“Detective Columbo” will start filming in mid-year [around May/June], which conflicts with the filming schedules for both “Triumph in the Skies 2” [filming to start in May] as well as “War and Beauty 2” [filming already started]. Due to the majority of first-line fa dans such as Myolie Wu, Fala Chan, Kate Tsui, Sheren Tang, Ada Choi, etc. already committed to filming these 2 ‘heavyweight’ series, it has been difficult for “Detective Columbo” producer Tim Gor (李添勝) to find a female lead for his new series. With the start of filming getting closer, Tim Gor had no choice but to look outside of TVB in the hopes of securing a female lead – reportedly, he had been in discussions with both Niki Chow as well as Elanne Kong, however the plans fell through in the end due to scheduling conflicts.
Asked about casting of the female lead, Tim Gor expressed: “Niki’s schedule conflicts with ours, as she will be filming a Mainland China series around the same time. Nothing we can do! The Mainland market is huge and definitely requires many actors/actresses, so we’re experiencing a shortage in HK artists. As of right now, it’s true that the plan is to cast Natalie Tong and Sire Ma [in “Detective Columbo”] -- Natalie did a good job back when we filmed “A Fistful of Stances” 《鐵馬尋橋》, her acting is starting to mature; Sire Ma’s acting is not bad either…it’s time to give them the opportunity to go to the next level.” (What about the age gap between the two of them and Wayne Lai?) “The relationships that we write for Wayne usually aren’t the hugging and kissing type anyway – plus this time around, the focus will be more on ‘projected’ love; in any case, the casting is reasonable.”
Due to earlier poaching efforts by CTI’s Ricky Wong, TVB lost many talented scriptwriters and editors, however there were a few writers who left and decided to return – amongst them is veteran scriptwriter Yip Guang Yam (葉廣蔭), whose credits include “Journey to the West” 《西遊記》, “The Vampire Returns” 《大頭綠衣鬥殭屍》, etc. As the main scriptwriter for “Detective Columbo”, he will be collaborating with Tim Gor once again: “Yip Guang Yam has been with TVB for a long time and is quite experienced. With him helping out, I’ll have one less thing to worry about – we had a pretty smooth collaboration back when we worked on “The Vampire Returns” together.”
Asked about Natalie Tong and Sire Ma confirmed as the female leads for “Detective Columbo”, the series’ star Wayne Lai smiled and replied: “I’m getting younger, so it’s normal for the female leads to be more youthful! Anyway, I trust Tim Gor’s judgment, as he’s good at seeing an artist’s potential. As for Yip Guang Yam returning, it’s definitely a good thing, as he has a bold and imaginative style when it comes to writing – he came up with some great ideas back when we did “Journey to the West”, so I’m sure he will bring with him some new innovative ideas when he returns.”
Upon hearing that she would get the opportunity to rise to ‘lead’ level in the series, Natalie Tong replied: “I am very grateful to Tim Gor! He understands better than I do the types of characters that are best suited for me. Last time, with my role in “A Fistful of Stances”, he took me to a completely different level, so I am hoping for another breakthrough this time around.”
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