He was one of TVB's leading actors in the late 1990s. But Gordon Lam Ka-tung gave up small screen success in 2001 to commit himself entirely to film. After playing supporting roles in movies such as Infernal Affairs, A World Without Thieves and Johnnie To Kei-fung productions, Lam recently took on first-time duties as producer of the nostalgic kung fu comedy, Gallants.
Lam, 42, took a year off acting to concentrate on the movie, co-directed by Derek Kwok Chi-kin and Clement Cheng Sze-kit. Gallants, which opened on Thursday, received rave reviews when it screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy. It will also be shown at the New York Asian Film Festival this month.
What motivated you to produce this movie?
After launching Focus First Cuts [a project to showcase young Asian filmmakers launched by Andy Lau Tak-wah's movie company], Andy wanted to kick-start other film projects and asked if I was interested in taking part, but I was busy with Johnnie To's movies at the time.
Then Derek [Kwok] contacted me while I was shooting Ip Man. During a break in filming, I returned to Hong Kong to meet him. He showed me the script of Gallants and said he wanted to use veteran actors in the movie. I thought he was really bold. I don't really know about the market but what I learned from To is that sometimes you don't need big stars in your movie. All you have to do is guide them and you can turn them into stars. I thought we should give it a shot.
I think the Hong Kong film industry is skewed right now. People constantly talk about regional co-operation. Yes, everyone wants to have a bite of the 1.3-billion-person market on the mainland. But what about the seven-million-strong audience in this city? To an extent, movies reflect a place's culture. If local movies lose their Hong Kong character, that's pretty dangerous.