Nick Cheung's new film 'The Trough' opens April 28

Awards-winning star Nick Cheung reveals behind-the-sequences stories of his latest directorial crime thriller The Trough in a Beijing press conference on March 28. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Award-winning actor Nick Cheung will see his new film, The Trough, hit local cinemas on April 28, marking the first time a feature he's directed is generally released in the Chinese mainland.

Rising to fame from a series of comedy hits and shifting to somber roles in the recent decade, Cheung is widely reckoned as one of the best actors in Hong Kong cinema.

At a Beijing press conference on Wednesday, Cheung said he put his personal thoughts into a crime thriller story, a mainstream genre of Hong Kong cinema.

Xu Jinglei (left) alongside Nick Cheung promote his directorial feature The Trough. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The story is about an undercover police agent, whose identity is brought to light for being drawn into a child kidnapping case. To pursue justice, he risks his life to locate the top villain while running from the gang's killers.

Asked about his shift from acting to direction, Cheung said, "Although I have worked as an actor for many years, the new movie is a breakthrough for my career. I've accumulated experience about direction over the years. And now I want to use what I've learned from film sets for my own work."

Yu Dong, president of the movie's financer, Bona Film Group, said the ticket sales are very optimistic for the coming Labor Day holiday, a significant box office season in China.

Cheung stars as the police officer; among the rest of the cast are A-list actress Xu Jinglei, television host-actor He Jiong and award-winning actress Yu Nan.

Xu, who also appeared at the Beijing press conference, revealed her role is the "mysterious big boss behind the criminal world".

"I play opposite Cheung's character, but we (the two characters) have a more subtitle relationship," says Xu, who collaborated with Cheung for the first time.