Aimee Chan did not know she was pregnant when filming Let's Eat!
HK actress Aimee Chan felt tired during filming of new movie but blamed it on work exhaustion
Hong Kong actress Aimee Chan and her husband Moses Chan have been "busy" - they are expecting their third child in three years.
At yesterday's press conference for their new movie Let's Eat!, director and co-star Chapman To even teased Aimee, 34, about her fertility and her 44-year-old husband's virility.
In response to the event's emcee Danny Yeo's comment that Moses has "too much vigour", To agreed.
The 43-year-old Hong Kong comedian joked in Mandarin: "I understand that Moses wants to keep his wife close because she is just too pretty.
"But if this continues, Aimee will be able to shoot only short films instead of feature-length ones."
To was very considerate of his pregnant leading lady, holding out his hand to support her as she climbed the steps onto the stage in her black stilettos.
Let's Eat!, which is To's directorial debut, opens here on Friday.
He plays Dai Hung, the head chef of Malaysian Hainanese chicken rice establishment Ah Yong Cafe.
When its owner's daughter Rosemary (Aimee) returns from Europe to revamp the cafe, she and Dai Hung clash because of their different attitudes towards the restaurant.
Aimee, who is six months pregnant, is already mum to boys Aiden Joshua, two, and Nathan Lucas, one.
She married Moses in 2013 after three years of dating and it has been reported that the couple want a big family.
SECRET
Aimee preferred not to reveal the gender of her unborn baby, saying: "It's a secret."
She had already been a month into the pregnancy while shooting Let's Eat! in Malaysia last September, but she did not know she was expecting.
"I was quite tired that month, but I put that down to exhaustion from filming," she told The New Paper.
"For one scene, I had to run at top speed down a few streets and I felt kind of sick after that. It was only later that I realised why."
But Aimee happily said that the pregnancy did not affect her appetite and she was still able to indulge during filming. "I still ate a lot during the shoot," she recalled.
"Actually, I was trying to lose some weight from my previous pregnancy because I wasn't in my best shape, but during the final week of filming, I just ate."
Let's Eat! is Aimee's first film since 2010's 72 Tenants Of Prosperity. She is better known for her TVB dramas.
Although it was tough for her to be apart from her children, she felt that Let's Eat! was a great opportunity she could not turn down.
"I have always been interested in films and Chapman is a veteran comedy actor, so I really wanted to work with him," said Aimee.
"The most important thing was not to leave home for too long. I managed to fly home to Hong Kong in the middle of filming to visit."
To: Easier to direct than to act
Hong Kong director Chapman To thinks today's K-dramas are not up to scratch.
"I really hate Korean dramas," he told The New Paper.
"Old people like me enjoy Japanese dramas and I think the current K-dramas are not as well produced and well acted as the Japanese dramas from the 90s."
To's general dislike of the Hallyu wave found its way into Let's Eat!, where his character Dai Hung expresses his distaste for Korean fried chicken. The movie also pays homage to Japanese food.
To, who also wrote the script for the film, said: "I think it's a great pity for a director to direct a film without writing the script for it. I can't imagine how someone could do that."
NERVOUS
Although Let's Eat! is his directorial debut, he said it is acting that makes him most nervous.
"I'm more concerned about how to portray my emotions in my own style," he said.
"Directing, in comparison, was more straightforward."
On the storyline about a struggle between the old and the new, and Singapore's and Malaysia's love of chicken rice, To said: "Hainanese chicken rice is a symbolic food for both countries. You can even find it on room service menus in foreign hotels.
"For the film, we created a revamped version of Hainanese chicken rice to represent the mix of traditional and modern food."
Co-star Aimee Chan said To, who cooks up a storm in Let's Eat!, is a "really good" chef. His signature dish is slow-cooked short ribs.
When asked whether it is he or his wife, Hong Kong actress-singer Kristal Tin,who cooks at home, To replied cheekily: "She has no chance to be in the kitchen... always in the bedroom."
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