Lost in White (Photo : Lost in White producers)
If playing a police officer is not new to “Lost in White” star Tony Leung Ka Fai, playing his patrol partner in the action movie comes naturally also for co-star Tong Dawei. That’s because in real life, Tong has police officers for a father and mother.
The movie, which opens on April 15, gives the 37-year-old actor a chance to play a role that his cop-parents do every day. But as police officers in the movie, the two actors do other things that they do not do in real life, such as jump in an ice-cold river in Heilongjiang, which Leung did.
The movie was filmed in the city of Yichuan and the average temperature at that time was -40 degrees Celsius. The challenges of shooting scenes in such wintry conditions made Tong say, “I thought I was fully prepared (for the role), but I was wrong,” quoted China Daily.
Last week, the two actors promoted the movie inside a skating rink to give the media a feel of the cold environment where the movie was shot. At the event, Tong joked, “an actor has to suffer in an icy environment to get the top award.” He was referring to the Oscar Best Actor award for Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio for his performance in “The Revenant” which was shot in Canada also during winter.
Tong is considered an A-lister actor in China, pointed out Dramafever. It cited as proof having worked with top actresses such as Zhao Wei in “Dearest,” Fan Bing in “Lost in Beijing” and Zhang Ziyi in “The Crossing.”
He started as a TV actor and had starred in about 50 dramas, while he has about 20 movies to his name. Tong is married to a woman whom he dated when they were in college. His fluid movements, which Tong would display in “Lost in White,” come as no surprise because the actor is good in Tai Chi.\
