Longman Leung
Native name梁樂民
Birth nameLeung Lok-man
Birth date1972 (age 54–55)
Birth placeHong Kong
Alma materYing Wa College
OccupationDirector · Screenwriter · Art director
Years active1994–present

Longman Leung Lok-man (; born 1972) is a Hong Kong filmmaker. Beginning his career as a set designer, he served as an art director for the films Bug Me Not! (2005), Connected (2008), and The Legend Is Born: Ip Man (2010). He made his directorial debut with Sunny Luk with Cold War (2012), for which they won both Best Director and Best Screenplay in the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards. The duo continued to co-direct and co-write the action thrillers Helios (2015) and Cold War 2 (2016), before they broke their partnership. Leung made his solo directorial debut with Anita (2021), which earned him another nomination for Best Director in the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards. Cold War 2 and Anita are currently the eighth and ninth highest-grossing domestic films of all time in Hong Kong.

Biography

Leung was born in 1972.[1]: 125 He graduated from Ying Wa College,[2] where he attended the Oxford Road campus.[3] In the 1990s, he studied design.[1]: 125 During that time, he followed a classmate to work on set design at RTHK as a summer job.[1]: 124 After the summer job and upon graduation, he began searching for work, and a colleague at RTHK referred him to work on film set design.[1]: 124 Leung entered the film industry in 1994, and worked for United Filmmakers Organization Limited.[4][5] His first job was as a set designer for the 1996 film Lost and Found.[1]: 125 He was then promoted, starting as an assistant art director for the 1999 film Purple Storm, and continued in the same role for The Accidental Spy and The Twins Effect.[1]: 124 He was interested in writing and began writing screenplays while working as a set designer, starting to learn screenwriting in 2000.[1]: 124–125 He served as the art director for the 2005 film Bug Me Not!, and continued working on films such as Connected, Vengeance, and The Legend Is Born: Ip Man.[1]: 124[6] In 2008, he and Sunny Luk, an assistant director he befriended on the set of The Twins Effect and both aspiring to become directors, came up with the story that eventually evolved into Cold War.[4][7] They chose to produce a police film because it was a genre they were most familiar with, and completed the screenplay in 2010 when producer Bill Kong joined the project.[4] They made their directorial debut with the film,[8] winning both Best Director and Best Screenplay in the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards.[9] Andrew Heskins of EasternKicks compared the duo to the creators of Infernal Affairs, Alan Mak and Felix Chong, stating that "the film has similar pretensions to keeping one step ahead of the audience, and largely is more effective than many of Mak and Chong’s most recent films";[10] while James Marsh of ScreenAnarchy commended the film's visual quality as "fantastic", which "benefits greatly from Leung's previous experience as an Art Director".[11]

Leung and Luk continued their collaboration and co-directed another action thriller Helios in 2015.[1]: 126 Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter found the film to be a "mixed blessing" for the duo, as "they could now line up brighter stars and bigger explosions in a shoot spread out across several countries" but criticized the plot as "over-complicated".[12] They then co-directed and co-wrote Cold War 2, the sequel to Cold War, in 2016,[13] earning a nomination for Best Screenplay in the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards.[14] Maggie Lee of Variety praised their effort, saying they "[did] an admirable job walking the tightrope of servicing the mainland market while making an eloquent defense of the former British colony's benchmarks, namely rule of law and clean governance";[15] but James Marsh of Screen International considered the film as "somewhat naive in Hong Kong's current climate" as the duo "tread incredibly carefully to avoid mentioning China".[16] The film became the then highest-grossing domestic film of all time in Hong Kong,[17] and is currently the eighth highest-grossing.[18][19] After producing Helios and Cold War 2, Leung and Luk decided to end their partnership due to creative differences and they did not want this to affect their friendship, where they resigned from all joint directing contracts to pursue individual projects.[20] Leung was approached by Bill Kong on the anniversary of Anita Mui's death in 2015 to make a biographical film about Mui.[21][22] He co-wrote Anita with his Cold War 2 co-writer Jack Ng,[22] and the film marked his solo directorial debut.[23] Richard Kuipers of Variety praised his direction as having "the gloss and nostalgic appeal to become a hit";[24] while Kevin Chen of HK01 praised his creative approach as "brilliant".[25] He received another nomination for Best Director in the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards,[26] and the film is currently the ninth highest-grossing domestic film of all time.[18] In 2026, he is set to direct and write Cold War 1994, a prequel to Cold War and Cold War 2.[27][28]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleDirectorScreenwriterArt directorNotes
1999Purple Storm[1]: 124
2001The Accidental Spy[1]: 124
2003The Twins Effect[1]: 124
2005Bug Me Not![1]: 124
2007The Haunted School[29]
2008Hong Kong Bronx[29]
Connected[1]: 124
2009Vengeance[6]
2010The Legend Is Born: Ip Man[30]
2012Cold WarCo-directed and written with Sunny Luk[8]
2013Together[29]
2015HeliosCo-directed and written with Sunny Luk[1]: 126
2016Cold War 2Co-directed and written with Sunny Luk[13]
2021Anita[31]
2026Cold War 1994[27][28]
2027[27][28]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryWorkResult
201332nd Hong Kong Film AwardsBest DirectorCold War[9]
Best Screenplay
50th Golden Horse AwardsBest New Director[32]
201736th Hong Kong Film AwardsBest ScreenplayCold War 2[14]
202240th Hong Kong Film AwardsBest DirectorAnita[26]
35th Golden Rooster AwardsBest Director[33]

