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SCMP Reporter

Local reporter Paul Harrington has just made his film debut.

 The 35-year-old was one of dozens of local journalists and lawyers recruited to work as extras and bit part actors in The Chinese Box, the latest film by Chinese-American director Wayne Wang.

  Harrington is no stranger to the stage. For a time he ran his own stand-up comedy club in Hong Kong. But this was his first on-camera appearance.

  The movie, starring Gong Li and Jeremy Irons, follows the life and career of a British journalist working in Hong Kong during the handover.

 Harrington has already appeared in one scene, filmed at the Petticoat Lane bar in Central.

 Yesterday he auditioned for another scene.

What's on your mind?   This evening's casting call. It's for a scene that will be filmed at the China Club. It may be a handover party scene.

Will you have a speaking part?   Who knows? I might just blurt something out in the middle. Maybe: 'To flee or not to flee?' Have you met Gong Li or Jeremy Irons?   I haven't met Gong Li yet, though I hope she'll be in the China Club. I did meet Jeremy Irons. He's quite an engaging chap in his own way. He's got one great line in the Petticoat Lane scene. They're all standing around the table talking about the handover and he says in a drunken slur: 'I suppose they'll helicopter in Deng Xiaoping in a bottle of formaldehyde'.

  Between takes, old women kept pushing trolleys through the set in front of the bar. Jeremy Irons was quite captivated by the hard-working souls. Maybe they were his bodyguards in disguise.

What role did you play?   I played a journalist enjoying his drink at the bar - which wasn't exactly a stretch. I had to chat silently because they taped the background babble separately. My fear is that it will look like there are two deaf mutes trying to talk. I was sitting with someone I knew, so I kept leaning forward to try to catch what he was saying.

  I kept asking the bar staff for a glass of wine. They gave us some strange-coloured liquid that's supposed to look like wine. I didn't touch it, but I did have two very nice cigars. It was difficult: I was enjoying them but I had to try to keep them at the same length even though we kept doing the same scenes over and over again. I had to make sure that in the movie it wouldn't end up looking like I had a metre-long cigar one second and just a stub the next.



Extra! Journalist paid to sit in bar