THE past year has been like a professional homecoming for Tony Leung Kar-fai.
After the surge of international attention that greeted Leung following his steamy role in Jean-Jaques Annaud's The Lover, the actor finds his home-town shining the spotlight on him once again.
Quite simply, Hongkong has rediscovered a favoured son. With mature good looks to back up his acting talent, Leung is the hottest male star on the circuit, and at Friday's Hongkong Film Awards ceremony, he looks likely to prove it.
He has been nominated twice in the Best Actor category for his roles in King of Chess and '92 Legendary La Rose Noire, and Leung's range and versatility could not be better demonstrated. While King of Chess was a critically acclaimed drama, La Rose Noire went to the extreme in its riotous spoof of 1960s melodramas.
Despite the double nomination, he remains characteristically modest about his chances of attaining an HKFA statuette.
''I'm quite worried, actually,'' Leung said. ''I think it's bad because I have two nominations. Maybe some of the people will like King of Chess and maybe the others will like La Rose Noire. So, maybe I'll get 10 points for one film and five for the other when really I need 15 on one to win - so I'll probably lose!'' Although the accolades began three years ago when Leung won Taiwan's Golden Horse award for his performance in Farewell My China, it was not until Annaud cast him in The Lover that he became a hot international property.
Annaud was not the first Western director to seek Leung's classic good looks for the silver screen. Bernardo Bertolucci wanted him to play the title role in The Last Emperor, but Leung turned it down due to previous commitments. The role went to John Lone.