A fairy-tale ending to screenwriter’s horror story
A terrible car accident gave Yuen Kai-chi the chance to reflect on his career and discover the most important things in life
In the 2002 Hong Kong movie Time 4 Hope, Nick Cheung Ka-fai plays a screenwriter in his prime who has just won a top film award and movie companies are fighting to hire him.
But one fateful night, a car crash leaves him crippled in one leg. He watches his fame and fortune roll away, along with his girlfriend and the people he’d thought were friends. Just as he thinks all his luck is gone, the luckiest thing happens – he meets a beautiful, sweet nurse, played by Athena Chu Yan, who replaces his disappointment in life with a new understanding of true happiness.
The romantic film was written by screenwriter Yuen Kai-chi, 54, based on his own life story. “It’s pretty much the same, except I’m not as good-looking as Cheung Ka-fai,” he jokes.
Yuen still remembers his accident – he’d smashed into a tree while drink-driving and was in a coma for two months.
“After I awoke, I was only upset about my situation for a few days. I was anxious to get back to work,’ he recalls. “But little did I know, the crash changed everything.” As in the movie, he was forced to take a good hard look at his life.
The award he had just won was for the screenplay of A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), which he wrote under the encouragement of renowned director Tsui Hark. He’s most grateful to Tsui for giving him incredible opportunities when he was young – “He was also the first to send me flowers in hospital, despite being in the US” – and holds deep regret for moments he was too immature to show his appreciation.
Yuen has always loved films and started out in the early ’80s making only HK$1,000 a month for Shaw Brothers Studios as a production assistant. “I was basically an office boy. But I didn’t care; I would’ve paid them to work there.”
I used to be so money-hungry, but now I’ve really come to appreciate the important things in life
At that time, Hong Kong film was booming. “Everyone in the region watched our movies. But those countries started putting resources into developing their own, while we in Hong Kong stopped putting resources in. It’s sad,” he sighs.
With the support of his wife, he hobbled out of his rut, holding onto his passion for film. He still writes screenplays, and puts his experience to other uses too. He makes microfilms for NGOs, such as Treasure (2015) about dementia. He even got his PhD in film studies and teaches film production at a number of universities.
Yuen grew up in Shau Kei Wan and remains attached to the community. Two years ago he started getting Kam Tung Kitchen, one of his favourite restaurants, to provide a scrumptious free meal for 80 to 100 elderly folk every month or so, while inviting celebrity friends to perform for them. “I used to be so money-hungry, but now I’ve really come to appreciate the important things in life.”
For the critics out there who don’t believe in fairy-tale love stories, Yuen is still married to his wonderful wife, Cindy, with whom he has two children. In an earlier awards speech, he said: “If I had a chance to relive my life, I would go through my horrific accident again, just to meet her.”
