Father, Bruce Lee and calligraphy

Q+A: Andy Lau

Who are your heroes in real life?

My father, for sure. My father experienced a very rich and poor life, but he accepts both.

And he is very committed to the family. From as far back as I can recall things, he loves my mother and my siblings very much. There is not a single day that we don't feel safe when he is around.

Ten years ago he contracted cancer, but he has been very strong and has recovered. He is even stronger than me now. If I could have the quality of his life, it would be a blessing for me.

If you could talk to a great person who has died, who would you choose and what would you say?

Bruce Lee. I have adored him since I was very young. I have always wanted to make a film about him, but not on his kung fu, rather his relationship with his father and son. To me he was a person with mysterious destiny.

You are good at Chinese calligraphy. How did you learn it and how does it help your life?

I wrote menus for a small eatery my family ran when I was a little kid. Maybe that helps. I remember my middle school teacher wrote "beautiful handwriting" on my homework, and that was a great encouragement.

For me, calligraphy reflects your emotions. The other day I was in my office and looked at the calligraphy work of Heart Sutra I wrote years ago when I was stuck in a lawsuit. I was stunned to find the handwriting was grotesque and I even missed two words from the familiar Sutra. Ironically, I wrote that to calm down, but your handwriting is a mirror of your emotion. It does not cheat.

If you could change one thing in your looks or your internal self, what would you change?

(Thinks for a long while) Nothing. I think everything is fine now.