This Chinese New Year, new doors have opened for Xixi Lim with a milestone achievement on the silver screen.
At a press conference for the new movie A Good Fortune, AsiaOne spoke to the local actress about her role as the protagonist, also her first lead role in a film in her 20-year career.
The 38-year-old plays Kaixin, a struggling local influencer who flees to Malaysia after falling victim to a scam. There, she unexpectedly meets her secondary school classmate Zihao (Wang Weiliang), who disappeared just before their cooking competition back then. His abrupt departure shattered Kaixin, as he was the only one to stand up for her in school.
Reunited, the two now enter a pineapple tart baking competition to win a million-dollar cash prize.
The film’s director Jason Lee, 29, shared that in casting Kaixin, he first thought of Xixi and offered her the role, to which she readily agreed. However, shortly after accepting it, the pressure began to weigh down on her.
“It was very stressful because I think being a unique, plus-size girl is harder in an Asian context, since we don’t typically get lead roles in many drama movies,” said Xixi.
“I consider myself very lucky to have met someone like Jason who is daring enough to try out a different kind of female lead, as well as give me the chance to take up the role as we both know that I don’t have any experience being the lead — I think he’s really brave.”
On top of the pressure, Xixi faced loads of self-doubt as she questioned her worth in taking on the lead role. She confided in her manager and close friends about her inner struggles, asking if she was “good enough” and what would happen if her performance turned out a flop.
“But a few weeks later, I thought to myself, ‘Why am I spending so much time doing all this, being negative, when I haven’t even tried doing it?'” she lamented. “I didn’t even give myself the opportunity to try, so if Jason was daring enough to take a leap of faith, I too should be courageous to give myself a chance.”
‘We’re always on the same page’
Besides baking pineapple tarts, Kaixin and Zihao also cook a slow but steady romance, culminating in an onscreen kiss.
Xixi revealed that the smooch had not been written into the script and the duo was wholly unprepared for it.
“It happened because we were doing this and that, and at one point, Weiliang and I were like, ‘We need to kiss, right?’ Then he was like, ‘If you’re up for it, sure.’ And I said, ‘Let’s go,'” she recalled.
“We were going with the vibe of the scene, but most of all we wanted to make sure that we didn’t just stop at ‘good enough’ — we wanted the best for the movie.
“And since we’re both comedians, we discussed that the kiss being purely romantic wasn’t very suitable for us. So, we thought that it should be both romantic and comedic.”
They informed Jason on set that they would proceed with the unplanned kiss and he could decide whether or not to put it in the final edit. The scene was completed in two or three takes.
Building rapport wasn’t an issue, as Xixi and Weiliang, 38, are good friends in real life. Additionally, this would not be their first time paired together on screen — for instance, they played husband and wife in Ah Boys to Men 4 (2017).
“Our chemistry just sparks the moment we meet,” said Xixi. “We have lots of experience working with one another and we’re always seen together. It’s quite fun knowing that I get to work with him again especially with our comedic tempo, how we view scenes and think things should be done — we’re always on the same page.”
Most of her scenes in A Good Fortune were filmed in Seremban, Malaysia. One scene saw her, Weiliang and the crew out at sea filming on tiny sampans for half a day, which was not easy for her.
Suffering from severe seasickness, she recounted the ordeal: “As long as I’m on any vessel of water, I can feel it move — I’m very sensitive to it. And on the sampan, we were in a very wide, vast ocean.
“Visually, it was nice — I love scenic views. I really wanted to be like the rest of the crew and enjoy the whole experience, but I couldn’t. I needed to juggle between my lines, Kaixin’s emotions and making sure I wouldn’t puke.”
To make matters worse, Xixi and Weiliang were on one sampan themselves, while the rest of the crew were on another which kept drifting away due to the currents. As such, those on one sampan needed to shout to the other to be heard.
She said the crew took good care of her, giving her ample seasickness medication; however, to reduce her urge to throw up, she stopped herself from eating and drinking before the shoot.
‘A wake-up call to not be that Xixi again’
With the premise of past friendships in the plot, A Good Fortune has a fair share of school flashbacks.
“We were very shocked to find out that we would be acting as our 15-year-old selves because we’re almost in our 40s,” she quipped. “So I advised the writer, ‘The rest of the secondary school kids with us can’t be 15, they also have to be in their 30s like us — otherwise we would look like some overly stayed-back kids.”
Like her on-screen counterpart, Xixi’s secondary school journey was also far from smooth sailing. She recounted: “I was on the MRT station in lower secondary school and at the time, it was very usual for other students to make fun of me.
“One was laughing at me and obviously, my expression showed that I was affected by their actions because they were doing it in a group. Then, this young couple came up to me and handed me a note that wrote, ‘Hey, hang in there. You are stronger than what you think,’ and they left the station afterwards.
“While they didn’t really stand up for me outrightly, I thought that it was such a kind and small gesture that really made my day. And back then, afterwards, I did feel like I was a lot stronger.”
She admitted that she kept the note with her up until the pen ink faded years later in her polytechnic days.
Her character Kaixin, as a plus-sized woman in the world of fame and influencers, suffers from body image issues after being told that she must look a certain way to gain success.
Upon receiving the script, Xixi immediately told her family that her role reflected her 15-year-old self: “Kaixin’s quite reserved, she’s not very brave and she procrastinates a lot – when opportunities are right in front of her, she thinks she can’t do it.
“That’s why when I was offered this role, it was like a wake-up call to not be that Xixi again.”
Viewing the opportunity as a calling to her, Xixi thought that it was also a way for her teenage self to seek closure. Having been plus-sized her entire life, Kaixin’s experiences were what she too had to endure: People constantly mentioning her figure, with her being heavily affected by it and wanting to “be one of them” to fit in.
“But we can’t change ourselves so much just to be something or someone that we aren’t — this is a reminder to myself and everyone else who is going through this journey. It’s not healthy.”
What’s next for Xixi?
Landing Kaixin has given Xixi much hope, as she seeks to veer into more versatile characters like her role model, Taiwanese actress-host Chung Hsin-ling.
Like Xixi, Hsin-ling is plus-sized and kickstarted her career as a comedian before venturing into bolder roles. The 53-year-old has played a variety of roles, ranging from an older mother in U Motherbaker (2020) to a prisoner in Sunshine Women’s Choir (2025).
Xixi shared: “Hsin-ling started off in roles where she would be a cutesy girl admiring handsome guys from afar, but now, she has pivoted into a direction where she can also play villains and mums.
“So with this movie, it’s something I was able to check off my bucket list in having variety as an actress. If someone asks me, ‘What’s next?’, I will never be the kind of actress who doesn’t pick up a role just because it’s small. As long as it’s challenging enough, I’ll take it, be it a villain, a baddie, or even a tai tai.”
A Good Fortune opens in Singapore cinemas on Jan 29. It also stars Adele Wong, Usha Seamkhum from How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, as well as cameo appearances from Henry Thia and Patricia Mok.
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kristy.chua@asiaone.com
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