'Buay tahan': Jack Neo recounts almost firing actress on set

Local director Jack Neo is known for constantly 'perfecting' his scripts on the film set to allow the actors to perform their scenes better, but there have been times where nothing appeared to help. 

The 64-year-old shared with host-actress Xixi Lim in the latest episode of Just Swipe Lah released on July 12 that he had once almost fired an actress on set.

"There was once where I really buay tahan (can't stand it) and was close to firing someone. It was Cynthia Kuang from Long Long Time Ago 2," Jack revealed.

Cynthia played Lim Zhao Di's (Aileen Tan) eldest daughter Su Ting in the film, which was released in 2016.

He shared that Cynthia passed the audition because she could speak dialect and did well generally, but when it came to the actual filming, she couldn't portray her character no matter what she did.

Jack added: "I had a headache and thought we were doomed. After that, I said some very harsh words to her. This was the first and only time in my film-making career that I'd said something like that to an actress.

"I told her, 'If you still can't act well, we will replace you.' She cried on the spot and I felt so sorry."

That was when Cynthia received some help from the veteran actors including Aileen Tan, 57.

"She came over to me and said, 'Why does it have to be like this? Let's all help her.' I replied, 'No, if she can't do it, then that's it,'" Jack shared.

He added that Cynthia improved after receiving help from the actors.

"Because she experienced the heartache and sad feelings and felt like crying [from her interaction with Jack], quipped Xixi, 36. Jack added that Cynthia's acting got "better and better" during filming.

"So I still feel that I chose the right person," he said.

Jack also shared that in his years of film-making, he has met many staff members who couldn't do their jobs well.

"But I've never thought of firing them. The people who are there are all part of a team. If you didn't do well today, [it's okay] as long as you can change. If you don't change your ways, we will think of ways to make you change," he added.

Xixi then stated that she is able to vouch for Jack.

"No one has ever said that Jack has a bad temper or that he will fire people. But they will say one thing — Jack's filming hours are really very long!" she added, laughing.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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