There is an old Chinese saying that beating is a sign of affection and scolding a sign of love, and local actor Collin Chee would know.
At the press conference for Jack Neo’s new film I Not Stupid 3 on Tuesday (June 4), the 57-year-old said: “I used to cane my children when teaching them.”
Collin, who has four children between the ages of 22 and 27, shared that his temperament and perspective towards corporal punishment changed in the last two decades.
He attributed it partly to the lessons behind the first two I Not Stupid films, which were released in 2002 and 2006.
“I feel that if we want to gain love, we should do it with love and not with violence,” said Collin, sharing that he was quite overbearing with his children in the past and has since learnt to control his temper.
When asked the extent of his corporal punishment, Collin revealed candidly: “I beat them and went to the toilet to cry later, because I felt the pain. The school taught us about subjects such as mathematics and history, but nobody taught us to be a father, so this was a heartbreaking process. As my kids grew up, I grew with them too.”
In I Not Stupid 3, Collin plays lawyer Mr Lee, who is the father of primary 6 student Jayden (Camans Kong). He is an even-tempered parent who leaves his son’s education to his wife Sophia (Jae Liew). To ensure that Jayden is the top student in school, Sophia starts a feud with another parent Wenting (Hu Jing), whose son Wang Zihao (Zhou Yuchen) is Jayden’s classmate.
Between being falsely accused of cheating, corporal punishment, challenges of bringing up children in Singapore and preparing for the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), the parents reflect on whether it is really worth over-prioritising school grades and neglecting their children’s well-being.
On performing alongside Jae, who is currently teaching in Japan, Collin shared a memorable quarrel scene which they ad-libbed to boost the tension.
He said: “During filming, Jae suddenly brought in my character’s mother into the argument, scolding, ‘What about your mother?’ I reacted by shouting back, ‘Why are you talking about my mother?’ These lines were not in the script.
“This also made me realise that tensions between a woman and her mother-in-law is still an ongoing problem now, and I felt deeply for it. When Jae improvised her lines, I was quite shocked at first, but luckily I managed to respond to it.”
While Jae plays the haughty and competitive Sophia, who hits Jayden despite having his best interests, the 34-year-old is quite the opposite in real life.
Via a live video call during the press conference, she shared: “In the film, I have to beat Jayden, but for me personally, I am not someone who would do that. My life rule is that I cannot hit children. So after filming that scene, I went out of the set and cried. I was really upset.”
She added Jack had to encourage her to make the blow.
“He told me, ‘Just hit him daringly, just do it’,” she said, as the cast and guests laughed.
This article was first published in AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.
