{"id":2568,"date":"2026-06-20T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T08:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2568"},"modified":"2026-06-20T08:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T08:06:00","slug":"tony-leung-reflects-on-silent-friend-wong-kar-wai-and-why-his-films-must-be-seen-in-cinemas-at-shanghai-masterclass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2568","title":{"rendered":"Tony Leung Reflects on \u2018Silent Friend,\u2019 Wong Kar-wai and Why His Films Must Be Seen in Cinemas at Shanghai Masterclass"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nTony Leung Chiu-wai told a full house at the Shanghai International Film Festival that his restrained performance style demands the full cinematic experience to be felt, speaking at a masterclass following a screening of his film \u201cSilent Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cSometimes it might just be something on my fingers, you must watch very carefully, and it must be in cinema,\u201d Leung said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe actor, serving as jury president of the festival\u2019s Golden Goblet Awards competition, spoke at length about his collaboration with Hungarian writer-director Ildik\u00f3 Enyedi on \u201cSilent Friend,\u201d which traces a relationship across three generations of scholars and a more than 200-year-old ginkgo tree. Leung admitted the script did not immediately draw him in.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn fact, after I read the script she sent, I really wasn\u2019t that interested in it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe script was a three-chapter story; I could not imagine what it would be like as a film. Also, that was before the time I started to learn more about plants, so to me it was like, just plant, humans and animals\u2019 background.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat changed his mind was a video call with Enyedi after he had watched her previous films \u201cOn My Body and Soul\u201d and \u201cThe Story of My Wife.\u201d Leung said he trusted instinct over analysis when assessing potential collaborators.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI always feel the person whom I meet rather than use my brain to analyze them, because in that way you calculate,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt good about her. I trusted my gut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEnyedi wrote the role of Professor Tony Wong with Leung specifically in mind and adjusted the central tree from another species to a ginkgo to suit him. Leung explained the choice.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe told me the original tree was a different species; I forgot the name, but they mate with the help of bats,\u201d he said. \u201cThe film is about loneliness. Trees only share information with their own kind but not the outsider. My character is from the east, so is the ginkgo tree. In an ancient garden in Germany, the ginkgo is lonely as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo inhabit a neuroscientist, Leung spent six months reading books on plants and neurobiology and visiting laboratories to observe experiments firsthand. Around the third or fourth month, he said, the scientist\u2019s mindset took hold without him consciously trying. He described thorough preparation as the condition for freedom on set, noting that the more prepared he was, the more shooting felt like play rather than obligation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOtherwise [the shooting] would become a stressful burden, no fun at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tLeung compared the atmosphere of \u201cSilent Friend\u201d \u2013 a small production \u2013 favorably to Tran Anh Hung\u2019s \u201cCyclo,\u201d on which he also worked with a tight crew and room to improvise, rather than to the scale of Marvel\u2019s \u201cShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.\u201d Of Enyedi\u2019s working method, he said: \u201cShe left a great space for not just me but the whole crew to work freely, and she never told me how to act or where I should stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLeung divided his career into three stages. Television came first; an early turning point arrived when he encountered director Hou Hsiao-hsien and was moved by the naturalism of non-professional actors in \u201cCity of Sadness.\u201d Two decades of collaboration with Wong Kar-wai then formed the bedrock of his style. He was candid about how that long partnership could complicate subsequent work.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cAt the beginning of \u2018Lust, Caution,\u2019 the costume and hairstyle made me feel like I was on set of \u2018In the Mood for Love,’\u201d he said. \u201cSo I felt something was wrong, I asked Ang Lee to give me a hint [so I could reposition myself].\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added, with characteristic humor, that if he were to keep acting until 90 and a stage lasted 30 years, he was already in his final one. He noted that different directors bring entirely different working methods \u2013 some impose a precise vision, some grant latitude but demand rigorous preparation, while Wong Kar-wai operated experimentally, shooting a single scene many times over.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn talent and its cultivation, Leung was prompted by an audience member who held up an \u201cInfernal Affairs\u201d poster and cited Andy Lau\u2019s description of him as a performer who excels even in weak films. Leung pushed back on any notion of innate, effortless ability.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne must put effort because, even with your talent [in acting], it needs to be developed,\u201d he said. \u201cLiking what you do is a good start of your talent; what matters is to continue to let it grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe recalled recognizing his own pull toward acting immediately upon starting out. \u201cI immersed myself completely in it; I didn\u2019t want to stop at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked whether he hoped to surpass his past work, Leung was philosophical. \u201cToo many hopes usually lead to disappointment,\u201d he said. \u201cBetter to let yourself be surprised. Have what interesting things happen, I\u2019ll just do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe said he was open to the narrowing of available roles that comes with age. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing you can do as it happens naturally.\u201d On father roles in particular, he quipped: \u201cNo rush. In the future there will be more dads, I don\u2019t have that many choices left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLeung said his performance approach has shifted over the years toward conveying emotion through minimal physical detail rather than overt expression \u2013 a mode that only registers fully on the big screen. He said he can now absorb failure without distress, though he dislikes watching his own work back.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen an audience member posed a hypothetical choice between a flawed but distinctive film and a polished but unremarkable one, Leung said either would do, arguing that cinema\u2019s goal was sincerity, in performance or in a director\u2019s expression, rather than polish.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn why he has not pursued theater despite his wife, actress Carina Lau, currently working in stage productions, Leung was direct. \u201cI lack courage,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the stage is different from in the studio. I still feel nervous when I act in front of many people, so I\u2019d only do it after I overcome the stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLeung closed with a reflection on risk and growth, saying he had feared failure when young and had only recently begun venturing beyond his comfort zone, crediting maturity for the shift.<\/p>\n

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Tony Leung discussed “Silent Friend,” his Wong Kar-wai years and his restrained acting philosophy at his Shanghai Film Festival masterclass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[813,1764,2186],"class_list":["post-2568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-shanghai-international-film-festival","tag-tony-leung-chiu-wai-2","tag-wong-kar-wai"],"yoast_head":"\nTony Leung Reflects on \u2018Silent Friend,\u2019 Wong Kar-wai and Why His Films Must Be Seen in Cinemas at Shanghai Masterclass - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2568\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tony Leung Reflects on \u2018Silent Friend,\u2019 Wong Kar-wai and Why His Films Must Be Seen in Cinemas at Shanghai Masterclass - 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