"Olabola's" JC Chee wants more roles in Malay movies

JC Chee plays Chow Kok Keong a.k.a. Tauke in "OlaBola".

12 Jan – Local Chinese actor and model JC Chee, or also known as Chee Jun Cherng, is set to appear in the Chiu Keng Guan-directed sports drama, "OlaBola" which would be the actor's first ever Bahasa Malaysia film.

After showcasing his fluency in Bahasa Malaysia, the actor admitted that he wishes to act in more local films and dramas set in the language if he is given the chance. "If given the chance, I would love to. But I probably need to improve my Bahasa Malaysia because the one that I speak now is more of the northern Malay dialects!" the actor said when interviewed at GSC Berjaya Times Square.

The actor revealed that "OlaBola" is his first ever Malay movie, but is actually his second feature length film.

His first film was the Taiwanese produced crime comedey, "When Geek Meets Serial Killer". Chee also explained that as a Chinese boy growing up in a small village in Perlis, he mixed around with a lot of Malays as the Chinese community there is only made up of 10 percent of the population, thus, resulting in him possessing a perceptible northern dialect.

"If the film requires me to use the northern dialects, then I would definitely go for it!"

Playing the role of Chow Kok Keong a.k.a. Tauke, Chee said that personally, he would only give 60 out of 100 marks for his performance in "OlaBola" and said that he still honing his skills as an actor.

However, he did say that he was impressed with the performances of the two new and totally inexperienced actors; Saran Kumar who plays Muthu the goalkeeper and Lim Jian Wen who plays the role of Ong Tiam Cai.

JC Chee (left) along with (R-L) Saran Kumar and Luqman Hafidz.

Other than that, Chee also said most of the cast in this film have little or no acting experience at all, especially the football players. And each of them was required to undergo 3 hours of daily football training for the film.

"Our football coach told us that this is not how professional players train. Professional players train for only 1 to 2 hours daily," he explained. "This is because we needed to make up for the lack of time."