'They should spend all their money on themselves': Chen Hanwei doesn't want parents to leave inheritance to him

When it comes to money, local veteran actor Chen Hanwei said that he and his family view it as a "worldly possession".

And thus, Hanwei wants his parents, who are in their eighties, to spend it all on themselves — instead of leaving it to their children — to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Speaking to AsiaOne in an interview recently for his new dialect drama Whatever Will Be, Will Be, the 53-year-old said that when his parents made a will, they wanted him to be present with the lawyer.

He shared in Mandarin: "The lawyer said that it is quite unusual because it looks like I forced my parents to write a will. Usually the children will not be present. But my mother said that I must definitely be present to hear it.

"I actually don't care about it. I have told my parents since I was young that they should spend all their money on themselves and not leave any for me."

Hanwei, who also has an elder sister in her fifties, said that he even asked the lawyer if they could change the will so that his parents will use their money on themselves.

While Hanwei and his family view money as something more extrinsic, he said that he still understands its importance.

"I will still work hard to make my own money and take care of my family and let my parents have a good life. We don't have to live a life of luxury, but we are sufficient and don't have to worry about it," he said.

In Whatever Will Be, Will Be, he plays Liu Bishan, who is the eldest son of Liu Dafu (Zhu Houren). Dafu receives three lottery tickets one day and gives them to each of his three children.

By a stroke of luck, one of them is the winning ticket and what ensues is a scheme plotted by Bishan and his wife Zheng Huiyao (Kym Ng) to usurp the jackpot for themselves. As Dafu's children fall out with one another because of money, Bishan's brother Biran (Richie Koh) reminds them of the importance of family and kinship.

When asked what Hanwei would do if he won a million dollars, he shared with us that he would save 50 per cent of it. The next 20 per cent will be for his parents, and the next 20 per cent of it will be used to give himself and his loved ones a good vacation to relax.

"I really want to see more of this world. I want to go to places that tourists would not usually go, such as South Africa, Antarctica and Iceland. I would also like to bring those that I love along with me, such as family and friends," Hanwei said.

He added that the next nine per cent will be donated to charity and the last one per cent will be used to purchase miscellaneous items and he will keep $1 to purchase the next lottery ticket.

"For me, doing charity work, personal savings and taking care of parents are very important, and I have managed to do all three of them," he said.

'Richard replied to my questions at 2am'

This is the first dialect drama for Hanwei and most of his lines are spoken in Hokkien. As he doesn't speak the dialect, it posed a challenge for him.

Luckily, he received a lot of help from actor Richard Low, who plays Hu Nanshan in the series.

Hanwei shared: "Richard replied to my questions about Hokkien at 2am. He recorded the script line by line for me. He is really professional and I want to thank Richard, Lin Ruping and Houren for helping me.

"Houren will teach me Hokkien on set because I cannot speak Hokkien and they are really patient in helping me. With their help, we managed to complete filming successfully."

'It's really hard to find a good acting partner'

Hanwei said that the "best experience" of working on the drama is to be able to act alongside Kym.

He said: "We have developed really good chemistry and I felt very sad when we had to part after filming ended. It is really hard to find a good acting partner. For Kym, she knows how to catch ad-libs that I gave her during filming and returns it."

Hanwei shared an example during filming where Kym's lines require her to say something nasty to Dafu.

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Hanwei retorted to Kym's line in the drama, which he shared with us: "I told her, 'How can you say something like that to my father?' This line wasn't in the script and we didn't rehearse it beforehand."

Instead of having an NG (no-good) take, Kym continued acting by crying, which impressed Hanwei.

He said: "There are many ad-lib scenes like this, which made it more believable. That's what makes a good acting partner because she knows how to catch your acting and returns it. Some actors may just apologise and it becomes an NG.

"Kym is really funny in person and cute too, I really like her."

Whatever Will Be, Will Be premieres this Friday (July 21) at 11.30am on Channel 8. It will also be available on demand for free on meWATCH on the same day.

ALSO READ: 'We have a lot of bed scenes': Chen Hanwei teases new dialect drama with Kym Ng

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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