ACCIDENTAL ACTION STAR誤打誤撞的動作明星
Daniel Wu tells DEAN NAPOLITANO how he fought his way to success in blockbuster US TV show Into the Badlands 吳彥祖接受Dean Napolitano訪問，講述自己如何在大熱美劇《Into the Badlands》打出一片新天地
For nearly two decades, Daniel Wu has been one of Hong Kong’s hottest actors. But now, he’s breaking down barriers in the country of his birth – the US. Currently shooting its third season, Wu’s Into the Badlands is among a handful of Asian-American-led shows that have found success on mainstream American TV, where Asian-American actors rarely land leading roles. For every Fresh Off the Boat or Master of None (which even mocked the typecasting of Indian men on American TV) there have been indifferent performers like Dr Ken, the TV adaptation of Rush Hour and Martial Law. Wu’s success in the US – which also extends to appearances in forthcoming movie blockbusters Geostorm and the Tomb Raider reboot – is another milestone in the long journey of Asian-American actors to mainstream acceptance.
Wu’s career has a telling parallel with the man who, over 40 years on, still bestrides the field like a colossus. Like Bruce Lee, Wu was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and found success in the country of his birth via an extended detour in Hong Kong.
近20年來，吳彥祖直一 是香港影壇炙手可熱的男星。現在，他回到自己的生美出 地國，嘗試打入當地的藝。演 圈亞裔美男籍 演員很少在美的國主流劇集中擔當要角，但吳彥祖主演的《Into the Badlands》正在拍攝第三季，可說是少數成功的例子。其他成功的例子還有《Fresh Of f the Boat》或是《Master of None》（劇中甚至嘲諷美劇將印度人描寫成千篇一律的典型）等，像不過 《Dr Ken》與由電影改編成劇的集 《Rush Hour》及《Martial Law》等平平無奇的亦作品 為數不少。吳彥祖美在 國闖出名堂，亦為他帶來新的：機會 即將上映的大製作《人造天劫》及全新一集的《盜墓者羅拉》中，見將會 到他亮相，打破長久以來亞裔美籍演員難獲主流接受的局面，美在 國影視圈立的下新 里程碑。
吳彥祖的演藝事業，與已逝世40多年的李小龍有點相仿；兩人都在三藩市灣區出生，而且都是在香港的電影界闖出名堂。吳彥祖亦是很早就開始習武，11歲在灣區拜師學習少林功夫，數年後再跟隨來自北京的張宏梅師傅及她的美籍丈夫Phillip Wong學。武
年少時學習武藝打下的根基，讓吳彥祖在演出《Into the Badlands》時揮灑自如。這齣武術劇
Wu also began studying martial arts from an early age, taking up Shaolin kung fu in the Bay Area when he was 11. By his late teens he was training with Beijingborn Zhang Hongmei and her American husband Phillip Wong, both wushu masters.
That childhood training has definitely paid off for Into the Badlands, a Journey to the West- inspired martial arts series set in a dystopian civilisation. Ruling barons battle for power in a feudal society, while marauding bandits roam the landscape reigning terror over the weak. Wu stars as Sunny, a warrior leading a band of fighters under the command of one of the barons.
Wu’s winding path from Hong Kong actor to American TV star began with his debut role in the 1998 Hong Kong film
Bishonen, a gay romantic drama co-starring Stephen Fung and Shu Qi. Since then, Wu has become one of Asia’s top leading men, starring in hits such as the Overheard police thriller trilogy; the rom-com
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart; Jackie Chan crime drama Shinjuku Incident; and Inseparable, an offbeat English-language comedy set in China with House of Cards star Kevin Spacey.
Wu’s film career, aside from a few exceptions, has been largely devoid of roles calling for kung fu: that’s where the Bruce Lee parallels come to an abrupt halt. ‘I never really did a full-on martial arts movie,’ he says. ‘People forgot – or didn’t even know – that I had a martial arts background.’ Part of that was by design: he didn’t want to be typecast.
