A day of rest turned awry for Patricia Mok when she fractured her toe two weeks ago in a home accident.
The local actress, who was filming Jack Neo's upcoming Chinese New Year movie I Want to Be Boss during that period portraying an AI robot, shared the details with AsiaOne when we visited the film set on Tuesday (Nov 12).
"It happened on a day when I wasn't busy and I was just idling at home. I don't know — maybe I walked too fast, but I bumped into my LG Styler," recounted the 53-year-old. "I guess that was when my toe became fractured but I didn't know it, so I was like, 'Why is it crooked?'
"And since it didn't hurt, I just moved my toe back into place."
The LG Styler is a tall steam closet unit that looks similar to a fridge.
It was only three days later that Patricia felt "off" and went to the doctor, who told her that she had in fact fractured her toe.
"It was painful when I stubbed my toe — I saw it bent at a 45-degree angle and I was touching it all over."
Everyone in the room winced and concerned cast members — Aileen Tan, Henry Thia and Yang Guang Ke Le as well as director Jack — asked how she dealt with the pain.
"I thought, 'Perhaps I have to tolerate the pain!' But it didn't hurt when I touched it, which was why I moved my toe back into place," Patricia replied.
They also asked if her injury interfered with her performance on set.
"No, it was still okay… and my most important scenes had already been filmed," Patricia assured. "I was left with scenes where I only had to stand and walk around for a bit — so I think it was a blessing in disguise."
The production crew also helped by changing her scenes to have her walk or run less, and she also used her hands more.
Making light of the situation, Jack joked that Patricia "really is like a robot", a statement to which she heartily agreed.
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This isn't the first time a health issue popped up while she was filming Jack's movie. In January this year, Jack and Patricia revealed that she contracted Covid-19 just three days before filming for Money No Enough 3 began last October.
Another actress was placed on standby for her role but she thankfully tested negative just hours before filming commenced.
I Want To Be Boss centres around restaurant employee-turned-owner Dongnan (Henry), his wife Nan Shao (Aileen) and their family in a futuristic Singapore, where artificial intelligence (AI) robots have become an integral part of people's lives. Dongnan owns AI robot Ling Ling (Patricia), which helps to ease household pressures and serves as a mediator for him and his wife.
However, AI technology becomes Dongnan's downfall, after his apprentice steals his secret recipes and frames him for it. Through a series of events, including a family crisis, Dongnan learns the importance of hard work, honesty and forgiveness.
I Want To Be Boss also stars Jae Liew, Maxi Lim, Dawn Yeoh, Zhang Shuifa and Terence Cao and will be released during the Chinese New Year period next year.
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kristy.chua@asiaone.com
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