Screentime: James Chau, Television News Anchor
You can catch James Chau on CCTV 9 when he isn't helping the United Nations fight against HIV/AIDS discrimination. We ask him about his TV habits off screen and find out where he stands on Glee.
What TV show did your parents love?
We watched the news every night at dinner. It was all we talked about, which may have something to do with what I do today.
What was your favorite movie as a child?
Thriller (1983) by John Landis was the music video for the title single from the Michael Jackson album, but you could call it a “movie.” I watched it at a neighbor’s house every time we went round for tea. Rewind, stop, play. Again and again. The ribbon on that VHS somehow stayed intact.
What is the slowest paced movie you still enjoyed?
Tom Ford’s A Single Man (2009). It moves at its own steady beat with an achingly beautiful storyline on love, life and loyalty. You walk away thinking less about Ford’s clothes than you do his directing.
What film do you wish you could change the ending of?
Probably The Wings of the Dove (1997), which Iain Softley brought to the screen from the Henry James novel of the same name. If I could rewrite the end, Milly would survive, Merton would love her in life (and not death), Kate would satisfy her Aunt Maud’s scheming by marrying well and everyone would live perhaps happily (but very stylishly) in the Palazzo Barbaro.
What was the first pirated film that you saw?
I download through iTunes. (Don’t laugh.)
What film do you wish would be made into a TV show?
Not sure, but they should stop trying to adapt Brideshead Revisited for television (1981) and film (2008). The book is great as it is.
What was the first movie that you saw with a date?
Slumdog Millionaire (2008).
When did you last go see a movie with a date?
Slumdog Millionaire (2008).
Scariest movie you’ve ever seen?
I can tell you which movie my brother found scariest: What Lies Beneath (2000). When Harrison Ford attacks Michelle Pfeiffer, but instead sees her face morph into the corpse-like face of the student he murdered years earlier, my brother sat paralyzed in his seat. So, naturally, after the film finished, I hid in the very empty and quiet corridor outside, waited, then jumped on him.
Is there a movie that you have a sentimental attachment to?
In a roundabout way, The Last Emperor (1987). I auditioned for the role of the boy emperor, didn’t get it, but through that appeared on a British children’s television show on ITN called Splash. I have the tape somewhere.
Was there a film or TV show that helped you through a difficult period in your life?
It’s not Glee, if that’s what you’re asking.
Read this interview and the rest of the July issue of the Beijinger magazine here.