His role in Into the Badlands almost didn’t happen. ‘Originally, I was brought onboard as an executive producer to oversee the show’s fight sequences,’ Wu says. ‘I wasn’t planning on being in it.’
That was for two reasons. First, he’d never done a TV show – and wasn’t sure he wanted to move in that direction. Second, he wondered whether his 40-year-old body could meet the physical demands of a long-running series.
EACH 45- MINUTE EPISODE USUALLY INCLUDES TWO BIG FIGHT SEQUENCES, AND WU IS IN NEARLY ALL OF THEM劇集每集長45分鐘，通常有兩場打鬥大場面，而吳彥祖幾乎每一場都有份
‘I wasn’t sure if I would actually be up to it,’ says Wu, who turns 43 this month, thinking the show needed a younger actor. It was a reasonable conclusion: each 45-minute episode usually includes two big fight sequences, and his character Sunny is in nearly all of them.
‘ They either found a great actor that didn’t know any martial arts, or the other way around – martial artists that weren’t actors,’ he says. That presented a problem: Sunny, as the pivotal character, carries the weight of the show and serves as its moral compass in a lawless land.
By the time the producers had 集靈感來自《西遊記》，以一個反烏托邦的未來世界為背景。在封建制度下，各國君主互相爭權奪利，還有惡四棍 處遊蕩，打家劫舍，欺凌弱小。吳彥祖飾演的Sunny率領一隊武士，效力其中一個君主。
從港產片男星到美電國 視明星，吳彥祖闖蕩影視圈的折生曲 人 始於1998年；他初登銀，幕 與馮德倫和舒淇合演浪漫唯美同性戀電影《美少年之戀，》後 一炮而紅，從此成為亞少區內著名影星。他主演過多部賣座電，影 括警探懸疑片聽《竊 風雲》三部曲、浪漫愛情片《單身男女》、成龍警匪片《新宿事件》，以及與《House of Cards》男主角Kevin Spacey合演以為中國背景的英語喜劇片《形影不離》等。
在吳彥祖的電影生涯裡，除了少數例外，大部分角色都與功沾夫 不上邊，這一點倒是與李小龍截然不同。：他說 「我從未拍過一部真正的功片夫 。大家都忘了，或是根本知不 道我是有功夫底子的。」部分原因是他希不 望自己被定型。
其實《Into the Badlands》一劇最初並沒打找有算 他演出，他說：本「來我只是劇集的執行監製，負責監督劇中的打武場面，並沒打有 算在劇中演出。」
他表示這是有兩個原因的：第一，他從沒有演過電，視劇 也不確定自己是否想朝這個方向發展。，第二 他當時已年屆40，要長期演出一個劇集，知體不 道 力是否足以應付。
吳彥祖這個月就滿43歲了，：他說「我不知道自己是否勝任。」他認為劇要集需的是一位比較輕年 的，的演員 而他顧完慮全合理，每因為集長45分鐘，通常場括兩 打鬥的大場面而， Sunny幾乎每一場都有份。
Sunny是劇中的關鍵人物，在劇中那個無法的無天 世界裡，肩負道德規範的，角色地位舉足輕重。吳彥祖：說「是們到可他 找的，演員 若非演技一流但完全不懂武術，就是剛好相，反 功夫了得卻不會演戲於。」 是難題來了。
當監製將百多個應徵者淘汰只至 剩下幾個時，找仍然 不到滿意的。，人選 最後他們找上吳彥祖。他笑著說：「那時我就答了應我。知不 道自己的體力是否足以應付，但是我願意嘗試。我功有 夫底子，還記得招式，該有的基本條件我都有。」
《Into the Badlands》第一季在美國路易斯安那州拍攝，第二季則移師愛爾蘭，而第三季亦於上個月。開拍由於武打場面由來自香港的製作組負責，因此對吳彥祖來說，不管拍攝地點在哪裡，都有賓至如歸的。感覺 「所有工作人員都是講粵語或普通話我， 覺得像是在香港拍戲，感覺很自在。然後拍文場戲時，感覺就完全不同了，像就在拍美電國 視劇。」
然而，參與拍攝《Into the Badlands》以及其他工作，令吳彥祖待在香港的時間愈來愈少。2016年下半年，他幾乎全部時間都在愛爾蘭，拍攝劇集第二季。上個
narrowed the field of candidates from over 100 to just a handful, they were still less than satisfied. Finally, they turned to Wu. ‘I was, like, okay,’ he laughs. ‘I’m not sure I can handle it physically, but I’ll give it a shot. The foundation is there, the skills are there, the basics are all there.’
