1999 Early Spring

Leslie blushed when the waitress saw his pictures

I went back to Tokyo in the middle of December. We were rushing the production of the book. The film shoot of the new movie in which Leslie and Anita would act together, was supposed to start in early May. The film shoot would be held in Europe so we had no choice but to hold the autograph-event within the month of April. We knew that the schedule of the film shoot in Hong Kong tended never to go well according to plan, but still we should not make our plan based on the assumption that the film shoot would be delayed. We worked very hard and managed to enter the stage of the layout of the book. We planned to go to Hong Kong to show the layout of the book to Leslie. As Leslie did not understand Japanese, there would be a big problem on his part to check on the content of the manuscript so we had the manuscript translated into Mandarin by the translation company. I would not know the degree of the accuracy of the translation since I don’t understand Mandarin at all. Anyway we had no choice but to show the translated manuscript to Leslie.

In the early February of 1999, I visited Hong Kong again. This time we stayed at the Hotel Hong Kong, which is one of the older and more established hotels in Kowloon. On arriving in Hong Kong by the night flight, I called Leslie, and he asked me where I was staying. I told him the name of the hotel and he said he would come to see me at the hotel coffee shop the next day at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Next afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Leslie showed up with a cellular phone in one hand and a car key in the other hand. He looked very casual, wearing an off-white T shirt and worn-out blue jeans. In addition, a bunch of his hair was tousled on the top of his head, maybe because he had not smoothed out his hair!

When he found me, he came toward me with his big smile and open arms, just the same as our previous meeting 2 months ago. It was only 2 months since we parted, but I had missed him very much and I was moved to tears to see him. “How have you been? Long time no see!!” We exchanged small talk and sat down on the sofa. Then we chatted with each other on how we had been getting along for these past 2 months. I had been busy making this book and Leslie had been busy making 2 movies, “The Kid” and “Moonlight Express.” We didn’t have much news except our business so our conversation about each other soon came to the end. After our quick exchange of our recent happenings, Leslie gave a quick look around the lobby and the coffee shop. He said, “It has been quite a long time since I came here. I think the atmosphere of this coffee shop has changed. There was not such a big table here before. Recently there have been many big hotels that are newly built. I seldom use the old hotels, but actually, I love these kinds of old historic hotels. This is an old style building, so the ceiling is high and the room is spacious, moreover the rates are quite reasonable too. I would rather recommend this hotel!” Leslie was full of praises for this hotel.

Each time I met Leslie, I was impressed with his knowledge of hotels. He was familiar with the details of the hotels in Hong Kong. He would never pick a particular hotel all the time but always chose different hotels. In comparison with the Conrad or Grand Hyatt, Hotel Hong Kong is not of the highest grade, but Leslie, who was dressed very casually, blended well into the atmosphere. The coffee shop was entirely visible from the lobby. It had a disorderly and avant-garde feeling.
Saying “It is too soon, but...” I showed Leslie the draft copy of the cover page. Leslie looked around as if he was worried about being seen and then he looked at it.

Leslie with the red shirt on the cover of the photo-book came with a little episode behind it. We took those photos in the dining room in Leslie house. We decided to use the clothes by Hermes and Jil Sander, but all of them which Leslie had chosen were of very chic and quiet color tone. These clothes were all stylish and of good choice but I prefer a bit more vivid tone. Luckily we were taking photos in his house, so I asked him if he had any other richer color clothes. Leslie answered, “Yes. I have red or blue…” Then he went to his closet in his bed room and fetched a red shirt and a blue shirt as he said. Correctly speaking they were dark red and cobalt blue. The dark red shirt made his face look bright and vivid, so I chose it but it was also true that Leslie looked a bit childish in the red shirt. Now I am thinking perhaps the blue one might be better because it could have make Leslie look sharper…

Just as I expected, Leslie took a look at the pictures and muttered, “I look a bit childish, don’t I?” I answered, “Maybe so, but I like your image in this picture. I think it is good for the front cover!”

