity,if you talks about yesteryears stars,then there are many rarities and they dominates the movie industry untill today,look at andy lau,chow yun fat,donnie yen,jet li.they all have their roots in the ’70 and ’80.which today star have those talent and charima? nic tse? no,sawn yue? no,chapman to? ugghh.im afraid that the superstars will disapper for once and all in hk.
Donnie Yen? Yikes. This guy is famous for being a bad actor but great at fighting only. He only got success on his 40’s mind you and not because of his acting. You know that movie Together where got Kai Ko, Angelababy, Bosco, Michelle Chen etc? Donnie become a joke because his role is a cop with facial paralysis, very tailor made for Donnie.
agree that he isnt that great when it comes to only acting performance,but as an whole package with his extraordinary talent in martial arts,yes he is an legend.he isnt only a good fighter he is also a good martial arts choreographer.to me his best and most memorable role is Ip-man.the same can be said to stephen chow,he isnt that versatile in acting but when it comes to comedies,yes he is the king of comedies.
Do you think we think those actors were “talented” because we were first exposed to them?
I mean, for all we know, there are some people who may think Raymond Lam or Bosco are THE MOST TALENTED ACTORS.
I’m not trying to sound trivial, I mean I totally agree with you that people in the 80’s and late 70’s really knew how to act. These days, the quality of acting sucks.
Case in point, we just re-watched “Love and Passion” the one with Patrick Tse, LIza Wang, and Ray Lui. Ray had a big leading role and it was only 24 at the time. The quality of his acting was stellar, could I compare to Raymond Lam or Bosco? Not by a long shot, but is that cause I’m biased towards actors of that time? I don’t know.
@picklehead: Yes and no. I do feel that there will be some amount of partiality towards certain artists depending on the extent of our exposure to them — like me for instance, since I grew up during the 80s, the artists from that generation will always have a special place in my heart (I’m also partial to the artists from the 70s as well as Shaw Brothers era due to influence from my mom). But at the same time, many of the artists from that generation (80s generation as well as the 70s and early 90s to some extent) were truly higher quality actors and very very talented — even their worst performances were 10x better than the best performances from many of today’s generation of actors (and that’s actually an understatement… the number should probably be 50x better or something like that). So to me, it’s a combination of both (a certain amount of bias but also true talent from the artists).
Todays actors are bad especially the batch of Jason Chan and Benjamin Yuen and sammy Sum who has zero charisma and still has no lead actor quality although they’re all in their 30’s and has been acting for years, but that doesn’t make Alexaggerated Man good.
Agreed!
picklehead,ray lui was 24 then to compare with raymond and bosco now in their 33 years is not really fair,but you may be right with the first exposure issue because every generation have have their own “taste”.
But Raymond and Bosco were acting when they were 24. My point is, when you compare each actor at that age, there is a big contrast. In my opinion anyways.
lol Alex Man is so full of himself. He made it sound as if he made Stephen Chow, Francis Ng, and Sean Lau film kings.
He didn’t but he did use his influence to give Stephen Chow a chance. He was his mentor.
i heard kent cheng was stephen chow mentor and kent cheng was the one who helped stephen get into movies
Definitely agree with Alex Man being an ‘acting legend’, though his style of acting has never been my cup of tea (I’ve actually only been able to tolerate him in a few series…his style is too much even for me). Yes, we can say that his acting was OTT in many cases, but alot of that I attribute to his passionate and fiery personality and the fact that he is super serious when it comes to his work. Nothing wrong with that actually, since everyone has their own style…if it suits him, then fine.
LOL…I actually do remember that blood letter thing (yes, I’m old) — at the time, I sort of felt it was funny and ridiculous at the same time. Oh, and the ‘commander’ he mentioned was definitely Lee Tim Sing — I remember Tim Gor talking about the incident in an interview several years back, though the details are a bit fuzzy now…
To date his portrayal as a Manchu Emperor is still the best which is my opinion.
What acting legend? Alexaggerated Man think too highly of himself.
