Hong Kong actress-singer Josie Ho might have faced one of her biggest challenges filming upcoming supernatural-thriller movie The Mage when she worked among two tonnes of garbage.
“I am an extreme germophobic in real life,” the 51-year-old told media at a press event for the movie at Iconsiam in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept 14.
AsiaOne was invited to cover the film’s publicity events held in conjunction with the Bangkok International Film Festival.
Josie shared that whenever she returns home after spending time outside, she would take a shower first and change into clean clothes before doing anything else, including resting on her sofa and playing with her pet Shih Tzu, so as not to bring germs in.
However, filming The Mage required her to confront her phobia.
Directed by Danny Pang and his twin brother Oxide, who are collectively known as the Pang Brothers, The Mage centres on Lan Pui Ching (Josie), an eccentric woman who collects garbage from the streets and becomes a suspect when she repeatedly appears at crime scenes involving deaths.
While police officer Wong Ming (Carlos Chan) initially believes she is mentally unstable, he soon discovers Pui Ching’s ability to see and communicate with the dead and the “garbage” she collects contains fragments of souls of people who had died unnaturally.
As they investigate the victims’ deaths together, dodging sceptic police superintendent Iman (Iman Taheri), they gradually uncover a sinister conspiracy to extend the life of a mysterious cult leader, and it is up to Pui Ching to overcome her inner demons to stop the next death.
The Mage marks the Pang Brothers’ reunion after 12 years. They are best known for their The Eye movie franchise (2022 – 2010) and last worked together on Out of Inferno (2013).
This is also the first movie to have Cantonese as well as Mandarin screenings in Singapore cinemas, following the relaxation of rules of dialect film screenings announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during the National Day Rally in August.
Overcoming germaphobia to play Lan Pui Ching
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Josie, who is the daughter of late Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho, said that playing Pui Ching was a huge change for her.
She recounted: “I thought about cleaning here and there [at first]. But in the end, I thought to myself, ‘Look, if I have to believe in this idea (in the film), then I have to embrace the two tonnes of garbage and believe in the directors and the story that I am a scavenger who sleeps with garbage.’
“It was still kind of hard, because even if my brain believed it, sometimes my skin didn’t and I would get some rashes.”
To overcome her difficulties, she got the producer to convince her.
Josie laughed: “I made my producer tell me some lies. I asked him if the garbage had been cleaned, and he said, ‘Oh yes. Don’t worry, it’s our garbage from home, we have rinsed it.'”
She found out when filming completed that the junk was bought over from the set of Hong Kong film The Goldfinger (2023), which starred Tony Leung and Charlene Choi.
Despite that, she appreciated the efforts put in by the production staff in decorating Pui Ching’s home so that it looks convincing.
Theme of immeasurable merit understood in all cultures
In the film, Pui Ching collects “garbage” to help the trapped souls, which is a noble act with immeasurable merit.
“Even in the dirtiest place, you can see the good inside, and even in the wealthiest place, you can see the bad inside too,” Josie said.
She believed the focus of the film is humanity as well as unconditional love, and she sees similarities between Pui Ching and herself.
“Pui Ching absolutely believes that it is God’s mission for her to help other people unconditionally, no matter how hard it is. For myself, I am someone who likes to help people a lot. I believe I have some similarities to Pui Ching,” she added.
Josie’s actor husband Conroy Chan, 53, who is the producer for the film under their production company 852 Films, shared: “It’s a challenge to express these feelings of immeasurable merit and man-overcoming-nature in the movie form.
“At the end of the day, with The Mage, we hope that first and foremost, it is to entertain. Secondly, we also hope that you can get the message of immeasurable merit, meaning to be good and kind to people and you will have God’s blessing. I think this is applicable to all cultures in general.”
Completing her own stunt scene in one take
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Josie had a few action scenes in the film but didn’t have time to train beforehand, as she was taking care of Conroy who had fallen critically ill before filming began.
“Luckily, I had some experience on wired work before,” she said.
Josie shared in an interview in 2023 that Conroy suffered a burst aorta in 2022 and was on the verge of death. She also spoke about his struggles recovering.
During the event, Josie recounted one of the scenes in which she had to kick at a real garbage station with shattered glass on the ground, but she decided to leave it to the stuntwoman to complete it.
She said: “Although my character shouldn’t be afraid of shattered glass, I am…
“So for that scene, I gave up. I can’t kick. I gave it up to the stuntwoman to do that because I don’t want to fall flat on my face… I also don’t trust myself doing a roundhouse kick in such an environment.”
However, Josie did complete her own stunt in a separate scene and in just one take.
“I believed in our stunt and wire team and knew they wouldn’t drop me,” she laughed.
They filmed the scene on a windy evening, in addition to using a rain truck.
Josie recounted: “We couldn’t really see things very clearly. Everyone also had this feeling that we had to complete it in one shot or else we were dead…
“As soon as the move was made, Danny shouted, ‘Cut, wrap, go home!’, and I breathed a sigh of relief.”
The Mage opens in Shaw Theatres in Singapore on Oct 15 with Cantonese and Mandarin screenings.
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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com
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