[Drive of Life] exclusive interview

Download the clip here.
Credit to RaymondForest.

Added Dec 23rd: Sina interview at Ningbo

Download the clip here.
Credit to RaymondForest.

Magazine《电视剧》Issue 146


Scans credit to 古都一丝绿 & Raymond Forest.

Sorry guys (and gals) for my non-existent updates over the last few days. Been down with a bad flu (cough* sneeze*). Well, after a full day rest and also entertainment therapy (Eragon: checked. Jumong: checked), I'm now back... albeit some coughing fits. Enough of my sick rambling.

I did some translation part back in Friday but me being me, I'm not particularly fond of translating word for word so I'm pretty glad that The Beehive has done quite a detailed translation of Ray's part. Below is the translation of Ray's part, full credit to The Beehive:

p.s. The english title for [Drive] in Mainland China is [The Legendary Era].

Dominating in The Legendary Era (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

In the sixty episode long collaboration between TVB and CCTV, The Legendary Era, Raymond has parts from the beginning to the end, it being a series about the story of a capable youth.

TV Series: Working with your buddy Ron Ng again, do you two have many scenes together?

Raymond: Everyone knows that we two buddies are on good terms (laughs). But this time we won't have many scenes together, in the series we're not really in the same group. From what I know, he will be appearing from episode twenty and onwards, we don't see each other often. There are too many actors in this series; just the number actors playing members of my family are huge, and there are a lot of scenes taking place in the car factory. There are also scenes to be filmed in Canada and also Beijing. So speaking of relevance, his line hasn't really got much to do with me.

TV Series: So then, in simple terms, what are the relationships of the people in your family like?

Raymond: The entire series is basically talking about the two generations of my family and how they go about creating a car kingdom. Damien Lau plays my father; his relationship with his two younger brothers isn't that good. Michael Miu plays one of his brothers, he is my third uncle, and Liu King Sang plays my second uncle. The story tells of how the three brothers each went their separate ways and so the family is a bit separated, and then it was a dream that they all shared, a dream of cars that mended the relationships of all the family members. In between, a lot of things happened and every member of the family has his or her own story.

TV Series: When you were filming in Beijing, your hair was permed, now it's changed to this style, is it the difference between the earlier and later periods?

Raymond: Right, there are changes. In the earlier period my hair is curly. At that time I'm more of a rich kid, more like a young master, so, ha ha (a silly laugh), that's why my hair was curled. Firstly, it'll make me seem younger; secondly it's more... how do I say it? (Not as shaped?) What does "not as shaped?" mean (Mimicking the accent)? (It means not caring about responsibilities and such). Oh, well he isn't considered as not being shaped (Still saying it? Sigh ~) The story starts off talking about how he really wants to do something, and plus he has the ability to. It's only that if he doesn't want to do it, he won't do it no matter what you say, but if he is interested in something, then he will work really hard to do it well.

TV Series: There's a difference in your hairstyle between the earlier and later periods, it probably is the influence of his attitude?

Raymond: Right, there are a lot of changes to his personality. In the beginning he is not under any pressure and he also isn't willing to face things that will trouble him. He has a lot of thoughts, but he doesn't have enough experience in society and isn't considerate enough in the things he does and therefore he will make mistakes. For example, he may start off doing one thing well, his ideas are all very impressive, but he is still missing a few things, and in the end, failed. He is very smart, that plus his effort and he actually does work hard, as long as he has an interest in it, he will work hard for it, but because of his lack of experience and other factors, and also one of his father's enemies who schemed against him, he gives off the impression at the start that he can't do things right.

TV Series: What made him change? Or when was a turning point for him?

