One of the most anticipated films of the 2016 edition of the Reel Asian Film Festival is the North American premiere of My Egg Boy, screening tomorrow evening at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. This Taiwanese production is the third film from director Fu Tien-Yu and is a comical tale on freezing time for the sake of prolonging the pursuit of love. Fu Tien-Yu and actor Rhydian Vaughan held a press conference yesterday at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto to discuss My Egg Boy.
Speaking through an interpreter, Fu Tien-Yu described My Egg Boy as the story of an urban woman, who finds it it is hard to find true love in a large city like Taipei. The protagonist of the film Mei-pao, played by Ariel Lin, was written to have a special connection to frozen food, in order to make a connection between her an the technology that freezes Meo-pao’s eggs. On the flipside, the male protagonist of A-Shi was written to be the complete opposite, a chef with a preference towards Fresh food.
A-Shi is played by Welsh-born Taiwanese actor Rhydian Vaughan, who views his character as having much fire and desire as a chef. Vaughan did much preparation for his role, which included learning some basic cooking from Taiwanese chefs and some gardening techniques. Vaughan also notes that he wanted this film to be more than the typical romantic comedy, with the film also focusing on the origin of life and the origin of love.
My Egg Boy features some scenes shot on location in Iceland and Switzerland, which is a first for a Chinese language film. Fu Tien-Yu states how one of the challenges of filming in such an environment was how the crew was not used to shooting in such cold temperatures and there was a fear that the equipment would freeze from the cold. In addition, Iceland and Switzerland was chosen over more familiar locations, such as Canada and Japan, since they are not as familiar to Chinese audiences and they offer a very white visual style.
Ultimately, My Egg Boy is a film about women in the modern world. While Fu Tien-Yu notes that looking for love and being loved is still a universal feeling, she notes that it is possible for modern women to be happy without having the need to get married and have children. In addition, Rhydian Vaughan makes note that it is a recent phenomenon that women have more and more space to show their talents and he feels that women are actually more talented than men. Fu Tien-Yu also adds that technologies, such as women being able to freeze their eggs, is a very important invention for modern society and that women can use this technology to help define their happiness.
My Egg Boy screens Saturday, November 19 at 7:30PM at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.