ARTICLE

Producers Knew Lim Kay Tong was ‘The One’ to Play Lee Kuan Yew in '1965'!

By InCinemas / 09 Oct 2014 (Thursday)

Veteran screen and stage actor Lim Kay Tong will be taking the role as founding father, Lee Kuan Yew in upcoming SG50 film, 1965.

“We met many people and when we finally met this person (Lim)… and talked to him, immediately within a few minutes, we knew he should be playing Lee Kuan Yew,” said executive producer Daniel Yun at a press conference held at Sheraton Towers yesterday.

Lim initially rejected the role when he was first approached by Yun, but ‘overcame his cowardice’ and ‘gave it a go’.

“I read the script and felt that it was not overwhelmingly undoable because it’s just a handful of appearances… Now that I’m already in it and have done my research, I’m not overly stressful,” he told reporters in an interview.

The local thespian revealed that it was by far the most challenging role he has accepted, because of who he is playing: “I’m playing a real-life person and because it’s Lee Kuan Yew! I hope he doesn't call me ,” Lim quipped, when asked if he was afraid that the former Prime Minister would watch the film.

The search for the right actor took several years but Lim had always been considered as the ‘first choice’ for the role. “I met about 9 actors through the years and also seriously considered certain people but always in a way considered Lim Kay Tong,” said Yun.

He added: “When I met Lim, there’s a certain aura that makes you feel in awe with this person. Whether is his commitment to his craft, his wealth of experience, or his certain kind of spirit that he will bring to the character, I think all that is part and parcel of it… There was this kind of feeling that ‘this is right’.”

Besides Lim, MediaCorp actress Joanne Peh, James Seah, singer Sezairi Sezali and deejay Mike Kasem were revealed to join Qi Yu Wu and Deanna Yusoff as key cast members in the film. Real-life husband-wife duo Peh and Qi are in the same film but won’t be starring as lovers. Instead, upcoming 24-year-old actor James Seah will be playing Peh’s love interest in the film.

“Stressed? No la… For me I think I see it as a good pressure that I can learn and improve my craft,” said Seah, on working alongside Peh for the first time.

[Synopsis of 1965]
When a young Chinese girl was abducted, racial tensions escalated, and racial distrust erupted into violence, in the months leading up to the separation from Malaysia. '1965' is a dramatic thriller that uses a piece of Singapore history like never before. Telling engaging and touching stories of immigrants and natives during the time leading up to the independence of Singapore.

The film portrays heightened human drama, shot in realistic camerawork that opens up to soak in the magnitude and scale of human history unraveling. The protagonists were a part of history in the making, caught up in the throes of everyday life, made impossibly difficult by a country in turmoil, a society divided by racial violence. They will become the pioneer generation who lived to see beyond the prejudice and fear of racial hatred and ultimately face the challenge of nation building - a mirror reflecting the fragility of racial harmony in our world today.

1965 is directed by Randy Ang (RE:SOLVE) and is aimed to premiere in August next year.

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Producers Knew Lim Kay Tong was ‘The One’ to Play Lee Kuan Yew in '1965'!