Andy Lau Searches for Abducted Son in “Lost and Lonely”

Andy Lau (劉德華) will be the male lead in Huayi Brothers’ next film, Lost and Lonely <失孤>, which details a father’s 14-year-long search for his abducted son.

Lost and Lonely follows the story of a man named Lei Zekuan, who lost his two-year-old son, Lei Da, in the year 1998. As he embarks on an arduous journey to locate his missing son, he meets Zeng Shuai, a young vehicle repairman who was himself abducted at the age of four. Zekuan assists Zeng Shuai in finding his relatives and receives a navigational device as a gift from the youngster, which helps him continue his own search for his son.

The role of the stubborn but kind-hearted Lei Zekuan was tailor-made for Andy, according to female director Peng Sanyuan (彭三源), who is helming a film for the first time since joining Huayi Brothers. “We had decided to have Andy play the male lead when the film was just a synopsis,” she said. “He is irreplaceable.”

Director Peng, who is known for penning the screenplays for mainland Chinese dramas like Youth Code <青春守則> and You Are My Family <你是我的親人>, shared that the inspiration for Lost and Lonely came from an abduction case in 2010. That year, a Hubei resident was reunited with his son, who had been missing for three years, when a university student recognized the child after seeing a post on Sina Weibo.

According to an insider, mainland Chinese actor Jing Boran (井柏然) will join the cast of Lost and Lonely, while mainland Chinese actress Tang Wei (湯唯) is still in talks. Huayi Brothers is also looking for additional supporting actors, including a 15-to-20-year-old youth who has a “rural flavor” and looks like Andy Lau.