10-2000, This is more of a monologue that I carry on myself. If you would like
to voice your opinion on this subject, you are welcomed to use the board.
Please note, a lot of the writing here simply demonstrate my opinion. Some
of you are bounded to disagree with me, but please bear in mind, that everyone
is entitled to speak their own opinion. If you come to surf on this page,
you have already accepted the fact that I am an unique individual who will speak my
mind freely. Tony may be my favorite HK actor, but that doesn't mean I
have to praise him every chance I got. Neither should you. It's
natural for public, in this case, a fan site, to speak critical about a public
figure's career and life. I am trying to be respectful of others,
and I hope you will do the same when you post on the board. Thanks for the
understanding.
What's Up Next?
The immediate question comes to my mind after Tony won the best
actor in Cannes was this: What's next for him?
Looking back his career, Tony's biggest problem is not dealing with
failure. He would always come back with a stronger surge. However,
the only time he failed to do so is when he is facing success. He had a
love-hate relationship with success. The more successful he got, the more
unhappier and emptier he felt about himself. Perhaps it's the tremendous drive he put on himself. He strives to achieve more yet he didn't realize
that everything takes time. Good script never
just fell into his laps from sky. Patience and acceptance is the key
to a healthy and happy lifestyle. He may never learn the trick, but it wouldn't
hurt if I am telling him now.
It's been several months since his Cannes inauguration. What's next for
him? He is got another WKW masterpiece coming, but 2046 is filled with so
many mega stars. It definitely will not be an individual achievement like
"ITMFL" for Tony. If you track WKW's record, the bigger the
casts the more troublesome the movie ends up. Whether WKW can break this
chain of curses remains to be seen.
As for Tony, he should not and can not depend his career on WKW. Yes,
they are a great team, should continue to team up as long as they remain successful. But as an artist, or a movie star precisely, he needs to
challenge himself. So where does he go from here?
He no longer has to worry about playing 2nd fiddle to anyone. With all
the big names gone west, such as Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li,
there are only a handful HK actors who are household names as well as box-office
hit. Tony is never known to be a box-office draw, maybe someday he might
become one. When that day comes, he might as well kiss his artistry
goodbye. Yes, commercialism and artistry could co-exist together, but in a
situation of mass production, artistry is often sacrificed. Movie is
rushed into final production without careful scripting (as evident in Healing
Hearts).
Whether he would turn out to be this solo-artist, or a commercial sell-out
remains to be seen.
The Bigger Question
The bigger question is perhaps: will he be able to weather the expectation
people set for him, and the expectation he sets for himself from this
point on.
Granted, he will make a few bad movies along the way,
but people will be less forgiven. After all, when you are the best actor
of Cannes, people expect more. And rightly so.
After the glory of ITMFL cools down, everyone would be looking at Tony and
pondering what's next for him.
He said he wants to direct. Okay, we will see him try that.
I just hope he won't set unrealistic expectation on himself.
The scary thing when you think about success is that you don't know if you
have reached the absolute top of the mountain. Is there another mountain to conquer?
Actually it all depends on how you think about it. If you are the pessimistic
person, you might think the only way is to go down. You
constantly live in the fear of sliding and falling. Then you shall fall. Temperament is very important. If you
don't have faith in yourself, it's pretty hopeless. But if you are optimistic, you
think there are bigger goals to achieve. You keep trying, even if you
fail, you've given out your best effort. Life isn't easy, but that's the way you want it to be. If you are
neither, then you take your chances with life, take whatever comes up, which
probably turns out to be not a whole lot. But you are content.
I always thought the hardest test of life is not when you are struggling,
it's when you are successful. How do you deal with your success tells a
lot about your character. Tony may have
taken quite a few miss steps during his early success. Though being a fan I would never
like to see him fail, but it's quite possible he couldn't live through the hype
that would follow him from now on. Perhaps he has learnt from past
mistakes, but that all has to do with what he does from now on.
I thought the timing of his success couldn't be more perfect. 18 years
into this acting profession, he has learnt all the trade and back
alleys. He shouldn't falter now. Not now, after all that trying
years, but like I said before, success tests a person's character more so than
failure. How he fare it remains to be seen. Only time will
tell.
Since we are speculating right now, might as well tell you what I think
it's going to happen.
Scenario 1:
Tony keeps on making films. His prime has passed. ITMFL
marks the high point of his life. We will see him fade. Believe or not, this might turn out
to be the most likely scenario however unacceptable it might sound.
