Huang Xiaoming (黄晓明) knelt down in front of veteran actor Chow Yun-fat (周润发) to appeal for the older actor to take him on as a student.

The unusual scene took place at a press conference on Thursday to promote the actors’ new film The Last Tycoon (大上海), which will be released in December.

In return, Yun-fat handed over a dragon-headed cane to Xiaoming, which signifies the two are now master and pupil.

Xiaoming happily said: “From now on, I have a strong backing!”

The quick-witted Yun-fat said, “I can’t take care of him. At most, I can take care of his baby.”

He then joked about Xiaoming’s rumored girlfriend Angelababy (杨颖), saying, “If I have to take care of ‘handsome baby,’ I can also take care of Angelababy,” which drew laughter from the audience.

Xiaoming praised Yun-fat for being so friendly to the crew.

The first thing Yun-fat did when arriving on set was to greet everyone like an old friend and he later bought food for the entire crew after shooting was finished for the day, Xiaoming said.

Directed by Wong Jing (王晶), the Chinese gangster thriller also features heavyweights Sammo Hung (洪金宝) and Francis Ng (吴镇宇).