 HKCinemagic :
On Ballistic Kiss, you worked under Donnie Yen's instructions.
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| Jimmy Wong : Yes, Donnie is actually a very good friend of mine. I met him right before the movie and we just get along, talked, and became friends. That movie had potential but ran out of money. It was his second directorial effort but it wasn't the best time in his career. The beginning was interesting but towards the middle and the end the budget fell apart and the ending was completely cut. We had talks like, “Should we shoot this part of the movie?” I think it's one of the movies he wishes to redo or fix.
Annie Wu and Jimmy Wong in Balistic Kiss
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| HKCinemagic : We heard there was problem on the set between Donnie and Annie Wu as she didn't speak English.
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| Jimmy Wong : It was a part of the issues. The working relations certainly could have been better. |
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| HKCinemagic :
And as far as you are concerned, how was the film for you?
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Jimmy Wong :
It was fine, I just did my role. I know it was quite difficult for him [Donnie Yen] to do this movie so I just tried to help him as much as I could. We were just ashamed not to be able to do a lot of the ending. He had some ideas about the action for the ending but he was never able to try them.
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| HKCinemagic : As Donnie is your friend, you didn't ask him to play another part, to change from your usual bad guy impersonation
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| Jimmy Wong : No, but there is not really any other parts in this movie. And I don't mind to do the bad guy as long as it's well written. Often, in Hong Kong , the definition of bad guy is just to be over the top. That doesn't make sense! You may not like it but once you're on the set, everybody tell you: “You have to do it!” |
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| HKCinemagic : You also did an independent production called Slow Fade. Not very famous but with many qualities. |
| Jimmy Wong : It's quite an artistic work. The only thing with that script was that it was an English script. Then, translated into Chinese. And you lose a bit the flavour in the process. Because the director is kind of like me, grew up outside, his Chinese is ok but not great. |
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| HKCinemagic : Your interpretation of the killer is very convincing. I wanted to know if you did some preparation before shooting the film. |
| Jimmy Wong : I had more time to put into the film. And I enjoyed working on it, there was a good team. The director is my friend and we talked often about the script. And I worked on the transcript; I was quite involved in the production. I really enjoyed doing it. And this movie had more room for me to play with. He was a new director also and more opened to let me freedom in my interpretation. |
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| HKCinemagic : And what about Miles Apart, Michael Wong's first film? |
| Jimmy Wong : Miles Apart, it's a similar situation to Donnie Yen's movie. Problems of budget. Next time, we better do the ending first! (Laugh.) I got involved because Michael is a friend; he contacted me and proposed me the script. A lot of things were nice in it but it probably suffered from a lack of experience. I talked about it with Michael and he thinks the same. He has another script he wants to work on, so we'll see. Miles Apart had good potential… And he had good people to help him, his brother Declan… I'm sure next one will be much better. |
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| HKCinemagic : Still, we could feel he really put his heart into it. |
| Jimmy Wong : Yes, he really tried his best, had good people but unfortunately it ended a bit flat. |
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| HKCinemagic :
Do you remember how he shared the work with Gary Mak? |
| Jimmy Wong : The other director? I remember he was always there when I was shooting but I don't remember too much how they shared. Of course, when it's your first film and you're directing yourself, you need some help. |
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| HKCinemagic : What kind of directions did Michael Wong give you? |
| Jimmy Wong :
Basically, I had to look cool on the camera (laughs). He wanted me to look like a modern street gang guy. That kind of flavour. |
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| HKCinemagic :
A word about Phantom of Snake which Jade Leung said it was interesting visually but a boring movie. What do you think about it yourself?
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| Jimmy Wong : Yeah, I think the movie was very boring. The director had some ideas visually, he was an art director, but the story was very flat. There was not even much story… I have to say there are some movies, no matter how much you try, it's not gonna work (laughs). I give up on that one! |
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