Rising HK star bares all in movie debut
Tom Price is an up-and-coming actor that isn't afraid to bare it all.
The 26-year-old British-Chinese actor from Hong Kong currently stars in the Hong Kong movie "Amphetamine", in which he plays Daniel, a gay banker who falls in love with Kafka, a straight fitness trainer played by the equally gorgeous Byron Pang.
Both men fall in love with each other and have to go through many hurdles together such as Kafka's drug addictions and their ex-girlfriends. The movie is set after the financial crisis of 2008 and Daniel has moved back to Hong Kong from Australia to start a new life.
Apart from Price's daring portrayal of his gay character, the movie has set tongues wagging with its intense and explicit fully frontal gay scenes.
Directed by Hong Kong director Scud -- who has directed similarly themed "Permanent Residence" and "Love Actually... Sucks!"-- the 97-minute drama at times really does leave very little to the imagination.
What's perhaps more surprising is that "Amphetamine" is Price's -- a professional deejay by day and former model -- first venture into the movie industry and his biggest role to date.
When the film premiered in Hong Kong in 2010 for the 34th Hong Kong International Film Festivals, some scenes were censored because of its explicit content.
"There was a lot of publicity about the scenes being controversial, which I was happy about because I knew it was going to be controversial stuff," said the roguishly handsome actor.
"This was one of the reasons why I wanted to do it," he added.
On his intimate scenes, "it was difficult but not as difficult as I imagined it would be," said Price who spoke in a slightly Australian-accented English that he picked up when he studied sports science in an Australian university.
He added that even though he is straight, he had no trouble slipping into the role of his gay character.
"(The scenes) went smoothly because Byron and I, we were both very professional and we didn't need time to say, 'give me 10 minutes to just sort myself out'. We just went in, did it and done!" said Price.
Surprisingly, the hunky actor -- who is currently single -- reveals the intimate gay scenes weren't the hardest for him. Rather, it was a bungee jumping scene where both the male lovers, Byron and Daniel, had to leap off a bridge.
Price was tied to a makeshift bungee rope system and was asked to jump off an incomplete bridge onto a concrete floor.
"Looking down on the concrete, you feel like you're going to get pancaked if you hit the floor," said Price with a straight and genuinely worried face.
But it was "fun in a scary way".
"Amphetamine", which is one of five movies being screened at the 4th Love & Pride Film Festival organised by Golden Village next week in GV Grand, will be shown in Singapore uncut.
Price says gay equality is one of the social causes that he believes in, along with gay marriage, euthanasia and abortion.
In the future, the towering actor who was nominated for Best New Performer at the Hong Kong Film Awards, said he'd like to work with Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Anthony Wong, Tony Leung and Wong Kar-wai. H also wants to be in an action film.
Price will appear on local TV in a Mediacorp production called "Double Bliss" that will air next year in January alongside Zoe Tay and Terence Cao as Romeo, a Chinese who returns from America and is very interested in the Chinese culture.
Currently based in Taiwan, Price is also brushing up on his Mandarin after making his first appearance in Taiwanese drama "Love You" alongside Rainie Yang, Joseph Chang and Tiffany Hsu.
The Love & Pride film festival will open with "Permanent Residence" ticketed at $30 (inclusive of a glass of wine) on 18 October followed by "The Kids Are All Right" ($10) on 19 October, "Private Romeo" ($12) on 20 October and "I Love You Phillip Morris" ($10) on 21 October.
"Amphetamine" will be the closing film and tickets are priced at $15 (inclusive of one popcorn combo). All tickets are available online on GV's website.
Watch the movie trailer here.