The first season was shot in the American state of Louisiana and the second season in Ireland, where the third season began filming last month. With a Hong Kong crew used for the martial arts scenes, the set is familiar territory for Wu, regardless of location. ‘Everyone speaks Cantonese and Mandarin. It feels like I’m on a Hong Kong set, I feel really at home,’ Wu says. ‘And then you jump over to the drama side and it’s completely different – it’s like an American TV drama.’
But Badlands, along with Wu’s other projects, means that he is now spending less and less time in Hong Kong. He was in Ireland for most of the second half of 2016 filming season two of Badlands. Before returning to Ireland last month to begin work on the third season, which will keep him there until April, he also filmed a reality show in mainland China over the summer.
So where’s home? ‘Right now, it’s pretty much California and Ireland,’ he says. Wu, his wife, the model Lisa S, and their young daughter have adapted to life in Ireland. They live in the Dublin neighbourhood of Ranelagh, which he calls a ‘trendy, hipster neighbourhood’, a short walk from the city centre. When he has a break from an otherwise gruelling six-day-a-week shooting schedule, they explore the country, from the nearby Wicklow Mountains to drives along Ireland’s coast. ‘It’s a really gorgeous country,’ he says.
During the show’s off-season break, Wu spent four months in Cape Town, filming the Tomb Raider reboot, starring Alicia Vikander in the title role and due to be released next March. He knows South Africa well. Lisa already had a home in Free State province, in a valley surrounded by rural farmland, caves and waterfalls, three hours’ drive south of Johannesburg, before the two met. ‘I fell in love with the place,’ Wu says, and the secluded area meant they could ‘totally disconnect’.
When he’s not working, Wu is most likely in California – although there are things he misses about Hong Kong: paddleboarding in Sai Kung’s Clearwater Bay and eating seafood at Po Toi O being at the top of the list. ‘I like the mentality of the people,’ he says. ‘I miss the speed and efficiency at which people can get things done.’ 月他重返愛爾蘭拍攝第三季，將會在那裡留到2018年4月；此外，他也會在夏季前往中國內地，拍攝一個電視真人騷節目。
那麼現在他以何處為家？他說：「現在主要都是在加州和愛爾蘭。」他與妻子名模Lisa S和他們的女兒，都已經適應了愛爾蘭的生活。他們一家住在都柏林Ranelagh區，他形容這是一個「時尚新潮的社區」，而且距離市中心很近，信步可至。劇集每周拍攝六天，工作十分辛苦，因此每到放假的時候，他就會帶著家人一起遊覽當地風光，例如到附近的Wicklow Mountains山脈欣賞風景，或是沿愛爾蘭海岸線自駕遊，他說：「這真是一個美麗的國家。」
趁著劇集完成一季的空檔期間，吳彥祖前往開普敦，在那裡住了四個月，拍攝全新版本的《盜墓者羅拉》，該片女主角是Alicia Vikander，電影將於明年3月上映。他很熟悉南非，妻子Lisa結識他之前，已經在距約翰內斯堡以南三小時車程的自由邦省置業，房子位於山谷中，四周遍佈鄉郊農地、山洞和瀑布，吳彥祖說：「我深深愛上這個地方。」這個人跡罕至的世外桃源可以讓他們「與世隔絕」。
不用工作時，吳彥祖多數會住在加州，但他也掛念香港的事物，尤其是在西貢清水灣一帶玩直立板運動，以及在布袋澳飽餐美味海鮮。「我喜歡香港人的心態，我想念香港人做事的速度和效率。」