While Wang Weiliang may be known for his performance as national serviceman Lobang in local director Jack Neo’s Ah Boys to Men movies, he has bigger dreams — to build and expand Singapore’s action-comedy films into the Southeast Asian market.
Which was why the first-time executive producer invested about $1.5 million into his upcoming movie Baby Hero.
Speaking to AsiaOne recently, the 37-year-old said: “We didn’t let money limit what we can do. Even when we have gone over-budget, I insisted that what needs to be done should still be done as we shouldn’t cut the production value because of the budget.”
In Baby Hero, which has a total budget of $2.8 million, young aspiring singer Sun (Long Lee) doubts his career in Singapore and fabricates a story of thieves coveting his family’s relic to escape his manager girlfriend Leena (Hayley Woo). He returns to his hometown Happy Village in Thailand, where his family runs a small tourism business.
Leena travels to the village to bring him back and meets tourists including Juker (Weiliang), Meng Meng (Ya Hui), Bently (Joshua Tan) and Wu Deyong (Chen Tianwen), who each harbour secrets of their own. When trouble strikes Happy Village, they set aside their motives, working together using their fists and wits to defeat the villains and protect the village.
Weilang shared that the production team started planning for the movie — the first in a trilogy — since November 2023. Filming was done in Sukhothai, Thailand, from April to June 2024 with about 120 crew members on set every day. The stunts in this film were coordinated by the same team from Thai action movie Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (2003) which starred Tony Jaa.
He added that the movie will also be shown in Thailand and Malaysia and they are in discussions for it to be distributed in Brunei, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia, before entering Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Reflecting on lessons from Jack Neo
In his first foray into film-making, Weiliang said he reflected on what he had learnt from local director Jack Neo while acting in his movies, including the Ah Boys to Men franchise — which shot him to fame — and The Lion Men films.
“I learnt about patience and allowing things to happen while filming with Jack. He is a very patient person. When Henry Thia needed many retakes, Jack never lost his temper. I think this is needed to give the actor confidence,” he said.
Rather than seeking to solve an issue immediately when it arises during filming, he also learnt to take a step back to observe and think of a solution.
Weiliang explained: “For example, when we are filming an action scene, we can’t rush to complete it. We need to ensure the safety of the actors and that the choreography is planned well and that takes a lot of time.
“When we are working on a tight schedule and I see that everything is not in place yet, it’s actually very stressful for me and I wonder if we can complete on time. But it is during these times that all the more I should be relaxed and believe that everything will turn out well in the end.”
He also admired Jack’s passion and focus for filmmaking, which Weiliang believes will be translated to the movie and felt by the audience.
‘Bai kar kueh‘ (crippled chicken)
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Weiliang’s passion for making Baby Hero could perhaps be seen in the aftermath of an injury he sustained in May 2024, just a few weeks after filming began.
“It was my first scene that morning and I had to jump from a height. I didn’t see a hole in the ground and my foot went into it,” he recounted.
The production team had wanted him to go to the hospital for an X-ray immediately, but he considered the filming schedule and that he could still move his leg, and thus decided to complete his work for that day before going to the hospital in the evening.
Weiliang shared that a bone in his knee had shifted slightly as a result of the accident and he endured the injury for most of the filming period in Thailand.
“It was a slight challenge for me because I did my own stunts. So before and after filming each scene, I would apply cold spray on it,” he added.
Despite that, Weiliang didn’t feel his performance was affected or limited by it.
He said: “Although I was limping and used an umbrella as a cane between filming, it wasn’t to the extent that I needed a rest, I was still on set every day even if I didn’t have to film a scene. I didn’t feel I had a hard time.
“Maybe it was also because this is the first time I am an executive producer cum actor in a movie. I didn’t have time to think about whether it really hurt or whether I could function. I only thought about how I could continue filming and avoid delays.”
Weiliang added that because they filmed in a paddy field — with the crops planted by the production team themselves — and he walked around using an umbrella for support, he earned himself a nickname.
“They called me ‘bai kar kueh‘ (crippled chicken),” he laughed.
On the last day of filming, he recalled shedding tears because of what their cook on set told him.
“There was an auntie who would cook our meals every day on set. As we were celebrating on the last day of filming, she came up to me and said, ‘I will miss you, you must come back and find me.’ I cried immediately.
“She cooked for us for over 40 days and it was like we became her children.”
When he returned to Singapore in June, he visited an orthopaedist and fully recovered after two weeks.
‘Everyone is busy with their own lives’
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Baby Hero also brought about an onscreen reunion for Weiliang and actor Joshua Tan after they last appeared together in Ah Boys To Men 4 (2017).
While they do not have many scenes together in this movie, Weiliang shared: “When we rehearsed the scenes together, I think he did rather well for his dialogue considering speaking Mandarin could be a challenge for him. I believe he is constantly improving.”
When asked, Weiliang also addressed online rumours of him falling out with the Ah Boys to Men actors after netizens noted he wasn’t in their gathering last November.
The social media post by singer-actor Tosh Zhang showed Joshua, Maxi Lim, Noah Yap, Charlie Goh, Bunz (Bao Shang Ze) and Aizuddiin Nasser.
Weiliang told us he was busy with the post-production work for Baby Hero then and added: “We didn’t have a fall-out. We are already at this age, what is there to fall out over? Everyone is busy with their own lives. Occasionally, we would still have a drink or a meal together.
“We are okay with each other. Everyone has grown up and is working on different things now. Of course I still miss the times where we had nothing to worry about and just filmed together every day. But life doesn’t allow us to do that now.”
Some netizens also pointed out that they are not following each other on Instagram anymore, and to that, Weiliang said that he is more of an observer on social media, adding that he also doesn’t follow many people he had worked with.
“Social media is not my means of making friends. Although we may not follow each other, that doesn’t mean we are not friends,” Weiliang explained.
Baby Hero opens in Singapore cinemas on Jan 23.
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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com
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