Ekin Cheng has had a front row seat to the significant changes experienced by the Hong Kong film industry over the past 40 years.
The actor and Cantopop singer, whose breakout role as a triad member in 1996’s Young And Dangerous shot him to stardom, says: “Back in the heyday, film sets in Hong Kong were full of agitated, angry people.
“There was lots of yelling and cursing. Even if you were making a comedy, the atmosphere on set was still enormously intense. Today, the younger generation is easy-going and more literate. They are much more sophisticated and cultured compared to the film crew from my generation.”
His latest role as a washed-up songwriter in romantic drama Last Song For You is a far cry from those action crime films of the 1990s, with Cheng revealing a more subtle, measured performance.
The film received its North American premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) on Monday (July 14), where Cheng was honoured with the Star Asia Award, recognising a career that spans more than 60 features. These include the Young And Dangerous franchise, fantasy epic The Storm Riders, romantic comedy My Wife Is 18 and dark thriller Rule Number One, for which he won best actor at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in 2008.
Speaking to Screen, Cheng says he sees positives in the challenges faced by the Hong Kong film industry, which has seen a major decline in production budgets and significant reduction in the number of local films being made.
“When you’re dealing with a smaller budget, you get more creative freedom,” he says. “Even though the market is shrinking, we’ve become more adventurous in our selection when greenlighting a project, where Hong Kong flicks were previously limited to action or gun-toting gangster films.”
He also recognises these challenges as a global issue and not one limited to Hong Kong. “Audiences have less patience for content and are more used to short clips, while movies take time to sink in,” says Cheng. “I hope the new generation of filmmakers can generate a new vibe for modern audience.
“Trends have changed. Back in the old days, people rushed to auditoriums as big as possible, then gradually multiplex cinemas were everywhere. Nowadays, we have streaming platforms. Times have changed. We simply need to embrace it.”
‘Young And Dangerous’
It is a different world to the one that produced his breakout role. “It’s safe to say that Young And Dangerous is one of the best memories of my lifetime,” he recalls. “Not only because it has become a classic of Hong Kong cinema, but because of the process of making it.
“It was conceived as a small-budget film and we were all newbies in starring roles. The producers were hands-free,and we were given the freedom to improvise. Even the director, Andrew Lau, wasn’t considered a surefire success back then. We had the energy, crazy ideas, and daring spirit. It was such a wild and fun ride.”
Cheng started out making commercials in the mid-1980s and quickly won roles in TV series, graduating to film through David Lam’s 1992 drama Girls Without Tomorrow.
After Young And Dangerous, Cheng reunited with director Lau on 1998’s The Storm Riders, a wuxia fantasy feature that proved a critical and commercial success. The actor returned for 2009 sequel The Storm Warriors, directed by the Pang brothers, and a third instalment has long been touted. However, Cheng is not certain about the viability of the project or his return.
“In the case of a gigantic production like [Storm Riders 3], it would stir up many considerations, top of which would be how to recoup the budget after so many flops in the market,” he says. “Investors would contemplate whether the audience wants to see the film or is ready for it.”
On returning to the Storm Riders universe, Cheng adds: “I’d love to reprise the role, but if you ask me what’s the best way forward now, I think it deserves a fresh reboot with an entirely new cast and new filmmakers to start over.”
‘Last Song For You’
More recently, Cheng’s attention has turned to more nuanced roles in the likes of Last Song For You. Marking the feature directorial debut of Jill Leung and produced by Wilson Yip, it co-stars rising star Natalie Hsu.
Cheng plays a songwriter who has lost his inspiration and meets his former childhood sweetheart in hospital. After she dies, a teenage girl claiming to be her daughter asks him to scatter her mother’s ashes in Japan, fulfilling her final wish.
The story, which has a fantasy twist, was presented to Cheng during the pandemic.
“Wilson Yip brought me the project during Covid, when everything was frozen in time,” he recalls. “To be completely honest, when [director] Jill first told me the story, I didn’t understand what he was trying to convey until he said the story was actually about a musician. That struck a chord with me.”
Cheng has enjoyed a successful music career, releasing several albums since the early 1990s, but credits composer Chan Kwong-wing for writing most of his hits and hunting for songs that fit his style.
“My better half, Chan Kwong-wing, is a real deal musician, so I urged them to connect and rework the script together,” he says. “They really dug deep into the world of a professional musician and when Jill returned with a revised draft months later, I knew the script was ready to go.”
“Technically speaking, my character is a persona of Chan Kwong-wing at a certain stage of his lifelong career,” Cheng reveals. “However, he is not as edgy and emotional as my character. I added more edge and rage to it.”
The film was released in Hong Kong at the end of 2024, landing seven nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and played Rotterdam, Osaka and Udine film festivals before NYAFF. The festival in New York also hosted a 35mm screening of Young And Dangerous.
Cheng will next be seen in Taiwan drama series The Internet Celebrity from the producers of Netflix’s Light The Night.
“Life is never easy,” adds Cheng. “When you start from zero as a singer and gradually achieve something, to the point of success, you’d be over the moon. However, when you drop from the top of the world, figuring out how to reclaim that apex is deeply troubling.
”This is part of the core of Last Song For You. From my own experience, I can tell you it’s all about your attitude. There were times I chose to hold my stance, but there were also times I had to follow the current. I can foresee future generations facing these same issues.”
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