Tenky Tin Kai-man says his two loves in life are making films and tasting great food - which explains why he finds his latest venture, Shaolin Girl, such a joy. A take on Shaolin Soccer (the Stephen Chow Sing-chi-directed comedy from 2001 about a team of martial arts fighters using their skills to play football), the film was shot in Japan, with Tin and Lam Tze-chung among the few Hong Kong actors from the original.
Tin (below right) says he and Lam (left) spent a fair amount of time trying out different foods in Japan and he took the opportunity to practise his Japanese. He could have used it more frequently, he says, if only there had been more need for him to communicate with the local cast and crew on set, apart from exchanges with director Katsuyuki Motohiro.
'We had a lot of interaction and discussions when we were producing [Shaolin Soccer] in Hong Kong,' he says. 'It's especially essential for comedies, as simply reading from the script is not going to be funny at all. Shooting in Japan is different - actors are supposed to memorise the script rigorously, and no one can ever change any words in the script except the director.'
A veteran of Hong Kong cinema, Tin has been Chow's trusted lieutenant for the past decade, both on screen (usually as a fumbling sidekick) and off (doing organisational work for Chow's films). He says he admires the resources, advanced technology and good working attitudes in Japan, and the discipline that is evident at every level in the production team. 'Even the people doing the sets participated earnestly,' he says.
It's hardly surprising Tin values the deference of his Japanese colleagues; a similar attitude has been key to his success in Hong Kong's film industry in the past two decades. His nickname,
Tin Kai - meaning 'the frog' in Chinese - is apt for a small player who's always the sidekick and never the hero, the minion following orders rather than calling the shots