The above photo of Carina Lau is a still depicting a 1990 Wong Kar-Wai film called Days of Being Wild. I believe that gangster actor Michael Chan Wai-Man was primarily responsible for her kidnapping and naked photos in 1990. On April 25 of that year, she was kidnapped by four men because of turning down a Triad's offer to appear in a Category III movie. I have reason to believe that this movie was Gangland Odyssey, which co-starred Michael, and was released on September 13 of that year. The movie was made around the same time that Days of Being Wild was.
Days of Being Wild was produced by a man who acted in Gangland Odyssey - Alan Tang Kwong-Wing (who also produced Wong Kar-Wai's script for Return Engagement in 1990). Of particular note is the fact that the role which Carina was being considered for in Gangland Odyssey was one that would end up being given to Regina Kent, who shares one thing in common with Carina - acting in the same Jackie Chan movie as Michael Chan i.e. Project A II (1987). This film featured a chubby and long-haired actor who belonged to the same Triad gang (14K) as Michael i.e. Fan Mei-Sheng.
Before he died in 2011, Alan Tang was a fearsome gangster. For example, it was only in 2013 that Yammie Lam publicly disclosed that she had been raped by him...but even then, her interview was edited and would only be shown in uncensored form in early 2018. Sadly, she died in October of that year. Grace Han, a talent agent, had publicly corroborated Yammie's claim that she was also raped by Eric Tsang Chi-Wai (whose father was busted for being a corrupt cop back in 1973). In theory, Michael Chan should have been a foe of Alan Tang. Both men belonged to rival gangs.
One of Alan’s mentors is Lau Wing-Kui, who formed the Tung Lok Triad in the 1940s. This gang’s power was enabled by a corrupt police inspector named Lui Lok whose boss was Lau’s uncle: Lau Fook. Alan’s nickname was Prince of the Underworld. Eric Tsang had Triad privilege because his father, Tsang Kai-Wing, collected money for Lui Lok. One of the stars in Days of Being Wild, Andy Lau, would later play the titular character in a film about Lui Lok. Titled Lee Rock (for legal reasons), the 1991 film was so long that it was divided into two films - the sequel was released hot on the heels of the predecessor. Like Lui Lok, Michael Chan used to be a corrupt cop.
Alan Tang and Michael Chan were on respectable terms with one another. They were martial artists, yet Michael was the better one. He had more power in Hong Kong, but Alan had more power in Taiwan. This power was more important because, by the time that Days of Being Wild was being filmed, the Hong Kong film industry depended on Taiwan for both the financing and box office since Taiwan is bigger. They say “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” but you could also argue that, on a lesser level, the rival of my rival is my colleague. Michael and Alan benefited from the death of Bruce Lee, but I’ve covered that issue in other articles.
Michael’s film career was enabled by Alan. His first two films starred Alan - Love and Blood (1972) and Back Street (1973). Years later, they would sporadically collaborate on other films i.e. The Legal Illegals (1981), Outlaw Genes (1982), Mr. Sunshine (1989) and Gun & Rose (1992). As for Gangland Odyssey, the movie is notable for an obscure reason i.e. it involved the work of a foley artist named Ronny Ching Siu-Lung. He is the brother of action director Tony Ching Siu-Tung. How this relates to Carina Lau is that Ronny has worked on twenty films that she had appeared in - seventeen as a foley artist and three as an actor.
His final collaboration with her is a Wong Kar-Wai film called 2046 (2004) where he worked as an actor. She had a supporting role in a 1991 film, Saviour of the Soul, whose story was written by Wong Kar-Wai. After Days of Being Wild, Ronny worked fairly steadily for Wong as a foley artist on Chungking Express (1994), Fallen Angels (1995) and Happy Together (1997). Before Days of Being Wild, Ronny worked on Wong’s As Tears Go By (1988). Despite the implication of innocent camaraderie, Ronny has played a gangster in a few Triad movies.
Ronny’s name was inspired by someone who he had already worked for i.e. Ronny Yu directed China White (1988) where the other Ronny worked as a foley artist. Carina Lau was the leading lady, and the movie was produced by a gangster named Jim Choi. The latter later became Jet Li’s literally short-lived manager (i.e. he was murdered in 1992). It’s been said on the Chinese net that China White was the film where Andy Lau and Carina Lau were threatened at gunpoint to star in. Jim Choi’s death meant that he unfairly took the heat for Carina’s assault in 1990.
Eric Tsang has a connection to Carina's kidnap, because she was taken while driving to his house for a Mahjong get-together with Sandra Ng Kwun-Yu and Michael Miu Kiu-Wai. Eric was the one who invited her, and he asked her if she would like to get picked up by him, but she declined. Eric and Michael Chan worked together on three `70s movies - The Kung Fu Kid (1977), Deadly Chase for Justice (1977) and Bruce Lee The Invincible (1978). Deadly Chase for Justice, like Gangland Odyssey, was directed by Michael. Rather tellingly, Carina later starred in a movie which featured these two men: Lady Supercop (1993).
In a Chinese interview, Michael Chan showed insider knowledge of what went down on April 25 in 1990, yet he tries to play dumb about certain details. Analyze his faux pas: "I know this very well. Carina saw a drug addict taking cocaine. The addict followed her car, grabbed her, took off her clothes and took photos. I am also very angry about this matter. Later, his boss had three photos, and he gave me all the photos. He said - How much are you willing to pay for me not to show them? At the time, I had just made a movie with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai1, so I gave the photos to him because there was no film, just polaroids. Later, I settled the matter. The drug addict went to jail."
Although, that cock and bull story doesn't explain how photos got leaked to a weekly magazine in 2002. A long time ago, filmmaker Wong Jing talked about 1990: “Up to that point in time, almost every film that Wong Kar-Wai had worked on was produced by Alan Tang. I don't just mean the films which he had directed but the films which he had written. After Days of Being Wild, Wong had refused to work with him again.”
Tony was Carina's boyfriend. They married in 2008. The movie that Michael Chan did with Tony was titled Don't Fool Me (1991). Before Carina’s kidnapping, Tony was originally going to have a bigger role in Days of Being Wild but then he dropped out. This means that his role was not shortened merely because of running time or because someone had it out for him.