Full story: https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/e-junkies-fei-xiang-kris-phillips-why-play-no-1-gold-medal-top-class-sociopath-creation-of-gods-movie
Chinese-American singer-actor Fei Xiang (Kris Phillips) 费翔 chats with AsiaOne about his latest movie Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, including his experiences filming for 1.5 years for the blockbuster trilogy, the preparations he did for the role of emperor Yin Shou, whom he calls a “number one gold-medal top-class sociopath”, and his fascination with playing villains.
Aside from the movie, Fei Xiang also reveals his top five favourite Singapore foods and provides a look into his semi-retired life split between London and New York.
Chinese-American singer-actor Fei Xiang (Kris Phillips) 费翔 chats with AsiaOne about his latest movie Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, including his experiences filming for 1.5 years for the blockbuster trilogy, the preparations he did for the role of emperor Yin Shou, whom he calls a “number one gold-medal top-class sociopath”, and his fascination with playing villains.
Aside from the movie, Fei Xiang also reveals his top five favourite Singapore foods and provides a look into his semi-retired life split between London and New York.
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00:00 because Yingshuo, this character, he's a warrior.
00:02 He's a great, great hero on the battlefield.
00:05 So when the clothes come off, he has to look like one.
00:08 You know, he can't look like he's an accountant, okay?
00:11 (upbeat music)
00:13 Hello, I'm Chris Phillips, Fei Xiang,
00:18 and I portray the Shang Dynasty King Yingshuo
00:22 in the new movie, "Creation of the Gods, Kingdom of Storms."
00:25 (thunder rumbling)
00:29 (speaking in foreign language)
00:33 (dramatic music)
00:46 It was a very big challenge filming
00:52 because the director wanted to film
00:54 all three films in one go.
00:56 So the production process was much like
01:00 Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings."
01:02 We had to dedicate a very long period of time,
01:06 and anybody on the project had to make sure
01:09 that they could do the entire thing.
01:11 For me, it was a year and a half of filming.
01:14 For the younger actors, including their training,
01:17 it was two years.
01:18 We were very, very lucky that we finished
01:21 all the principal photography
01:23 just before the pandemic started.
01:27 If the pandemic had happened in the middle of that,
01:30 I really actually think the entire project
01:32 would have been sunk.
01:33 It would have been derailed
01:35 because there would have been no way
01:37 to get the whole team back together after the pandemic
01:39 and restart the whole thing.
01:42 It was just so epic.
01:43 It's the biggest and most expensive production
01:47 in Chinese film history.
01:48 We had real sets constructed in 20 different studios.
01:52 My palace, there was an actual entire forest created.
01:56 So it's just incredible scale of production.
02:00 And then on top of that, all the CGI effects.
02:02 So the film is quite impressive to watch
02:07 because a lot of it was real.
02:09 It's actually quite detailed work.
02:13 I was training for three months
02:20 before I even filmed my first scene.
02:22 And the training encompassed all the skills
02:25 that I would need to complete the role,
02:29 which was horsemanship, martial arts, drumming,
02:32 the kind of traditional drumming.
02:34 But the training didn't stop
02:36 all throughout the whole year and a half that I was there.
02:41 One of the important elements of training
02:43 was physical training,
02:45 because Yin Shou, this character, he's a warrior.
02:48 He's a great, great hero on the battlefield.
02:50 So when the clothes come off,
02:52 he has to look like one.
02:53 You know, he can't look like he's an accountant, okay?
02:56 He's gotta be convincing.
02:58 I couldn't stop the physical regimen of training
03:01 for the entire year and a half.
03:02 It had to just keep going every day.
03:05 I do like villain roles to some extent
03:14 because they're more challenging in some ways.
03:17 Villain roles are always rich dramatically
03:20 because villains always know what they want, you know?
03:25 And they're going for it.
03:26 They're doing things to get it, okay?
03:28 So they're very proactive.
03:30 So that's part of the appeal.
03:33 And the other part of it for me is
03:35 it's more challenging for me to present for the audience
03:40 a role that's far from the image
03:42 they have of me as a singer,
03:44 because I get those kinds of scripts all the time,
03:47 like wanting me to play some very well-off,
03:51 head-to-toe, dressed-in Dior,
03:53 you know, kind of CEO of some trading company.
03:58 I mean, come on.
03:59 But that, to me, the audience is gonna see that
04:01 and go, "Oh, that's Fei Xiang.
04:02 "Why?
04:03 "I might as well just sing."
04:05 But if I'm gonna do a role, like in a film,
04:07 I want it to be surprising,
04:09 not only for me, a challenge,
04:11 but it also should be a surprise for the audience.
04:13 So, you know, they should be looking at him going,
04:16 "Wow, I didn't expect that."
04:18 I think in character and in motivation
04:25 and in the things he does in the movie,
04:27 he's a sociopath, frankly.
04:29 And for an actor to play a sociopath,
04:31 I think is one of the greatest challenges.
04:33 It's very challenging.
04:34 As actors, we want to draw on our human empathy.
04:38 Like when I'm playing a role,
04:40 I want to draw on the emotions
04:42 that I would feel as a human being
04:44 if I were in that situation.
04:47 But sociopaths don't have those.
04:50 They just know what they want.
