'Til death us do part

Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham sets out of prove that laughter really is universal with his Singaporean romantic comedy "The Wedding Game", which opens in Bangkok's Lido cinemas today.

Winner of the Best Comedy Award at the first Thailand World Comedy Festival held in Bangkok in June, "The Wedding Game" tells the story of two superstars who get hitched to improve their ratings even though in private they can't bear the sight of each other.

Under the spotlight is actor Jack Fang (Christopher Lee) who publicly proposes to Vikki Tse (Fann Wong) during the live telecast of a regional awards show. While hunted by the paparazzi, the couple has to keep their mutual dislike a secret and show off their fake love life, including the fake marriage.

The film, which is in Mandarin, shows how the characters cling on the truth while lying through their teeth.

"With all the lies, there can't be any love, because love needs sincerity. So the conflict just continues to increase," says Ekachai.

Legendary couple

Lee and Wong are a couple in real life and tied the knot a few months ago. They first acted together in the Chinese martial art series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" (it aired on Thai channel iTV almost 10 years ago) and have been romantically involved ever since.

Their relationship has been subject to public scrutiny, much like the characters they play in the movie, since when they first started dating they tried to keep it a secret.

"When you're in that situation, you build a kind of immune system to deal with all the stress. You get used to it and find your own ways of making your life happy," says Wong.

Ekachai says having a real-life couple in the lead roles made for more convincing comedy.

The actors agree. "Working on the film gave us more time together, which was great. Often we are travelling all the time for our roles, and we end up spending all our time on the phone, so we are grateful to Ekachai," says Wong, who is the most popular actress in Singapore. She also played Jackie Chan's sister in the Hollywood project "Shanghai Knights".

"I'm impressed with their relationship because it's not easy to have real love in the entertainment world. They love and support each other when one of them in feeling down," says the director.

 JOINED AT THE HIP

>> "The Wedding Game" topped the Singapore box office for two weeks following its release in January.

>> Other Thai crew working on the film included cinematographer Chuchart Nantanyathada and producer Aporn Pinijkha. The post-production work was done in Bangkok.

 >> "The Wedding Game" is playing at the Lido cinemas in Siam Square. Visit www.ApexSiam-Square.com.