Raymond: How do I say it? It was an effort of his father's, or I should say, when his family practically went bankrupt. We only had a little bit of our business left, just some shares. Basically I had lost all our assets. Even though, I still wasn't completely understanding, but I had just experienced a very serious shock, a large setback. It was the same in terms of romance. My relationship with Charmaine was troubled as well. But my father, after this big incident happened, still very patiently spoke to me about some things, and at that moment, I really felt that I had never cherished anything before and our entire family, even though we weren't really bankrupt, was ruined, all because of me. My character is actually a little bit arrogant. Later, my father let me work for my second uncle. My father and my second uncle were both a bit contradicting, but now, compared to before, I have matured. When I started at the car factory, I always had ideas and also, my ideas and my tastes were correct. It's only that I am rather quick with handling things and I was rather radical, and so they wouldn't accept me. Especially since that factory was an old factory, and they wouldn't accept any new changes, and what I wanted to do was to bring in new ideas in every aspect. But my second uncle is very laid-back and he knows what my thoughts are and agrees with them, it's jut that I haven't been considerate about the feelings of others beside me. And so, I had basically changed. I know what I want now and in the later period, I had become someone much like Damien. In the past if someone made me mad, I would immediately retaliate, but after the incident, if someone angers me I would still retaliate, but I wouldn't necessarily do certain things, I would still remember how things should be done. But in the later period, I slowly become more mature, if someone says something, I won't give too big a reaction, I'd be more tolerant. Because this series covers a larger time period, and so there must be some growth and change, and it is for people to see how I slowly become better. In between, something does happen, making the character Wah Chun Bong slowly grow up, and in the end to support the entire family. This character is really difficult to play, because thee are so many scenes. I have different attitudes when facing different people. This character is actually very rich and my personality is colourful. There are many changes, they way he handles things will also be different depending on the time period, and so I will try hard to grasp the character because the times jump too much.

TV Series: What's it like in terms of romance?

Raymond: In terms of romance, it's with Charmaine Sheh and Myolie Wu. Myolie has always secretly liked me and she's my assistant. Charmaine is a smart girl and I think that she matches me well. Our characters are a bit like those archenemies that always fight. She's an agent, at that time I was doing business in real estate and we met each other. Also, this girl is very cool, and so, I pursued her and we both took turns playing each other (laughs). But her mother and my father have some connections too. It turns out that she had purposefully gotten close to me, but our feelings for each other are true. It's just that there's too much hatred between our families, but later, something happened that made us come together again. The scripts for the later half of the series aren't out yet, but it should be that kind of, parting and coming together thing. Myolie had always been behind me, supporting me. I actually know that she likes me, but when a guy knows that a girl likes him, he can only pretend that he doesn't care. (Then, do you have feelings for her?) No, there's none, but there's this time that I used her as some sort of substitute, a little bit (a kind of a guilty expression). But it's actually an ordinary thing, when a guy is hurt and there is someone beside you that really cares for you, you'll start liking that person because of that. Because she's really pitiful, and she's very nice, and plus if you're always together with someone, you'll start having some feelings for her, but then Charmaine re-appeared and it became a love triangle.

TV Series: You have parts from the first episode until the end, right?
Raymond: Right, it should be.

Sehseh: Pretty long article huh? Fallen into my hands, and I will summarize into half the article above. So, die hard fans might not fancy my version :p

Anyway, I did translate other parts such as Myolie and Poon Ka Tak interview. Now, as mentioned earlier, I don't like translating word for word (unless it's Charmaine's interview), so I have summarized my translation. Not too worry, I can almost guarantee you won't miss much. As 'summarized' as they might be, kindly credit me if reposted:

Myolie's character in [Drive]

In [Drive], Myolie worked as Ray's secretary. She is a prim and proper type of character, but also a 'multipurpose' secretary. Because Ray's character was reckless, his father arranged for Myolie to assist him and slowly, she developed a crush on Ray. Her character here is more relaxed, because she doesn't need to cry or make fun like her past roles. When asked to compare HK and Mainland cast, Myolie feels that Mainland cast are more professional as most of them attended acting school.

Additional plot synopsis and interview with producer Poon Ka Tak:

Original scans credit to www.shehsheh.com.

