Nick Cheung’s Passion for Acting

The success of the original TVB drama, Line Walker <使徒行者>, not only resulted in a television sequel, but also prompted development of a film version revolving around the same theme of undercover agents. The first Line Walker movie premiered in 2016, seeing the return of Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) and Benz Hui (許紹雄) and casting new members Nick Cheung (張家輝), Louis Koo (古天樂), and Francis Ng (吴镇宇). The movie brought in 606.2 million RMB at the Chinese box office, and a sequel to the movie has been well underway.

Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy <使徒行者2: 谍影行动> sees the return of the male leads Nick, Louis, and Francis. Unfortunately, none of the franchise’s original cast members will be returning for the sequel.

Parts of the movie were filmed in Spain during is the running of the bulls event. The director, Jazz Boon (文偉鴻), decided to incorporate this event into one of the movie’s action scene. “We used real bulls to film the backdrop of that scene. We used computer graphics later to complete the action scene, so the scene looks more realistic. At first, the Spanish government was very against using bulls for filming. Even if it were a Hollywood film, they would still use just a green screen. Fortunately, they saw our proposal and, for the first time, agreed to let us use one street to film it.”

Nick is a notoriously passionate actor. To prepare for his role and fully immerse into his character in the 2013 movie, Unbeatable <激戰>, Nick underwent an extreme diet to achieve his best physical fitness. Similarly with Line Walker 2, Nick performed many of his own stunts and action scenes in the hopes of giving the audience a sense of realism in his character portrayal. With his method of honing his craft, is comes as no surprise that Nick has suffered many injuries through the years. Despite so, he still fervently holds on to his approach. “There was a time when I jumped down and broke my foot. When filming Unbeatable, I also broke my finger. These are all just examples though. Even if you film a movie without action scenes, there could still be accidents. As an actor, you have to be prepared both mentally and physically, so you have to get into place and do your warm ups ahead of time. If people have already prepared everything for you to film the scene as safe as possible, but you do not take care of yourself and do your part, then it would be even easier for you to get hurt.”

Friendship with Louis

In Line Walker 2, Louis and Nick will have a strong brotherly bond. Although the two award-winning actors have cultivated their friendship off-screen due to their numerous collaborations, Nick emphasized that the overt loyalty and brotherhood is exaggerated. In regards to his insight about friendship, Nick shared, “It’s important to be honest with each other. The relationship can be genuine only if there is honesty. If you ask your friend about something and he beats around the bush and can’t even give you a straight answer, then you know there is no point is saying anything more. You are just wasting your time.” Similar to Nick, Louis is also very passionate about acting and the entertainment industry. Their shared love for the craft is their root of their friendship.

Jazz, however, feels that the three actors’ bond in the film has leaked into real life as well. He recalled, “Perhaps Nick did not realize that he retained some of the brotherly feelings after the cameras stopped rolling. I remember one scene where the three finally come to realize each of their true identifies–they were exchanging ideas about how to make each of the characters stand out more. Instead of thinking about themselves and how they can stand out in this scene, they were thinking about each other and of the trio as a whole.”

“Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy” Trailer

Source: hket

This article is written by Huynh for JayneStars.com.