This episode is sponsored by Squarespace (In memory of Ng Man-tat) On February 27th, 2021 Beloved Hong Kong actor Ng Man-tat (Lovingly referred to as Uncle Tat by fans) Passed away due to liver cancer At age 70 This news came as a big shock to many, myself included It feels like a big part of our childhood suddenly and unexpectedly Left us In case you don't know Uncle Tat was a legendary actor in Hong Kong cinema Throughout his prolific career He played almost exclusively supporting roles Yet, despite that, he was known throughout most of Asia As a superstar For many, he is the beloved comedy sidekick in Stephen Chow movies A loving father figure of the comedy duo Seen in films like Shaolin Soccer The God of Gamblers Fight Back to School And many, many more But for some, he is a surprisingly versatile actor "Can you scold me" "But also show that you care about me?" "If you are so good" "Leave!" Look at his eyes... He can be cowardly Abusive Stoic Cunning Badass Or freaking Ultraman "Back when I was still new in the industry" "He was already an amazing actor" "He was my role model" Today, I'd like to pay my respect And take some time to appreciate the finer details of his craft We will take a look at three scenes from Shaolin Soccer Three confrontations with the antagonist And see what we can learn from a legend Whose art went under-appreciated This is my tribute To the loving Uncle of Hong Kong cinema [LEARNING FROM UNCLE TAT] [CHAPTER ONE] The film opens with a flashback We see a young soccer player accepts a bribe from his teammate And intentionally loses the game Causing a horde of angry fans to rush forward And breaks his leg Years later, the teammate who orchestrated everything Is now a successful businessman And the young player, now played by Ng Man-tat Is just a lowly support staff In this scene, Tat begs for a chance to lead a team of his own He's desperate, vulnerable, and has no more dignity How do you show that? Trick question That is not how you approach acting "Don't act as if it's a comedy or tragedy" "It's a character, a life" It's a common mistake for inexperienced actors to focus on the goal of a scene Trying to be funny Trying to be sad It's a sad scene? Put on a sad face, right? But, no In a sad situation Many people often forcefully put on a smile Until they can't smile no more And that's what Uncle Tat does Let's just look at his smile A smile so wide you can see from behind his back A smile that instantly disappears when out of sight And reappears, when his head is raised What does that tell you? Well, the smile is fake Meaning he's eager to please He knows when to turn it on and off Like he has done this a million times before Now look at his hands Moving all over the place What does that tell you? He's uncomfortable, Right? Well, we don't know for sure, yet And that's the thing about good acting Uncle Tat understands that It's not for him to explain to film's intention It's up to the audience to decipher what the character is thinking All he needs to think about Is what the character would do His request to lead a team gets rejected His smile wilts away His hands lowered His wandering eyes do most of the acting And he speaks out "You got nerves!" Now we know his hand gestures are part of a facade he put on Pretending to be friendly and confident Hoping the antagonist will have mercy Once that hope is dashed His facade is broken Gone is his fake smile and hand gestures As the antagonist leaves In just one single close up We see the inner battle happening inside Tat's mind From eyes wide open shock To the corner of his mouth twitching in anger Until he burst into laughter Laughing at his own failure His acting isn't to show you desperation It is there to show you what the character feels He thought he had hope And now the hope is gone That is character [SPONSORED MESSAGE] If watching this makes you want to become an actor You are going to need... A website! 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[CHAPTER TWO] After much hardship Uncle Tat assembles a ragtag team So, he tries to register them for the national championship A championship run by the antagonist What follows is a short exchange A fantastic display of how well Uncle Tat understood his character And this scene He starts with the same facade he always has Bowing down Faking a smile Touching his body uncomfortably "What's their name?" And then, Tat's smile changes, ever so slightly See his eyes widen and eyebrows raised Back straighten and chest up He is genuinely proud of the team he assembled "They are the Shaoli-" "Whatever whatever" "Can you afford to register?" "I'll pay for it" Wanting to humiliate his team The antagonist offers his help Oblivious to his ill intention Tat's face changes again The fake smile disappears entirely Replace by genuine surprise and gratitude But