I know, he’s so darn exaggerating all his scenes. King? Yeah, king of BS. haha…LOL…I remember my mom used to love this dude and he was marrying that super pretty first wife but horrific cheating news lighting fast afterwards made him even more laughable of a dude esp when he’s so darn homely. haha LOL…
Weren’t there pictures of him on jaynestars several months ago groping females while in a drunken stupor?
you may say alex acting is way exaggerated,but to me his acting is “exaggerated convincing”.i love the way he act with full of passion,there are not many actors that has this kind of fire.
Agreed!
I agree that he loves acting so much and may seem exaggerated but that is often needed these days which is also something the younger generation lacks.
Acting should be done with realism. What Alexaggerated is doing is just dramatic theatrical acting.
he is a legend, too bad he has poor health in recent years
Alex should get rid of his partying and drinking habits.
“You must be serious about your work, because you are already very lucky to be able to have this job. If you’re not serious about it, where will your future go?”
Excellent advice, I find generation Y (mine) most are lack in basic work ethic. I have told a few if they’re not happy with their job than quit, if not take their job more seriously.
What a coincidence that I just rewatched Tai chi master and Dynasty recently. My mom asked where Alex is nowadays but I just say that he is working in China. However,we have not seen him in any China production yet. Hope he is doing well. He is truly a rare talent. Many of the younger generation cannot act as well as he does or have the passion that he does for acting.
Yes,I loved him in a The legend of the general who never was too. I also loved him in Lu Xiao Feng 86 as well.
I prefer Alex in Justice of Life and Feud of Two Brothers — both were great series! The Price of Growing Up was good too, but I didn’t like his pairing with Kathy in there (I preferred Francis and Kathy pairing instead, even though Francis was downright evil in the series). It’s been too long since I watched Legend of the General Who Never Was (last time I saw it was at least 20 years ago), so I don’t remember enough from it to comment. As for The Return of Luk Siu Fung — he was ok, but I actually enjoyed watching the supporting cast in that series more than him.
We all have our own taste. I enjoyed the supporting cast but his performance as well. However, he played a role that was already played by Damien. I was not into modern series back then so did not watch those 2 series. But I did watch this other modern series of Alex. It was the one with him and Jimmy Wong where they played brothers. Was that the Feud of Two brothers? I enjoyed that series too. I do not remember.
@HTS: Yes, that was The Feud of Two Brothers — awesome series that I highly recommend watching for those who haven’t seen it. Great cast, great story, great acting (for me, that was the series that put Lawrence Ng’s name on the map as a very convincing villain — he was so despicably evil in that series, I absolutely hated him for awhile after that…lol).
Yea, in a way, it goes back to the first exposure thing again — my first exposure to Luk Siu Fung was the Damian Lau version and he was so good in that role that it was hard for me to accept others in that role after that. Same goes with the Jin Yong remakes from the 80s — my first exposure to JY was the 80s remakes and even though I watched the 70s ones later and few of the 90s ones, none of them can live up to the 80s ones in my opinion (again, that’s just me…not saying everyone should feel the same way)
Oh this guy! His acting reminds me of Steve Ma.
whether or not he’s a good actor is debatable but I think he’s a very hard working actor.
hamkarchan. his favourite word.
hi there
1. cannot forget alex.
2. when he cried on cue, it is all tears and mucus, all roll into one.
If this were an actress, comments would be flying about her fat physique and faded looks. Whereas this actor hasn’t received one single comment about his bloated appearance.
Um, that’s probably because most readers here know that Alex’s bloated appearance is likely due to his diabetes (there was an article about that awhile back ago). If illness is causing his physical appearance to deteriorate, it’s kind of cruel to criticize him for looking that way, don’t you think?
Just trying to point out the double standards while recalling the many cruel and nasty remarks made here about Christine Kuo’s weight gain due to a thyroid problem.
I think most of the negative remarks were made before they knew she had a thyroid problem. But sadly,some still criticized her looks even after knowing about her health problem.However, I think that is sadly how it is traditionally. Just like how men are expected to be the ones they have money and be the providers while the women are expected to physically look good versus the guys.
Well said.
How is getting drunk for doing a drunk scene acting?
Method acting.
But where do you draw the line? If a actor plays a gambler does he become a gambler. Or gangster etc?
Of course it won’t be that way, actors will have to decide their own limits. But often read about actors haunted by their characters, unable to break characters. These are method actors. There are those who treats it like a job; in front of camera they act, away they become themselves without too much research.