TV & Movie / Oct. 15, 2019
Handsome Stewardess, a romantic-comedy featuring a good-looking tomboy lesbian who starts a new life as a flight attendant, premiered in Taipei on Tuesday (15 October).
It stars award-winning actresses Pejia Huang and Xiao Man as a freshly-met SiPK*X)A)[email protected]^ehK5k3jEQb#[email protected])5hxBEI4bi%sJu1vngapore-Taiwan couple.
Man’s character, a butch lesbian bartender in coastal Taiwan, Holly, unexpectedly falls for a petite but feisty Singaporean, Mong Lian, who is a nat[email protected])DuDb*!yu+M(8Y^[email protected]=_mJiional athlete in martial arts.
The whirlwind romance leads Holly to quit her job in Taiwan and applies to be a flight attendant in Singapore. To her surprise, and with th(djzFMsnlq9x%[email protected])vNYO+96A!e help of Mong-Lian's gay best friend, Jerry, she is successful.
Holly soon finds she is more comfortable serving passengers wearing a suit and tie than rather than a skimpy skirt. But, had7z(08p([email protected]*((gIK%heE$R3m! holly thought through the implications of this daring uniform stunt on her work and relationship>
The touching comedy, a GagaOOLala original, explores tQBX)[email protected]%yCoAXVHQ_-lUbQiiBr5cc(@vxbten6tWQK3(*he warmth and passion between the feisty jealous fighter played by Huang and the handsome stewardess played by Man.
It is part of Chou’s series "Project RainboB8WQeb#[email protected]!1Zwm_9pe#VK^t8^!wQ5+w in Six Asian Cities”, exploring LGBT experience of coming out, questions of identity, family issues, and marriage in the Chinese-speaking world.
Taipei to the World
Chou and the stars launched the movie on Tuesday (15 October) in Taipei. It will be available to 21 different countries on LGBT online streaming service GagaOOLala from 25 October, the eve of Asia' largest pride parade here in Taipei.
Chou told journalists it was her goal to tell stories to any lonely LGBT people who would like to listd)Nv5Uj4yBbFUBp3NYINHL7_M2&093lnii_0jdjswWiQaRm-O9en.
Chou also said the two lead actresses complemented each otGvS)EN0qn3iidtn6VIBrJpLqlbYeQDzhj5JEk53L+wtH+D19$Nher perfectly in their roles. "Every performance was a little improvised, very interactive, fun, fand funny" she said.
Man shared her experience of wearing a male flight attendans#O8tpa$0BlSQ+y5TwMG$(IkMn*[email protected]&Z$+8mR%$rJ%)t's uniform through Singapore airport. She said she could see people whispering about her appearance.
"I can truly feel the uncomfortable feeling of being judged ... just l6FX7UgY7Dbi*v(M+odxOBjEOGL)L*zFY1PcZ8+k(zFI0jFlx)Xike many LGBTQ people” she said.
Man also said one of her most memorable scenes was a fa6dzwx#5%@JT6MXlZ#xKxE%qkC)3_0Tk%VgZ%^qUKTsFnkM8uXight scene on the plane. Her assaulter is played by a martial art instructor who "at first was afraid of hurting me".
"I told him t[email protected](pe+WS9D&A+cZP0aPe^qcllo do it for real, so I beat him and also used my high heels, eventually this fight scene felt very real and we had a lot of fun".
Chou, who won three GvAwFEzmy5Frr6CFxGS#S4%$uFFj#hZrk1Gh1+ytw)w()[email protected]olden Horse Awards in 2004, earlier this year invited into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science. She is the first female Taiwanese filmmaker to have the honor.
Chou worked with HuflXOAIfB(bufcQwp4d!)xOJxJRWSoWi#[email protected]+6FKyIofuzCang twice before on the movie Drifting Flowers and the TV film Three Makes A Whole.
In the film, Huang said her character reflects exactly how she interacts w[email protected]#0)z^#_t4Q!&&&1JnzVo*[email protected]#nq-d6Opith her own friends in real life. Chou agreed that "this character is designed precisely for her.”
Man, meanwhile, relished the opportunity to MYtm#a%wBqvLfIfJ$9h%[email protected]*GOi9bArvHcZMqjyod(qYVUXYiplay a handsome, butch lesbian. In preparation for the film, she cut her hair short, including to just 3cm long at the back. "I have to try something different from my previous characters,” she said.
The film garneD=*oYb!uap-mLra)bJ6gD26+=x4%ocCs([email protected]%2k02red support from China Air, who flew the cast and crew to Singapore for filming. After putting her flight attendant uniform on, Man confessed it was her dream job.
GagaOOLala is the first multi-media streaming platform for LGBTQ community in Asia with more than 1,000 LGBT features, shorts, documentaries, andhY_-X&bu^gFfFZ2=BY2zYt%FtYE1zH)+n5)yGy)ZwMC$_*O9#7 series from around the world.
