Local actor Mark Lee is currently promoting his new Taiwanese comedy film Uncle Odyssey alongside cast members, Singapore actor Christopher Lee and Taiwanese actor Hsu Hsiao-shun.
The 57-year-old plays Malaysian man Chu Sheng, who moved to Taiwan to study film and eventually married there. The couple later divorced and went their separate ways, with their daughter returning to be with him when he becomes middle-aged.
About his onscreen counterpart, Mark concluded that Chu Sheng is the epitome of the traditional Asian father. He said: “He keeps his love to himself. Even though he’s happy and grateful that his daughter has done so much for him and he deeply loves and cares for her, he always looks stoic, acting as if he’s unimpressed. I believe many fathers are like this in real life.”
According to Taiwanese media reports, Mark shared that his onscreen daughter is a perfect reflection of his own younger daughter Calynn, who is 12 this year.
“She always gives me a long face. Sometimes when I try to hold her hand or pat her shoulder, she just glares at me,” he explained.
Going on to share more about their dynamic, Mark elaborated on her special way of showing affection: “Sometimes when I’m watching TV, she’ll sit next to me with a bag of potato chips and eat it. She’ll casually reach over and put the whole bag next to me, which means she’s asking me if I want to eat some chips – but she won’t verbalise it.”
Mark also admitted: “Sometimes you find it very funny and heartwarming, but when she glares at you, you feel annoyed. But when you get annoyed, you can’t express your anger because it’s part of her personality.”
With this being the first collaboration between Mark and Pei-jia, various incidents arose, such as the former being unfamiliar with her acting style.
“I felt a bit of pressure acting with her, because she speaks very softly as if she’s talking to an ant. I don’t usually need to put much effort into acting, but I strained my ears to hear if she had finished saying her lines.
“At times when I thought she was done, oh dear – she wasn’t… So we had to do a couple of takes.”
He joked that on their first day of filming, he felt more exhausted in his ears than in his performance itself.
Christopher Lee’s slowing metabolism
Uncle Odyssey follows the story of three middle-aged men – played by Mark, Christopher and Hsiao-shun – who are chasing their dreams and go viral through livestreaming. In its trailer, one of its iconic moments includes Christopher’s character boldly stripping off his shirt.
Revealing that he specifically altered his physique to embody the aura of an “old man”, the 54-year-old told Taiwanese media: “As a middle-aged man, I’m fortunate that being an actor allows me to occasionally bulk up, gain weight and slim down – it all depends on my role.
“I always strive to achieve the physique that fits the character, rather than maintaining the same shape throughout. I create characters with different physiques.”
However, he admitted constantly changing his physique at his current age has proven difficult due to a slowdown in metabolism. “It’s easy to gain weight but losing it takes time. It requires tremendous willpower to pull it off!” he lamented.
Uncle Odyssey will open in Singapore theatres on April 16.
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