'My film is the best way to show how deeply I'm in love with both acting and directing,' says Johnson Lee Sze-chit, whose directorial debut, Citizen King, will take its bow at the Hong Kong Asian Independent Film Festival on Saturday.
It's not difficult to see why: in the film, Lee (below) plays the titular character, an unemployed actor whose determination to succeed drives him to sign up for a crash-course in martial arts to build a DVD portfolio that will land him a role in a Hollywood production.
'The film reflects a very small part of the real me,' says the 34-year-old, who mostly acts in TVB soap operas as his day-job despite holding a fine arts degree from the University of Toronto, and having undertaken further studies at the New York Film Academy.
'I appreciate his persistence and patience when pursuing his passions and dreams, but the entertainment industry and society at large won't tolerate people like him. Citizen King is someone I wish I could be, but I know I can't be,' he says.
'I'm in no position to judge whether King is a genius or a psychopath. The idea is for the audience to fill their own colours and make up their own minds.'
In his film, his part alter-ego goes about town acting opposite strangers on the street and keeps a meticulous video collection of his improvised performances. A chance encounter with Hollywood producer Larry Mills (played by the US-born, Cantonese-speaking Brian Burrell) somehow propels King's ambitions beyond his candid-camera antics - but the first step is to present Mills with clips of his abilities as an action man. Which is how martial arts master Cheung (kung fu movie star Gordon Liu Ka-fai) comes into play.
Although a first-time director, Lee is no stranger to life behind the camera. 'Sure, this is my first feature-length film, but technically I know exactly what to do on set because that's what I do in TV dramas every day,' he says.