By Clifford Hilo
APA talks with veteran actor Henry O, the award-winning star of Wayne Wang's recent feature, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
At the radio roundtable interview, there's a collection of voice recorders pushed into the middle of the oak table, and they're all facing Wayne Wang. Everyone is intent on hearing the director speak about his latest film, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. But Henry O, the lead of Thousand Years, is also in the room, sitting demurely next to Wang with his shoulders hunched over. His facial expression is blank and his eyes appear as if they're looking inward. The exchange of questions passes over him, hardly acknowledging his quiet presence in the small meeting room. Then a question lands on him. It's a question about starting life with a new language and its difficulties. He pauses for a moment. And then he begins to talk. He's slow and deliberate about each of his words, careful to explain his own upbringing under missionaries in China up to his most current experiences. Henry is very modest about his answer, but he is thorough. He goes on for the next fifteen minutes. And when he finishes, it's as if all his life experience suddenly bubbled up to the surface out of nowhere.
Henry has a way of building upon tension and tone. Whether as an attaché to the Chinese Emperor (The Last Emperor), an evangelical preacher (West Wing), or a Chinese mob boss (Rush Hour 3), Henry always starts the scene by listening to the other person intently, and then uproots the entire conversation with his own stately and impressive speaking style. But that's just Henry in the movies. In real life, Henry is like a more reserved Jimmy Stewart. Shy and quiet, sometimes gawky. When talking to Henry, one discovers that he's nearly a mirror image to the character he plays in A Thousand Years. There's even a scene where the aged Mr. Shi unbuttons his shirt to reveal a back harness strapped across the character's upper body as a back support. That is Henry's own back support.
There's a great sense of truth and authenticity that one gets out of speaking with Henry about A Thousand Years. It's probably because he's able to draw upon such a broad life of experience. From his internment in a Chinese labor camp during the Cultural Revolution, his own feelings as a father, and his sweeping range as an actor, all the way from the Chinese theatrical stage to the Hollywood blockbuster -- it all contributes to the impression of experience that we see within the character Mr. Shi.
Later, as we parted ways at the end of the interview, I asked where he was off to next. He told me that he was off to Canada to shoot scenes for the newest Roland Emmerich apocalyptic blockbuster entitled 2012. He stood at the doorway, hesitated for a moment, and bowed slightly to everyone. As he left the room, I thought that despite all the zany CGI, no matter how many careening wooly mammoths, or how many national monuments could be set ablaze, Henry would still be able to steal the scene. Easily.
Asia Pacific Arts: Congratulations on your win last year [Thousand Years won the best actor and best picture award] at the San Sebastian Film Festival. How was that experience?
Henry O: You know, I didn't expect that this film could win anything in terms of best film or best actor. I didn't expect that. I know because I am not that good. People like this film because the director has a unique way of portraying characters and emotional situations. And also because this film is based on an interesting idea. I was not so aware of these things until very late. Because when I read the script, I thought it was very simple, very plain. The award was outside of my expectation. I am so happy to be recognized for having done something interesting.
APA: Perhaps that is Chinese modesty. Because a director carries you to that place, but when we are watching the film, that is you who is acting. So what do you think it is that people communicated with your character in the film?
HO: At first, this story is about my daughter. It's not about the father. But during the shooting the director said that he was convinced that the father should be the central character. So we added several scenes to show his adaptation to this new environment. I didn't understand why. But now I understand he switched emphasis to the father, and that made sense. Actually, the actress who played the daughter and the actress who played the madame -- they were much better.
APA: Again, Chinese modesty!
HO: [laughs]
APA: I heard from Wayne Wang that a lot of the history of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in this film is actually a big part of your life. While it's such a big history, can you summarize some of your own history for us?
