Talent Is Optional; Hong Kong actor Daniel Wu steps behind the camera to direct a deadpan satire about Chinese pop stars.

Byline: Alexandra A. Seno

Daniel Wu has already proven he's an actor of remarkable presence and versatility, playing everything from the passionate paramour in the Stanley Kwan Kam-pang drama "Everlasting Regret" to an assassin in "Divergence," Benny Chan Muk-sing's cop thriller. At last year's Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese version of the Oscars, Wu won best supporting actor for playing a crime boss opposite Jackie Chan's hero in "New Police Story." Now Wu is earning plaudits from Chinese film critics for an entirely new role as director of the small but delightful "The Heavenly Kings," a "mockumentary" exploring the Asian pop-idol factory.

It is a bold break from the usual Hong Kong fare. Told in the fake documentary style of such Hollywood films as "This Is Spinal Tap" and "A Mighty Wind," "Kings" follows the rise of a fictitious Chinese boy band called Alive through the local starmaking system, a world where singers don't need to be able to sing and "professional" fans get paid $64 a day to become hysterical when their "idols" appear. When the film premiered in April at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, "The Heavenly Kings" was such a surprise hit that it quickly won a full commercial release in Hong Kong theaters instead of the limited art-house run or direct-to-DVD sale expected. Most films last a week or two in Hong Kong; "The Heavenly Kings" played for a month and is currently being vetted by other film-festival programmers. "I'm just holding up a mirror, looking at myself and the business," says Wu, 31, who also stars as one of the band members. "I am not judging it--just hoping that the movie will inspire people to make more alternative films and ask questions."

The film's warm reception proves Chinese audiences are ready to do so, even if it means turning a critical eye on themselves. Working from a concept by Andrew Lin Hoi, who costars in the film, Wu wrote the script in three weeks while on holiday in Africa. He decided to direct "The Heavenly Kings" himself after other prospective filmmakers wanted to turn it into what he calls a "typical Hong Kong" commercial project. Wu got a third of the $150,000 budget from Patrick Lee, a high-school classmate and a founder of rottentomatoes. com, an American Web site devoted to film ...