'This feels more than 6kg': Dawn Yeoh on carrying heavy pots playing hawker in upcoming CNY movie

Your local hawkers may have it harder than you think.

Local actress Dawn Yeoh is starring in the upcoming Chinese New Year movie King of Hawkers as Zhang Nala, a newly divorced woman who returns to Singapore from Hong Kong to take over her family's bak chor mee stall as a third-generation owner. This would be her first movie role.

In an interview with AsiaOne, the 37-year-old shared her struggles with playing the character - one of them being training under the supervision of chef John See.

"The pots and utensils were so heavy, I didn't expect it because I train in the gym and I can carry up to 6kg on each arm. When I hit the kitchen, I told the chef, 'This feels more than 6kg,'" Dawn told us.

She said that the pots were in fact lighter, which left her puzzled: "It's more like endurance training compared to the gym. It's not so simple. I don't understand the logic behind the difference."

Thankfully, she added that during the actual filming, she won't have to carry the pots, though she will have to convincingly act out cooking bak chor mee without letting her emotions show.

Other than the physical aspects, Dawn faced other challenges as well as a newbie to movie-making: "This is the first time I'm picking up a movie and it's also the first time I'm working with all these actors and brand new faces, other than Liu Lingling who is the only one I've worked with before."

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Lingling, who was Dawn's co-star in the 2014 local drama 118, will play her mother Luo Yuping.

Other cast members include Hugo Ng, Mimi Choo, Collin Chee, Gini Chang, Asher Su, Das DD and more.

Dawn continued: "The challenges come not just from working with veteran actors but also the different techniques when it comes to movie-filming compared to drama-filming."

She mentioned how movies require rehearsals and there's only one take for each scene, which is different from dramas.

"I will be here when the first day filming begins. We've got a lot of anticipation and slight anxiety," she laughed.

'Don't get deterred from being a hawker'

We also asked Dawn about her favourite hawker centre in Singapore, but she didn't have a sure answer.

"There're a lot of hawker centres in Singapore… I'm quite familiar with Maxwell Food Centre. But I realised the turnover rates for the stalls are pretty high lately," she remarked, adding that some stalls she used to patronise are no longer there, which is why she doesn't visit it anymore.

Emphasising the message of the movie, Dawn voiced: "It's important to watch this movie! I hope through it, we can send a message out to Singaporeans and even the second-generation hawkers, 'Don't get deterred from being a hawker. There's nothing bad about being one. Take away the stigma.'"

"We should be proud of this culture that we own, uniquely to Singapore," she concluded.

King of Hawkers centres around Zhang Nala (Dawn), who returns to Singapore from Hong Kong to restart her life at her family-run bak chor mee stall after divorcing her rich playboy husband (Collin).

Operating next to Nala's stall are others selling local cuisines, such as Ah Lau's Cantonese Cuisine, run by Liu Derong (Hugo) and Bestest Indian Food, which is operated by Raja (Das). When a multinational company organises a competition in an attempt to buy over Nala and other hawkers' recipes and businesses, they work together to retain their legacy.

The movie, directed by Kelvin Sng, is scheduled for release during the Chinese New Year period next year.

ALSO READ: 'Live partners, not life partners': Dawn Yeoh quashes rumours she's dating Terence Cao

syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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