Hong Kong & Malaysia filmmakers take “A Journey Of Happiness” together

Principal photography for Malaysia’s newest lunar new year film A Journey Of Happiness commenced in Malaysia in August with actors from Hong Kong flying in to join their Malaysian counterparts on a road trip adventure.

A Malaysian-Hong Kong joint-production that will be released by mm2 Entertainment, SunStrong Entertainment, and Lomo Pictures, A Journey Of Happiness is scripted by Ryon Lee (The Dream Boyz) and directed by JY Teng (A House Of Happiness), both Malaysians.

It is produced by Aron Koh and Mani Man Pui-Hing from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong actors Lo Hoi Pang, Joyce Cheng, Alex Lam and Jerry Lamb attended a recent press conference to launch the movie together with Malaysian actors Aniu Tan Kheng Seong (Ice Kacang Puppy Love, The Wedding Diary) and Lin Min Chen (Vampire Cleanup Department).

In A Journey Of Happiness, the four actors from Hong Kong play members of the boisterous Siew family from Hong Kong, who decide to go on a holiday in Malaysia.

After his wife passes away, Siew Fatt (Lo) falls into a depression, so his tour guide daughter Siew Shen (Cheng) plans a family holiday along with her brothers, property agent Siew Beng (Lamb) and social media influencer Siew Lup (Lam).

Along the way, they meet a pretty backpacker named Pumpkin BB (Lin), a wily tour guide named Cui Fong (Tan) and a motherly hostel owner named Orchid (Susan Shaw).

The RM3.5mil movie is currently being shot in Malaysia at popular tourist locations in Cameron Highlands, Ipoh and Klang Valley.

Veteran actor Lo (ATM) mused about how time flies: “Those days, I used to work with George Lam and Adam Cheng. Now, I am acting in movies with their children Alex and Joyce.”

Cheng, who first worked with Tan in the 2014 CNY movie Huat Ah! Huat Ah! Huat (2014), said it was a fun outing for her. “It’s a road trip movie, so we will be travelling from one city to another, and we’ll have lots of opportunities to enjoy the local cuisine.”

Lamb, best known for hosting the Super Trio Series (1995-2014), also helped to tweak the script for the movie, which is in Cantonese.

“Reading the script made me realise the many differences between the Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong and in Malaysia.”

Both the Malaysian actors, Tan and Lin, are more accustomed to speaking Mandarin, so the Cantonese dialogue was a challenge for them.

“Jerry was quite shocked when he first heard me speak Cantonese on the set, and he had this look of disbelief on his face,” laughed Tan, who first tickled moviegoers with his Teochew-accented Cantonese in Summer Holiday (2000).

Meanwhile, Lin, who made her big screen debut with a non-speaking role in Vampire Cleanup Department (2017), was ecstatic to have dialogue this time around.

“I have to keep practising my lines, as they are in Cantonese, which I don’t speak,” she said.

A Journey Of Happiness is slated for a CNY 2019 release in Malaysia, Hong Kong and China.