Actors Hugh Bonneville and Aidan Gillen discuss starring in Cold War 1994, as well as what they got up to in Hong Kong while filming.

When the Hong Kong political crime thriller Cold War was released in 2012, it arguably shook up the market.

Here was a big-budget actioner helmed by two industry veterans – Longman Leung Lok-man and Sunny Luk Kim-ching – making their directing debut, and headlined by a cast of some of Hong Kong’s biggest names such as Tony Leung Ka-fai, Aaron Kwok Fu-shing and Andy Lau Tak-wah.

But if the directors were still unrecognisable, the film’s producer was not. Bill Kong Chi-keung, known for producing hits such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and A Guilty Conscience (2023), is a name that gets things going and deals done.

Not surprisingly, when actors Hugh Bonneville, known for Downton Abbey, and Game of Thrones’ Aidan Gillen were first approached about the possibility of appearing in a prequel, Cold War 1994 – the third film in the franchise, after Cold War 2 (2016) – Kong’s role caught their attention.

“Bill was the name I did recognise initially,” Gillen told the South China Morning Post. “And I obviously was familiar with his work. So to be coming here under his wing, we knew we’d be in good hands, I think.”

Aidan Gillen and Hugh Bonneville in Kowloon Bay. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

The ensemble cast of Cold War 1994 was announced at the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart) on March 18. The new film is directed by Longman Leung and stars Daniel Wu Yin-cho and Terrance Lau Chun-him alongside series returnees Tony Leung, Kwok and Chow Yun-fat.

Both Bonneville and Gillen admitted to being intrigued about working on a Hong Kong film.

“I genuinely wanted to see what working on a movie in Hong Kong would be like because we come from obviously different cultures, but we work in the same industry,” Bonneville said. “I was just intrigued. And in fact, it turns out it’s pretty similar to what we do anywhere else in the world.”

Gillen, a self-proclaimed fan of Hong Kong cinema, had the upper hand over Bonneville when it came to working with a Hong Kong cast and crew, having also starred in Shanghai Knights (2003) opposite Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson.

“I worked with [Chan’s] stunt guys for a couple of months, and they taught me how to fight with two swords,” Gillen recalled.

The actors were impressed with the first two Cold War films for both the action sequences and the political intrigue behind them.

In the films, the hijack of a police emergency unit van carrying five officers and an arsenal of advanced equipment sets off a sophisticated and deadly game of cat-and-mouse involving a struggle for power within the police ranks and the politicians wrestling for influence in the government.

“I like that mix of police, drama and politics,” Gillen said. “I just thought it was very well-executed and looked beautiful and was really well-acted. It was a step up between the first one and the second one.

“The action sequences were world-class … [American film director] Michael Mann-level.”

Bonneville added: “I was really taken with them. We have TV shows of a similar theme [in the UK] … Line of Duty, which is about police corruption, springs to mind. But I love the way this spreads out into the wider political arena, and the sense of the state and the levers of power being pulled.

“And the sheer audacity of some of the stunts is just fantastic. Just as you’ve had a contemplative, almost cerebral moment, and then suddenly, bang, you’re off again. Longman has a great sense of tone and adventure. You’re just watching a fantastic roller coaster.”

While the first two Cold War films were set in then-present-day Hong Kong, Cold War 1994 will take audiences back to the run-up before Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China in 1997.

Gillen, who plays an MI6 operative, might get to see a bit of action, but Bonneville will not be seeing much of it, unfortunately.

“I play a Whitehall wonk; a politician who’s here to make sure that this family, who is at the centre of the story, keeps everyone calm in the lead-up to the handover, really,” Bonneville said. “I think I get to drink a cup of tea. That’s about as exciting as it gets.”

For Longman Leung, the presence of the two high-calibre actors also helped in fleshing out their characters.

“Both actors are very good,” Leung said. “In addition to digesting the dialogue, they also helped create the characters with us. They provided a lot of advice on the dialogue, adding a lot of modern slang to make the characters more three-dimensional and flesh-and-blood.”

Hugh Bonneville in Kowloon Bay. The actor took a day trip to the Big Buddha and Tai O while he was in Hong Kong. Photo Xiaomei Chen

Despite their tight filming schedules, the actors were both able to do a bit of exploring while on location in Hong Kong, with Bonneville taking a day trip to the Big Buddha statue and Tai O fishing village, both on Lantau Island, which he found “very interesting”.

Gillen’s adventures took him to The Peak and the M+ museum, where he was able to get a sense of the city’s history through the lens of the late photographer Fan Ho. He also admitted to falling in love with Hong Kong’s Star Ferry. “I don’t think I can go to sleep without taking a trip on the ferry first!” Gillen said.

Cold War 1994 has whetted the actors’ appetites for other opportunities, particularly Bonneville, who learned about the sheer size and potential of the mainland Chinese market for content from producer Kong.

“I’d love to come back and do something more,” Bonneville said. “But at the moment, my character is very much stuck in London in Whitehall. I don’t know if they have any prequels to the prequels!”