McDull star Choi Hon-yick shot to stardom last year, but he's no overnight success
Babyjohn Choi Hon-yick shot to stardom last year, but he's no overnight success.
Choi Hon-yick made his acting debut as the character Baby John in the musical at school, he was so taken by the role that he decided to keep the name for himself. "Yes, the name is a bit cute," admits Babyjohn Choi, now 27, when we meet to chat about his voicing part for the new animation . "And what happens when I turn 40? It's true that the muscular men among our crew sometimes call me Baby. I'm like, 'Huh? You can call me John'."
A virtual unknown before his leading role in last year's sleeper hit , Choi has exploded onto the scene in an eventful year that saw him win the best new performer prize at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Hong Kong Directors Guild Awards. But he is no overnight success, and this acclaim has been in the making for more than a decade.
It all happened so quickly, I still haven't worked out how I've changed as a person
Choi had always wanted to be in the movies, but he found it difficult to get started. "When I graduated from Form Five and looked to study drama abroad, I found that I had to enrol myself in the junior year again to join the programme. Then, when I decided to apply to study at the Academy for Performing Arts (APA), the application period had already passed," he says.
For a less fanatical dreamer, that would probably have been the end of it. But instead of giving up, Choi took a year off school to wait for the next round of applications. During this time, he learned to play the guitar and drums, played the piano for ballet classes, and became a piano teacher.
After finally entering the APA, he became the top performer at its 2004 summer school. This led to the 17-year-old actor playing the lead in the Academy's version of .
"Joseph had a lot of setbacks in his life, but always managed to see the bright side of things. I didn't understand this until I played the part. Rather than sitting around feeling sad, I now know how to cheer myself up," Choi said in a 2004 interview. "It's more likely that people will succeed after hard work, although not everyone is lucky enough to achieve what he or she wants."
That attitude served him right through the uncertain years following his graduation in 2009. Choi joined Chung Ying Theatre as a contract actor in 2011, but feeling dejected about his lack of success in the film business, he quit the company a year later. Then along came Adam Wong Sau-ping's and now, here we are, sitting in a VIP lounge to chat about his latest movie projects.
Does it feel odd to note that, a little more than 12 months ago, there were only a few people who had heard of him? "It's not even 'a few people', it's 'nobody'," he clarifies with a chuckle. "It all happened so quickly, I still haven't worked out how I've changed as a person. We're talking about what happened just a few months ago."
Ironically, Choi's long struggle for success may have been the perfect preparation to voice the adult version of McDull, the cartoon character beloved for his ultimate underdog status. In , the adorable, yet undeniably silly piglet that seems always destined for the worst fortunes possible has become - believe it or not - the world-renowned private detective Bobby Mak.
is ostensibly a murder mystery, although the "crime" is really just an arbitrary premise for McDull to recount his loving relationship with his working-class mother during his childhood. The result is one of the series' most sentimental, least gag-driven instalments. It is also arguably the first time that a movie doesn't conclude with a bittersweet acceptance of failure.
Choi reveals that he still hasn't had a chance to meet either franchise creator Alice Mak Ka-bik, or acting stars Sandra Ng Kwan-yu and Anthony Wong Chau-sang, who lent their voices to all the series' previous movies.
But he doesn't seem to mind. "When my management company told me that I was approached for the role of McDull, I accepted immediately, before I even knew the details," he says. "After all, it's McDull we're talking about. It's a feeling equivalent to an American being cast to play Superman, or a Japanese cast to play Ultraman. It's an honour to be able to contribute to this Hong Kong animation."
Since his comedic turn in , Choi has starred alongside industry veteran Eddie Cheung Siu-fai in the recently released horror flick , and wrapped filming on the family comedy-drama , which co-stars Petrina Fung Bo-bo as his mother. He's also been filming the action thriller with Simon Yam Tat-wah, and has signed up for six roles with the production company of China 3D's Stephen Shiu Ding-yat.
"What surprised me is that after doing a comedy, I was cast in a ghost movie, then an action movie, then a romance," the actor says. "I view every character of mine as a breakthrough because they are all so different. I hope I can work with many directors and play many different sorts of characters."
Does he ever worry that his pleasant face and cutesy name will lead the audience and producers to feel - "That I am a sheep, right?" he interrupts, before bursting into laughter. Choi is obviously seeing the bright side of things.
Animated pig McDull has starred in six popular feature films
Arguably the most provocative entry in the series, it follows McDull's almost surreal quest to look for his birth father, while giving much nonsensical thought to the absurdities of Hong Kong's social development.
A part-animated, part-live action movie that brought together a star-studded cast to play McDull's many classmates in their adulthood, this Lunar New Year release is a bittersweet look at the mundane prospects of life.
The first McDull movie to crack the mainland market, it tells of the piglet's tai chi training in the Wudang Mountains in Hubei to prepare for the World Kindergarten Martial Arts Contest.
Music is the saving grace amid life's many disappointments in this animated musical comedy, in which McDull and his classmates raise funds for their debt-ridden kindergarten.
More a family tearjerker than a satirical look at Hong Kong, the new film shows the struggles of McDull's mum to provide for her child while refusing to believe that he is born unlucky.
opens on October 1
