Oriental Daily Interview with Bowie Lam: Better than simply ‘digging gold’ up North (Part 4)

After winning the Asia TV King award, Bowie Lam, who left TVB this past May, has been heavily sought after by Mainland production companies. Rumored to be making 18 million yuan, Bowie revealed that his target is not just the Mainland, but rather all of Asia. Recently, he was also invited to participate in a Japanese TV drama as male lead – looks like he has opportunities that are better than simply ‘digging gold’ up North (Mainland)!

** The following are Bowie’s words as recorded by the reporter:

When my contract with TVB expired in May, I actually did not have any target whatsoever with where I wanted to go – all I knew was that even in places as far off as Urumqi and Harbin [TN: both in China], people knew who I was. Therefore, I wanted to venture out and see what other options existed. Not long after my contract expired, a Mainland investor wanted to sign me right away, but I did not go for it. Even though I was anxious to get back to work, I had a clearer goal in mind. I thought to myself that I couldn’t just be worth 18 million yuan – doing a few commercials and live performances already surpasses that amount! Even if they were to give me lots of money, if I had to film bad series, how many years would that last? Three times 18 million yuan is barely 60 million yuan – definitely not enough to last an entire lifetime!


More than one opportunity

Turns out that later on, I was given more and more opportunities. At the same time that I received a very very good script from a company in the Mainland, I also received an invitation from Fuji Television in Japan to film the series <> (六個陌生人). I felt that this series was a perfect opportunity, practically made for me -- even the Mainland production company agreed, so of course, which option was I going to choose? Later, the Mainland company told me that they would clean up their script a bit and wait for me.

Right now, Bowie Lam isn’t just heading up North, but rather the sights are set on Asia as a whole. The series I will be filming for Fuji Television is a collaboration with Karasawa Toshiaki and other popular artists – it will be filmed using the method of a high definition movie and will air in both Japan as well as Korea. I will be playing the role of the group leader and it is first male lead – definitely makes more of a ‘splash’ than heading up North!


No intentions to become singer again

Though there is an imminent battle between the TV stations in HK, which will allow for more artistic freedom, I actually feel it is necessary to look farther out and take things to a higher level. In the future, my goal is to film 3 series every 2 years, with 1 of the series being an HK production – but that series must have a good script.

As far as re-entering the music industry, to be honest, I never really thought about it. If you ask me to perform for a live show or sing at an event for 45 minutes, I’ll definitely throw myself into it – just treat it like a concert. But if you ask me to become a singer again, I would be hesitant, as I don’t like memorizing song lyrics for some reason – even I don’t understand why!