Zheng Geping Wanted To Give Up His Lead Role Halfway Through Filming Local Action Movie 'Deleted'

Remember when local hunkle Zheng Geping, 58, posted these abs-olutely stunning behind-the-scenes snaps from the project he was working on back then in 2020? 

Well, some two years later, it’s finally hitting theatres. 

The local action movie is Deleted, which follows Geping, a former detective working to infiltrate a human trafficking ring to find his daughter. Erstwhile actor and wushu practitioner Vincent Ng, 46, also stars in the movie as a police commando leading a raid against a human trafficker.

Deleted also features a number of regional actors, including Taiwanese actress Tien Hsin, 46, Malaysian actors Fattah Amin, 32, and Rosyam Nor, 55. 

British boxer Brie Benfell, Malaysian mixed martial arts fighter Peter Davis and Malaysian-Brazilian fighter Marcio Sebsam round out the cast.

In an interview with local media outlet 8world, Geping shared more about Deleted, which started screening in local cinemas last week. The actor revealed that they made the decision to film all of the stunt and action sequences in the movie without the use of stunt wires, to preserve the authenticity of their fights. 

“When it involves trained actors, the most ideal situation would be for them to fight it out themselves. There’s no need to position the cameras to [mask a fake fight], nor is there any need to use special effects,” he said. 

He shared a small teaser of what audience members can expect to see in the movie, revealing that there are a couple of scenes where the actors fight it out bare-chested. In these scenes, the cuts and bruises that are seen on the bodies of the actors are real injuries, sustained from their fights.

Geping, who revealed that the production was pretty much a labour of love for him, shared that he broached the idea of producing his own local action movie as there aren’t many locally-made action movies. 

Apart from starring as the lead actor, Geping also took on the role of the executive producer, and had a hand in crafting the main plot of the movie. Sounds like a handful, right? The actor admitted that there was a time where he felt like giving up.

“To be honest, while I was preparing for the movie, I did think of giving up and not acting [in it]. But the investors said that a part of the reason why they invested in the production was ‘ cos I was acting in it, so I had no choice but to continue,” he said.

He shared that it was tough to switch from one role to another on-set, and that it was especially difficult to switch from being a producer to an actor.

“As a producer, you have to be very rational, as you’re in-charge of the production costs as a whole,” he said, adding that he then had to become emotional and act out his scenes whenever his scenes were being filmed.

Geping implored local viewers to support local movies, adding that it really is not easy to film a movie in Singapore. 

“The support of our local viewers is the biggest morale-booster for us, giving us the confidence to continue moving forward and improving,” he mused.

Finally, he also let on that he has begun planning for a sequel that will be shot in Cambodia, and that the story outline is already complete. 

“But of course, the reality is that we still need to see how well the movie does at the box office, ‘cos we need our investors to be confident [in order for them to agree to invest],” he said.

Photos: Zheng Geping/Instagram, 8028 _deleted_movie/Instagram

Deleted is now showing in all local theatres.