'Ahs' and 'Oohs' - those are the types of reactions I got after I let a couple of my friends know that I was going to interview actor Daniel Wu. As difficult as it may be to get past his A-list movie star good looks, if you dig a little deeper you'll find a passion for acting and film-making equal to his more obvious 'ahem' attributes.

bc: You are both the producer and lead actor in Night Corridor. How did you get involved?
DW: Originally, Stanley Kwan called me up and said that there was an interesting script that this director, Julian Lee, wanted me to do. I took a look of the script and I liked it a lot - it's very dark and atypical of regular Hong Kong movies. I met up with Julian and we talked about the project, but the main problem was that there was no money, except for a little bit of government funding which was still not enough to shoot the movie. So I decided to get on board as the producer to help get the production going. I thought the script was very well written and that it was worth shooting.

It's a complicated character you're playing in the film. Tell us about how you tackled the role.
As an actor I wanted to participate in the film because it was something I hadn't done before and something I don't see that much. Of course, this isn't a role that a lot of people would want to do because of all the complications with the character - the homoerotic stuff, the fact that he was molested as a child... a lot of heavy, heavy things that people might not want to deal with. I am not a singer or a pop star, so I don't have to worry about my 'image' so much. I mean, my job is to play a role and I thought that was a role that would give me a lot of room to try different things.

How is it being an actor in Hong Kong?
It's tough because the HK film industry is not what it was ten, fifteen years ago - the golden time where there were so many movies being made and lots of work to be had. On the other hand, I've been lucky. Ever since I started I've been working a lot. Commercial movies have their satisfactions but sometimes you want to stretch yourself as an actor and a lot of commercial movies don't allow that. It's hard. For me there are movies that I do because it's fun, but there are movies that I do because I want to challenge myself, and those movies are few and far between. It's difficult being an actor here because elsewhere an actor is just an actor, but in Hong Kong you have singers that are actors. People here are entertainers. I am not really into that: I don't want to host a TV show, I don't want to cut an album. I just want to act and I just want to do movies. It's tough sometimes because people always want to get you to do certain things because 'there's money in it'. For me, it's really not about that.

What kind of image do you think HK audiences and casting directors have of your screen persona?
I am not quite sure, but I think a lot of the time people think that I am more of a 'sunshine boy' - a clean-cut and healthy kind of person. The problem is your image really doesn't have a lot to do with how you act in a role. I don't give a shit what people think about me personally as long as they think that I can do the job. A lot of times, however, because singers rely on personality and charisma to do a role, people assume that because I have a certain look, because I am considered handsome or whatever, that I should be lumped in the pop star category. I don't want to be there. I am always struggling to push myself out of that lane.

Now that you've produced, are you interested in doing other behind-the-scenes stuff?
I am now in a position with a little bit more power to do different things - to be a producer for a movie, or to do other behind-the-scenes stuff. Number one, I think it's important for me to do that because I have always had an interest in it: to direct my own film and things like that. Secondly, I think it's important that if I have good ideas I should share them with people because that helps the whole industry in general. I think Hong Kong films are in really bad shape right now - we are not producing the same calibre of movies that we were making in the nineties. Instead of using my power to get more commercials and make more money, I'd rather do something that would make me more satisfied and help the industry at the same time. I do feel I owe a ›ot to this business. It's important for our generation of actors - me, Stephen Fung, Nicolas Tse, etc. - to see what we can do for the industry. This new generation is different from the one with Andy Lau and those guys. There's a ten to fifteen year gap between us. So it's up to us to push the standard.

Do a lot of people share your sentiments in the industry?
Some do and some don't. But I think it's important for Hong Kong audiences to support different kinds of movies now. One thing that I really don't like about Hong Kong - compared to the States, for example - is that in the States, there are so many festivals and theatres for arthouse and foreign films. In Hong Kong, we only have a few places that do that, they only have one or two screens, but they're trying their best. However, if more people go and support a film in the theatre - instead of waiting for it to come out on DVD - that would help everybody, not just HK indie movies, but worldwide indie movies. I think people are missing out.

Last question: if someone has a script and wants you to look at it, would you do it?
Yes, of course.

Fiona Ng