It’s that time of the year again
when CNY songs are blaring in malls and promotional trailers of Lunar themed
movies constantly pops up in social media. It’s a norm to have locally, HK and
Singapore produced CNY movies hitting the cinema circuit every year and with
that, promotional activities are abound during this period. Originally, Gordon Lam and Aaron Kwok were
slated to participate in a series of meet and greet events and press
conference, in conjunction with the “Rob N Roll” movie premiere in KL. Prior to
the function, I kept sharing my wishful thoughts with my friends about having
Maggie joining Aaron and Gordon for the publicity campaign. Lo and behold !
Aaron was under the weather, thus unable to travel to HK. Maggie graciously offered to come over instead,
to help out on the movie promotions. Actually, many fans were unaware of this
last minute change in line-up and had the impression that Aaron will be
appearing. I guess they were disappointed but no siree ! Not me ! The last time
Maggie was here for work was during the shooting of “The Trading Floor”
drama.
The red carpet event was organized
with much pomp and grandeur. Gordon and Maggie made their grand entrance after
the dragon dance performance. With her
slick back blonde hairdo and black glittering evening gown, Maggie is still a
real stunner. With her arms around
Gordon, seeing them together certainly brings back déjà vu vibes for “Plain
Love 2” fans. What a sight ! I have never seen Gordon in-person before but what
strikes me the most is he is articulate and witty, too. I always had the
impression that he’s the introvert type. Maggie and Gordon greeted everyone
Happy Chinese New Year in advance and shared their thoughts about “Rob N Roll”.
It is a breakthrough role for Maggie personally, as this is the first time she
takes on the role of a cop. She was
hesitant in playing police character in the past as she gets easily anxious
about gunshot sound effects and felt risky using prop guns on movie sets (Alec
Baldwin and Bradon Lee’s incidents come to mind). Maggie decided to overcome
this hurdle and also, having hefty insurance coverage helps sealed the
deal. The feature film’s plot is about
Gordon and Richie Ren, two meek middle-aged dudes who got involved in a heist
with buck-teeth unsightly robber, Aaron. So, don’t expect to see the usual
dashing Sing Sing in this flick. Gordon
divulged that this is not your typical comic caper as it also carries the
underlying message about the financial struggles faced by working class men, in
their pursuit of providing a comfortable lifestyle for their families. In fact,
Gordon is wary of marriages after wrapping up this movie. Decades ago, I wished
that this duo would turn their on-screen romance into real life couples. Now, both are still single and I doubt they
are getting married anytime soon since they seems to be leading a blissful,
contented and carefree semi-retirement lifestyle (especially, Maggie). As a long time fan of Maggie, I’m truly happy
for her. Both of them also hoped to have the opportunity to act in locally
produced movies (no rotten sucky Jack Lim movies, please ! ). “Rob N Roll”
(produced by Derek Yee) opens in cinemas on 10th of February. Nancy
Wu, Nina Paw, Paulyn Sun, Lam Suet, John Chiang (and his son), along with
singer Anson Bean are also part of the cast.