Leslie gazed at the picture once more for a while and agreed, “Yes, I guess so.”

At that moment two of the waitresses were standing behind Leslie; they glanced at the picture and exclaimed, “Oh, how nice!!” Then Leslie felt abashed and quickly turned the picture over. I noticed that he was blushing! I could not believe what I saw; Leslie, who had been a star for more than 20 years, blushed when his picture was seen by others! Since then I cannot forget the scene; “Leslie blushed when his picture was seen by waitresses.” This episode always reminds me of the real Leslie, who was actually rather shy.

“Well ,” he handed the cover copy faced down to me and then he whispered saying, “People are looking at me here so I will have a look at the layout of these photos at home tomorrow night. I have asked a professional cook to come and prepare dinner tomorrow night. I have also invited some of my friends over. Let’s show the pictures to them! I am looking forward to seeing the pictures then!” Then he bent over and began to read the translated Mandarin manuscript quickly. As for the interview part, he skimmed through it without any comments, since the content was based on his own oral account but the part on “Speaking about real Leslie” was all new to him, so he was reading with a rather earnest look, murmuring, “Ummm…” or “Oh...” I asked him, “Do you care about what your friends said about you?” Leslie replied, “Well…yes, a little bit.” And he smiled at me.

The process of the record-breaking autograph event

While I was staying in Hong Kong, I had to do 2 important things. One of them was to have the rough of the book checked by Leslie. And the other was the business talk about the autograph event with Leslie. I had been worried about it since the end of the previous year.

I had received numerous letters and e-mail since the publication of the photo book and the announcement of the plan for the autograph event. The telephone in the editorial department rang hot. It was a very difficult situation for us to handle! The wild confusion had already started even before we prepared for the event.

Actually the announcement of the publication of the book was supposed to be much later as Leslie himself requested this of me. He said he didn’t want the Hong Kong media to start the rumor before the details have been decided yet. I also knew it well that the Hong Kong mass media would search for even a small piece of news with sharp eyes. So we had been very careful not to leak out our plan but the information leaked out unexpectedly. To my surprise, it was Leslie himself who revealed the event to the reporters of Hong Kong newspapers!! Moreover he kindly disclosed the name of our company. The news spread around quickly and a lot of inquiries started coming into our office. I didn’t know the intention of Leslie; in spite of what he said about not leaking out the news, Leslie himself announced it without any hesitations! Why??? So, honestly speaking, I didn’t know how to deal with this happening.

Though I could not understand his real motive, our publication of the book was true and it would be open to the public sooner or later so we changed our plan and decided to make a public announcement of the photo-book.

The hectic days had started since then…

As for the inquiries to the editorial department, though there were those who expressed their gratitude, however most of them expressed their dissatisfactions, such as, “I am happy to hear about the autography event, but why only 300 people? It won’t be acceptable!” Some of them went as far to warn us, “How are you going to choose only 300 people? You may not know how frantic Leslie fans are! If you do it in a wrong way, a riot could break out! Be careful!” There were some extreme comments such as, “Are you kidding Leslie fans?” Or “I cannot forgive you if you choose 300 people irresponsibly!!”

At first we were shocked at the enthusiastic response from Leslie fans. We felt scary but gradually we began to understand that all of them were just eager to see Leslie from the bottom of their heart. If I were a fan, I would feel it unacceptable that only 300 people could be chosen. Yet we had to place a certain limitation to the people in attendance. If 300 people were too few in number, then we should first consult Leslie on how many signatures he could sign.

When I told him about my anxiety regarding the autograph event at the hotel coffee shop, Leslie immediately started to sign his signature on a piece of paper on the table. After writing several signatures, he said, “I can handle 1000 people” “What? A thousand people?” I repeated his words. Then he signed more signatures in the air again and said, “Yes, I think I can!” As I had never done an autograph event, I had no idea how tedious it was to write 1000 signatures. Only Leslie knew it and he himself assured me he could handle it. So I took his words for it and decided to hold a “1000 people autograph event”.

