Aaron Kwok’s Secret to Staying in Shape: You Need to Know How to 'Toughen Yourself Up'

Hong Kong superstar Aaron Kwok made his first appearance at a Malaysian university campus to share with students the story of his journey in show business. He generously revealed to the students the secret to his success: in addition to having extraordinary perseverance and self-discipline, you also have to be 'a bit hard on yourself' and not go easy on yourself!
Aaron Kwok’s new film “The Thumb” was selected as the opening film for the “Hong Kong Film Gala Presentation — Kuala Lumpur”, and he attended the grand opening event and a film sharing session with director Kong Ling-Ching on Saturday. On Sunday, he participated in a special re-screening of the well-received 2019 film “I'm Livin' It”, and on Monday noon attended the “Light & Shadow Art Journey” sharing session at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology in Kuala Lumpur. Kwok shared that this was his first time engaging with students on a Malaysian campus, so he was tremendously excited. At the session, he recounted his early days and the hardships along the way, encouraging students to keep dreaming and work hard.
During the Q&A, when asked how to become an outstanding performer, Aaron Kwok shared his experience: “To become an excellent actor or performer, you must be constantly training yourself and learning a variety of basics. Whether it’s dance or martial arts, you should have some foundation. Also, you should act immediately on what you want to learn. Be ready at all times so you can seize opportunities as soon as they come.”
He admitted that there’s no excuse for claiming to be tired if you want to succeed. Perseverance and self-discipline are the foundation, and most of the time he’s pushing himself, being strict with himself. So, to become an outstanding actor or performer, you must know how to push your own limits. For example, during concert rehearsals, after the team has dinner, his strict self-discipline kicks in. He always wants to maintain the best figure and condition on stage. So even if it’s late and he’s just returned to the hotel, he still insists on exercising so each performance is delivered in his best shape and state.

This campus sharing session also featured guests Kong Ling-Ching and Robin Lee, director of "Hong Kong Hike On!", discussing “Documentary X Narrative: The Art of Storytelling”; Chan Chun-Fung, action director of "Fight For Love"; and Luo Haoming, stunt performer and actor for "Electric Touch", sharing “From Action to Dialogue”, giving students deeper insight into the culture and behind-the-scenes work of Hong Kong cinema.

Chan Chun-Fung, who has served as an action and stunt double for many well-known actors, said that action films involve risk, but not danger. Risks can be evaluated. If something is known to be dangerous and you still do it, that’s just foolish. That’s why everything is discussed with the actors in advance based on experience. Being a stunt performer is by itself a tough job. For example, when he doubled for Ekin Cheng, since Ekin is left-handed, Chan also had to learn to fire a gun with his left hand. In the film "The Goldfinger", he was Andy Lau’s double for a dangerous car crash scene. Although he was confident, he overlooked a detail: the car had manual transmission rather than automatic, so the speed was different.

Luo Haoming pointed out that only after moving from behind-the-scenes to in front of the camera can you truly understand how tough the back-end team has it. Their courage and stress endurance must be very high as they are constantly dealing with 20,000 possible emergencies, and such experiences have helped him learn more problem-solving skills.

The “Hong Kong Film Gala Presentation — Kuala Lumpur” will be held at Aurum Theatre under the GSC cinemas at the Tun Razak Exchange from now until 28th. Six selected Hong Kong films will be screened during this period, including the newly released "The Thumb", the action film "Fight For Love", the youth-inspirational film "Electric Touch", the documentary-style "Hong Kong Hike On!", the warm-hearted "Days of Youth", and the acclaimed 2019 film "I'm Livin' It" for a special re-screening. The film tour is organized by the Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA), co-organized by GSC and GSC Movies, and supported by the Hong Kong Creative Industries Development Office, the Hong Kong Film Development Fund, and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta. After a successful run in Bangkok, the event now brings the diverse allure of Hong Kong cinema to Malaysian audiences.