Donnie Yen, Fan Bingbing and Aaron Kwok lead tributes to Benny Chan, iconic Hong Kong film director behind Shaolin and New olice Story
Action film director Benny Chan Muk-sing passed away on August 23 from nasopharyngeal cancer – A-list actors have paid their tributes on Instagram and social media, remembering the iconic talent behind movies including A Moment of Romance, Invisible Target, Call of Heroes and The White Storm
Laramie Mok
Published: 12:40pm, 25 Aug, 2020
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Hong Kong action-film director Benny Chan Muk-sing passed away on August 23. Photo: SCMP
Hong Kong cinema has lost an iconic action film director with the death of Benny Chan Muk-sing, who passed away at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital on Sunday (August 23).
Chan had started to feel unwell last year when he was shooting the action movie Raging Fire (怒火), starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse. He was then diagnosed with late-stage nasopharyngeal cancer.
After months of treatment at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin, the 58-year-old was transferred to the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital a few days before his death.
The five-time best director nominee at the Hong Kong Film Awards was no stranger to movie buffs. Besides the popular action thrillers of recent years – such as The White Storm (掃毒), Shaolin (新少林寺), Connected (保持通話) and Divergence (三岔口) – action romance film A Moment of Romance (天若有情), released in 1990, stamped Chan’s own mark on the Hong Kong film industry.
In the movie, Wah Dee, a young triad gangster portrayed by Andy Lau, became one of Lau’s iconic roles. The film is considered a modern classic of Hong Kong cinema.
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Andy Lau as Wah Dee in A Moment of Romance, now regarded as a classic of Hong Kong cinema. Photo: YouTube
Alongside Andy Lau, Chan’s directorial efforts also nurtured various award-winning actors including Aaron Kwok, Sean Lau, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung, Nicholas Tse and Daniel Wu.
Following the untimely death of the director, many celebrities have expressed their sorrow and paid their respects to Chan through social media.
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Posters promoting the Hong Kong action movies Big Bullet and Gen-X Cops. Photo: handout
Aaron Kwok As the leading actor in the action-crime movie Divergence, directed by Chan in 2005, Kwok won the best actor award at the 42nd Golden Horse Awards.
“I feel very sorry about that, my respectable director Chan, may you rest in peace,” Kwok wrote on Instagram.
Donnie Yen Before joining the film industry, Chan also worked for various local television companies in the 1980s and 90s.
Yen and Chan knew each other from working at Asia Television (ATV). They worked together for the TV series The Kung Fu Master in 1994 and Fist of Fury (精武門) in 1995. More recently, the duo joined together for the movie Raging Fire (怒火), which is yet to have a release date.
“Twenty five years later, he’s still the same positive, strong, happy, inspiring director and friend. I will miss your smile, our creative exchanges and fatherhood stories. You will be greatly missed my friend,” Yen wrote on Instagram.
Nicholas Tse
Tse and Chan worked together on five films, such as Gen-X Cops in 1999, New Police Story in 2004, Invisible Target in 2007, Shaolin in 2011 and the unreleased Raging Fire.
New Police Story earned Tse the best supporting actor award at the 28th Hundred Flowers Awards.
“Director Chan has left us. From Gen-X Cops and New Police Story, to Invisible Target and Shaolin as well as Raging Fire, Chan was my mentor both on and off the silver screen, influencing my life. I will miss you forever,” Tse wrote on Instagram.
Daniel Wu
Wu was another actor that Chan frequently worked with. He was nominated for best supporting actor award at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards for his role as the villain Joe Kwan in New Police Story.
“Today I was truly saddened to find out that legendary Hong Kong director Benny Chan had passed. Gen-X Cops, Divergence, New Police Story, I did some of my best work under his guidance. I will miss you dearly! You were the best in the game!” Wu wrote on his Instagram.
Fan Bingbing and Wujing
Besides various Hong Kong filmmakers, mainland Chinese martial artist Wujing and well-known actress Fan Bingbing also expressed their sorrow and bid farewell to Chan on Weibo. Both of them had worked with Chan for the movie Shaolin in 2011.
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“Rest in peace director Chan, I will miss you forever,” wrote Fan Bingbing on Weibo.
“The old days will be forever in my heart. Rest in peace director Chan!” wrote Wujing on Weibo.
