I’ve only seen 2 of Tony Leung’s films… and in both of them he completely blew me away. Infernal Affairs is simply put one of the very best cop dramas ever made. Don’t cheat yourself by only seeing Martin Scorsese’s version “The Departed” currently being filmed. You must find a video store that will rent you the original. It is soooo worth the search! The other film of course is Hero with Jet Li. One of the most visually beautiful films ever made.
Now, news is coming out of China that Tony Leung will be travelling to America to film a Hollywood movie. Great news for Hollywood… hopefully not bad news for Leung (since we’ve all seen how Hollywood has craptastically misused Asian talent before). The folks over at China View give us this (their english is a little broken):
Hongkong actor Tony Leung is going to shot a Hollywood film later this year. The film will be like “Seven Deadly Sins” by Brad Pitt. Leung was under the spotlight and praised as Asian Marlon Brando by western media due to his successful performance in Zhang Yimou'”Hero”. The actor was recently in Ameica promoting “2046” in which he acted as a dandy. However he said that the character was absolutely not like himself.
Leung is just amazing and portrays an intensity that very few actors can. However, the only thing I’m worried about is his command of the English language. I have no idea if he can speak a word of it or not. This would really hurt him on screen in an english film unless they wrote the character appropriately. If it’s the right movie, and the right role for him, we in North America are in for a real treat.
