As one of the most renowned stars in the Hong Kong film industry, Cheung began his acting career in the late 1980s after previously serving as a police officer. During his early days, he worked as an extra or in cameo roles and did stunts, enduring pain and injuries when required to perform realistic kicks or beatings.
"I entered the film industry during that era. Despite it being a tough period, I felt proud to see that I could successfully complete these challenging stunts," says Cheung.
With those early years helping him accumulate experience in performing stunts, he reveals that he took regular exercise under the guidance of a foreign action choreographer and performed a lot of the action sequences in Wolf Hiding himself.
One of his most impressive sequences includes a fierce fight between Chen, his two friends, and the gangsters in an abandoned shipyard, as the protagonists attempt to rescue some young women who have been kidnapped.
Actor Ethan Juan, who portrays one of the friends — a police officer — says that the fight scene was filmed over the course of five days, amid inclement weather caused by a typhoon hitting Guangdong province. Each day, shooting had to resume from where it left off the previous day, requiring the actors to vividly depict a state of exhaustion while also fiercely battling the criminals.
"I needed to find the right way to approach each day's filming. So, I discussed with the director, 'can I engage in a brief fight with the stunt performers three times before each shot, and then continue filming the fourth time without resting?' By artificially inducing a sense of fatigue, I felt content with the final visual effect," says Juan.
As seasoned actors with years of experience in the film industry, they each have their own views on how to deliver a great performance. While Cheung believes that a good script and a good director lay the foundation for an actor's success, Juan says he relies on reading books, watching more movies, and listening to music to enrich his knowledge and better prepare himself for future projects.
Currently, the movie has earned a rating of 9.3 points out of 10 on Maoyan and 9.1 points on Taopiaopiao, two of the country's largest online ticketing platforms.
