26/02/10
 

Shooting begins this Sunday in Auckland on South Pacific Picture’s GIRL MEETS BOY, a romantic comedy/coming-of-age feature film based on the award-winning 2005 documentary Banana in a Nutshell by Roseanne Liang.  Liang directs GIRL MEETS BOY, which she co-wrote with Angeline Loo. 

Funny, touching and heartfelt, GIRL MEETS BOY is the contemporary story of Chinese New Zealand-born over-achiever Emily Chu, raised to believe she can get anything she puts her mind to.  Even if ‘anything’ is at odds with her traditional Hong Kong born parents’ wish for her to become a doctor like her two older sisters. Everything is coming up roses - until she meets James, a European New Zealander, and accidentally falls in love with him. But if her father finds out, she will face disownment.

By the time Emily realises that she’s sacrificing the respect of her family to follow her heart, James, too, has fallen irrevocably in love and there’s nothing for it but to try and keep their relationship a secret. Happy endings don’t come easy, if at all, but that doesn’t mean they don’t happen. But for Emily to get one, she needs to show James and her family that she has learned a lesson about the selflessness of love.

CAST
• MICHELLE ANG | Emily Chu: Best known to New Zealand audiences for her role as Tracy Hong in Outrageous Fortune. Michelle’s other credits include The Beaver (directed by Jodie Foster), South of Nowhere and The Tribe.

• MATT WHELAN | James: Matt Whelan appears as the hapless Brad in TV2’s Go Girls. His other screen credits include Show of Hands and Eagle vs Shark.

• KENNETH TSANG | Dr Chu: Kenneth Tsang is a Hong Kong-based actor who has appeared in more than 100 films including The Replacement Killers, Anna and the King, Rush Hour 2 and Die Another Day.

• CHENG PEI PEI | Mrs Chu: Hong Kong-based Cheng Pei Pei is revered for her many roles as an expert swordswoman in kung fu films in the 70s and 80s and, is best known internationally for her award-winning role as Jade Fox in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Supporting cast includes Katlyn Wong, Simon London and Celeste Wong.

GIRL MEETS BOY is produced by Paul Davis and John Barnett and funded by the NZ Film Commission and NZ On Air. Its New Zealand cinema release is planned for March next year.