On March 7, Tencent Video began streaming a new online drama, Blind Spot <探靈檔案>, which stars Edison Chen (陳冠希) as a detective who specializes in using scientific knowledge to explain supernatural phenomena. In a recent interview with Tencent Entertainment, Edison shared about his life in the past five years and asserted that his career will continue to thrive. Within an hour after its release, Blind Spot’s first episode had already drawn in 1.26 million views – a surprising result, judging from how Edison was maligned by the media after his photos scandal in early 2008. At the time, Edison had no choice but to withdraw from the Hong Kong entertainment industry, since no director dared to use him. His appearance in The Dark Knight was downgraded to a three-second cameo, and the release of his action thriller The Sniper <神槍手> was delayed for a year. For four long years, Edison’s career appeared to be stuck in a rut. Although he was offered some minor roles in Hollywood, Korean, and Thai movies, none of the parts interested him, and he consented to appear only in the low-budget Asian-American romance film, Almost Perfect <幾近完美>, in 2011. In 2010, a well-known American publishing company expressed interest in writing a book that would record Edison’s life from birth to age 30. Though he approved of the company’s high-quality documentaries, Edison ultimately refused the offer, explaining, “If you were to put me in those stories, I would not want to watch my own story. “I don’t need others to know my story,” he went on. “It is enough for me to know.” Fighting Back Against the Media Backlash At the end of 2010, Edison released Confusion, his first individual album since the photo scandal. The songs described his dissatisfaction with the world and provided an outlet for him to stand off against the media, which he condemned as “full of rumors and lies.” Since then, Edison has yet to record another album, though he did contribute to Super Brothers <三角度>, a compilation release with MC Hot Dog last year. “If I have nothing to say, then I won’t record any music,” said Edison. “That’s why I haven’t released any albums these few years – I have nothing to say.” Even though Edison has been keeping a fairly low profile, he has remained a popular target for the paparazzi, which enjoys publishing photographs of him pulling a long face or flipping off the cameras. In response to such jibes, Edison has adopted the principle of “an eye for an eye,” hoping that this will lead to fair treatment for all. “If you treat me fairly and with respect, then I won’t do anything. But if you cross that line, I’ll curse you,” warned Edison. “I’m an artiste and a public figure, but I’m also a person.” Edison also shared that the primary difference between him and other artistes is that he will not pretend to be someone else in front of the cameras. “There are too many fake celebrities right now,” he said. “They continue being fake for three or four years, until they go crazy or until they expose their true colors. This type of problem won’t happen to me, because I hope that I can be myself every day.” Coming to Terms with His Place in This World Edison has been in the public eye since 2000, when he shot to fame with the film Gen-Y Cops 2 <特警新人類2>. His record label, Emperor Entertainment Group, was so enamored with him that they arranged for him to release five albums in a single year. He was even touted as the next Andy Lau (劉德華) after his appearance in Infernal Affairs <無間道> in 2002. When his contract with EEG was approaching its five-year point, the record label allowed Edison free rein on his final album, since it was confirmed that he would not be renewing his contract. The result was Hazy, a hip-hop and rap-infused release that differed wildly from his previous mainstream love ballads. Hazy ended up selling five times as many copies as his previous albums, which Edison took as confirmation of his own abilities. In 2007, he opened his own multimedia company, Clot Media Division, despite opposition from his father, businessman Edward Chen (陳澤民). Edison now successfully runs his own management and clothing company as well. Despite the many setbacks in his life, Edison is grateful that he was given the opportunity to discover the importance of believing in himself. “In the past few years, many people thought that I would disappear,” he said. “I’m still here because I believed in myself and didn’t give up. Sometimes saying that can seem unsophisticated, but it is true.” Not Set on Marriage Plans with Current Girlfriend In 2012, Edison returned to Hong Kong headlines when he was discovered to be dating ex-employee Ann Hong (洪立安), who is 10 years his junior. Since then, the couple’s relationship seems to have progressed smoothly, and Ann even helped Edison practice his Mandarin line delivery for Blind Spot. However, Edison revealed that they have not discussed the possibility of marriage. “Marriage is just a piece of paper, an event,” explained Edison, citing Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as an example of a happily unmarried couple. “If I can live with [Ann] forever and not get married, that would be okay.” Creds: QQ
