Tony Leung on connection and the consciousness of plants

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Brandon Streussnig: I think, for many westerners, their primary image of you comes via Christopher Doyle’s lens. We hear a lot about the rapport between director and cinematographer, but I’m wondering, what kind of rapport develops between an actor and a cinematographer?
Tony Leung: Through the years we’ve worked together, we’ve really come to understand each other. It's so strange because we just have a sense of one another, almost unsaid. I will have a sense that I know what he wants to do, and he knows what I want to do. Sometimes, when I’m going to change positions or gesture differently, he knows before I do. I don’t know how he does it.

I remember I was shooting with him once, and the camera was focused on my face. Suddenly, he pointed it at my hands, because I had made a little gesture there. He did it before I even made the gesture! I have no idea how he knew what I was going to do.

I think after such a long collaboration, you have a feeling for each other. Something beyond words. He can feel it, he's very sensitive. Perhaps he got it from some hints from my eyes or my facial expressions. I don't know, but I love him so much.

BS: It sounds like there’s a lot of trust that’s built over time. Jumping ahead to now, with Silent Friend, where does the trust with someone like Ildiko come from, having never worked with her before?
TL: For this particular movie, at first, I didn't know Ildiko at all. Then I read the script. I’ll be honest, in the beginning, I didn't find it very interesting. It's a very special script, but the protagonist is a tree. You follow its perspective as it witnesses different eras. From the outside, the script is just one story after another.

I couldn’t imagine it at first. It's very different from the movie now. After all the editing, they found a different way to tell the story. Before that, though, I watched her previous work. When I watched On Body and Soul, I said, “Oh!” I loved it. I looked at my wife and said, “I really want to work with this director.”

Then we had a Zoom meeting. I always try to feel directors out, to see whether I can work with them or not. I believe in my instinct. I don't believe my head, because my head will calculate. My instinct will tell me whether I like them, whether I trust them or not. That day, we had a very good conversation, and I felt she was very intellectual, very humble but confident, and very down to earth. I just liked her as a person. 

In my acting career, the script is not important. Nothing is important. Only the person is the most important. The director is most important. Take this script, for example, when you put it in different hands, they will have a different interpretation. I really liked this person. So, that's why I promised to do it. Once you promise to do it, you have to trust them.

BS: You talk about instinct. Does that help in approaching vastly different roles? I mean, you’ve done everything at this point.
TL: I think that’s just my destiny, to try everything. I’ve never planned for anything in my acting career. I never knew what would come up, especially in the Golden Age of Hong Kong. I’m never picky because each film is a new learning period. I learn, and I practice through different kinds of movies. I learned from different crews and different directors until I met Wong Kar-Wai. Through him, I found a style that I often go towards. I’m always searching, though. That's the reason why you see me choose all different kinds of movies. I don't choose it consciously. I just do one after the other, just for the sake of refining my craft.

BS: While your work has been so disparate and prolific, I often feel like you’re such a mystery to us westerners because you’ve made so few Hollywood productions. Was there a resistance on your part?
TL: No, I'm open to taking projects from everywhere in the world. I started working with Hou Hsiao-hsien outside of Hong Kong in the 80s, in Taiwan. I’ve worked with Tran Anh Hùng, the French Vietnamese director. I wouldn’t say I resist working in American movies, but I always think, “Why would they ever need to write a Chinese character for me to be in their films?” [Laughs]

So, the chances are very slim. Now, of course, I have different offers, but I often just don't like them. Maybe that's also just my way of working on movies. I never plan. I let things happen because it's always a surprise. If things come to me and I find them interesting, then why not?

BS: When you do take them, you clearly invest in each role, regardless of tone or size or shape. Is it ever hard to let any of them go?
TL: It will usually take some time for me to get away from a character, but you just don't think about it. At some point, you just let it go. I think time can cure everything. If you have enough time, things will go away. But even now, after this film, I'm not a science person, and yet I'm still reading books about consciousness and plants. I’m reading Michael Pollan's new book, A Journey into Consciousness. I'm still reading that book, and I don't know why. I never read science books! Maybe I'm still in character, but it's okay. It will just take time.

BS: So much of your role in Silent Friend is you, all alone, surrounded by plants. In your own explorations of consciousness, as you prepared for and worked on this role, did you ever feel a real connection with them?
TL: Yes, of course. Especially after you study and you have that much knowledge about plants, you know they are conscious. They have consciousness, so they must know you are there. They must know something is there. They know. I know they know, but in which way, I don't know. Not fully.

BS: Did you find it difficult to act all on your own?
TL: No, I didn’t find it difficult at all. I quite enjoyed it. 

BS: What did you enjoy about it?
TL: In my real life, I spend a lot of time by myself. I love solitude, and I meditate, and I sometimes do a weekend retreat where you isolate yourself from everything. You have nothing, not even books. So maybe I’m used to that, and I have those kinds of experiences, so I know how to handle them. When I was making this movie, I never felt lonely. I just felt so calm and peaceful, without all the distractions. I now feel more aligned with nature in a deeper awareness of myself and my surroundings.

BS: I got my start writing about action and martial arts films, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask about it. At this point in your career, you’re still pushing yourself, whether it’s in Shang-Chi or Europe Raiders or even Hidden Blade to an extent. What keeps bringing you back?
TL: I always start an action film a little scared. Especially right now because of the physical demands. It is really demanding for me to do action movies. Even back in The Grandmaster, it was very demanding. I just turned down an action movie from the States. I can't say which, but I can't do it, because I know I'm looking for perfection. I know I'm someone who is always looking for perfection. This means I will want to do it myself, but physically I'm not as fit as before.

BS: Well, I don’t know about that, but the fear you’re talking about, did that inform why you changed the ending of Infernal Affairs? I know that was originally supposed to end in a big blowout.
TL: I also found that it didn’t make sense. After I cuffed Andy (Lau) with the handcuffs, and I have a gun pointed at him, why would any action happen? It doesn't make sense. To me, that's a very typical way of making action movies in Hong Kong. So, why not change it into a drama? It is a drama after all. I just didn’t feel like the movie should end that way. It really works with the ending we went with. If a big action set piece happened instead, I would have watched it and said, [wincing] "Oh no, no, please!" [Laughs]