By the way, to tell you the truth, I was worried about something completely different at that time. I was worried whether 1000 people would actually show up at the event. Leslie seemed to share the same thought too though it didn’t come up in our conversation. Leslie had not realized yet the extent of his popularity in Japan accurately. You can see it by the following episode. I think the conversation was held during our meeting at the coffee shop.

I: “I will arrange a pick-up limousine for you at the airport.”

Leslie: “The pick-up limousine is quite expensive, isn’t it? I won’t need it!”

I: “Then how will you get to Tokyo?”

Leslie: “I would rather take an airport limousine bus.”

I: “Airport limousine bus? I have never used it.”

Leslie: “Really? The bus arrives at Hokozaki station in Tokyo. It is very convenient. Nobody has ever noticed me before, so it will be also OK this time. I will take a taxi from there to the hotel. So please wait at the hotel.”

Leslie seemed to have been to Japan many times privately and had taken the airport bus before but this time, it was completely different. The date of the event would be announced beforehand all over Japan so therefore it would be very easy for fans to guess Leslie would arrive in Japan on the day prior to the event. Even if they would not know the time of his arrival, some of them could be waiting for Leslie at the airport the whole day. What would happen if they were to find out that Leslie is taking the airport bus? In spite of Leslie’s optimistic thinking, I could see Leslie would be surrounded by some fanatic fans at Narita airport.

My perspective was also too optimistic then, but I only thought the airport limousine bus was a bit risky and the pick-up limousine would be better.

In those days, we had decided many things openly without much consideration and defense. As for the hotel accommodation, I decided against the Park Hyatt, where Leslie always used when he was visiting Japan. I decided that a totally different hotel where Leslie had never stayed before would be better. The Park Hyatt became too popular for Leslie fans and I heard some devoted fans had already made reservations at the Park Hyatt expecting Leslie to stay there in April. Leslie said, “I prefer the Park Hyatt, but it will be fine with me to stay in a different hotel if you feel uneasy. But I would like the hotel with a gym”.

I knew why Leslie loved the Park Hyatt very much. The bed, the linen, the color tone of the wall and carpet of the room as well as the built of the bathroom and amenity goods, all of these were amazingly similar to those of Leslie’s bedroom. I thought Leslie felt totally relaxed in the room as if he were in his own room. However for me, his security should come first before all others so I made a plan to choose an unknown hotel on the pretext he was staying at the Park Hyatt. For this reason I chose the Four Season hotel in Bunkyo district. There is no public transportation facility to the area except by cars. Moreover it is a small hotel which has a privacy oriented policy and the Victorian style. The atmosphere of the hotel is very chic and gorgeous. It is totally different from the modern and sophisticated atmosphere of the Park Hyatt. The point was nobody would imagine that Leslie would want to stay in such a hotel. Later, when Leslie arrived at the hotel, he said exactly what I had expected. I remember I felt funny and happy at the same time listening to his comment.

The party in Leslie’s house and the encounter with Mr. Tong

On the second night in Hong Kong, we visited Leslie’s house after a long interval. As soon as I rang the doorbell, Leslie showed up at the front door. He seemed to be in quite good humor because of the effects of some alcohol. Leslie was wearing a shiny blue shirt and a pair of slim pants made of soft material. He looked so handsome that I felt as if his existence was out of this world (as if belonged to another world). I was charmed by his good looks and thought to myself, “How wonderful this man is!” The party had already started and there were several guests. The guests who were invited to this party were all those who were involved in the photo book; Leslie’s friends, my friends, and our friends’ friends. I had met all of them at the interview last year, so without any social greetings we decided to see the draft layout of the book before dinner.

We put the 200-paged draft layout on the floor of the living room. Leslie looked at the pictures carefully starting from the first page and the rest of us were following after Leslie. Leslie reacted differently depending on the pictures; at times he was a bit embarrassed, shaking his head or frowning. Then finally he gave his approval to all of them except 2 photos, both of which Leslie would not use at all. These were the close-up pictures taken at the library in the China Club. Leslie insisted on not using them. He said, “They are so similar to the pictures in the photo book published 10 years ago.” I must admit that the Leslie in the pictures looked too young and immature, but still I could not help smiling when I heard his comment. He said, “It looks as if I had not grown up at all in these 10 years!! Don’t you think so?”

