Jack Neo making new film Ah Girls Go Army for CNY 2022, auditions now open

Besides Mark Lee and Xiang Yun's Reunion Dinner, there'll be another local movie hitting cinema screens next Chinese New Year.

Earlier this afternoon (Sept 29), veteran director Jack Neo held a virtual press conference to announce he would be making Ah Girls Go Army, a film based on the imaginary scenario of Singapore female citizens having to serve mandatory national service (NS).

"What if the population of young people drop below the level that we need to sustain our defence? We know that [Singapore's] birth rate is dropping each year. Can our Singaporean women step up to the challenge of defending our nation, the same as [what] we ask of our men? This is what I want to explore in our new movie," Jack said.

Hong Kong-born Singaporean actress Apple Chan, who was formerly with TVB, is the only confirmed cast member now. Apple, 32, previously appeared as Lieutenant Zhang Xinyi in part four of Jack's popular franchise Ah Boys To Men (ABTM).

The actors who shot to fame in ABTM are expected to make special cameos in Ah Girls Go Army, which has a production budget between $1.6 million and $1.8 million. Mindef will not be involved, Jack added.

During the presser, he also threw out a casting net for fresh faces, male and female, for the new film.

He said he's looking for talents with different looks and sizes, whether they are feminine, tomboyish, Ah Lians, curvy, or have a martial arts background. They should, however, look between 18 and 30 on screen.

And if you tower over others with a height of 1.8m to 2m, Jack especially wants you to audition.

Interested talents can upload a short video of themselves acting out a scene to their Instagram or Facebook accounts, tagging @jteamsg and @mm2singapore, and hashtagging #AhGirlsGoArmy. Remember to make your profile public.

Ah Girls Go Army, presented and distributed by J Team Productions and mm2 Entertainment, is slated for release on Feb 1, 2022.

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com