Prequel, from Andrew Lau's gangster film series. Around this time, Wu met Jackie Chan at a restaurant opening and was quickly signed to Chan's JC Group with agent Willie Chan. Wu's breakthrough performance came in 1999 with his role in Benny Chan's Gen-X Cops. He followed this success with roles in a variety of films including big-budget thriller Purple Storm, arthouse production Peony Pavilion and the successful Love Undercover. In 2001, Wu received criticism from the Hong Kong media for sexual scenes with Suki Kwan in Cop on a Mission, but Wu says that same criticism attracted the attention of directors and the film represented a turning point in the types of roles he chose in the future. Wu's first experience in film production came with his starring role in Julian Lee's 2003 film Night Corridor. Due to budgetary constraints, Wu participated in the search for funding for and distribution of, the film and recruited Jun Kung to create the soundtrack. Though Night Corridor dealt with "risky" themes, Wu felt he had less reliance on image than many of his pop-star actor peers, and he was nominated for best actor at Taiwan's 40th Golden Horse Film Awards for his effort. During 2003, Wu took part as producer and creative director on MTV's Whatever Things!, a Jackass-styled program aired in Asia, also featuring Sam Lee, Josie Ho, Terence Yin, and other celebrities. During 2003, Wu took part in a stage production of The Happy Prince at the Edward Lam Dance Theater as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, during which he recited a 16-minute monologue in Cantonese, learned entirely from pinyin. In 2005, Wu was nominated as best actor at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Derek Yee's One Nite in Mongkok, and as best supporting actor for New Police Story. At the 41st Golden Horse Film Awards, Wu won the award for best supporting actor for New Police Story. The win came as a surprise to him, because he "didn't think that much" of his performance in the film. In 2005, Chinese media began to report that Wu had formed a boy band, Alive, with Terence Yin, Andrew Lin and Conroy Chan. Wu and his bandmates posted information, updates, personal thoughts (including slamming Hong Kong Disneyland, for which they were spokespersons), and the band's music, at their official website. In 2006, Wu made his writing