'Loser' Kang Kang will swim naked for RM5m
We don't need to see that in the nude!
BY BEH YUEN HUI
Taiwanese entertainers will do the strangest things to promote a movie—or celebrate its success. Kang Jing Rong, otherwise known as Kang Kang, says he'll go skinny dippy—at a hotel pool—if his latest movie Greedy Ghost hits RM5 million at the box-office. Ironically, this is coming from a guy who was cast because of his "bad luck face".
"We wanted someone who looked like a loser, a very unlucky person," the movie's executive producer and scriptwriter Mark Lee told Malaysian reporters in KL this week. "At first, we were quite worried if he could act," Lee teased, but added that Kang Kang proved his multitalented skills during the filming.
Kang Kang, 45, makes his leading man debut in Greedy Ghost after 14 years in showbiz. In the movie, he plays a funeral home staff who finds a mysterious book that wins him a series of lotteries. However, he's soon haunted by phone calls from a dead person when one of his friends steals from the coffin, too.
"I don't take myself as the star of the movie," said Kang Kang who was initially cast in a supporting role. "Other characters are equally important." The Singaporean production, directed by Boris Boo, also stars Henry Thia, Jesseca Liu and Malaysian actor Brendan Yuen.
There were some spooky moments when Jesseca was filming at a graveyard.
"We hope to send a message that everything is fated, including how much money you have your entire life and what happens if you spend it all before you die," said Lee. "If it's meant to be, it will ultimately be."
The cast also talked about spooky moments during the filming, like the time they shot a possession scene at the cemetery. "The atmosphere was… creepy," said Jesseca, who plays Brendan's girlfriend.
According to Brendan, while he hadn’t encountered anything supernatural himself, the crew gave him an ang pow as a "safety precaution" against "evil omens". Jesseca added that she wasn't all that scared. "I used to watch ghost movies every night before I went to sleep," she said.
Scary bunch: Boris, Jesseca, Henry, Kang, Brendan and Mark.
There were lighter moments, too, like the time public watchers panicked when they thought one of the actors had snuffed it.
The cast was taking a break in the mourning room at the graveyard and—"Henry was lying down on the table and people thought he had died," recounted Lee with a laugh. "They were bowing to us!" added Henry.
Greedy Ghost was filmed entirely in KL and opened in cinemas yesterday.
Images: Raja Faisal Hishan/The Star
Published: 27th July 2012
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