Bowie Lam has been in the industry for over 20 years and throughout that time, he has collaborated with numerous fa dans and siu sangs. Even though the entertainment circle is often referred to as the ‘rumor circle’, Bowie has never been one to concern himself with this – over the years, he has been able to establish close, trusted relationships with both artists and behind the scenes crew alike. It wasn’t until he collaborated with fellow actor Wong Hei in 2006 that he found out some relationships just don’t work out.
** The following are Bowie’s own words as recorded by the reporter:
I’m the type of person who tries to work harmoniously with everyone I meet, but sometimes, no matter how hard I try, there are instances where things just don’t work out. It’s not a bad thing, as I view this as a way to test my problem solving skills and my EQ. In 2006, when Wong Hei and I collaborated in the travel competition <
>, I discovered that when it came to working together, there were quite a few areas where we lacked coordination. For instance, we had to film a segment introducing some crayfish and there were a few scenes that Wong Hei felt were ‘killing life’ (殺生) – I understand his point of view and accept it, in fact, I completely agree with it, but the thing is, it's unreasonable to try and control the rest of us. After this particular experience, I realized that on a work level, it was difficult for the two of us to collaborate, so when it came time for the competition finals, I turned down the offer to continue with the program – as a result, TVB asked Ha Yu to take my place in finishing the show.
A long time after that situation had taken place, a reporter asked Wong Hei and myself to take a picture together. At the time, I could already feel that everything was good between us again, as neither of us held grudges – plus it was only taking a picture together, not working together, so it wasn’t a problem. Even to this day, when Wong Hei and I bump into each other, we are still friendly and always greet each other.
Collaborating with male artists won’t have rumors
I’m not here to create rumors. My job as an actor is to convince audiences to pay attention to the characters I portray, so my desire is to work harmoniously with all my colleagues. Many years ago, when I worked with Michael Tao and Bobby AuYeung, we got along quite well. Each time when we got off work in the morning hours, we would race to have breakfast and see who could get there quicker – the loser would have to treat everyone to breakfast. When I worked with Lawrence Ng, he even gave me a set of golf clubs as a gift. Whenever I collaborate with male artists, there are usually no rumors.
When filming female-oriented series such as <> and <>, I make myself into a ‘supporting’ actor and always try to be considerate about not overtaking the female leads in the series. Actually, I try my best to be considerate toward each person I collaborate with and as a result, with quite a few artists – such as Maggie Siu, Sheren Tang, Moses Chan, Kenny Wong, etc. – we still keep in close contact even after we finish filming. Recently, I contacted Maggie Siu and asked her if I could give a picture of the two of us together to a newspaper to publish – she told me: “For you? Definitely yes!”
Given an ‘attentive award’ from Jonathan Chik
I feel that in life, it’s necessary to treat people with sincerity – being fake or insincere, it’s impossible to establish true friendships. One night, while shooting <>, the artists were all on break so that the behind the scenes crew could work on paving the ground with snow for the next scene. I wasn’t able to help them out with the snow paving, since I had to work on memorizing my lines, however afterwards, I treated the crew to midnight snack as a means of gratitude for their efforts -- later on, producer Jonathan Chik gave me a ‘Super Attentive Award’ on behalf of the of the cast and crew. Of course, there have been instances when I would treat people with sincerity, but in return, they would ‘hurt’ me – well, in those cases, when we ‘meet’ again, we would just keep it to a simple “Hello” greeting; in those instances, at least you know who is being sincere and who is not!
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