But the truth of the fact is NOBODY can dominate for a long time, except for few
very talented people, who become the icons of their generation, such as Clint
Eastwood, John Wayne. Even the best of the best often did not fare too well at the
end. As big as Judy Garland was, she spent the last years singing on a
small stage in NY.
Scenario 2:
Tony turns commercial. He made a few box hits, and more money start
flowing his way. But then it faded. He becomes a
nobody.
Scenario 3:
Tony selects scripts carefully, manages to sustain his star power for another
10 years. Though he is never quite successful commercially, but he is well
appreciated by his peers and international movie goers.
What's in store for his romantic life?
In another word, what's going to happen between him and Carina? Yeah,
we know they have been going steady forever (more than 10 years).
There are no sign of marriage, heck, there are more signs of trouble than
marriage if you believe in the latest rumor. But that's not to say they
won't stick together until eternality. Whatever going on between Tony and
Carina is strictly their business. I do not wish to comment, nor care
to. However, I do wish Tony will find happiness when he decides to settle
down to start a family. This might sound corny, but I think a family will
change the value of life to a man. He would feel responsible to his wife,
to his kids. Though he might lose the freedom of a single life, but a
family will be very rewarding when a man reaches his middle age. Maybe
Tony hasn't seen through that yet, nor he did willing to see through that, but
one day when he settles down, he will find a new meaning to the life itself that
he is being desperately searching since young.
I often believe the best cure for his often unexplained depression is a solid
family support. When he has a child sitting on his lap, all unpleasant
thing happened in the day will be forgotten. It might be me speaking from a feminine point of view, but if
you are a guy into your 40's with a family, you might agree with me.
What's in store for this web site?
This is an issue all by itself. I just jam it in here since I am typing
and thinking at the same moment. Yeah, what happens to this website?
I don't know. I guess I should be the one who could answer that since I
have been building it for 3 years now. Initially it's only a site which I
built to display some of my Tony pictures, but now it's becoming a part of my
daily life, (and some of yours too). So what's the future for this website
has direct impact on me as well as on you, my readers.
I have been forever looking for new Tony websites. But these are hard
to come by. I don't know if Tony fans are just shy in nature, or there
aren't that many out there. Perhaps the latter is closer to the
truth. At any rate, I had thought if there would be an official Tony
website, or another Tony website that would carry this idol-worshiping-spirit on,
I might retire from this website and go on with my normal life. But as
more time I spent building it, the more attached it becomes to me, and me become to
it.
Simply put, I hate to see all the efforts go wasted if I close down this
site. Actually this site becomes my link to Tony Leung. If not for
building this website, my interest in his films would be short-lived. I
would remain a fan, but not a super fan like I am now. I am a super fan
only because I have to keep supplying the latest materials and news to the
outside world. It's not my responsibility to do so, but it ends up to be
an obligation that I have committed myself doing. I know it all sounds
quite confusing and the words are twisting, but seriously that's how I
felt. I don't think I am the number one Tony fan out there. I tend
to be more critical of him than others, but I am the webmaster of this
unofficial site, and that says enough about me as a devoted Tony fan.
What's next for this website probably had more to do with the readers of
this site. I will continue to put in effort as long as it's been
appreciated. It gives me satisfaction in knowing my work is being
appreciated. Frankly what I am doing here is not rocket science, and I am
not saving any lives by doing so. But it's a little space for Tony fans
around the globe to gather around, sharing information. It will not heal
any deadly diseases, nor it will bring peace to the world, but it has its value
when people find a common interest to share ideas on.
At times I do think it's a total of waste of time to me, as well as to you, my
readers, but the thought only comes across in the depressing days when I am all bummed
out from work, and other things. More often than not, I quite enjoy building the website and
sharing it with the outside world.
What's in store for you?
You might be wondering why should I speculate what happen's next for you, an
unknown visitor? Since I am talking in futuristic sense, it's kind of fun
to speculate all things and everything, so, don't take my words too
seriously.
You come to this site in the curiosity of learning more on Tony Leung.
With time, some of your casual fans will fade out, move on to other interest, or another
movie star. Some of your die-hards will always clinch to your
Tony Fable.
Perhaps you will meet Tony one day and marvel at the man who took you for a fancy
ride.
But everyone moves on. Perhaps not now, but eventually. Movie
stars are not meant to last forever. Your favorite star will always occupy
a special spot in your heart no matter how old you get. Many
years later, when you reflect back all the things you have done in life, this
won't be one of the things you regret doing because it's been a sweet and
wonderful ride.