In 2005, Chinese media began to report that Daniel Wu had formed a boyband, Alive, with Terence Yin, Andrew Lin and Conroy Chan.[1] Wu and his band mates posted information, updates, personal thoughts (including slamming Hong Kong Disneyland, for which they were spokespersons)[2] and the band's music, at their official website.[3][1][4] In 2006, Wu made his writing and directorial debut with The Heavenly Kings, which chronicles Alive's formation and exploits.[5] After the film's release, however, it was revealed that The Heavenly Kings was actually a mockumentary of the Hong Kong pop music industry and Alive was constructed purely as a vehicle to make the movie; the film's characters represented only 10-15% of their real-life counterparts[6] and much of the footage blurred the line between fiction and reality.[5] Wu admitted his own singing voice "sucked really bad," and the band had their voices digitally enhanced for its music, to prove that "it's easy to fake it."[4]
Despite some backlash from the media over being intentionally fed false information in the movie[7] about illegal downloads of the band's music,[6] Wu won the best new director award for the film at the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards, an achievement he called "a group effort."[7] The film has also been nominated for Best Original Film Song at the same Awards ceremony: Composer: Davy Chan; Lyricist: Li Jin Yi and Singer: Alive.
^ abYoung, Jennifer (29 April 2007). "Daniel Wu, "Heavenly King"". indieWIRE. originally from SF360. Archived from the original on 13 March 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
