Inside Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung’s legendary friendship: new biopic Anita portrays the Canto-pop stars’ close bond, from collaborations on films like Rouge to dazzling duets

Nov 15 , 2021

Canto-pop stars Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung’s close bond is portrayed in new biopic Anita. Photo: SCMP Archive

Biopic Anita portrays the close bond between Anita Mui (played by Louise Wong) and Leslie Cheung (played by Terrance Lau Chun-him) and their rise to stardom

Mui and Cheung worked together on films like Behind the Yellow Line and Who’s the Woman, Who’s the Man, and awed audiences at their Hong Kong Coliseum concerts

The recent release of musical biopic Anita has sent Hongkongers on a nostalgic trip down memory lane, revisiting the life and career of late Canto-pop diva Anita Mui Yim-fong and the Hong Kong film industry’s golden era in the 1980s and 1990s.

Featured in the film with an important role is another legendary star – Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, played by Terrance Lau Chun-him. Both Mui and Cheung rose to stardom during a similar time. They supported each other for over 20 years on a personal level, while also professionally collaborating numerous times on films and music projects.

Leslie Cheung played by Terrance Lau and Anita Mui played by Louise Wong in the biopic Anita. Photo: Edko Film

It wasn’t clear when exactly Mui and Cheung met for the first time, but in 1982, Mui won TVB’s first singing competition, the New Talent Singing Awards, and was signed to local record company Capital Artists. Cheung was a fellow label mate and the two had joint overseas tours at the beginning of their careers.

Mui and Cheung worked together on a few films too, including romantic comedy Behind the Yellow Line from their early days and Who’s the Woman, Who’s the Man from 1996, but it’s the classic Rouge from 1988 that’s talked about most.

Cantonese film Behind The Yellow Line (1984) starring late actors Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing and Anita Mui Yim-fong. Photo: Handout

According to local legend, director Stanley Kwan Kam-pang revealed that the role of Chan Chen-pang, played by Cheung, was supposed to go to another actor, but it was Mui who suggested Cheung to the filming crew. As the two actors were under different companies at that time, Mui had to work on an extra film with Cheung’s management company to make Rouge happen.

Hong Kong film Rouge, starring Canto-pop icon Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung. Photo: Handout

On stage, their performances were amplified by their close friendship and chemistry, and their actions were easily in sync even without much rehearsal.