Last month Taiwanese star Richie Jen Hsien-chi walked away with the best actor title at the Puchon International Film Festival for his role as an inspector in the thriller Fire of Conscience - his first ever acting award. The singer-turned-actor had switched to action movies such as Dante Lam's Sniper after first establishing his screen presence in a slew of romantic comedies.
But the 44-year-old is returning to the genre with Adventure of the King, a production directed by Chung Shu-kai. Jen plays a Ming emperor touring the country incognito when he runs into the sassy owner of an inn (Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu Hsi-yuan, often called 'Da S').
You haven't made any comedies since 2 Become 1 (2006). What attracted you to the new movie?
When I first started in movies, I'd made a number of romantic comedies such as Fly Me To Polaris and Summer Holiday. I thought my performances in this genre had already won recognition, and I wanted to make changes in my acting career so I began making action movies a few years ago.
But this time, I found the story very solid. It's a clever comedy, not one of those nonsensical ones. Although it is set in ancient China, people today can still relate to it. There was good chemistry between the crew. The gags make people laugh and the love story is so touching that it can make people cry.
As an actor, you know whether the film will be good or not. If the film is not good, you don't feel comfortable promoting it. But I'm very confident about this movie. We enjoyed the filming and I still miss the days we spent shooting this movie.