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SINGAPORE : Local actor made good (in Hollywood, no less) Ng Chin Han has the perfect reason why you should watch Roland Emmerich's latest disaster flick "2012". And no, it's not because he's in it.
"People should come watch purely because I have a really cool outfit!" quipped the 39-year-old homegrown talent.
"That suit is ridiculously heavy when it gets wet. I felt like a spaceman! It's like walking on Mars or something."
Feeling out of this world is something the Los Angeles-based actor is pretty much used to these days, what with his meteoric rise up the Hollywood blockbuster ranks since moving to America three years ago.
From being part of Singapore's first English-language soap opera, the infamous "Masters Of The Sea", to landing a plum role in "The Dark Knight", right up to playing a Tibetan named Tenzin, who discovers the contingency secret the governments of the world have been keeping from the people in "2012", you could say Chin Han has arrived.
"I don't know if I have arrived," he replied, laughing.
"But I do think I am arriving ... "
Even then, the actor confesses that it's still pretty overwhelming being part of such big-budget action movies.
"I came from quite a big movie, really. I mean, 'The Dark Knight' is not a small movie! (Laughs) You think you're ready for everything. Then you come on set and film a scene with sometimes 500 or 600 extras and there are multiple cameras around, with helicopters flying overhead, and you're there right in the middle of it, just trying to get your bearings. You're never quite prepared for it."
What we're sure he could be prepared for - and get used to - are the perks.
"One of the luxuries of being in a US$200-million (S$277.7 million) movie was that they built a hot tub for all the actors," he revealed, with a smile, about the 2012 set.
It's purely work-related, he insisted, as it was so incredibly cold where they shot the film in Canada.
"We also had great craft services, like tofu satay and sushi. They kept it very good because Roland is a man with a very healthy appetite - for everything. Big appetite for destruction, big appetite for books and big appetite for food."
So is there any chance for the disaster movie fanboy who said he's "always wanted to shoot a water-based disaster movie" to leave the bright lights of Hollywood and come home to do a Singapore film?
"My Hokkien is not that good, so it might be a little tough for a Jack Neo film," he joked.
"But definitely, if the script is good, I'll come back to work again. It's all about the script. And obviously the food. And the size of the trailer!"
"2012" is showing in cinemas.
- TODAY/il
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