Sammul Chan: Having a leisure time in this fleeting life-Part 1

Translation: cherishheart and ling gan
Source: Baidu

As this article is so long, it is divided into 2 parts so you guys, the readers, won't get too overwhelmed and giddy in reading them. Part 2 will follow soon. Happy reading.
Sammul Chan is a really busy guy. I wouldn't have noticed that if I didn't meet him in person for the interview. What I remembered most when I saw him were that graceful, lovely, and well-manered looks of his. He generously displayed his genial smiles on his face, making the people around him feel happy and relaxed. Drawing quite an inappropriate analogy, as he said it, that the more a series can make the viewers laugh heartily, the more painful it is for the actors to act it. But it seems that every person who come into contact with Sammul will be inadvertenly influenced by his sincerity right away, as it feels comfortable to be have him around. It turns out that guys can also be this "pure." However, it looks like that he makes himself has to bear the "burden" of "mission," that is to entertain the people. He said he has to achieve that goal always, as he can't always depend on those 3 words, Chan Kin Fung, to be successful. But he said it's not a huge sacrifice for him, because there are so many people that are happy for him. Compared to his fellow siusangs, Sammul's looks isn't the most beautiful one, but he is indeed the most gentle and easy-going one. His facial features are delicate, his characters are pure and admirable, his looks are refreshing, and is a sparkingly bright man. Appreciating his every move, it reminds me of Na Lan Ke Ruo, the first beautiful man of the Qing Dynasty who was missed by everyone and made people feel sentimental hearing his name. He was also one of the three big poets of the Qing Dynasty. The most important thing is to live up to one's reputation, he's conduct was admirable, and was also a sincere man.

In the beginning...
We had an appoinment to meet him at 8 am for the interview and some photo shots, and we had to finish by 11.30 am, as he had to continue filming his series. I haven't got the opportunity to ask him what time he got up, and left home, because I was astonished seeing that he's on time, knowing that leaving home in the morning in Beijing isn't a piece of cake, as he at least had to sacrifice his time twice as much. In the evening, he had to go from the western disrict to the eastern one, to the airport, to catch his plane to go to Shanghai for a promotion activity. From his schedule, we can see that he's seizing every minute and second, so hectic. But he said he's used to it. His relaxed disposition even made me and my team who were panicked and rushed by the tight time to adapt our breathing and steps to his easy-going style. Controlling everything in a proper way, and successfully doing our job. Early in the morning in Beijing, in an alley below the foothill of the Forbidden City, we strolled around the area around there with Sammul, and finally took some perfect photo shots. After the interview, I made sure with him the accuracy of the "going out" photo plan, as Sammul told me that he likes everything that is real and natural. He doesn't like it when his photos are edited by photoshop, by those highly technological machines, as they are inanimate, thus his photos would also be soulless and cannot be "alive" anymore.

Actually, I also have some other opinions, I want challenge and harmony. A young Hong Kong artist has to live with the Beijing town people seems like incompatible, but if he really gets in and tries, he will have some unexpected suprises waiting for him along the way.

This alley in Beijing doesn't look that pretty, moreover because of it's under construction, the floors are filled with debris, water stains that are still wet, we even can see dust flying around when there is sunlight. We could see some patched wooden doors, old-fashioned tricycle, some senior citizens walking in and out to exercise, and some young people nibbling on their breakfast, you tiao, and are walking in a hurry. Life is as varied as fireworks, the view was so lively.

Sammul walks in this way, a new and fresh, yet makes-one-feel-like-home way. Getting peace from a raucous day can help one finds a quiet place that is needed by the mind. I have to thank Sammul because not everyone can adapt to this kind of life and live gracefully in this corrupted world.

Having some quiet and solitary time after soaking into the wine of the vain life, forgetting about fame and wealth, and tring to being content in doing everything, living a serene and leisure life and always smiling in living in the secular world. Hope Sammul can lead this kind of life.
The Academy filming in progress

Reporter : How is the progress for the filming of TA3?

