If you loved the romantic airline drama Triumph in the Skies, you’ll adore this chance to see it on the big screen, with a stellar cast to boot.
The Hong Kong hit television series gets its silver screen treatment, with veteran stars Louis Koo, singer Sammi Chen and popular TVB actress Charmaine Sheh joining the cast specially for the 2015 movie.
At the February 16 press conference earlier today, we got to hear actors Julian Cheung and Charmaine Sheh chat candidly about the steamy scenes on screen, as well as the unexpectedly funny moments behind-the-scenes. Here’s what we gleaned from the stars:
#1 LOUIS KOO IS THE BIG BROTHER ON SET
Whether it’s securing English Premiere League tickets or celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival in England, Louis Koo is the man. When asked about Koo on set, Julian Cheung and Charmaine Sheh burst out in laughter, both saying that everything gets easily settled by him. (Or for Cantonese speakers: “Dou gao dim”.)
“He’s like a big brother. He takes care of the crew both in front and behind the camera,” says Charmaine Sheh, who spoke in Mandarin at the press conference. “He is very familiar with England so he knows where to go for good food. If we had a problem during a shoot, he would be extremely thoughtful and helped out with everything; like when we didn’t have enough clothes to brave the cold weather.”
She added: “We were shooting in England during Mid-Autumn Festival and Koo treated us to mooncakes and a meal, it was very heartwarming.”
Cheung had also suggested watching the English Premiere League match while they were there, and said Koo managed to score them some pretty good seats with just a phone call. The actors didn’t manage to watch the match however, because Cheung was completely tired out after shooting a soccer scene and needed to rest.
#2 THIS MOVIE IS FILLED WITH JULIAN CHEUNG’S LOVE FANTASIES
Cheung says that he doesn’t indulge in such romantic gestures off-screen so it was nice to be able to fulfill his love fantasies through playing Captain Koo.
“I put all my hopes and fantasies onto Captain Koo, so in the movie, I managed to fulfill many of my desires,” says Cheung, quite candidly in Mandarin.
When asked about one of the most memorable scenes shot in England, he recalls shooting “a scene at a big windmill in England, and were surrounded by a huge plain of grass.”
“It was very atmospheric,” says the actor. “I had a heart-to-heart talk with Kuo Tsai Jie in that scene, and it was very romantic and touching.”
Picturesque setting aside, Cheung’s favourite scene has got to be the one where he sends Kuo’s character to the hospital. Cheung recalls that he actually cried during and after shooting that scene. He said Kuo was very easy to act with, and he did not need to put in much effort in bringing out his emotions because she had already created the right mood.
#3 THE CAST HAD AN AMAZING (AND INTIMATE) WORKING RELATIONSHIP
Cheung and Kuo took some time warming up to each other having not met before, but a particular steamy scene in a bathtub brought them a lot closer.
“The bathtub was very difficult to sit in - we had to sit opposite each other and look at each other romantically, but “she kept slipping down like the Titanic,” says the actor. “So I had to prop her up with my thigh underwater. The directors had no idea what was happening underwater, we just had to overcome that difficulty together. We became very familiar with each other after that.”
Cheung gets extremely animated as he recalls the scene, propping his leg up and slipping down the chair, laughing at how awkward the whole situation was.
Sheh also had her fair share of love scenes in this movie with co-star Koo. The smoking hot swimming pool scene you see in the trailers took half a day to film in freezing British weather. The crew had also put a lamp underwater to create the romantic atmosphere, but Sheh and Koo were worried about almost being electrocuted - props to them for being absolute professionals!
#4 CHARMAINE SHEH CAN'T CHOOSE BETWEEN JULIAN CHEUNG AND LOUIS KOO
When quizzed about whether Cheung or Koo’s characters could be her idea of the dream man, the actress plays it coy. “It’s so hard to choose,” says Sheh. “Louis represents the more cool, career-orientated dream man, while Julian’s character has this more sunny personality.”
Sheh adds that Louis Koo does tend to give a cool vibe even off-screen, but after working with this veteran actor, she had discovered that he is actually a very thoughtful, generous person.
“We were shooting in England during the Mid-Autumn festival and he treated us to mooncakes and a meal, it was so heartwarming,” remembers Sheh. “We did collaborate many years back, but it was just a single scene on a television show (Detective Investigation Files IV), so it didn’t leave a huge impression on me. So I consider this time (the Triumph in the Skies movie) as the first time I’ve worked with Louis.”
#5 CHARMAINE SHEH GETS SENTIMENTAL
Sheh has long revealed that she previously wanted to be an air stewardess and finally got the chance to live her dream through the movie.
Well, that isn’t the only thing that Sheh got sentimental about, during our group interview, she said she was very happy to be able to experience the taste of rekindled love.
In the movie, Koo and Sheh were a pair but forced to break up when Koo had to travel to New York to take over his father’s company. It made Sheh recall another failed romance, which did not end well.
“I was forced to break up with my boyfriend when I went to university and cried for many months, but that’s just life, you need these experiences to grow,” says Sheh. “We didn’t get back together. But in the movie, I was able to experience rekindled love and find that happiness again.”
Triumph in the Skies will be out in cinemas on February 19.