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| Fala Chen gladly plays a mad character for her acting bug |
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| Fala Chen praises Nick Cheung for setting off sparks in their collaboration |
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| Fala Chen has a pair of young children so she has no intention to work on a television series |
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| Fala Chen often posts sweet photos with her husband |
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| Fala Chen says that her appearance in the film frightens her mother courtesy of mingpao.com |
The 43 year old Fala Chen after leaving the TVB nest switched her runway to develop a film career. Then she settled in the U.S. and focused on Hollywood, as well as having a pair of children with her husband. Earlier she returned to Hong Kong film and starred in the Nick Cheung Ka Fai written, directed and starred new film PEG O' MY HEART (SHOOK MUNG) is in release. In the film Fala and Ka Fai played a loving couple who make a wrong choice due to an investment failure, which causes the relationship between the two to change dramatically and their lives also fall into a nightmare. Because of the role, Fala hovered between gloom and depression in every scene. When she went crazy, she even tried to jump off the building, running through the streets and screaming until she was hoarse. Her acting bug got its fill. She even said that it was the first time she lost weight for the role. PEG O' MY HEART opened on March 27th, as of April 1st it has accumulated over HK$ 4 million at the box office. Cheung Ka Fai has been promoting hard, between Friday (the 4th) and Sunday he and Terrance Lau Chun Him visited over 30 audience appreciation screenings.
Fala praised his co-star Cheung Ka Fai for his ability to act and direct, so that the actor knew exactly what he wanted. She said, "Ka Fai's idea is very clear to us, like accurately telling the relationship between the couple in our film then letting me perform freely. Because I trust him as a director, basically I don't have to rehearse or use another method to act." When Fala and Terrance Lau Chun Him had scenes together, Ka Fai would explain as the director. Because Ka Fai started as an actor, he would understand the problems the actors faced. Fala thought that it was different from the feeling of working with other directors before, and the chemistry was also greater.
Fala had to put down her beauty to play a "mad woman", she joked: "Actually I'm playing myself. I don't know why I've always given people a mild-mannered, girl next door impression. I hope that the role can be a little bigger leeway, with sweetness and madness. Each role has its own depth and layer." Fala admitted that she was afraid of playing hysterically crazy roles, so she tried to avoid them in the film and let her emotions start to radiate naturally from the character. Fala also deliberately strengthened her makeup. She said, "Ka Fai often comes to see my makeup, I am not afraid myself; but my family would be scared when they see it. Maybe I don't make this type of movie often, I showed my mother my make up photos and her reaction was so painful. She asked why was I like this? My husband didn't react much when he saw it, and the children were too little. I don't dare to show them as I am afraid they would have nightmares."
Fala revealed that he and Cheung Ka Fai in order to play their roles well both lost 10 pounds. She lost weight for the first time for the role, which she joked was more tragic than the character. She said, "The director asked me to lose five or six pounds, but the filming was around Christmas. I could only watch my family have Christmas feast. In addition Ka Fai and I first filmed the couple at happier times, (Claudie) Chung Chun (PEG O' MY HEART producer) often bought a lot of food to the set. We kept eating on the set. After the Christmas holiday we continue the shoot, I just went to France on vacation and luckily I met the goal. We only filmed the hard part around Christmas. I felt that I was even more tragic than the movie character."
Having directed short films, Fala admitted that she still had a director dream to challenge Westerns that few Chinese people would shoot. She said, "If I can start production on a Western film, I may not act in it because I have to concentrate on directing and researching scripts. I am not as amazing as Ka Fai, directing and acting at the same time." Would she have a chance to act in TV dramas again? Fala said that because the children are still young, she usually would not want to leave them for too long when she would go out for work. Shooting TV dramas requires a long time, which might have certain difficulties for her. She said, "Wait until the children get a little older, I hope to follow the example of other foreign stars in the future. For example Nicole Kidman came to Hong Kong for a drama before, and the crew arranged for her to bring her children with her." Fala praised this type of arrangement as allowing the actors to have one less concern and be more able to concentrate on the performance.
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