SHAH ALAM: Adrian Teh, the man behind action-packed blockbusters such as Paskal, Wira and The Assistant, is back with a blast, depicting a national sports icon for the first time.
His latest cinematic project, set for mid-2024 is Gold, a biopic of paralympic badminton champion Cheah Liek Hou.
Filming has just begun around the Klang Valley for two months. Gold features Jack Tan as Cheah and popular actor Farid Kamil as his coach Datuk Rashid Sidek.
Gold, which also stars Wan Raja of Dalam Botol and Fabian Loo of Fly By Night fame, is a joint production of Act 2 Pictures and Astro Shaw.
Teh said: "Cheah is 100 per cent behind the story, and I spent hours interviewing him as well as Rashid. We want to share his inspirational story with Malaysians, as he is living proof that being handicapped is not an obstacle to achieve greatness for the nation."
Tan, 32 said: "It's truly an honour to play Liek Hou. I'm a big fan of him as well as Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Lee Zii Jia. All three of them are role models and inspirations who capture the Malaysia Boleh spirit beautifully."
Farid, meanwhile, said: "This is my second non-fiction character for the silver screen and I greatly admire Rashid as well as his brothers who have all taken Malaysian badminton to great heights. I spent hours interviewing him, and I'm glad that he was very supportive of me."
Teh, Farid, Tan, Wan Raja and Loo attended the filming of Gold at Stadium Melawati here today.
Cheah, 35, is an 11-time winner of the Badminton World Federation Para-Badminton World Championships.
He won the gold medal in the men's singles event of the 2020 Summer Paralympics, making him the first Malaysian athlete to win a medal in para-badminton.
He is also the first Paralympic champion in para-badminton.
Cheah was born with Erb's palsy, which caused his right hand to have less strength and stability.
He took up badminton when he was nine and later competed against able-bodied badminton players and joined the able-bodied squad when he was 12.
He completed his pre-university education in Bukit Jalil Sports School and later obtained a corporate communications degree from Universiti Putra Malaysia in Seri Kembangan, Selangor.