then, the animosity shows "No problem" "We are like brothers, right? Crippled old man?" His face freezes And his response becomes hesitant "My shoes are dirty again" For a very brief moment You can see him almost wanting to cry In fact, you can hear a slight hint in his voice That he's holding back his tears "Let me clean them" "I'm good at cleaning. Let me do it" Luckily, his team rushes to the rescue That's 5 different emotions Reacting to just 4 lines of dialogues from the antagonist "I had a scene with Tony Leung" "About 2 pages" "Read it over 200 times" In this entire scene, no longer than 2 minutes He managed to decipher the subtext for every single line of dialogues And bring us on an emotional rollercoaster This level of details doesn't come spontaneously on set The amount of preparation must have been insane "Film set isn't the place to think about plots and dialogues" "Those are done inadvance" Indeed, he was well known to be one of the most hardworking actors in Hong Kong And that's the second thing we can learn from Uncle Tat Preparation To know your character, like you know yourself "Audience can always tell" "Have you done your homework" "Have you given it your all" "How hard did you work for it" "They can always tell" [CHAPTER THREE] Turns out, Tat's ragtag team of Shaolin Monks makes the perfect soccer team They play their way to the top And are about to meet the antagonist's team in the grand finals Tat and the antagonist meet one more time Tat arrives like he always does Smiling Touching his head uncomfortably But this time, the tables have turned This time, the antagonist is the one making the request He gives him a cheque, like he did many years ago "Forfeit the game, join my team" The moment he does that Tat knows he won See how his fake smile instantly disappears The moment the antagonist offers the cheque? What follows is his most natural facial expression yet An expression we have not seen from this character For the first time, he is expressing himself without restraint Without anger, without desperation "Not just me. My entire team is greedy" "Not for money" "But for the championship" "See you on the field" In a short speech, he tosses away all of his characteristics And turns into a different person A confident, stoic, righteous person "I'd think about, at this point in time" "What would the character do" "In this scene" "What is the emotional core" How much worse would this scene be If he still touches his body and forces a smile when trash-talking? It's consistent with the established character But not with the story Characters change, move They evolve By the end of the story A character must have some kind of emotional growth To be able to do that Knowing the character alone is not enough You have to know the story You have to think about where your character is heading What is the arc? What is the journey? "Like a lot of actors today" "Get the script" "Take a look, whatever" "AD goes: 'Everyone standby'" "5...4...3...2.." Within the industry, Uncle Tat is famous for studying his scripts so much He could feed lines to other actors That's the level of dedication we are talking about He has internalized not just the character, but the entire script The performance in the long-form Is what elevates a good actor Into a great actor As he walks away, his character arc is complete How's that for a performance [CONCLUSION] But maybe, the best lesson we can learn from Uncle Tat Is from off-screen "We got a superstar here" "No no..." "I'm just a regular actor" From all the interviews Ng Man-tat is this humble, honest, wise person "There are no small parts" "Only small actors" But he had made mistakes in his life, too When he was young and successful Tat was a prideful brat Incessant drinking, partying, and most importantly, gambling Forced him into heavy debt "Johnnie To was one of my sleepover friends" "Very close friend" "He saw my situation" "Called me a screwed-up" When he went bankrupt His company also stopped hiring him It seemed like it was the end of the road And he thought about ending it all Luckily, he stopped himself He decided to start his next life In this life He would start over For the next four years Uncle Tat spent every single day reading books about acting Honed his craft Studied as hard as he could "From that day on, everyone knows Tat" "As that person who doesn't need scripts on set" "Every line of dialogue, no matter how complex, memorized" "He even remembered other people's lines" We all make mistakes Sometimes, these mistakes can be life-altering But it's never too late to change your life around His mistakes made him stronger They made him better It was through these mistakes That he made himself into a superstar A humble one A loveable one Someone who may not be with us any more But will continue to inspire us For generations to come
