[2015.04.24] JOSIE HO AND EKIN CHENG TURN HOBBY INTO POSITIVE ENERGY

Josie Ho and Ekin Cheng hope the film will start a badminton fever

Ekin humbly says that his badminton skills are only passable

Edmond Leung, Wilfred Lau, Susan Shaw and Josie Ho
courtesy of mingpao.com

Dior Cheng Yi Kin and Josie Ho Chiu Yi's badminton skills are on par with each other. Ekin cooked up a "badminton romance" and married his pretty wife Yoyo Mung Ka Wai; Chiu Yi was on her elementary and secondary school team. She even was the Ontario women's double runner up in Canada. Recently they turned their interest in great wisdom as they worked together on a badminton themed inspirational comedy sport film FULL STRIKE (CHUEN LIK KAU SAT) in hopes of starting a badminton fever as they worked with companies to develop a badminton video game.

Chiu Yi and Ekin talked about the film earlier. Chiu Yi said that her producer husband Conroy Chan Chi Chung had an artist temperament and gave up in mid production. Later he was upset that the subtitle was done well enough and spent several nights assisting its repair, in order to make the Weitou dialect English translation even more accurate. Chiu Yi said that the Weitou dialect was hard to deal with. Once due to dialogue problems she threw a tantrum at director Derek Kwok Chi Kin on the set. "Tse Kwan Ho, (Ronald) Cheng Chung Kei spoke the Weitou dialect very well, originally I had to speak it too but I couldn't do it well. The director said that I sounded horrible so in the end I didn't have to." Ekin who witnessed the incident explained. "The Weitou dialect performance in the film was not easy to learn, but Kwok Chi Kin likes to change scripts and adds in the Weitou dialect on the spot."

Ekin said that the director had an acting gene and would demonstrate the roles to the actors on the set. However he was unwilling to play a role. Chiu Yi chimed in, "I know several directors who really like to act. Even when (Matt) Chow Hoi Kwong guest starred he would ask why Kwok Chi Kin didn't play a role. (Johnnie) To Kei Fung usually would demonstrate if he felt an actor didn't do well enough. (Frankie) Chan Fun Kei's demonstration was very funny, I had to hold back my laughter." Although the shoot had friction, Chiu Yi admired the director very much. "Before GALLANTS (DA LUI DOI) won the Hong Kong Film Award Best Picture, I already signed him to work together. So when he won I screamed the loudest." She praised the director for being even mature than he made GALLANTS. In the film she was able to display her killing strong suit. Yet she had to repeatedly accommodate the character during the shoot, she ended up patting and dizzy from all the action scenes.

Ekin humbly said that his skills were only passable, usually he and his wife would play like a "crazy couple". "We like to play and laugh, we are very afraid to see people who are so serious that they get upset. However before the shoot I didn't ask her to practice. She was injured on a ski trip so at the time she couldn't play. We only started playing again recently." He said that the during the shoot a coach was on hand to practice with them. Accidentally his skills were improved. He was able to play with both hands. He never imagined that his young co-stars were so vicious with their kills, leaving him ducking for cover.

Speaking of Andrew Lam Man Chung's constant improvisation, Chiu Yi recalled that she and Susan Shaw Yam Yam had a hard time with holding back their laughter; Ekin admitted that at first he worried about working with Lam Man Chung and Edmond Leung Hong Man. "I was afraid that Ah Chung would be hard to control, after awhile I realized that Ah Chung got in the production very much, was a lot of fun, he also has treated everyone to food and drinks. I have seen Leung Hong Man a lot when he sang, but I didn't know how to play our group scenes. In one scene we turned on each other, Leung Hong Man performed pretty well."

The school location in the film was rumored to be "very haunted". Ekin said that the cast was cheerful at work and would chase bats for fun. He believed that even ghosts would be scared.