Charlene Choi wore 8kg breast prosthetics to look ‘more serious’ for movie
Singer-actress Charlene Choi made heavy sacrifices for her role in the Hong Kong movie The Goldfinger.
The 41-year-old wore breast prosthetics that weighed about 8kg during filming of the crime thriller, which also stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau. She also had to start work three hours earlier to have the prosthetics put on her and do her make-up.
Director-scriptwriter Felix Chong, who was in Singapore on Dec 21 to promote the movie along with Leung and executive producer Ronald Wong, told local media that Choi was asked to wear the prosthetics as he felt something was missing during a costume fitting for her character, Zhang Jiawen.
He said: “Jiawen is quite a mature character, but Charlene still has a sense of innocence. We tried a lot of different styles for her during the fitting but still found something missing.”
Chong, 54, later decided that the actress needed “some weight” to make her character look more serious.
He said: “I decided to put some weight on Charlene, so that her character doesn’t seem so buoyant. After all, Jiawen is someone who had been to jail before and I wanted her to be someone who is more serious.”
The director clarified that the prosthetics were not meant to make her character look more alluring onscreen, but in fact improve her performance: “I realised when we put some weight on her, the way she walked, her actions and tone of voice were different.”
But he also noticed that every time before Choi sat down, she would take a deep breath. When he asked her why, she complained about the weight.
He added: “She said if she really has a figure like this, she doesn’t know how she could continue living.”
Although it was hard for the actress to take, the director is pleased with the end result and Choi’s performance.
He said: “Charlene’s aura [in portraying Jiawen] was magnified, so the enhancement really helped in her performance.”
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