HK star Aaron Kwok has plenty of fight left for new action thriller Cyber Heist
Apart from running through the streets of Hong Kong in his new movie, Cyber Heist, actor-singer Aaron Kwok’s character fights with other passengers in a van and even tumbles out of the vehicle amid the struggle.
In another scene, when he is climbing up a flight of stairs, an assailant pulls him back and causes him to fall on his face onto the steps. His attacker then pulls him down the structure.
The thrills and spills do not end there.
Speaking to Singapore media on Thursday to promote his latest action thriller, which is showing in Singapore cinemas, the 57-year-old said the most dangerous thing he had to do was scale and run on scaffolding.
The Heavenly King was in an online group interview with co-star Gordon Lam, director Wong Hing Fan and producer Soi Cheang, all from Hong Kong.
Kwok, playing genius cyber-security engineer Chuek Ka Chun, who gets caught up in a money laundering operation, said: “The scaffolding was already of a certain height and you can see me stepping on, or kicking, some glass. I was afraid of getting cut. Anything that has glass makes me worried.”
He added that when shooting fight scenes, what the director and producer want to see are two conflicting forces on-screen. He said: “After so many years of experience, the two hardest things to film are punching and fighting. We cannot fake entanglement. The more fake you are, the more likely you will be injured.”
Filming such physically demanding scenes from dusk to dawn took a toll on his body. Kwok suffered injuries to his shin, which required two months of treatment.
“There was some inflammation, so I needed to rest and go for acupuncture. But I am all right now.”
Hong Kong actor Lam, 55, who plays Kwok’s boss in the movie, also found its action sequences challenging, such as a fight scene with Kwok filmed under a bed.
“The space was too small (to move in) and I had to film the scene in winter clothes, when it was summer outside. I had also suffered an injury the night before the shoot and my colleagues originally asked me to call in sick. I consider that scene to be the most demanding, although the director, producer and Aaron were very accommodating.”
Cyber Heist, which also stars veteran Hong Kong actor Simon Yam as an inspector from the cyber crimes unit, deals with the topics of cyber attacks, money laundering and Internet blackouts.
In real life, however, the most dramatic “Internet blackout” that happened to Kwok was when he once found himself suddenly disconnected from the Web because he had forgotten to pay his phone bill.
Amid laughter from his fellow interviewees, he added: “This is real. I felt very apprehensive at the time. So, I just paid the money quickly.”
For Lam, not being able to go online would be massively inconvenient. He said: “My brain is slow and I have not been able to remember anyone’s phone number for nearly 10 years.
“Maybe this is a sign that I should remember some friends’ phone numbers, in case I need to call them or something.”
Cyber Heist is showing in cinemas.
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