Strong Bond but Short Time with late Father
Kevin Cheng Breaks the Genetic Code of Infidelity

[The Sun Special Report 27/05/06]

For a man to be unfaithful, this has been undisputedly accepted in common society. With the trend running down from fathers to sons, this has also been put down to genetics. For someone of the age and appearance of Kevin Cheng, you would expect for him to have a queue of girlfriends, but this is far from reality as he is still way off the mark.

There is a characteristic in Hong Kong society, which is 'not having much of an impression of Father'. When you are a child, you think you were born from a stone, or sprung from just your mother. It is only later in your development that you realise there was a male role model in the family called 'dad', but he is so distant, that you feel more comfortable thinking of him as an 'uncle'. And yet, the family links are strong in a strange way and when Kevin talks about his father, the faint scent of their father-son bond can be detected.

"I don't have much of an impression of my father. He was always flying around and we rarely saw each other, so we were very distant. A stronger memory was when he came back to Hong Kong, he would take me and my sister swimming and to do sports, but really memorable events I find hard to recall. The strange thing is though, maybe it is genetics or just the influence of my father, I have inadvertantly picked up a lot of my father, such as some actions. Whenever he eats, he will make a fist with his hand and I don't know when this first started, but I will do the same thing. Also smoking, when as a child, I saw him smoking, I already felt that he was very stylish and masculine, so probably because of this, I started smoking when I grew older and I have only just given up in the last few years. My father had a lot of charm and even though we did not have a lot of time together, he had an amazing attraction that made people want to get close to him. Together with his ability to say the right things, he was very popular and this is the only thing I did not inherit from him.

"During my high school years, my father left this world and although we were not very close, he was still my father and I still wanted to show him the day I found success, so thinking back, this is a regret for me. My father studied in Australia from an early age and grew up and worked there, so he was half a Westerner and so he liked to enjoy life. I remember in our old house, there was a large bar that had many different varieties of fine wine. A meal at home would take a long time because after each course, he would take time to select the appropriate wine to savour with the food. I am quite tolerant to alcohol and when I was working in Taiwan, I would drink when I went out, but now I rarely drink, because of my work being so busy and not having time to go out and also because I would rather spend the time exercising or sleeping. When I go out for celebrations, I will still drink a little. For my father, there are many things that I do admire about him, but there are always things 'to do' and things 'not to do'. His infidelity is something I cannot accept. This cannot be accounted for by saying it is in a man's nature because there are many priorities in life. For a married man, he should put his whole heart into placing his family at Number One without any obstacle. If a man is unfaithful, this has a deep and profound effect on a family."



Life is like a stage and sometimes the stage can reflect life. In Kevin's new series "Trimming Success", his character shares a loving bond with his father, played by Lau Dan. Speaking with Kevin about Lau Dan, the usual niceties were spared as Kevin revealed some of his own regrets.

"The feeling whilst filming with Lau Dan was very warm. Maybe it is because he is a father himself, I found from him a very strong paternal warmth and I was very happy whenever I started work each day. The control of the artistes is very low, no-one can guarantee the ratings, so the success of 'Under the Canopy of Love' does not put any additional pressure on me. There are many factors within a series that can make it a success and there is no set formula or genre that is bound to do well. The trail of lovingness within this series is very strong, firstly with the father and son relationship and secondly with the light-hearted feel that turns rather dramatic towards the end. In one scene where I had to go and identify a body, I cried so hard I nearly broke down. Filmed in one take, I had to carry on for the whole scene and it was very hard work. After that scene, I was still quite unstable as I returned home, but that's because I am not a natural actor who can let go so easily and there is nothing I can do to change that. Some people are very good and can go from laughing and smiling to a devastating crying scene. For me to do an emotional scene, I cannot hold back and I have to get my feelings and emotions right, ready for when I am on set to let it all out."

Reporter's last word:
It's nothing to do with being greedy, but I love it when artistes offer to pay the bill after interviews as I have seen many who will sneakily pull out a tissue from their pockets to wipe their mouth and then pretend to answer a call and wave good bye. For this lunch, Kevin called out three times 'Let me!" as he clearly made his intentions clear. Although as usual, he didn't have much of an expression to him, at least he still showed the warmth of the Chinese.

(Report: Wong Si Ming)

http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20060527/20060526233816_0000.html