You're welcome! You guys are very nice too...;) Here's the rest...
by smiley :)
Hiy guys! Here’s the 2nd half of the article…
Ooops! So sorry! I realised that I had forgotten to include the title…(It’s quite an interesting title accompanied with a very special caption…heehee :p)
Here goes...
Title: Anita Yuen – Crossing Boundaries
This is also part of the article….It’s the caption…
Having won two Chinese awards for Best Actress last year(1994) and chalking up critical acclaim for her performances in Tom, Dick and Harry and That’s Life, My Darling, Anita Yuen is not letting stardom get to her head. As Koh Joh Ting(the journalist who interviewed Anita and wrote this article) discovers, Anita Yuen’s determined to be herself…even if it means stepping on a few toes.
Here’s the 2nd half of the article…
Thus, when she declares with metallic self-awareness that “this job suits me fine because I have no fear,” you can be sure she’s focussed on the task at hand. “My weak point,” she says, her eyes large and blazing, “is that I cannot take no for an answer. The more people say I can’t play a man, the more I want to try. I’d rather die than lose out. As a kid, I was always getting into fights with my neighbours. They’d hold me back, and I’d fight more viciously. One girl I was quite mad with thought that just because I was a small, skinny thing, she could tease me. I ganged up with my brother who then grabbed her from behind, so that I could slap her hard. I kept hitting her until her lips bled.” (This part’s really shocking right guys? No insult but I think that its quite mean…but I have respected her even more – a million times more – than before now cos’ she has the COURAGE to admit her wrongdoing…unlike other artistes who would probably hide their bad points. Yup, I really agree with this article that “SHE IS HER.” I really like this characteristic of Anita! :p What do you guys think?)
But is this the way Anita’s going to deal with reporters who manhandle he, like those who harp incessantly about her “many man-friends(I don’t see what’s wrong with that..she doesn’t have to keep ‘sticking’ to Chi Lam right?),” her endless shopping and her supposedly overblown ego? “I’ve done enough interviews to know who to be wary of,” she says, her eyes giving out a steely glint. “I just steer clear of them, or I just make a joke out of every question the ask. I just don’t believe in being nice so that a reporter will like me. Good write-ups can make me very well-known, I can pretend I am that great, but what for? Why should I pretend to be anything else just so a reporter will like me? Neither would I lie about having a boyfriend for fear of alienating my fans. I don’t like to lie, I am me.” (That’s the spirit! Go Anita! Her strong convictions recall of the other Anita – Anita Mui, the grande dame of the Hong Kong biz. My(this is the journalist) interview subject is fearless and merciless, especially when Anita tells me about the “three chances” ground rule she sets with her personal staff. Basically, they have three chances to goof up, after which she bids them a curt farewell by showing them to the door.
You can also see it in the way Anita deals with the two journalists who interview her after I’m(the journalist) done. One wants to know if she actually declined to act for Derek Yee – the director who made her career with That’s Life – because he didn’t pay her enough(What a horrid journalist! Grr…). Anita clammed up immediately and would only afford a frosty reply: “No such thing.” The other journalist – a sad, serious looking girl with glasses – trains her auto focus on Anita, whose eyes literally roll to high heaven in exasperation. Anita is, in contrast, very cooperative with me(the journalist who wrote this article). Even when my (journalist) photographer sends her reeling with his complicated instructions, she does not pout. Perhaps I (the journalist) have asked the right questions or maybe my photographer had a bigger and flashier camera.
Anita’s upbringing certainly re-inforced her brazen expressiveness. Her father is a cop, as is her elder brother. Her mum is a housewife and her younger sister is still in school. Every week, the whole family would sit down for a family conference to go through the week’s big events – exam results, scuffles at school, or just plain discussions on whether dad is right about a decision or not (What a close-knotted, loving family.. :D). “We would be as critical as we liked, and scream and yell at each other. But we’re all quite close too, so we forgave and forgot after a giggle or two.” She’s therefore smart enough to know when not to play hardball. Despite her growing clout in the industry, for instance, she says she will never recommend her boyfriend, singer Cheung Chi Lam, to the powers that be. “He’s just starting out.” She says diplomatically. “While we can support each other, I don’t believe in being his employment agency. It would do nothing for his ego.”
Anita has no qualms at all about taking up voice lessons and cutting records – a reliable source of income should she find the movie roles drying up some day – and compete directly for the same teen market her beau’s listenership is based on. Celebrity, she notes after a rare pause (she’s really humble…), has tempered her style. While she used to be brutally upfront and transparent, she’s now more conscious of the need to “maintain a safe distance.” She only spills the beans with those she knows well, and her clear voice drops as she talks about how much her family means to her(She really loves her family! . “I always let my family know what I am doing even though we don’t live together now. I’m always on the phone with my mum, because I don’t want her to get news about me from the papers. I hardly see them now, and yet they are the only only support I have.” She has known her best friends, Vindi Chan and Emily Kwan, since the days they did their first TVB serial together in 1991. “They have remained the most honest with me. They never try to sound nice about my work, and are the only ones who dare tell me when I’m slackening.”
This year, she hopes to make “at least one” comedy in the spirit of the highly-successful Aces Go Places series of the 1980s. “I love Karl Mak, Ricky Hui and Sylvia Chang in those movies. They were funny, yet the humour was bittersweet and very real. Then I’ll have to move on. I don’t want to get stuck on a plateau where I just do cutie antics all my life, or my career will never take off, and people will only remember me as the person who chose all the wrong scripts after winning the Best Actress award.” To that end, she would like to work with top-notched directors like Tsui Hark, Stanley Kwan and Ann Hui. “It’s not going to be easy to keep my career going. But I know I can take care of myself: I have my own mind, and I know what I am worth, and I’m happy so long as people can remember my roles.”
~ THE END ~
Enjoy reading....erm, could you guys give me your comments? Thanks! Smile always !
Posted on Sep 7, 2002, 9:58 PM from IP address 192.169.41.39
Her strong convictions recall of the other Anita – Anita Mui, the grande dame of the Hong Kong biz. My(this is the journalist) interview subject is fearless and merciless, especially when Anita tells me about the “three chances” ground rule she sets with her personal staff. Basically, they have three chances to goof up, after which she bids them a curt farewell by showing them to the door.
. “I always let my family know what I am doing even though we don’t live together now. I’m always on the phone with my mum, because I don’t want her to get news about me from the papers. I hardly see them now, and yet they are the only only support I have.” She has known her best friends, Vindi Chan and Emily Kwan, since the days they did their first TVB serial together in 1991. “They have remained the most honest with me. They never try to sound nice about my work, and are the only ones who dare tell me when I’m slackening.”