My movie character may be a failure, but I am a success: HK actor Dayo Wong

SINGAPORE – In his upcoming movie A Guilty Conscience, popular Hong Kong comedian-actor Dayo Wong plays a sharp-tongued lawyer who lashes out at others due to his deep-seated insecurities.

In real life, however, the 62-year-old brims with confidence.

Over a Zoom interview last Friday with local media, Wong described how different he is from his on-screen persona in A Guilty Conscience, which opens in cinemas on Jan 21.

In the legal drama, his barrister character Adrian Lam mishandles a child abuse case and indirectly sentences his innocent client to prison for 17 years. He is plagued by regret and seizes the opportunity for a retrial, hoping to right his wrong and punish the true culprit.

“His tongue is ruthless, partly because he feels he should be very successful, but believes his talent is not appreciated by society. He cannot wait to make big bucks, but can’t seem to get rich, and his wife has run away. So he is deeply unhappy,” said Wong.

“I, however, am a very successful person,” he added in jest. “If I want to drink coffee, someone will bring it to me. I don’t have the mentality of a failure like Adrian Lam.”

After all, Wong – who sold out 26 stand-up comedy shows at the Hong Kong Coliseum in 2018 – has been billed as the greatest stand-up comedian in the Cantonese-speaking world, and has performed in Canada and the United States.

However, his Midas touch does not extend to his acting work.

Looking back at his 30-year film career, which includes movies such as Only Fools Fall In Love (1995) and Temporary Family (2014), Wong said: “Others have told me there was a period of time when I was not really recognised. But to be honest, I did not feel underappreciated. I know so many talented people, and I have never felt that I was very talented.”

And while he does not consider himself to have a poison tongue, he can appreciate the insults dissed out by his character.

He said: “It is not easy to pull off (that kind of) humour, you need to have a lot of wit. If you are just scolding people, that is just being ‘fierce’ and is easy to do – you just need to raise your voice.

“But to have a poison tongue, it requires you to know something about someone which you can use to hurt them, and this requires a lot of brains.”

That said, Wong feels fortunate he has not had to live with a guilty conscience.

“My character is a good person, but in his pursuit of money and power, he became the person he despises. Of course, I have regretted some events in my life. But, thankfully, I have never harmed another person. The victim of my regrets has been myself and not others,” he said.

“I don’t mean to say this is because I am somehow good or shrewd. I have just been lucky that I have not faced a situation in which another party would have to perish for me to thrive.”

A Guilty Conscience marks Hong Kong screenwriter Jack Ng’s feature film directorial debut. During the same Zoom interview, Ng – who penned the screenplays for The Stool Pigeon (2010) and That Demon Within (2014) – said Wong has the gift of the gab and good comedic timing.

Ng felt that the power imbalance between the rich and poor, a central theme of the film, exists everywhere in the world.

He said: “Most, or some, of these issues can be resolved. A lot depends on whether there are kind-hearted people willing to sacrifice their time and efforts to help the poor. I sincerely hope that in the future, there will be more stepping up to help.”

A Guilty Conscience opens in cinemas on Jan 21.