On Thursday, Louis Koo (古天樂) made an appearance at the Hong Kong Book Fair to attend a panel dedicated to the late martial arts novelist Huang Yi (黃易). Louis was the star of TVB’s 2001 mega-hit drama A Step Into the Past <尋秦記>, which was adapted from the novel of the same name written by Huang Yi. Due to the industry’s “assembly line method” of filming, Louis did not read the original novel when he first got cast in the 2001 television drama. It was the script that motivated his interest. “Hong Siu-lung is supposed to be a very promiscuous character, but because of the limitations of television, we weren’t able to translate certain parts to screen,” said Louis. He often had to improve for his character, and a lot of the dialogue on the show was created on the spot. The 46-year-old proceeded to say that Step is more than just a time traveling adventure. It is very much a historical drama about the beginnings of the Qin Dynasty of China, which, at the time, was revolutionary for television storytelling. Admitting that he’s currently planning a movie version for Step, Louis said he has finally read the original novel and is thinking about repacking the story for the big screen. “It’s going to be a big challenge,” he said. The actor recalled the time he had a meal with the late Huang Yi, who sadly passed away in April. “He lived in Lantau Island, simply and quietly. He gave me the feeling that he was a bit beyond this world. I was too afraid to talk to him at first. Actually, Francis Ng (吳鎮宇) was also there with me at the time, but he wasn’t in Step.” Louis was not new to book adaptations when he first took on the role of Hong Siu-lung. In 1995, he starred in TVB’s reboot of Return of the Condor Heroes <神鵰俠侶>, TVB’s second adaptation of the famous Jin Yong (金庸) novel. On speaking about the differences between filming Step and Return, Louis said with laugh, “I’ve actually seen other Jin Yong productions before, because I grew up watching Andy Lau’s (劉德華) version.” When the audiences laughed, Louis retorted, “What’s so funny? Then I’ll say I haven’t seen it then.” At the end of the panel, a woman from Mainland China raised her hand and asked Louis to summarize the panel for her in Mandarin. Louis, in his “Koo-accent”, immediately complied, “Of course! I’m honored that I had the opportunity to film A Step Into the Past. To be able to play the role [as Hong Siu-lung] was the most important moment in my life.” The hall broke into applause and cheers. Louis’ Mandarin has improved a lot! Creds: Ming Pao
Don't know how the 'chemistry' of the actors would work out on any new SITP production as the actors have gotten a lot older.
I loved Step into the Past when it first came out, it's one of those comedy historical dramas where they tried to tie it back to history and tried to keep some of their events as accurate as possible.
