Director Lee Thean-Jeen of upcoming comedy flick Everybody’s Business talks toilets, hygiene and.... shit.
“Toilet jokes are funny. The biggest challenge for me was trying to take the subject matter to make it entertaining and interesting for the audience,” Lee said during the press conference yesterday.
Everybody’s Business is a light-hearted film that talks about Singapore’s public toilet hygiene and cleanliness. Due to a food poisoning epidemic sparked by unhygienic toilet practices, a new ministry ‘Ministry of Toilets’ (MOT) was set up to help curb and resolve the nation’s pressing issue.
“It’s very important to check toilets... When I go to a hotel, the first thing I check is the toilet,” said local comedian Kumar, who plays MOT minister Kumari Kuppusamy.
“It just have to feel right, to check whether it’s clean!” He explained.
Toilets seemed to be one of the main scenes in Everybody’s Business, and Lee revealed that he and his creative team indeed spent weeks in researching for their ideal toilet.
“We went had a lot of discussions at coffee shops and cafes and every time we go into the coffee shop or cafe, we will check out the toilet for the heck of it.... It did take quite a lot of discussion to decide exactly how the toilet looks like.”
From choosing the gender of the toilet to the number of doors it should have, Lee said he ‘never had so much discussion about a toilet’ in his entire life, which gathered much laughter from the cast.
Everybody’s business is produced by well-known local director Jack Neo who played a major role in the scripting process of this film.
Everybody's Business opens InCinemas 5 December 2013 and features a ensemble of local comedians including Gurmit Singh, Mark Lee, Liu Ling Ling, Wang Lei and Kumar.