In the 1980s, Felix Wong left a deep impression on audiences with his role as ‘Kwok Jing’ in the 1983 version of Legend of the Condor Heroes 《射鵰英雄傳》– many of his other works, such as The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils 《天龍八部》 (80s and 90s versions), Looking Back in Anger 《義不容情》, Racing Peak 《馬場大亨》, etc. also became ‘classics’. Though Felix achieved fame and fortune as a result of those ‘classics’, all of that came at a ‘price’, in the form of blood, sweat, and tears.
Felix Wong reveals some of the hardships he endured filming series for TVB back in the days, including the time when he did not get to sleep for 7 days straight and eventually fell ill.
*** Felix speaks:
Back when we filmed Legend of the Condor Heroes, director [producer] Wong Tin Lam (王天林) [TN: Wong Jing’s father] was the one who specifically cast me for the role [of ‘Kwok Jing’] -- when he first saw me, he said: “You have an honest face – that’s good…the character suits you!” Thinking back now, I actually do feel that I resembled ‘Kwok Jing’ in terms of personality: we were both blunt, simple-minded, and hard working!
Filming series back then was truly very exhausting! We didn’t have assistants following us around back then so we pretty much had to do everything ourselves. The worst experience I had was having to film for 7 days and 7 nights straight without any sleep – every day, all I could think about was when I’d be able to get off work! With that type of lifestyle, how would we even be able to think clearly?
Overjoyed at getting the chance to rest
Actually, I wasn’t the only one who had that type of crazy schedule – back then, a lot of siu sangs had to film 6 to 7 series a year….plus we had less than 10 days of vacation each year. Looking back now, it was pretty amazing – don’t know how we managed to pull through! I did that for 3 years straight and then finally, one day, I couldn’t take it anymore – while filming, I suddenly fell ill and broke out in a sweat…after getting checked at the hospital, it was confirmed that I had developed hepatitis and so needed to take 18 days off from work to rest. Wah! I was so happy! Finally, I got the chance to rest!
Envious of Michael Miu getting to earn ‘extra’ money outside
Even though back then, work was very exhausting and I had to endure a lot of hardship, I never thought about complaining to the company – I just knew that I had to continue filming…because I understood that each day I got to work meant that I was earning money. You might not believe it, but when I first became a ‘siu sang’ [lead actor], my pay was only 1200 HKD a month – even at the height of popularity, my pay was only 3000 HKD a month….I made less than when I was a ‘ke le fe’! [extras/minor non-speaking roles]. Plus, filming series was very time-consuming, so there really was no way for us to go out and earn extra money [through stage performances and such]. Seeing other artists such as Dodo Jeh [Dodo Cheng 鄭裕玲], Fat Gor [Chow Yun Fat 周潤發], Ah Miu [Michael Miu 苗僑偉] getting the chance to earn extra money outside, I was truly very envious….but in all honesty, I can’t say that the company [TVB] was ‘inhumane’ – I can only blame myself for not knowing how to fight for things. Thinking back now, I do feel that I was pretty foolish!
Source: Oriental Daily
Translated by: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics
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