Carlos Chan (陳家樂) recently appeared as a guest in the new online show The Bros Club <巴打圍爐>. In the latest episode, the hosts talked about “the event that changed your life,” to which Carlos replied, “The event and the person that changed my life happened at the same time.”
In 2018, Carlos starred in TVB drama Daddy Cool <逆緣>, where his popularity soared thanks to his role as a “grandfather.” He played a man from the 1940s who has a son (David Chiang 姜大衛) and a grandson (Wayne Lai 黎耀祥). His character cryogenically frozen and awoke in 2018, which led to him looking younger than his descendants. After the drama aired, Carlos’ character was widely praised.
However, the casting audition for this drama was one of the most embarrassing experiences of Carlos’ life. The night before the audition was the Hong Kong Film Awards, where Kara Wai (惠英紅) won Best Actress for Happiness <幸運是我>. She left the afterparty early and as a result, the focus shifted to getting Carlos drunk as he was in the same film. He admitted he was a lightweight in holding his alcohol. Due to the lively atmosphere, he was pressured into drinking. He ended up drinking until 6:30 a.m. Carlos had a TVB casting audition the next morning at 8 a.m., where he was supposed to meet producer Amy Wong (王心慰).
“After drinking, I walked home all bent over, showered, changed, and then went back out again. There was no skipping the audition,” Carlos said. He took a taxi to TVB holding a plastic bag. “I started vomiting into a plastic bag while in the taxi and I was still vomiting when I got to the entrance of TVB. As soon as I got out, I threw up again. I couldn’t find a trash can, so I just tied the bag and stuffed it into my backpack.”
Still leaning sideways, Carlos could not sit up straight, but he forced himself to look alert and prepared. “I kept my eyes wide open and went in to meet Amy like that. She kept telling me about the story and I just kept looking like this…. I thought it was over, but I went to the bathroom, took the bag back out, and threw up again. Then I tied it back up and put it back in my backpack. It was the same bag since I didn’t have a spare one. After I threw up again in the bathroom, Amy said, ‘Now I’m taking you to meet Catherine Tsang (曾勵珍)”
Sitting across from Catherine and Amy, Carlos found it extremely hard to sit properly but he forced himself. Eventually, he gave up and sat rigid with his legs spread wide apart in a traditional martial arts stance. While the two executives were chatting, Catherine suddenly said something that stuck with him to this day, “Even though I’m not looking directly at you, don’t think I’m not observing. I’m watching you from the corner of my eye to see what kind of person you are. Luckily, you’re willing to listen to us and you sit in a very proper manner.” Amy chimed in, “Yes, I thought his posture suited the character. People back in the day really sat like that.” That was how, against all odds and while completely hung over, Carlos was cast as the grandfather in Daddy Cool, a role which reinvented his acting career.
One of the hosts asked, “Are you sure you can tell this story? They might be going around saying they discovered a brilliant actor and it turns out he was just drunk!” Another host countered, saying Carlos may have performed better because he was more relaxed in that state. Without the alcohol, he may have been too nervous to act naturally. Carlos said this was the first time he had publicly shared the story behind his casting. “This was my most shameful casting experience. Getting this role changed my life and I was really lucky! I was honestly drunk out of my mind. I thought I was done.”
In fact, when Amy was interviewed about casting Carlos, she explained it was because he looked righteous, “He looked perfect for a 1945 guerrilla fighter. His face radiates integrity and moral values.” When asked why not use an in-house TVB actor, she replied, “The character was already fresh and unique. Using someone from outside made him stand out even more.” As to whether budget was a concern, she added, “The most important thing is that it felt right. I never try to save money for the company!”
Source: [1]
This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.