Sammul : The filming has already started for over ten days, we jumped quite a lot between earlier and later scenes, because after a backdrop is set up, we need to finish all the scenes in that setting first, then it will be demolished and a new backdrop will be set up for other scenes. Sometimes after we finished a scene in the morning, went home for a short rest, came back in the afternoon, a new setting was already set up, it was incredible! We just finished filming the scenes of our home (me and Ron) in the earlier stage, now we are filming scenes in the police station. I recalled in filming OTFB, there was a street scene in Jordan, the crew did not arrange for people to act as tourists, incidentally there were three tourists nearby, all were quite young, the crew asked for their help and they promptly agreed. It was quite fun like that!

R: Have you seen Kathy Chow who just returned to TVB?

S: I’ve seen her during costume fitting, but after that I have not met her. (Will you be acting opposite her?) Yes, yes, later it will talk about Ka Kei and Kathy being two sisters, and Kathy will move in to live with us. But she dislikes me, because I killed her husband. He is a criminal, and I kill him when chasing after him, and I will be commended by getting a medal or something like that for it.

R: What is the biggest difference from the first two installments? It’s a rare case to have a third installment even for TVB.

S: The biggest difference is…if you want to watch scenes like those in the police cadet school, you will be disappointed, there is not much on the friendship between the cadets. Not possible to have all three installments in the cadet school, never graduating, unless I became the instructor (laugh). This new installment is more like normal police film, chasing after criminals. Basically, there are two parts, one part will have its main focus on Michael Miu and the triads, the other part is on the police. Michael is not my father this time, but another character, just that it’s played by him. Hence we would have a big misunderstanding, I thought he was my father, but it turned out he was a thief.

R: One regret is that the actresses are always being changed, a lot of audience are not used to it.

S: That’s right. They joked that all my girlfriends would die. I couldn’t do anything about it, it was true they all died, all without good ending (laugh).

R: Since you are so ‘ill-fated’, wouldn’t you have relationship phobia in the third installment?

S: (Laugh) That has to depend on the director and the producer, I can’t do anything about it. Actually before starting the new relationship there would definitely be a period of reminiscence, it is only later on I start to fall in love with another person. (Ron’s character is luckier than yours?) No, he also has to change partner. Tavia’s character went overseas and would get married. The real reason was Tavia has to film another series (laugh).

R: If it is the original cast, what do you think?

S: It could be boring if it was the same cast all the way to the third installment. New faces are like fresh blood, they may bring in new chemistry!

R: What is the biggest change to Pak Kiu in the third installment?

S: Pak Kiu has learnt to let go in this series. In the last installment, he dared not fire his gun, but this time he is determined to fire. He has let go of many other things too, like his feelings for his girlfriend, his feelings for his dad, and his career, he is more mature in handling many aspects of his life, therefore he got the promotion. (Is his feelings for his girlfriend different from the first two series?) Um, yes. He feels that Ka Kei is the same type as him, same kind of personality, keeps everything to herself, not expressive of her feelings, her personality is also quite dependent, quite tough. (What if in reality both do not like to talk?) They may be more compatible. Actually, when they wrote this character, they based it on my real character, take for instance, you may see me as talkative, but when I’m home, I do not talk, I keep a lot of things to myself. If my other half is also such a person, it may be a lot easier to understand each other. For example, sometimes I do not wish people to come and disturb me, she will understand, oh, I won’t go and talk to him, just give him some room. In that case, I won’t have to explain so much. (What kind of girl will you choose?) (laugh) This…this is hard to say, cannot predict actually. I think I better choose one who can cook (laugh), even if our personalities are different, at least I still have something to eat, will not go hungry (big laugh) !

R: You really like to ‘eat’?

S: Yes, I like to eat anything that can be eaten, but I can’t recently, because there is a swimming scene in TA3, so I can only eat boiled vegetables. When I ate outside, people were astonished, they asked ‘salt?’ I said no, ‘oil?’ I said no. People would then be curious how I could eat such tasteless food, I said, I can eat it, it’s tasteless, but I like it! (Do you really like it? Or you were just forced to?) I like it, because it’s been a long time, so I’m used to it. Hong Kong people like to drink coffee, tea and lemon tea, I’ve gotten used to drinking without sugar. Taste is a habit which can be changed, take your time. (If there is no restriction for you to eat?) Then I like to eat almost anything, Peking Roast Duck, Shanghai food is also very delicious, like Shanghai dumplings, crabs (laugh) oh I love this one. Fried dumplings, noodles, I love them all. The only thing I don’t eat is bamboo shoots, I can’t stand the smell --- except asparagus.