Taiwanese comedian-host Nono stars in Jack Neo movie
He’s Mark Lee’s big fat conscience
By Gan Ling Kai
November 15, 2009
 
 

DO something bad and your big fat conscience will shout ‘No! No!’ into your ears.

That’s what happens to Mark Lee’s evil character in Being Human Being, director Jack Neo’s new movie slated to be released on 11 Feb next year.

His ‘conscience’ is played by hefty Taiwanese comedian-host Nono.

At 1.8m tall and weighing 89kg, he’s considerably larger than stick-thin Mark, who stands at 1.78m and weighs only 58kg.

Nono, 38, claimed that he put on 2kg due to the 20 crab dishes he ate during his two-week stay here.

He told The New Paper on Thursday at the set of Being Human Being: ‘Mark and (local singer) A-do have been feeding me every day.’

No wonder Mark’s ‘conscience’ weighs heavily on him in the film, where he plays an unscrupulous boss of a slimming centre who sells untested pills out of greed.

Not only does Nono’s character stand between Mark and his money-making ploys, he also shares the latter’s intimate scenes with his on-screen wife, played by local actress Yeo Yann Yann.

Other than frolicking under the sheets, the threesome will be sharing a bath scene in the movie.

Said Yann Yann, 32: ‘Let’s just say that Mark and I have seen each other’s naked truth a lot during filming.’

The skinny actress, who kept her underwear on during intimate scenes, was teased mercilessly by the crew.

‘They said Mark and I were very noisy while filming the intimate scenes because our bones kept knocking together,’ said Yann Yann, rolling her eyes.

On the love scenes with Nono and Mark, she said: ‘I felt like the patty in a hamburger when I was stuck between the two of them.

‘The top part of the bun was round and fat, while the bottom half was thin and flat.’

Despite their physical differences, 41-year-old Mark said he and Nono – whose real name is Chen Hsuan-yu – have much in common.

‘Both of us are comedians with ‘guai guai’ (Mandarin for weird) looks,’ he said.

Their on-screen chemistry stems from their friendship in real life.

The pair met about 10 years ago when Jack and Mark visited Taiwan for work.

Said Mark: ‘Big brothers Jack and (top Taiwanese host) Jacky Wu would be talking to each other, and ‘younger brothers’ like myself, Nono and Kang Kang would be chatting away.’

Both Nono and Kang Kang used to work for Jacky.

Now, Nono has carved out a flourishing career independently.

Must’ve been expensive for Jack to cast the renowned funnyman for his movie then.

Said Nono: ‘He brought me in with a ‘tian jia’.’

‘Tian jia’ sounds like heavenly price in Mandarin.

Almost immediately, he explained the ‘tian’ he was referring to meant ‘to add’, implying his pay was low and that Jack should have increased it.

Casting Nono in Being Human Being – which is in Mandarin and Hokkien and also stars Jeremy Chan, Tay Yinyin and Wang Lei – is part of Jack’s plan to market the movie in Taiwan.

He had asked Nono to ‘help him out and make do with the salary’ since it’s Nono’s first film outside Taiwan.

 

The NewPaper