After touching the hearts of Malaysians with Juang, a movie that pays tribute to Malaysia’s frontliners in the course of the pandemic, director Matt Lai is again to entertain Malaysians along with his new action-comedy, What! The Heist.
The film – a co-production between Malaysia and Singapore – revolves round Chow Yun Fatt, an actor who’s desperately discovering cash to fund his daughter’s medical payments.
One day, he will get recruited by a team of geniuses who vow to make him wealthy if he helps them rig a lottery price RM100mil.
Speaking with StarLife-style, Lai shared that the story was closely impressed by the Spanish Netflix sequence, Money Heist.
(left to proper) Malaysian actor Jack Lim, director Matt Lai and Singaporean actor Mark Lee on the ‘What The Heist’ press convention. Photo: Art Chen/The Star
“I wanted to do a comedy version of Money Heist,” he mentioned. “Just like Money Heist, there’s a character in this film who goes by the nickname ‘The Professor’. I also took inspiration from Johnny English for the comedy bits.”
What! The Heist, a RM4mil undertaking, was shot in 30 days round Klang Valley and Putrajaya.
Lai revealed that a lot thought was put into deciding on the forged members for the reason that movie was a joint manufacturing.
(*15*) he defined.
The movie is led by Singaporean actor Mark Lee and Malaysian actor Jack Lim.
The lineup contains Malaysian stars Jaspers Lai, Gan Mei Yan, Choo Hao Ren, Ahirine Ahirudin, Grace Teo and Singaporean actors Patricia Mok and Henry Thia.
Fun journey
During the press convention, Lim, who portrays prison mastermind The Professor, mentioned this was his first time working with Lee after 15 years.
“The happiest experience for me was collaborating with Mark. The last time we acted together was in 2008 (Ah Long Ptd Lte).
“Mark and I improvised a lot during the shoot. We shared many similar ideas for the film which is why we worked so well together,” he defined.
Similarly, Lee shared that he had a pleasing expertise working with Lim.
‘What The Heist’ is now displaying in cinemas nationwide. Photos: Handout
“Working with Jack again after so long, I can see that he’s changed a lot. His acting has improved tremendously and his ideas are much more mature now. I was really amazed by his performance,” the 54-year-old Singaporean mentioned.
To put together for his function, Lee revealed that he studied scenes from standard Hong Kong exhibits within the early to late 2000s.
“My character is the impersonator of the team. There’s a few scenes in the movie where I copy famous roles like Andy Lau in Infernal Affairs, Tony Leung in In The Mood For Love and Donnie Yen in Ip Man,” he elaborated.
When requested concerning the funniest expertise on set, the entire forged agreed on one scene involving Jaspers, who performs Ya Good – the protagonist’s supervisor who can be recruited for the heist.
In the scene, Ya Good is hiding from a CEO beneath a desk. The CEO unknowingly sticks his large toe into Ya Good’s mouth.
Singaporean-based Malaysian actor Jaspers Lai performs as Ya Good, the protagonist’s goofy sidekick.
Jaspers – who doubles because the movie’s screenwriter – revealed that the toe was actually put into his mouth in the course of the shoot.
“It was a funny yet disgusting experience for me. The worst part was that it wasn’t even done in one take.
“I don’t even know why our director wanted it to be shot so many times. After that scene, I immediately gargled and rinsed my mouth with water,” the 35-year-old mentioned with amusing.
Language barrier
Of course, no filming goes by with out its personal units of challenges.
Being the one non-Mandarin speaker among the many forged, native actress Ahirine admitted that the language barrier was essentially the most difficult a part of the shoot.
“I’m grateful for everyone who helped me during filming. I can’t speak Mandarin well, so 95% of the time, I was just guessing what they were saying,” she mentioned.
Ahirine wasn’t the one star who skilled issue with the language. Lim confessed that he too struggled with talking Mandarin.
‘What The Heist’ is Ahirine’s first motion movie since her performing debut.
“I normally speak in Cantonese but for this entire film, I had to speak in Mandarin. I spent a long time practising, so I hope everyone thinks I did well,” he mentioned.
Director Lai has excessive hopes for What! The Heist.
When requested about his expectations for the movie, the 43-year-old responded: “I hope the movie will make RM3mil to RM5mil at the Malaysian box office. If it does well, there’s a chance that we may all go to India to film the sequel.
“As a director, I believe we should branch out to other Asian markets and going someplace different like India will definitely help diversify our market,” he mentioned.
What! The Heist opens at cinemas nationwide right now.