1. [Drive] is both invested by TVB and CCTV. They have already created storylines for all 60 episodes, and now they're preparing the scripts. Because the scripts were written in Cantonese, therefore they will need to modify it for Mainland cast's version. He also added that there is no differences in the seasons, because they emphasized on July 1st, it shall be in summer.

2. Preparing for this series in very challenging as they're working with CCTV. The story is not just about HK handover back to China, but the changes over 10 years, how HK people reacted to handover, for example the immigrating trend, and also how people are now returning to HK. The script is more realistic view of HK. Also, the story revolve around the love and hate relationship of a huge family. The most difficult part is preparing two version of scripts, one in Cantonese and the other in Mandarin.

3. At the moment, they have already finished filming the first 20 episodes. The manufacturing plant in Beijing almost appear in every episode. They also filmed in a old car parts plant in HK. Canada's part was to film the immigration trend pre 1997, with Michael and Sheren immigrating there. Tehy also filmed Chan Mei Kei part there, with her involved in a murder case. Her husband died, but no one knew the murderer. Seven years later, he was considered missing person and Chan Mei Kei can finally sell off their house. However, they end up discovering her husband's corpse and she was accused of murdering him. Damien and Liu Ging Sang then tried to rescue her. Later, she died and Charmaine feels her mother's death was caused by them. She was already dating Ray, who is Damien's son and a lot of events happened after this.

4. Ron's character was often manipulated. He has a very simple personality, not impulsive like his previous roles, but instead very understanding and easy person. He's not part of the Wah family, he is an illegitimate child, who share a same father but different mother with Joe Ma. He was born of Joe's father and his mistress, but he did not knew about this. Later, he found out that he was actually a rich man's son. He also knew who is his real father, he cared for him but pretend not to know their true relationship. He is a sensible young man. Ray doesn't have much screen time with Ron. Ray will have a lot of screen time with his first cousin, mainland actor Feng Shao Feng. Poon Ka Tak added that Shao Feng plays a very important character in the series and his father is acted by Liu Ging Sang.

5. During filming, he has warned Ray and Ron not to play around too much during filming. he doesn't mind them going out during resting time because actors need to de-stress too. He also added that it's common that the cast sometimes grouses their complaints to him, but it's alright because they will resume normal the next day. He think that pressure is necessary while filming a series, for example, criticizing "Just now you're not good enough, you should do this, etc. The way you do is not acceptable etc. etc." One example is Ellesmere Choi, who cannot sleep once PKT scolded him. Ellesmere Choi is a lively person but will turn quite in front of PKT because he's afraid of him. PKT joked: "We are like small kids. Acting is crazy. Audience are silly, while actors are insane! (laughs)"

Sehseh: There. Didn't I say it'll be brief? Haha, what I wanted to do is just to present you guys with the plot in a simple and straightforward way so that some of your doesn't need to scratch your head off trying to figure out the cantonese slangs.

Myolie just explained the love pentagon in the clip above. It seems that:

Myolie ---> Ray <---> Charmaine
Zhao Ke ---> Feng Shao Feng <---> Myolie

News translation below credit to Em:

[The Sun 16/12/06]

Myolie Bears the Cold in Backless Dress

Myolie Wu took part in a costume fitting for her role in "The Drive of Life" yesterday, wearing a silver dress that reveals most of her back and legs. She says: "The story tells of me taking part in the Miss Exhibition pageant. I have been to the trade exhibition before but have never watched the pageant." She indicates that she will be filming at the exhibition centre next week and wearing such a skimpy dress, she is worried about catching a chill: "I am afraid of the cold! I have to cry in that scene as well because it tells of my character being attracted to Raymond Lam and he agrees to support her in the contest, but he goes missing afterwards and I am very upset. (Do you have any kiss scenes with Raymond?) I don't think so because I have a romance in the show with Mainland actor Feng Shao Feng."

Sehseh: Hmm... seems like Myolie's character got entangled in a confusing pentagon. While they're at it, why not throw in Ellesmere, eh? Just joking!

*For past [Drive] interview, kindly go to here.