Hong Kong actor Tony Leung (梁朝偉) on Saturday received a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival, brushing away his tears as he was given a prolonged standing ovation.
“It is like a dream come true,” Leung told Reuters TV.
Leung gained international recognition for his roles in movies made by Wong Kar-wai (王家衛), such as In the Mood for Love (花樣年華), which came out in 2000, and 2046, which hit the screens four years later.
Photo: AFP
He also appeared in a trio of movies that won the top Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival — A City of Sadness (悲情城市) by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), Cyclo by Vietnamese director Anh Hung Tran and Lust, Caution (色,戒) by Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安), who handed him his award on Saturday.
Talking to reporters ahead of the ceremony, 61-year-old Leung said that acting had helped him become less shy.
“I used to suppress all the feelings inside. I didn’t show all my feelings in front of others,” he said.
He also discussed his upcoming work, including the Hong Kong crime thriller The Goldfinger (金手指), which opens at the end of the year and reunites him with Andy Lau (劉德華), his costar from the 2002 hit Infernal Affairs (無間道).
On that occasion, Leung played the hero, while Lau was the bad guy. This time their roles are reversed.
“I think it’s very challenging to me to play the bad guy,” Leung told reporters.
In another major challenge, Leung said he was about to make his first European film, Silent Friend, directed by Hungary’s Ildiko Enyedi.
“I plan to spend like eight months [preparing for it] because I’m playing a neuroscientist. I have no idea about what neuroscience is. So I have to read a lot of books and I have to do a lot of university hopping,” Leung said.
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