S’pore YouTube star Dr Jiajia to star in Chinese animated film
Seven-year-old local YouTube sensation Dr Jiajia has landed a role in Chinese movie “I Love Wolffy 2”, which will also be the child star’s first international film.
“I Love Wolffy 2”, a children's action and animation movie, is the sequel to “I Love Wolffy", a hugely popular movie in China.
The movie will feature characters from the popular Chinese children’s television series, “Happy Sheep and Big Grey Wolf”, which is a hit animated television series in China.
Dr Jiajia will be playing a supporting role as Xiao Hui Hui, the son of the Hui Tai Lang, the protagonist of the film, played by Chinese actor Zhao Ying Jun.
The film is a collaboration between China’s leading children’s content producer, Mr. Cartoon Pictures, and local production company 9 Harbors.
This will be Dr Jiajia's second film after the local movie Taxi! Taxi! which was released in January this year. In his feature film debut, the cute-as-a-button child star, whose real name is Liang Jia Sun, starred as the cheeky son of a taxi driver played by Mark Lee.
Producers said they hope this film will act as a bridge between the local audience and Chinese audience and bring about more opportunities for collaborations between the two countries.
Filming will take place in Singapore. It will start tomorrow and will go on for a month.
The film will premiere in Singapore and China in August.
Dr Jiajia’s father, Michael Chua, who was at the movie's launch ceremony at the Singapore Flyer on Sunday, said his family accepted this opportunity as they believe it is a good way to “promote Singapore to China” and also a good chance for his son to be “exposed to some market outside of Singapore”.
He added that Dr Jiajia is “excited” about this opportunity as “he has grown to like acting more” over time.
During the press conference, Dr Jiajia greeted his fans warmly, saying "thank you for coming".
His co-star, Ying Jun, said he'll need Dr Jiajia to take care of him and Zi Xuan, who plays the role of Xiao Hui Hui's mother in the movie, when they're in Singapore.
Dr Jiajia playfully rebutted, "shouldn't you be taking care of me, because you're an adult whereas I'm a child?"
Also present were 20 over fans and supporters of Dr Jiajia, including Suzanne Choong.
She became acquainted with the Chua family after she became friends with them on Facebook.
She told Yahoo! Singapore that Dr Jiajia did well for his debut movie, Taxi! Taxi!, earlier this year as he was very “natural” in his acting.
But ardent fans of Dr Jia Jia’s YouTube videos will be disappointed as his father said his child star would probably have to cut down on his popular series.
However, Chua hinted that the family might be exploring the prospect of filming Dr Jiajia’s two sisters.