It’s not easy starring opposite Louis Koo Tin-lok (古天樂). After all, he’s one of the most popular Hong Kong star of our generation. When he walks into a room, the 52-year-old commands attention, leaving everyone in awe of his presence.
Over the weekend, the cast of “Behind The Shadows” (尾随) were gathered in EQ Hotel Kuala Lumpur to talk about their new movie project. This marks Louis Koo’s official return to Malaysia after 7 years. His last trip was back in 2016, to promote the action film, “Line Walker”.
Joining Louis this time around were Chrissie Chau (周秀娜), two-time Golden Horse Best Supporting Actor Liu Kuan-Ting (劉冠廷), Raymond Wong (黃浩然), Renci Yeung (楊偲泳), plus Malaysian talents Yumi Wong (黃詩棋), Auguste Kwan (關德輝) and YouTuber Phei Yong (培永).
“Behind The Shadows” is being co-produced by Malaysian film company One Cool Film and Hong Kong film company Filmforce Studio. This action thriller includes more than 100 Malaysia talents and crew members involved in the filming in the Klang Valley.
The plot revolves around an inexperienced private detective who gets dragged into and actual crime and has to face an unpredictable, murderous stalker. “I play the detective who is estranged from his wife (portrayed by Chrissie), and while investigating an adultery case, he is threatened by the very person he investigates,” said Louis revealed.
During our round-table interview, Phei Yong revealed that he had shot his scene with Louis a few days ago. “Two days ago, I had a scene with Louis Koo and I only had one sentence for the day. It was a confrontational episode where his character would ask me, “which floor?”. I was supposed to answer the 19th floor. I spend the entire days remembering the number, but the moment Louis scolded me, I blurt out 11. Oh gosh, I wanted to die,” the 29-year-old Malaysian star expressed.
“It was truly embarrassing. I was thinking 19 but somehow, the number 11 came out. Plus, his scolding was so believable and I wondered if he was into the scene or he really wanted to scold me (for messing up). I grew up watching Louis Koo onscreen so it was surreal and intimidating,” Phei Yong added.
We later learnt that there was a backstory to it. The YouTuber shared that there was a last minute change in the script. Initially, Phei Yong was supposed tell Louis, “I don’t know” when questioned. But 30 minutes prior to “action”, he was asked to only utter the number 19. It appeared that the prep that went out the window and getting thrown off guard at the last minute threw Phei Yong off his game a little.
Having said that, it’s encouraging to know that Phei Yong is taking this recent hiccup as a learning lesson and the next time something similar happens, hopefully he’ll be able to improvise on cue.
“Behind The Shadows” is co-directed by Jonathan Li and Chou Man-Yu, with Cheang Pou-Sui as the producer. The film is expected to hit cinemas in Hong Kong and Malaysia sometime next year.
