On the Aki Nabalu Shoot!

Kong Eu, the actor.

In 2008 I got bitten by the acting bug. This was of course started from my numerous castings for TVCs since 2007 (and the voice-over work which started earlier) – which then led to reading scripts and castings for acting roles. In Jul 08, I was casted to play the lead in the pilot episode of a “kisah benar” series - I found that the process of inner connection, characterisation and emoting provided me a depth of expression and artistry which was different, refreshing and really opened up what I could do as a artist overall.

After that, I sent my profile out to the production houses that I knew of (perhaps I started even b4 that?) and attended a bunch of castings but could never find the right role or get to the right person or get to know of suitable castings etc. So I eventually relegated acting (not because of interest, but more of having one too many things to focus on!) to “something I’d pursue if the right role just came along” (without me working so damn hard to even FIND a suitable opportunity!).

B Camp

In Jan, I was contacted byFilmscape, a production house that I’d been eye-ing to work with for many reasons. We’d had some close calls (a few small bit roles) but due to schedule/timing I’d yet to do anything for them. This time, I was asked to cast for a role of a Japanese captain during WWII in Sabah.

Lo and behold after some fine-tuning and a meeting with the director – the renowned Kabir Bhatia, the man behind the movies Setem/Cinta/Sepi, Frontpage on NTV7 and the super-hot Nur Kasih on TV3- I was cast!

More of B Camp - where my character helms

What followed was a whirlwind.. as it was one of the busiest period for my metaphysics work (with travel and working over wknds), what with my normal tap classes and script reading sessions for the shoot.

Shooting commenced around 24 Jan and so far it’s been a great experience! I’m working with a cool bunch of actors – from current hot celebrities, a few British actors all the way from London, Craig Fong (an awesome established actor) and Hansen, ex-Breakfast Show NTV7 host.

Aki Nabalu will be an 8 part mini-series for Astro Citra (part of the Mustika package). Astro has been commissioning quite a lot of quality content for Citra since 2009 - currently focusing on Malaysian-historical based epics! So far, everything’s looking pretty damn good.

The story/writing is awesome, the visuals stunning, the direction great and as for the acting…you’ll have to see for yourself later

For those of you who are curious, yes there’s a lot of waiting around the set plus….you’re virtually on stand-by throughout the duration of the shoot as scenes/locations get shifted around constantly.