Julian Cheung says learning Malay for movie was tough
A line in Malay took 20 or 30 takes. I thought I had a knack for languages, but this time I had no idea what I was speaking. Although the translator taught me, it was very hard to learn.
HONG KONG: Actor Julian Cheung had to learn some Malay for his latest movie The Leakers. It was tough, he confessed. Recalled Julian: “A line in Malay took 20 or 30 takes. I thought I had a knack for languages, but this time I had no idea what I was speaking. Although the translator taught me, it was very hard to learn.”
Hong Kong stars often find the flimsiest excuses to do on location filming in Penang.
It’s not about Bukit Bendera, char koey teow or even Tanjung Bungah.
More like getting to gorge on durians on the set.
At least, that was what fuelled the acting stints of both Julian and Francis Ng while they were filming The Leakers in Penang.
Musang King? They’d drop everything else and make a run for that variety. If you notice both stars looking like they’re getting a little sleepy during some of the scenes, you know why.
Directed by Herman Yau, The Leakers also stars Charmaine Sheh.
According to the script, Julian and Francis are cops investigating a Malaysian pharmaceutical company which has been using a new variety of an infectious disease to make obscene profits.
This information was leaked by a secretive organisation to a Hong Kong-based journalist. Soon, the cops are sniffing out the same trail.
The movie sees the re-teaming of Julian and Francis, who had both starred in Triumph in the Skies.
Disclosed Francis: “There are car chases but the doubles did them all.”
On why he is no longer performing his own stunts, Francis retorted: “Don’t they (stuntmen) have to work too? To the audience, it makes no difference. We aren’t playing Ip Man. If I played Ip Man I would have to fight personally.”
The hardest part about filming the movie?
The non- stop eating, Julian joked.
He said: “My stomach was very tough. Because we were shooting in Penang, we kept eating durian. We realised there were many different varieties. Aside from ‘Musang King’, there were ‘Wong Fei Hung’, ‘Aunt 13’, ‘Joan Lin’, but ‘Joan Lin’ was sold out that day and we didn’t have a chance to try it.”
Francis said it was just right, because for his role, he had to gain weight.
Julian Cheung, star of ‘The Leakers’