JAY Chou, Taiwan’s prince of R&B, was excited when he was offered to play a police agent in the action movie The Viral Factor, starring opposite Hong Kong’s action star Nicholas Tse.

“I really loved cop and robber movies. I found myself fighting in almost every scene in this movie,” says Chou, who played IDC Agent Jon.

Doing the fight scenes, he said, was one of the challenges in the move. “In a scene with Andy On in an alley, the tight space restricted our movements a lot and both of us were afraid that we might actually hurt one another. In the end, both of us only sustained minor cuts,” he says.

Set in Jordan, Xi’an, Hong Kong and Malaysia (where most of the scenes were shot)it boasts a budget of US$17 million (RM54 million) — one of the most expensive Chinese movies ever made.

The Viral Factor also starred Liu Kai-chi (as Man Tin), Elaine Jin (Fung Ling), Andy On (Sean Wong), Carl Ng (Ross), Lin Peng (Rachel) and Bai Bing (Ice).

The movie featured a number of famous landmarks in Kuala Lumpur, including the old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur shopping centre, Jalan Bukit Bintang, KLCC as well as Putrajaya.
A scene with an explosion was shot along Jalan Raja Chulan.

Directed by Hong Kong’s renowned action-thriller director Dante Lam (Beast Stalker, The Stool Pigeon), The Viral Factor is about Jon (Chou) who, after sustaining a serious head injury during an operation in Jordan to protect an important eye-witness, is relieved of duty and sent home to his mother, Feng Ling (Jin).

However, Feng Ling reveals that Jon has an older brother, Man Yeung (Tse) who was separated from them when Jon was young.

In order to fulfil his mother’s last request to see the brothers reunited, Jon makes an arduous journey to Malaysia in order to look for Man.

How was it like to play a police agent?

I was really excited in the beginning. Then worry set in when the filming started. The director (Lam) is very strict and we often needed to do several takes for just one scene. But I love how he made all of the scenes look realistic .

What’s the working chemistry like with Nicholas Tse?

The chemistry was instant the moment we met on set. In the movie, we developed our sibling relationship through the fight scenes. It was after we finished filming that I decided to invite him as a guest on my concert.

The famous Taiwanese actress Elaine Jin played your mother in the movie. Was there any pressure working with her?

Well, it’s not about having pressure once you get to work with someone as experienced as her. I took it as an opportunity for me to learn.

Both Tse and Andy On are accomplished fighters. Was there any pressure working with them?

It would have looked so much better if the director had given me a weapon to use during those fight scenes instead of just my bare hands. But the director loved to see realistic combat encounters from his actors.

There was also a scene where you had to jump off a building. How difficult was it?

The wires didn’t support me. It only prevented me from falling out of the targeted area. It rained the day we were filming this scene and the floors were slippery. Instead of falling to the ground, I fell first onto a metal rack, resulting in a realistic scene.

The Viral Factor will be aired on Aug 26 on Celestial Movies (Astro channel 322) and Celestial Movies HD (Astro channel 309)
at 9pm.