Nick Cheung Endures 5 Hours of Makeup for “That Demon Within”
Newly crowned Hong Kong Film Award Best Actor Nick Cheung (張家輝) portrays an ex-convict in the upcoming crime thriller That Demon Within <魔警>. Directed by Dante Lam (林超賢), the film features an intense inferno scene that leaves Nick’s character with gruesome burns over his entire body.
Recently, That Demon Within revealed some frighteningly graphic stills. The most visually arresting photograph depicts Nick gazing malevolently at the camera with almost all of the skin on his face burned and peeling. The effect, which required five hours of makeup to create, is so disturbing and realistic that many people may have difficulty looking directly at the false burn injuries.
The fire scene was one of the most dangerous scenes they filmed for the movie, according to director Lam. “Houses in Hong Kong are very small,” he said. “When the fire started burning inside, it was like an oven, scalding hot, so we were all very nervous.”
But despite the risk, Nick insisted on filming all of his scenes himself, even refusing a stunt double for faraway shots in which his character is wearing a mask. He explained, “Everyone is different, from your posture to your gun-shooting technique to your character’s murderous aura.”
Some viewers may question Nick’s near obsession with filming scenes to perfection, but the practice seems to work for him. At the 33rd Annual Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday night, he picked up his second Best Actor Award due to his performance in Unbeatable <激戰>. In order to attain the appropriate physical look for that film, Nick had to work out for half a year.
Though Nick says that filming for That Demon Within is not as physically taxing as acting in Unbeatable, the process is still a lot of work. “I don’t have to prepare or use up as much physical energy as I did for Unbeatable,” he shared, “but mentally, playing this role [in That Demon Within] is even more tiring.”
That Demon Within, which also stars Daniel Wu (吳彥祖) as a policeman, will open in theaters on April 18 in mainland China, Hong Kong, and North America.
Source: QQ.com
This article is written by Joanna for JayneStars.com.
Wow! Amazing make up! Is he like Dante’s favourite actor?
Yea, great make up! Although the photo scared me a bit.
Really starting to get sick of seeing the same actors over and over again in HK films……….If it’s not Nick Cheung, then it’s Sean Lau or Nic Tse or Louis Koo……..I mean, these guys are overrated because the HK film industry only makes films starring these few guys all the time.
Nick Cheung is definitely overrated cause his acting is just a bit extreme…….
It is as of the filming schedule for all films in HK is on rotation.
At least for actresses there’s more variety but very little talent. For male actors, very little variety but more talent.
nick cheung never been overated its just his been winning too many awards in the last few years
thats cuz its hard to enter hk film industry. not capable for all tv artistes
But yet they still produce high class movies, don’t they? What are you expecting, replacing Louis koo with Ron Ng? Lol
high class? the movies are not better than 10 or 20 years ago in terms of story.most acclaimed actors are veterans now and there are no succesors,not replacing but they have to search for new blood otherwise we will only see grandpa’s in the future.
since u r so good, why dun you go on & try your luck?
Wow, Nick Cheung looks awful in the above photo. Fortunately, it is only his makeup, not real burns.
yeah when i just saw that pic of nick cheung i really get got so surprise that that how he looks it really looks like his face is already burned but is not real is just make up
anyways………
HK does have many actors
its a small town
In terms of area, Hong Kong is a small place. In terms of people, Hong Kong’s population is over 7 million.
It is true that HK has many many new actors arising everyday. However, whether they are qualified to act in movies or not are a different story.
wonder how long it took to get rid of the makeup if 5 hours to apply.
looks overly fake.
that’s really gross!
Wow, must say HK special effects have come a long way. That looks real!
I’m sure combined with his acting that the end result will be worth the suffering.
Miss seeing Nick in comedies…