Trying to avoid the gaze of your nosy relatives this CNY? Fix your eyes on these quirky Singapore Hollywood moments!
It’s that time of the year again: curious relatives trying to catch up with your work and love life, when you just want some peace and quiet with your bakkwa and pineapple tarts.
The next time you go visiting, try throwing on some of these movies and catching these Singapore movie moments. Maybe it’ll divert your family’s attention to look out for our country’s cameo appearances in Hollywood too.
1. Taking Selfies with Chris Hemsworth
If you haven’t seen cyber-hacking movie Blackhat in cinemas, now might be a good time to catch it – but not just for Thor hunk Chris Hemsworth or pop star Wang Lee Hom. The film features a most unlikely Singaporean cameo: comedian Adrian Pang.
Related: Blackhat gives insight into Sony hacking scandals
Pang stars in a small role as a Hong Kong cop. He said: “I was taking selfies with (Hemsworth) and sending them to my sons because they didn’t believe I was filming with him.”
To be fair, I couldn’t believe it either – even when he was sprawled out on the big screen right in front of me!
2. Welcome to… Singapore?
In the Pirates of the Caribbean’s third instalment, At World’s End, Hong Kong actor Chow Yun Fat meets Johnny Depp and crew in his spa. “Welcome to Singapore,” he greets them warmly, before the group descends into a battle of swordfights and exploding firecrackers.
Except that the movie’s got it all wrong – we weren’t a Chinese colony, firecrackers have been banned here since the beginning of time, and we never ran a steam bath empire. I guess we’re going to have to give our Singapore story a little more brand awareness.
3. Kungfu Fighting with Jackie Chan
Did you know that Fann Wong was the very first Singaporean actress to break into Hollywood? She appears as a key character in the 2003 comedy Shanghai Knights alongside famous actors Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Donnie Yen.
Critics complimented her “refreshing” presence, remarking that her stunts were even more memorable than Jackie’s! Well, Fann got to slap him, which must have made quite the red mark in Hollywood history. Check it out:
4. A Dark Horse in The Dark Knight
- With appearances in Hollywood blockbusters like The Dark Knight and Captain America: Winter Soldier, Chin Han is often considered one of Asia’s top actors
We’re home to a trove of talents, and Chin Han is one of them. Spot the actor in his roles as the calculative Lau in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008), and Councilman Yen in Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014).
Chin Han is named by CNNGo as one of Asia’s 25 greatest actors of all time, alongside big guns like Tony Leung and Toshiro Mifune!
5. Another version of Singapore
It’s no surprise that Southeast Asian countries are Hollywood’s go-to area for mysterious, exotic and perilous islands. What is surprising is that they’d pick us, since the only dangers we have are crowded trains and kiasu people.
In two King Kong movies –both 1976 and 2005 remakes – a film crew is chartered to sail to Singapore, but end up on the treacherous King Kong-inhabited Skull Island. I wonder which country this nearby islet might be inspired by – Penang? Sentosa?
If they had gone on and landed in Singapore, they might have angered a giant mutant Merlion instead and spawned a series of Merlion 3D monster flicks. Quick, somebody call M Night Shyamalan to get the ball rolling!
By Pamela Chow
ADVERTISEMENTS