THE CLOWN PRINCE of Hong Kong cinema may be a victim of his own success. Despite having starred in recent top-grossing productions, Ronald Cheng Chung-kei says he doesn't enjoy making movies. 'My roles are getting repetitive,' he says. 'And I don't understand the filmmaking process.'
It may seem a surprising response from the 34-year-old singer-actor, but it's an honest one. Cheng plans to steer his career off-screen to focus on music.
'I set up my own studio at home this year, and hope to 'retire' from the stage next year, when my recording contract ends,' says Cheng, who performs a series of concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum this weekend. 'I may earn less, but I would definitely be happier producing and arranging music.'
Carving a niche in the studio isn't likely to be easier. Despite having grown up in the music industry - his father is a senior industry executive - Cheng has had a turbulent career. He enjoyed a promising start in the late 1990s, quickly establishing a name as a talented singer of melancholic ballads. But success went to his head, and Cheng almost wrecked his music career in 2000 after going on a drunken rampage on a flight from Los Angeles to Taipei. He was arrested, found guilty of attacking the crew, and received a suspended jail sentence.
Six years later, Cheng has put behind him that negative image as the unruly scion of an indulgent, wealthy father. The rehabilitation took a roundabout route.
Director Vincent Kok Tak-chiu spotted Cheng's cross-dressing performance in a TVB skit, and invited him to repeat it in the 2003 Lunar New Year comedy My Lucky Star. Audiences loved his wacky persona, leading to roles in other slapstick comedies, including Dragon Reloaded (2003), about a spoilt brat with a sense of justice, Super Model (2004), in which he played a flamboyant celebrity, and Himalaya Singh (2005), about a daft yogi finding harmony with the universe. All did well at the box office, inviting comparisons between him and comedy king Stephen Chow Sing-chi.