When we finished checking all the photos, another guest joined us. This person was tall and slender, had an elegant feature with a shapely nose and had a quiet atmosphere. I realized who he was at first glance. Leslie was standing between the man and me. He said, “You have never met him before, right? I would like to introduce you to him. This is Mr. Tong.” Leslie had told me about him many times during the previous interview, but this was my first meeting with Mr. Tong. I had not expected to see him here, so it was a bit unsettling for me as I wondered how to associate with this person but my fear was totally groundless.

Mr. Tong is a very natural person; serene and placid and is unperturbed with others or make others feel uneasy. Those who were with him somehow could feel his warmth. Leslie must have wished that Mr. Tong would not be a target of the mass media after his death but the fact remained that it was not only the mass media in Hong Kong but also in Japan had made up inconsiderate rumors. So I should avoid the episodes about Mr. Tong himself as much as possible but I really want to clarify this fact. I have met Mr. Tong many times since this first encounter; sometimes with Leslie and sometimes without Leslie. And every time I met him, he was always calm and kept his own pace as if he lived in a totally different world. He is completely different in temperament from Leslie, who had a very hot temper. I could see Mr. Tong’s calm and tender words always soothed Leslie’s emotions which tended to heat up too much. While I was working with Leslie, I had witnessed many such occasions. I am not sure how it had been before, but as far as these few years were concerned, I feel the existence of Mr. Tong and his influence upon Leslie should not be overlooked when I am writing something about Leslie. If we really want to understand what Leslie was thinking at that time or to understand the real Leslie, I think it is necessary to write something about what Mr. Tong said or did. So I would like to write a bit about him as long as it is not an invasion to his privacy. I believe it is also good for Leslie, as he might be looking down with anxiety from somewhere in the sky to see how Mr. Tong is doing after his departure…

Well let’s get back to the story. When we finished checking the draft of the book, we were invited to the dining table. A female chef, who was a long-time friend of Leslie, was introduced to us. She was a chef of a very famous restaurant in Hong Kong and all the delicacies for the dinner were her original creations. She said these dishes were especially created for Leslie’s party only.
Regrettably I don’t remember the splendid dishes well now, but from my faded memories, her signature dishes were a fusion of Western and Chinese cuisines. I remember all of them were unique and very tasty. They were so nice that we enjoyed our meal in silence with hardly any conversation for a while.

Man Chai was still working for Leslie and he was helping out with the party. He sometimes came out of the kitchen and got some food on his small plate from Leslie and crammed them into his mouth while walking here and there. Though he was a big boy, he looked childish as usual and I felt as if a neighbor’s kid were just visiting the party. I asked Leslie, “Can Man Chai be a good assistant?” Leslie replied rather seriously, “Well he won’t be. He may not be working with me when you come next time.” When I was leaving for Japan last December, I asked Man Chai what kinds of souvenir he wanted. He answered immediately, “Japanese sweets!!”, so I bought a small box of Japanese sweets for him. When I handed it to him, Man Chai jumped for joy and expressed with body language that he wanted to take it back home and share them with his parents and brothers. When the party started, he helped the maids, he ate and drank but he seemed to have left for home before I even noticed. I have never seen Man Chai since then.
After dinner Leslie brought out some bottles of his treasured red wine from his wine cellar and poured some into our glasses. In Leslie’s living room, there were a big set of black sofa and a white sofa bed for his nap and by the pillar was a small antique chair. The shape of the small chair was a bit distorted and it looked unstable, but Leslie seemed to love the chair. With wine glass in hand he sat himself down on the small chair. He looked so cute in that antique chair that I wanted to make a miniature of them to take back home with me!! Though he looked very cute, our conversation however was a quite serious one.

