Anita (2021)

***Anita*** (Chinese: 梅艷芳) is a 2021 Hong Kong biographical musical drama film about Cantopop star Anita Mui directed by Longman Leung, with a script written by Leung and Jack Ng. Louise Wong, in her screen role debut, stars as the titular singer, depicting her life from childhood until her last moments before her death of cervical cancer in 2003. The film features an ensemble cast, including Fish Liew, Gordon Lam and Louis Koo in supporting roles.

Production of the biopic began in the 2010s when Bill Kong, president of Edko Films, initiated the project to commemorate Mui's legacy. Leung signed on the project and took over a year to write the script with Ng, as well as finalize the cast. Principal photography took place in 2018.

Although its initial 2020 release date was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic, *Anita* was released in Hong Kong on 12 November 2021, followed by some Southeast Asia countries in the same month. The film received mixed to positive reviews, and made its HK$12M box-office debut with previous preview screenings.

An extended director's cut, featuring 1 hour of extra footage, was released digitally as five-episode miniseries on Disney+ through Star starting from 2 February 2022.

## Shooting

* *Anita* entered production in 2018, with principal photography lasting 80 days. As the movie depicted scenes mostly in 1980s Hong Kong, the production crew secured permissions to film in Hong Kong landmarks, such as the Hong Kong Coliseum before its renovation and Hong Kong Stadium. Leung, who had previously directed effects-heavy action films, used his post-production experience to leverage computer-generated Imagery to produce settings of the past. The Hong Kong visual effects company, Free-D workshop, was tasked with recreating various Hong Kong landmarks from the 80s and 90s. The visual effects team worked with the art team to reconstruct demolished buildings like the Lee Theatre, or places where the scenery had changed a lot, such as the East Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront.

Filming in Thailand took place ostensibly in a secluded villa called Lanna Hill House, in the Mae-On district of Chiang Mai.

Although Leung had members of his crew dedicated to obtaining the rights to Mui's music from the company that held them, he still found difficulty finding existing masters of her recordings and was only able to locate four originals. Taking inspiration from the recording process of the biopic *Bohemian Rhapsody*, Leung's audio team blended vocal tracks of Mui, Wong, and a session singer in order to recreate Mui's singing style.

After getting feedback from friends in the industry, the cast and crew did an additional 10-day shoot in 2019. The film was in post-production during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

## Cast

Louise Wong
...
Anita Mui (as Tan-Ni Wang)

Louis Koo
...
Eddie Lau Pui-kei

Fish Liew
...
Ann Mui

Ka-Tung Lam
...
So Hau-leung

Ayumu Nakajima
...
Yuuki Goto

Chun-Him Lau
...
Leslie Cheung

Miriam Chin Wah Yeung
...
Florence Chan

Tony Yo-ning Yang
...
Ben

Waise Lee
...
Leonard Ho

**Rest of cast listed alphabetically:**

Carlos Chan
...
Adam Cheng (as Ka-Lok Chan)

Chloe Chan
...
Anita's crew (as a different name)

Jan Chan
...
Young Anita (Juvenile)

Pak-Yu Chan
...
Lai Chi Kok Park performer (as Jason Chan)

Chi-Kwong Cheung
...
Music producer (as Ram Chiang)

Chung-Chi Cheung
...
Doctor (as Deon Cheung)

Manson Cheung
...
Wong Ka-Kui / Beyond vocalist (as Chun-Kiu Cheung)

Benjamin Chiang
...
Boss Kwok's man Ah-Joe

Cheuk-Man Chiang
...
Anita's crew (as David Chiang Jr)

Henick Chou
...
Wong Ka-Keung / Beyond bass guitarist

Suet-Ying Chung
...
Anita fan

Hao Feng
...
Leslie Cheung (voice)

Kai-Wa Ho
...
Hawker stall waiter (as Dee Ho)

Chun-Hin Hu
...
Pan Man-Ho (as Hugo Hu)

Ranya Lee
...
Lau Tin-Lan / Anita's dresser

Kyle Li
...
Edmond So (as Yam-San Li)

Vivian Lu
...
Kahfu

Koyi Mak
...
Anita's crew

Eric Mark
...
Additional Voices (voice)

Kin-Chung Ng
...
Sound engineer Tso-Gor (as Onitsuka Ng)

Sherring Ng
...
HK government event review board member

Michael Ning
...
Michael Lai Siu-Tin

Will Or
...
Choi Yat-Kit (as Wai-Lam Or)

David Siu
...
Boss Kwok

Chloe So
...
Anita's crew (as Ho-Yee So)

Rosa Maria Velasco
...
Talk show host

Chun Wong
...
Stanley Kwan

Venus Wong
...
Miwa (as Man-Yik Wong)

Tony Tsz-Tung Wu
...
Choi Yat-Chi

Harrison Xu
...
Adam Cheng (voice)

Miki Yamashita
...
Ann Mui (voice)

Harriet Yeung
...
Lai Chi Kok Park performer (as Sze-Man Yeung)

Sai Tang Yu
...
HK government event review board member

Ben Yuen
...
Karaoke proprietor (as Fu-Wah Yuen)

Johnson Yuen
...
Hawker stall boss (as Tak-Cheong Yuen)

Kelvin Chun-Yi Yuen
...
Wedding groom