It's certainly enjoyable to be in the same room with the cast of The Ghost Must Be Crazy as the place never fails to fill itself with laughter. Said to be the Most Anticipated "Hor-medy" of the Year, I wasn't very convinced of its claim until I attended its press conference at the InterContinental Hotel this afternoon.
The first story, The Day Off, is directed by Boris Boo, featuring 93.3FM DJ Dennis Chew, English-comedian Chua En Lai, Ge-Tai artistes Wang Lei and John Cheng (Ah Nan).
En Lai shares with us that he was nervous during the first time on set as the crew were like strangers to them. But after working with them, he finds them to be a group of great people. Wang Lei recounts teasing En Lai and caught him in awkward moments when asking, "Are you a virgin?" in dialect while Dennis says, "When En Lai is required to speak in dialect, it will straightaway be an 'NG'."
It appears that first time director Mark Lee is enjoying his position of being in control and having the comfortability of directing the film his own way.. However he notes that a director must stay very alert in each scene so as to ensure continuity in the movie.
When asked if there's pressure taking his directorial debut, Mark Lee jokes and says, "There is not pressure at all when working with Henry Thia as he would forget his script and say 6 names differently for 6 takes and still think that he's right!" And this never fails to make Mark laugh.
The cast displays a great deal of camaraderie during the conversation that makes you want to catch them in action. Dennis adds that it is very fun to work with the crew as the latter often have their fair share of laughs. He says,"I thought I was very good in dirty jokes but when compared to the crew, my rank is only lance corporal compared to them, who are like captains."
The Ghost Must Be Crazy is slated to open on 6 January 2011. However, we won't have to wait till then to catch the "Hor-medy" as it will be having its sneaks during Christmas (24 - 26 Dec) and the New Year (31 Dec - 2 Jan)!