Some actors make you believe in the movies. Tony Leung makes you believe in the movies again. In a conversation with GQ around the release of his new film Silent Friend, the Hong Kong icon comes across as someone who has never lost his sense of wonder about what cinema can do - and after a career spanning decades and continents, that enthusiasm feels genuinely earned rather than performed.
The actor who acts with everything
One of the more delightful details to emerge from the interview is Leung's approach to acting with inanimate objects. It's the kind of technique that sounds eccentric until you remember that this is the man who communicated entire love stories with his eyes. When you've built a reputation for raw, interior performances, finding emotional truth in a prop or a piece of furniture probably feels less like a stretch and more like a natural extension of the craft.
It also says something about how seriously he takes his work. Leung isn't coasting on his legend - he's still searching, still experimenting, still finding new ways into a scene.
The enduring spell of In the Mood for Love
It's impossible to talk to Leung without the subject of In the Mood for Love coming up, and frankly, we wouldn't want it any other way. Wong Kar-wai's 2000 masterpiece has only grown in cultural stature over the years, and Leung reflects on why it continues to connect with new audiences. There's something about that film's particular ache - longing held at arm's length, love expressed through restraint - that apparently doesn't age. If anything, it feels more relevant in an era of overcommunication and oversharing.
What Marvel reminded him of
Perhaps the most surprising revelation is Leung's warm reflection on making Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Rather than describing the Marvel experience as a jarring contrast to his arthouse roots, he found something unexpectedly nostalgic about it - a reminder of the collaborative energy and old-school filmmaking spirit he loved early in his career. It's a generous and genuinely interesting perspective from someone who could easily have been dismissive of the blockbuster world.
What comes through most strongly in the GQ profile is that Tony Leung's relationship with cinema is a love story in itself - complicated, long-running, and still very much alive. Silent Friend is the latest chapter, and if his track record is anything to go by, it's worth paying attention to.