At first this photo book was supposed to be published in Japan only. There were two major reasons for this. One of the reasons was there aren’t many book stores in Hong Kong and usually book stores only sell novels and reference books for study whilst photo books and magazines are sold only by the street venders. When we discussed about the publisher at the last meeting, Leslie’s directive was not to sell this book at the street venders as he didn’t want to turn it into a cheap book. He was not willing to sell the books in Hong Kong and China if the books were sold in the open air market. Reason number two was the likelihood of a pirated edition. Leslie was extremely afraid of the emergence of a pirated edition so therefore he was very much against having his book printed by the publishing companies in Hong Kong. This was simply unacceptable. Because of our tight schedule, I told him I would like to use the subsidiary company of a Japanese printer in Hong Kong, which had the same printing technique as Japan, Leslie shook his head firmly as if he wanted to say, “No way!!” Then he said, “You don’t understand it! The workers are not Japanese. If there is just one person who could be easily bribed, a lot of pirated editions will be sold at the street stalls all over Asia before the real book is published!” I told him laughingly, “You don’t trust them at all!!” Then he said with a serious look, “We have been violated for a long time. If you work in Hong Kong long enough, you will learn not to trust them at all! Japanese common sense does not work here in Hong Kong. It will be too late when it happens. Anyway, you had better follow my advice and do the whole process in Japan.”
However on this day, Leslie sitting on the antique chair said with a cute smile, “I had second thoughts after the previous meeting. People in Hong Kong may feel hurt if my photo book is published only in Japan. They may say, “Are you a Hong Konger? Why only in Japan?” So I think it is better for us to sell the book here in Hong Kong as well.” It was a matter of course, so I agreed with him saying, “Yes, I think so too.” Selling the book in Hong Kong was not a problem at all. The problem was finding the proper place to sell the book. I asked Leslie about it and he said he would not want to sell the book at the street stalls as I expected. He said he wanted to sell the book only at the art book stores which sell foreign books. Such stores are very rare in Hong Kong. We would be able to find only a few shops even if we were looking for them all around Hong Kong. I said to Leslie, “If we sell the book only at such stores, we can sell only a small number of books and above all, the class of the customers are different, don’t you think so?” Then Leslie said, “I know that. We need not sell so many copies at the stores. This photo book will be too expensive for the average Hong Kong people. So we choose one book store and ask them to sell only 300 copies. I will autograph all of them. That will be OK.”

In those days, Leslie was accused by the Hong Kong mass-media one after another that he was focusing too much on the Japanese market. So I think this was Leslie’s solution to refute those claims. He could say with his head held high, “I publish my book and do the autograph event not only in Japan but also in Hong Kong.”

By the way, during our conversation, Leslie suggested that we should sell the posters and commemorative goods as well. Though we sold his posters, the idea of selling commemorative souvenir goods did not materialize. To tell you the truth, Leslie was very interested in designing interiors and small articles (goods). He told me he had wanted to be a designer if he didn’t become an actor. Actually he was eager to make those goods and design some souvenir items like mugs, cups and spoons with his signature in English. Unfortunately we could not make it by the time of the autograph event because of the tight schedule and the plan failed to materialize.
After the autograph event, the making of his goods still came up in our conversation once in a while. At that time Leslie was running a coffee shop with the owner of “Queen’s Café” (the shop was closed down afterwards). He said he had a dream to open an interior décor and bedding shop in Japan in the future. He also said that once he started drawing rough sketches on his design notebook and he enjoyed it so much that he forgot the passage of time.

He asked me a lot about Japanese celebrity stores. He also asked me where in my opinion would be the best place for him if he wanted to open such a shop in Tokyo. Unfortunately I did not have any useful information about that and could not give him any good advice. But in my eyes, he really had talent and a flair for designing. If his dream to have a shop in Japan had come true at that time, perhaps his talent in the designing world could have blossomed and it might have been what he could live for even if he could not satisfy his dream in the movie world in Hong Kong. When I think about that, I feel deeply sad and regretful…..