04:52 They're gonna use whoever they have to use to get it.
04:55 And this character, Ying Shou,
04:57 is a number one gold medal, top class sociopath.
05:02 Okay?
05:03 And that's why he's so fascinating, frankly.
05:06 We as human beings sometimes are fascinated
05:11 by this type of person
05:13 because they're so foreign.
05:15 They're so removed from our usual human contact.
05:20 And they usually have great, great charisma
05:23 because they're focused, so focused on what they want.
05:28 There's a charisma in that.
05:30 And because they have no qualms
05:34 about doing anything to anyone,
05:38 that's also so far removed from our human living experience
05:43 that when we see somebody like that,
05:47 we're actually fascinated by them.
05:48 But as an actor, to play someone like that
05:52 is quite challenging
05:54 because you have to find your ways
05:57 of feeling that person's lack of feeling
06:01 and portray him realistically.
06:04 [upbeat music]
06:07 [camera shutter clicking]
06:09 Don't get me started.
06:10 There are too many.
06:11 Yeah.
06:12 I'll give you top five.
06:12 In reverse order,
06:14 we're gonna do black pepper crab,
06:18 thousand layer cake.
06:20 I'll put durian at number three.
06:21 Okay.
06:22 Number two, sadly, which I can't eat very much of
06:26 because it's fattening, laksa.
06:28 And then number one is ice kacang.
06:31 I just love it.
06:32 I just love the taste.
06:33 And I love that it reminds me of my childhood in Taiwan.
06:37 When I grew up in Taipei, in Taiwan,
06:38 they had shaved ice treats.
06:42 So every time I have ice kacang,
06:44 it reminds me of my childhood.
06:45 I love it.
06:46 [camera shutter clicking]
06:47 [upbeat music]
06:49 This time I have not
06:53 because I only got here last night
06:54 and I'm leaving on an airplane tomorrow.
06:57 I do quite often pass through Singapore
07:00 because I have friends here of many years.
07:03 I like to visit with them.
07:04 And I love Singapore so much.
07:06 I just love not only how beautiful it is,
07:09 and I love the people here
07:11 because their values are so positive.
07:15 I love that.
07:16 I think positivity is so rare in this world now.
07:21 And Singapore is one of the places
07:22 where people have a natural sunshine in their spirit.
07:27 They just want to be kind if possible.
07:31 They want to find ways to solve problems if possible.
07:35 It's rare to find a place where people are harmonious
07:39 and wanting to be happy rather than just complaining
07:44 or finding all the things that they're unhappy about.
07:48 [camera shutter clicking]
07:49 [upbeat music]
07:51 I was semi-retired actually before Wu Ruxin
07:59 sent the script of "Creation of the Gods" to me.
08:03 I was actually thinking,
08:04 "Listen, I've had a great career.
08:07 "What else do I need?
08:08 "I'm fine.
08:09 "I'm just gonna enjoy life.
08:11 "I have homes in London and in New York."
08:15 So those are the two cities I live in.
08:17 And I have no problem just watching opera,
08:22 theater, movies.
08:25 I have close friends I'll have dinners with.
08:28 And sometimes now I'm actually making an effort
08:31 to touch base with my old classmates
08:34 and get together with them.
08:35 I have two cats in my home in London
08:38 who are very demanding.
08:41 And then, I just have a very quiet, boring life,
08:46 but I just read books and have a,
08:50 the time passes quite easily.
08:53 So I was semi-retired until Wu Ruxin contacted me.
08:56 He said, "I have a script I wanna send you."
08:59 And he sent over "Creation of the Gods."
09:01 And well, when I read the script, I thought,
09:04 "Okay, it's too good.
09:07 "It's too good.
09:08 "I can't pass it up.
09:09 "I just can't.
09:10 "And I have to do this role."
09:12 So I agreed to do it,
09:14 even though it was quite a big commitment,
09:17 including promotion, everything we're talking,
09:20 three, five years.
09:21 And I have to be honest, I mean, I'm 62 years old now.
09:25 So when I was in my 20s and 30s,
09:29 you can easily say yes to a project of a year,
09:33 three years, five years.
09:35 But at this age,
09:37 you don't have that many five years to give away.
09:40 You just don't.
09:41 You just don't.
09:42 If it's going to get me off my sofa at home
09:45 and working again, it has to be worth it.
09:48 It has to be really worth it.
09:50 But I'm still willing.
09:51 I'm still willing if it's something good.
09:54 I'm just so, so happy that I can be in Singapore again
09:57 and say hello to everybody and present my latest film,
10:01 which is "Creation of the Gods, Kingdom of Storms."
10:04 It's in theaters now.
10:05 It's the first film of a trilogy.
10:08 It's a historical fantasy epic,
10:11 and it is amazing to look at.
10:13 It has a great story.
10:15 The easiest way I can describe it is
10:17 if you love "Game of Thrones," you're gonna love this.
10:19 (thunder rumbling)
10:22 (dramatic music)
10:25 (thunder rumbling)
10:28 (dramatic music)
10:43 (roaring)
10:46 (screaming)
10:51 (dramatic music)
10:54 (dramatic music)
10:58 (dramatic music)
11:01 (upbeat music)
11:04 (upbeat music)