Life on the dark side
Most people may know model-turned-actor Daniel Wu Yin-cho best as a charming face that appears in skin care adverts, but having acted for more than a decade, Wu has proved that he is more than just a mannequin, but an actor with morals and instincts.
Speaking about his new film, Overheard which opens on Thursday, Wu says his character, Max, was a departure from the villain roles he has taken on for most of his career.
'This character is very reflective of modern young people. He's a young cop, very ambitious and opportunistic, who's trying to quickly find success,' Wu says, adding Max is much like he was himself in his 20s.
'I think when you're in your 20s, you think you're invincible and everything is right and everything comes from the self-centred place; Max is similar to the younger me.
'When you get older and more mature, you'll realise not everything should be centred around you, and you start to think about other people around you before you make a decision,' the actor says.
In the film, which also stars Sean Lau Ching-wan and Louis Koo Tin-lok, Max is a police officer whose duty is to eavesdrop on people's conversations to collect evidence and sensitive information for investigations.
But when he overhears insider trading information that could make him a fortune, he is faced with a dilemma.
Without giving the plot away, Wu says Max makes some very bad decisions, and ultimately hurts everyone around him.
'My character just made a bad decision. He thought money would help him out in his life, and he thought doing some insider trading wouldn't hurt anybody. In the end, it hurt everyone and everybody paid for it.
'Sometimes you realise your surroundings are more influential on your decision-making than on yourself,' Wu adds.
Renowned director Derek Yee Tung-shing once said Wu was almost tailor-made to play the villain. But Wu rejects the idea that his two most recent characters, Max and Jie - his character in Shinjuku Incident - are bad guys, although he recognises they are nothing like himself.
'It's interesting to do darker characters because they're exploring a side I don't get to see much of in real life,' he says.
While he was raised in the United States and feels very close to his birth country, Wu feels his future career lies in Asia.
'I'd love to go back [to America] again. America is my home, but at the same time I'm not sure how they view Asian males. If you look at every single role out there, including Jet Li or Jacky Chan, they are kung fu [masters] or triads; the view of Asian males is very, very narrow,' he says.
'You never see the Asian guy get the girl, or even have a sense of humour; and I'm not interested in going back to play characters that are stereotypes like that.
'It's different here. I do a movie for myself, whereas if I'm doing a movie there, I kind of represent a lot of Asian Americans, and it's my responsibility to do it correctly.'
As his career blossoms, Wu hopes to explore as much as he can, and keep the audience guessing by playing unexpected roles. If he gets his wish, expect to see the chiselled jaw appear in a kung fu movie soon.
