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Wayne Lai: 'King Maker' No Longer a Hero, Yu Jing is a Tragic Character

Two time TV King Wayne Lai and Film King Kent Cheng star in TVB series King Maker. In the series, the two go on a serious battle of wits, not only are they satisfying their acting craving, but audience are also watching excitedly. In King Maker, the two are enormously different and are always scheming, which differs from their previous collaboration in The Greatness of a Hero, where one was good, and the other was evil. Wayne describes this series as: "This time time, my role as Yu Jing differs from the Rosy Business series, Chau Gau and Lau Sing. He is not any hero, not that smart or not some brilliant character. Yu Jing is actually more of a foolish and easily influenced tragic character. The deaths of people around him are either directly or indirectly related to him. However, to me, this is a new challenge. As for if the audience likes it or not, it depends on how you see it."

King Maker didn't start out with very high ratings, but approaching to the finale, the ratings should gradually get better. "Perhaps the audience thought Ken Gor and I would have a lot of opposition scenes, but the producer didn't want it to be 'good vs bad' all the way until the end. Adding more turning points will make the series even richer."

 

TVB is the Real King Maker

In the series, Wayne assists Pierre Ngo's character to take the throne, but in reality, TVB is the true King Maker as they have pushed out many TV Kings/Queens, Pop Kings/Queens and Film Kings/Queens over the years. Wayne said: "Definitely similar. Artists are very passive and only perform in the front, but that does not mean they also know how to do promotions and attend to schedules. Artists are the ones being 'made'. TVB packages all the promotions and broadcast periods, they do everything and have been doing very well."

Recently, TVB has been actively looking for rescuers to help them boost their ratings. So far, they have invited Wong Jing, Deanie Ip and Andy Lau back to counter Ricky Wong's new TV station, CTI. Wayne said: "It is too exaggerated to say rescue. Each year, TVB has both grand productions as well as smaller productions. We all understand that a business isn't really about constantly throwing out the money and spend money on everything. TVB has to have balance. 'Rescue' is just a topic for the media, I have never put it to heart. Whether or not if there will be other free-to-air TV stations, TVB still does everything the same way."

Won't Be Reluctant to Give Up 'Rosy Business' Series

The third installment of Rosy Business is going to start next year. Wayne frankly expressed it is highly inevitable because each year, the attention is focused on whether if there will be sequels, such as Triumph in the Skies II. Wayne said: "To me, it doesn't matter. I have never been reluctant to part from the past and I won't have the attitude of 'I can't lose'. I often say, acting is a process. Constantly repeating is meaningless. Rosy Business is a drama species, each installment is a different story. It is not about the same characters' legends or their after life. I have no pressure when doing this, I don't mind if we have the third installment or not."