Over the years, even as local filmmaker Jack Neo faced criticism for his movies, he continued to produce them because of his “passion”.
The 66-year-old was recently in Malaysia promoting his Chinese New Year film Liang Po Po vs Ah Beng with Malaysian actor-producer Jack Lim where he spoke about this.
In a YouTube interview released on Feb 13, he told content creators Bernard Hiew and Genie Low: “I will tell you upfront that filmmaking is my passion and responsibility.
“At the beginning, I also thought it was just a job. But along the way, I realised, and it’s a strange thing, it seems like I am always led to continue it by someone.”
Jack, who is known for multiple movie franchises including Money No Enough, I Not Stupid and Ah Boys to Men, shared his humble beginnings where he served in the Singapore Armed Forces’ Music and Drama Company as a drama director, which ignited his interest in scriptwriting and filmmaking.
After winning first place in a music video filming competition, he was motivated to continue further in the industry.
“As I continued doing this, more benefactors appeared. At that point in time, I didn’t think they were my benefactors, it was only when I thought back as I grew older [that I realised it],” Jack said, as he started tearing up.
“I didn’t realise there’s someone who is always guiding me along. When I did, I came to understand that I have a mission. That’s why my movies always have a message, because if not, I don’t know how to film them.”
He added that whenever he felt he should stop making movies because he faced multiple challenges, such as a shortage of funds, an opportunity would arise for him to continue, including Liang Po Po vs Ah Beng this time round.
Jack said: “When I reflected on this later, I think it’s really my life mission. Also, I would always get the opportunity to feature new actors [in my films], although I do get betrayed by many of them, but I continue… If we are fated to work together, then good, if we can’t then it’s also okay.”
Jack also shared how local entertainment company mm2 helped to ensure production crews continued to have work opportunities towards the end of the Covid-19 pandemic period.
He said as he got emotional again: “Mm2 told me we should help those colleagues that work together with us. Although [mm2] is facing some difficulties now, I feel that at the time, they were very thoughtful in helping these people, and I hope everyone can give them a chance.
“Mm2 was also facing their own challenges at the time, but they thought about starting a film production so that everyone could have a job. A lot of people were thankful for it… That’s why we filmed Ah Girls Go Army and we helped a lot of people, that’s it.”
Ah Girls Go Army, which starred Glenn Yong, Apple Chan, Yang Guang Ke Le, Xixi Lim and Shirli Ling, was released in January 2022, and despite receiving a fair amount of criticism, it raked in an impressive $1.28m at the Singapore box office in just a few days.
The sequel was released in June 2022.
Liang Po Po vs Ah Beng is now showing in Singapore cinemas.
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