Tony Leung Speaks About New Film, “The Silent War”

As The Silent War <聽風者> is about to be released, Tony Leung (梁朝偉) embarks on a promotional tour and gives a rare media interview and a glimpse into his life.

Tony revealed that the only reason he signed on for The Silent War was because he admired Zhou Xun (周迅) as an actress and wanted the opportunity to act alongside her. Tony portrays a blind man who uses his gift of extraordinary hearing to listen and radio eavesdrop intelligence during the war with the help of agent Zhou Xun.

While Tony has played a blind character previously in films like Ashes of Time <東邪西毒>, Sound of Colors <地下鐵>, and Blind Romance <與龍共舞之偷偷愛你>, this is the first time he portrays a character who has extraordinary hearing. To prepare for his role, he spent time to research and carefully study how blind people rely on their hearing. The director also hired a professional informant to teach Tony how to interpret Morse Code.

Tony is a reputable actor who takes his roles seriously, perhaps due to the fact that he is a big movie buff. During the interview, Tony revealed that he started going to the theater at a young age to watch movies and that movies has become a significant part of his life. Tony also shared that he likes to watch all types and genres of movies. In his spare time, he tries to watch at least one film a day at home.

Tony said, “I feel really lucky to only spend a few dollars to watch a movie in the theater which cost the production company a lot to make.” As an actor himself, Tony is more appreciative of movies because he understands and appreciates all the effort it goes into making one.

Aside from being a lover of movies, Tony also shared that he enjoys reading detective novels,  stories in particular by author Lawrence Block. Tony said, “I’ve always liked the character of private investigator Matthew Scudder in the novel Eight Million Ways to Die and wanted to turn it into a film. So one year, when I was in New York filming 2046, I invited Lawrence out and asked him to write a script for me. The film had to be made in New York since that is where the novel was based and I envisioned the character to be an American-born Chinese. However, I did not particularly enjoy the script as much as the novel itself, so the film was never made.”

The Silent War is an adaptation of the novel, Plot <暗算>, authored by Mak (麥家). When Mak learned that Tony was cast as the lead, he breathed a sigh of relief and told the director that he trusted Tony to embrace the role. The directors, Alex Mak (麥兆輝) and Felix Chong (莊文強), also revealed that they wanted to place emphasis on Tony’s ears and shift the attention away from his eyes. However, after filming wrapped up, the directors joked that Tony’s attraction was so strong that even when they covered his eyes with sunglasses, his ears were still extremely attractive.

The Silent War premieres in theaters August 10^th.

Sources: Sina.com,  World Journal

This article is written by Natalie for JayneStars.com.

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