International team to work on local film ‘Fat Hope’
A Chinese New Year film for 2019 is in the works. Boasting Taiwanese lead actors and the Taiwanese production designer of Cape No. 7 and Café Waiting Love, it will also have an acclaimed special effects makeup team from Hollywood to work on set.
Written and directed by Joyce Lee, Fat Hope will star Taiwanese actors Alien Huang 黄鸿升 (小鬼) and Lin Yu Pin 林育品 (阿喜). The two were in town for a principal photography press conference on Thursday at Conrad Centennial Singapore, together with Singaporean actors Liu Ling Ling, Henry Thia (Hui-ge), Jeffrey Xu 徐鸣杰, Abigail Chay and Priscilla Lim.
From left: director Joyce Lee, Alien Huang, Lin Yu Pin and Liu Ling Ling. Credit: Encore Films
Fat Hope tells the story of Alisa, a snooty runway supermodel who turns fat overnight. She now has to find ways to slim down and salvage her career. Supporting her on her journey are her obese mother (Liu Ling Ling) and love interest Nathan (Alien Huang). Hong Hui Fang, Wang Lei, and Quan Yi Feng are also in the movie.
Liu Ling Ling plays Lin Yu Pin’s mother in Fat Hope. Credit: Encore Films
Alien Huang and Lin Yu Pin were revealed as the leads of Fat Hope on Thursday. Credit: Encore Films
To transform the slim Li Yu Pin into a plus-sized girl, the actress will have to don a fat suit. Director Joyce Lee, who is also the managing director of production company Encore Films, said that she has engaged the special effects makeup team comprising Vincent van Dyke and Odd Studio, who have worked on Darkest Hour, Mad Max: Fury Road and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Lin has travelled to Los Angeles to do a life cast for the fat suit she would be wearing in the movie. “Just putting it on takes three to four hours. One arm weighs four kilograms. I’ve been told that I can only be inside the suit for only up to eight hours,” she shared.
Other actors will also be working hard to prepare for their roles in the film. Jeffrey Xu, who will be playing a shampoo boy at Liu Ling Ling’s hair salon, said that he will be taking hairstyling lessons. Priscilla Lim, who plays Huang’s sister in the film and a K-pop dance instructor – will be undergoing dance classes. So will Liu Ling Ling, Hong Hui Fang, Henry Thia, and Wang Lei – apparently there’s a certain scene in the film where Hui-ge will sing and dance.
Hui-ge is part of the supporting cast in Fat Hope. Credit: Encore Films
“It’s going to be so difficult for me,” complained Hui-ge, who plays the role of Lagger, designed by Lee as a well-meaning jibe for his well-known slowness.
Explaining why she’s making this movie, Lee said: “I wanted to tell people that appearances are not everything. Sometimes it is the simpler things in life that can bring you the greatest joy.” She has spent more than two years working on the script, and said that she has incorporated many real-life experiences from plus-sized women into the story.
Filming for Fat Hope commences on July 2 and is expected to be released during Chinese New Year 2019.
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