HO: Actually, this film is not about the Cultural Revolution. This incident happened before the Cultural Revolution when Mr. Shi was young. It has no mention in the short story that something was related to the Cultural Revolution. But anyway, all political movements are alike, the only difference is the timing, but their natures are very similar. I had been criticized during what they called the anti-rightist movement. There's left; there's right. Left is revolutionary, and right is capitalist. There was this anti-rightist period in the 1950s when Chairman Mao asked the intellectuals to open your mind and criticize your government. "We are very humble and open. If you say anything wrong, you won't be punished. Just tell us from your willingness to help us, to improve our work." So, a lot of intellectuals were punished because after a few months, Mao began to fight back. And these intellectuals who criticized the government were punished. I was criticized at that time. Later on, in the 60s, during the Cultural Revolution, I was investigated again and detained in the theater. I was not allowed to go home. And also, I was sent to a factory. At that time, they said intellectuals should receive re-education from the farmers, the peasants, and the workers. So, I was sent to a factory to work. It was supposed to be lifelong. I was not supposed to go back to the theater. Later on, the policy changed. All the people in the countryside and factory then came back to their original places. I have undergone the different stages of political movements. So, I have understood the history of this character and what he feels, and that's my benefit. Because I know something about the character. And I think that this way of making film is very unique -- it's a good way to find the similarity between the character and the actor, so they can understand each other, and there will be a better portrayal.
APA: How does playing this character help you reflect on your own past life?
HO: When I was making this, I was not thinking about myself. I look at my daughter the same way Mr. Shi looks at his daughter. I have the same feelings -- the same concern, the same doubt. I have the same frustrations. I can understand how frustrated that character is when he learns that his daughter is divorced because of her own misdeeds. But I am not thinking of myself. Actually, it is not so easy to separate the actor and character. The correct method of acting is to live this moment, and this moment is me -- the actor in the name of myself, looking at you, talking to you, or feeling this water [holds up a bottled water]. I just do it from myself. In that case, the actor is and is not a character. They mix together. Something will come subconsciously if I love my daughter or if I am concerned with my daughter. This is something that I have from my own life experience because I feel the same way about my daughter. It resonates. It comes together.
APA: You've played many supporting roles in films, but this is a great opportunity for you to act at the forefront of the picture. How was that experience?
HO: Actually, this process was different from my previous works, because I didn't feel the pressure. Maybe because Wayne Wang didn't make it that way. In ordinary studio productions, you go there, go to fitting, you do make-up, and then you wait there in the trailer and they call you in to perform. It's like a job. But here, it's like a discussion, like a research team. We discuss things. We try things. At first, I read the script many times and made some modifications and changes that would suit myself. I did all the paper work. But later on when I went into the shoot it was sort of different. It was more like rehearsal. Let's try this, and let's try that. We'll add one sentence, and we'll take off something. I remember there had been several lines in a scene, and after some trials, Wayne Wang said to take every line out. You just stay there, eat your lunch, you look at her, and so on. You don't have to say anything. These kinds of methods make the actors very relaxed, because everything is new. It's nothing like what you have prepared for, but you know the character, you know the lines. But maybe you don't need to. You can say this line or take off this line. This is a totally different experience. It never happens in regular productions.
APA: In this film, there are a lot of quiet, restful pauses. Can you talk about that acting style for us?
HO: In stage productions, and in some commercial American films, they don't allow pause. They want you to start right after your cue. But here, Wayne Wang does not want that. He wants pauses. In everyday life, there are pauses. There is that interval where people think. Especially in some films and stage productions, the characters just speak long dialogue, which is not natural. No person could say so many sentences without thinking. And they're very well organized, or have very beautiful prose or even poetry. But that's not real. Sometimes the audience needs to observe and watch and think. The characters need time to think and feel the environment, the situation. And sometimes, they want to speak something but they cannot find the right words, so they have to think, "What should I say to this guy?" That is something that I think we call rhythm. If we say dialogue continuously, there's no rhythm at all. It's just speak, speak, speak. But sometimes you pause, you think. You watch your opponent without words. These kinds of things make for a good rhythm and variation.
APA: That's true. In your work, you often listen for a long period to other actors. And then you begin to speak. What I like about your style is that you have a cadence to your acting. And you say your lines with such a carrying forcefulness that you do not see in American acting. It's almost more of a British acting style.
HO: You know the Stanislavsky method? Americans actors have been very good about studying this theory. But these commercial films need to stuff many, many actions and dramatic things into a film, and the time is limited. And they have to hurry. Actually, when you watch Russian stage productions, especially Chekhov, they have pauses, long pauses. That makes it very poetic.
Click here (http: //www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/080919/article.asp?parentID=97279) to read Asia Pacific Arts' interview with Thousand Years director Wayne Wang.
Published: Friday, September 19, 2008
