AUDIENCES ARE used to have their ribs tickled by Miriam Yeung Chin-wah. The pop star turned actress is a dab hand at playing Hong Kong's 'every girl', the one who succeeds in the face of adversity, who climbs out of every predicament with a shake of her hair and a flash of her goofy smile. Whether it be in Dummy Mummy, Without a Baby (2001), Love Undercover (2002) or Elixir of Love (2004). And then there is that laugh. Loud, unabashed and infectious. For her many fans, it's as though it's coming straight from the girl next door.
But Hong Kong is about to see a new side of Yeung. In the Fruit Chan-directed Dumplings - Three ... Extremes, Yeung plays an ageing actress obsessed with her looks - and how to keep them. She buys dumplings from a local woman (played by Bai Ling) that seem to help her stay young - but in the making of those dumpling lies a terrible secret.
The film is part of the follow-up to the hugely successful Three horror series, the brainchild of Applause Pictures' Peter Chan Ho-sun. Peter Chan directed one of the films - the eery and award-winning Going Home, which starred Eric Tsang - while the others were handled by South Korea's Kim Jee-woon (Memories) and Thailand's Nonzee Nimibutr (The Wheel). This time around, Fruit Chan is joined by Japan's Takeshi Miike (who will direct Box) and Korean Park Chan-woo (Cut).
For Yeung, Dumplings is a chance to shed her laughing girl image, to get serious, and to find a new challenge in a career that, as she's first to admit, has so far seen her basically take on roles where she is just 'playing myself'.
And while the film promises to reveal a darker side to her character, the Yeung who arrives for our interview at the Applause office high over Tsim Sha Tsui, is thankfully the one we have come to expect. She is relaxed, almost playful. And from time to time she will cackle like a tickled child.
Of her character in Dumplings, Yeung explains that it's based on women she's seen time and time again in the local entertainment industry. 'She is really insecure about her life,' she says. 'She always thinks there are other women with her husband. She used to be an actress and she thinks that beauty is the only reason her husband loves her.'