Gruelling training
Dennis Yin on handling a real gun for the first time in Polis Evo 2.
FOR two to three times every week for six months, Dennis Yin could be found training for his role in cop movie, Polis Evo 2 (PE2).
“The creators wanted to make the film believable. A real cop watching the movie can spot the difference between someone who knows how to handle a gun and someone who acts like he or she knows how to handle a gun,” Yin talks about the great lengths PE2 goes to accurately portray the armed forces.
PE2, which earned RM3.5mil on opening day, is a sequel to the 2015 buddy cop action flick of the same name revolving around two cops with clashing personalities, Inspectors Sani (Zizan Razak) and Khai (Shaheizy Sam).
A terrorist takes some 200 people living in a remote island hostage, with Sani and Khai caught in the mix.
Yin plays Zali, a member of an elite special force and a bomb expert, who comes to their aid.
“We were not allowed to handle real guns during training. So, we used dummy guns made of plastic. The plastic guns were so light, we could run with it, do backflips, we could do this and that,” Yin shares.
“When we went on set and finally held a real gun, it was so heavy! We weren’t used to it. It weighed about seven to eight kgs. I couldn’t even run properly without the gun hitting my knees.
“And there were so many actions we had to do while holding the gun. So, it’d swing and hit us in our faces, and because it’s a real gun, made out of steel, when it hits you, it’s so painful,” he remembers.
Yin adds, although the guns used in the film were real, they were modified to shoot blanks.
PE2 marks the 30-year-old’s first feature film role. He got his start in showbiz as a dancer.
“I danced for 10 years. After a while, I’ve done everything I could do in Malaysia in terms of dancing. And I thought to myself, ‘What else can I do?’” says Yin, who came in second on the Malaysian edition of dance reality show, So You Think You Can Dance, in 2007.
He began flexing his acting chops in various local web series. He also went on to host TV shows including lip sync game shows Perang Bibir and Drop The Beat.
Yin, who also owns a restaurant and a gym, is excited about the possibilities his role on PE2 brings.
“I’m open to whatever opportunities that come after this film.”