References

  1. ^ Wong, Nic (7 October 2021). "梁樂民 從寒戰到梅艷芳" (in Chinese). Jet Magazine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  2. ^ Chau, Kalvin (7 December 2021). "【周大調富格曲@iM網欄】傳記式電影 ANITA《梅艷芳》" (in Chinese). Hong Kong Economic Times. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  3. ^ Wong, Gary (12 January 2019). "牛津道 蘭開夏道以南 我的記憶與電影" (in Chinese). Film Pilgrimage. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  4. ^ Zhang, Annie (14 April 2013). "專訪《寒戰》導演/編劇梁樂民、陸劍青" (in Chinese). House News. Archived 5 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  5. ^ "梁樂民、陸劍青──重振港產片，珍惜香港價值" (in Chinese). Hong Kong Economic Journal. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  6. ^ 吳老拍 (21 November 2021). "【Y! 專訪】《寒戰》導演陸劍青、梁樂民：「港產片沒死，我們還在拍！」" (in Chinese). Yahoo! News. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  7. ^ Tseng, Chihyun (15 November 2012). "港產片不是歷史名詞，我們還在這裡 專訪《寒戰》導演陸劍青、梁樂民" (in Chinese). Funscreen Weekly. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  8. ^ 方晴 (27 September 2012). "《寒戰》導演 梁樂民 陸劍青" (in Chinese). Hong Kong Economic Times. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  9. ^ Chu, Karen (13 April 2013). "'Cold War' Sweeps Hong Kong Film Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  10. ^ Heskins, Andrew (3 June 2013). "Cold War". EasternKicks. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  11. ^ Marsh, James (3 November 2012). "Counterpoint Review: COLD WAR Brings a Spark to the Boardroom". ScreenAnarchy. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  12. ^ Tsui, Clarence (22 April 2015). "'Helios' ('Chek Do'/'Chi Dao'): Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived 23 November 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  13. ^ Kenigsberg, Ben (7 July 2016). "Review: 'Cold War 2,' a Brisk Exercise in Hong Kong Suspense". New York Times. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  14. ^ Hsia, Heidi (8 February 2017). ""Soul Mate" dominates 36th HKFA nominations". Yahoo! News. Archived 19 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  15. ^ Lee, Maggie (14 June 2016). "Shanghai Film Festival Review: 'Cold War 2'". Variety. Archived 26 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  16. ^ Marsh, James (7 July 2016). "'Cold War 2': Review". Screen Daily. Archived 6 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  17. ^ 陳穎思 (31 July 2016). "【跑贏那些年】《寒戰2》破6200萬　重奪香港華語片票房第一" (in Chinese). HK01. Archived 3 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
  18. ^ "夜王︱賀歲片《夜王》躋身香港史上港產片票房第8位　10大最賣座港片廖子妤參與其中6部" (in Chinese). Hong Kong Economic Times. 28 February 2026. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  19. ^ 許育民 (22 March 2026). "夜王｜票房破1億黃子華請食魚蛋　導演吳煒倫︰多謝最可愛的觀眾" (in Chinese). HK01. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
  20. ^ 鍾國仁 & 李森 (21 April 2016). "被催拍《寒戰3》陸劍青、梁樂民拆檔手尾長" (in Chinese). Apple Daily. Archived 31 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
  21. ^ Lei, Pan & Wong, Cecilia (19 February 2024). "【新書】 《最後的蔓珠莎華：梅艷芳的演藝人生（增訂版）》 〈因為我們很愛香港── 梁樂民〉" (in Chinese). P-articles. Archived 6 March 2026 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  22. ^ Shackleton, Liz (14 October 2021). "Longman Leung on how 'The Crown' helped him research Busan closing film 'Anita'". Screen Daily. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  23. ^ Wong, Silva (8 July 2021). "Sony swoops for Anita Mui biopic from Edko Films (exclusive)". Screen Daily. Archived 7 April 2026 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  24. ^ Kuipers, Richard (14 October 2021). "'Anita' Review: Splashy Biopic of Hong Kong Showbiz Superstar Anita Mui Looks Great but Lacks a Little Soul". Variety. Archived 30 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  25. ^ Chen, Kevin (19 November 2021). "梅艷芳影評｜三大角色被神秘消失？揭開梅姐梅艷芳「心中的痛」" (in Chinese). HK01. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  26. ^ Soriano, Jianne (16 February 2022). "Hong Kong Film Awards 2022: Full List of Nominees". Tatler Asia. Archived 29 March 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  27. ^ "觀影說劇／「寒戰1994」4影帝 吳彥祖是最大驚喜" (in Chinese). World Journal. 21 March 2026. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  28. ^ 鍾路淂 (18 April 2024). "《寒戰》系列獲內地批准開拍　兩套電影時間線推前18年變前傳？" (in Chinese). HK01. Archived 26 April 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  29. ^ "梁樂民" (in Chinese). Jinma Today. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  30. ^ Lee, Maggie (14 October 2010). "The Legend is Born: Ip Man — Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  31. ^ "拍《梅艷芳》為港人打氣 導演梁樂民慶幸香港曾有梅姐" (in Chinese). Sing Tao Daily. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  32. ^ Brzeski, Patrick (23 November 2013). "Singaporean Drama 'Ilo Ilo' Takes Best Picture at Taiwan Golden Horse Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived 13 April 2026 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  33. ^ Lim, Ruey Yan (3 November 2022). "The Battle At Lake Changjin gets eight Golden Rooster nominations". The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 April 2026.