He may be the 'disciple' of international movie star Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng and has had many showbiz doors opened for him in the past two years. What's more, he is only 21. But Brandon Chang Tsoek-nam has not had it too easy.
Last year, at the height of the Sars outbreak, the young actor was on various Asian locations including the mainland film set of Silver Hawk, currently showing at local cinemas.
'This is a very special movie in that it has two versions. So it took about five months to complete,' recalls the Toronto-born but Hong Kong-educated Chang.
'[The film company] really wanted a proper English version, not a dubbed version, for the international market. So we had to film it twice.'
Directed by Jingle Ma Choh-shing - whose credits include Fly Me To Polaris (1999) and Tokyo Raiders (2000) - Silver Hawk stars Yeoh and Richie Jen in the lead roles, supported by muscleman Michael Jai White and 1980s British pop idol Luke Goss.
Having to switch between two languages in every take proved very confusing. However, Chang took it all in his stride. At times, it even provided many laughs for the crew. He says: 'For both Richie Jen and me, our Cantonese has an accent and sometimes Ma thought our accent was too strong and he would ask us: 'Was that for the Chinese or English version?' ... it all got quite confusing but it was funny at the same time.'
In Silver Hawk, Chang takes on a comic role of a computer geek who is the irritating sidekick of Jen's cop character. The film is inspired by two popular 1960s silver-screen action heroines, Female Dark Hero Mu Lan Hua and Female Flying Thief Wong Un. Both crime fighters are beautiful and charming yet mysterious. 'My role in Silver Hawk is easy to act out,' says Chang, who made his screen debut in The Touch, also an action flick featuring Yeoh, two years ago.
