HK actor Aaron Kwok starves himself for latest role

'To be hungry but to insist on not eating, I was able to feel that sense of powerlessness, ' Aaron Kwok says of his experience shooting his latest movie, 'I'm Livin' It'. Photo: Handout

In his latest movie, Aaron Kwok forgoes his leading man glamour persona to play a down-and-out vagabond.

In I'm Livin' It, the 54-year old plays Bowen, a former investment expert who has fallen on hard times. He meets individuals of similar fate in a 24-hour fast food restaurant in the movie that's directed by Wong Hing Fan.

Kwok didn't have to do much research for his role as he relied on his experience growing up in a poor family.

“There was a lot of pressure on my parents to raise us, so I worked during the summer breaks. I didn’t want to always ask my parents for pocket money," said Kwok who is the youngest of five siblings.

As he lacked work experience in his teens, Kwok could only manage to secure physically demanding jobs; he worked as a cleaner.

“In the opening scene where I was using a waxing machine, I actually learned to use it when I was a cleaner. By using my own experience to interpret my character, it was easier to nail it, ” he told Hong Kong media.

The actor also went all method for his role. During the shoot, he would starve himself to get into character.

Kwok recalled: "I have never acted as a vagabond before. I would deliberately go hungry and grasped onto that feeling during filming. To be hungry but to insist on not eating, I was able to feel that sense of powerlessness."

Kwok hopes the film, which also stars Miriam Yeung, will shed some light to the social problems caused by the disparity between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong.