Ghaz Abu Bakar plans for "Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat" to be a trilogy
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Ghaz Abu Bakar plans for "Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat" to be a trilogy

The cast and director of "Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat" at the movie's recent launch ceremony.
The cast and director of "Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat" at the movie's recent launch ceremony.

Having been absent from the film world for quite some time, creative director Ghaz Abu Bakar now returns with action comedy "Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat", in collaboration with Nizra Entertainment, Astro Shaw and Skop Productions Sdn Bhd.

This time, Ghaz dared to bring a difference by casting Zahirah Macwilson as the lead, pairing her with popular actor-comedian Zizan Razak.

Ghaz, real name Mohd Ghazali Abu Bakar, is well known for directing action movies such as "Polis EVO", "Cicakman 3" (co-directed with Yusry Abd Halim), "Tokan" and "Hantu Kapcai".

According to Ghaz, he was thankful that he did not face any major problems while directing "Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat", since all the cast members gave him their full commitments.

Among the actors that are featured in the movie are Bell Ngasri, Alif Hadi, Khir Rahman, Maya Karin, Mimi Ernida, Sein Qudsi, Aprena Manrose and Didie Alias.

Cinema Online had the chance to interview Ghaz during the recent launch ceremony of "Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat" at Nicsmann 1940s By Lewré The Starling, Petaling Jaya.

Read on below for our interview with Ghaz Abu Bakar.


Ghaz Abu Bakar is hoping the movie will be a box office hit.

Cinema Online: What's the new thing you're trying to introduce in this movie?

Ghaz: As you can see, I try to focus it on a female character, Bulan, as the movie's lead. Nevertheless, I tried my best to balance out the characters in the movie. They're not just supporting characters that are there to fill up the storyline. Every character has his or her own specialty. I wanted to create characters that will find their place in the local film history and the audience will forever remember. It's tough to develop every character within the duration of 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Why did you choose to make it in the Indonesian language? Are you thinking of screening it there?

When I was writing the script, I thought of Bulan's backstory. If she were Malaysian, the storyline can't be developed further. So her journey of being smuggled from Indonesia into Malaysia makes the story more interesting. One more, language is very important to me. If I were to make this a Thai-language movie, there'd be a language barrier. I thought it was best to pick the Indonesian language since it's not much different from our Malay language. Honestly, I didn't plan on screening this movie in Indonesia but if it did get screened there and the people there liked the movie, I'd treat it as a bonus.

Any challenges that you faced while making the movie?

Directing a cast that largely didn't have experience in making action films was quite hard, that was why before we started filming, we did an extensive preparation which included weapons training, martial arts training and language classes. I admire the commitment shown by Zahirah and the other actors. The weather was also good even though we did the filming during monsoon season. Alhamdulillah, there weren't many challenges, and everything went well because I learned a lot from the mistakes I did while directing "Polis EVO".

How did you cast the actors for the movie?

When I was writing the script, I already had all the cast in mind except Maya Karin. Initially, I wanted to offer the role of Bulan to Luna Maya and Zahirah will play her sister, but at the time Luna had a packed schedule, so I had to rewrite the script. I then discussed with Nik Iruwan (executive producer), suggested to pick a local actor and try something new, let them learn the Indonesian language.

Apart from that, I am also comfortable working with Zizan because we match each other well. He likes working with me too and I know how he is. So I asked him to change his acting style a bit before we started filming and the rest depended on him, but he was still under my supervision.

As for Toni, I initially wanted to offer the role to Ashraf Sinclair but at the time, his schedule was also full. Seeing that Maya was well known at the time due to "Munafik 2", I picked her and she wanted it to be credited as a guest appearance only. Alhamdulillah, even though Maya was cast at the last minute, she still gave a high commitment because she liked the movie.

I chose Khir Rahman because we're friends and we've worked together on a telefilm. He's a charismatic and very talented actor. In the movie, even though he plays an antagonist role, I'm confident that the audience will like his character.

Do you plan to make a sequel?


I actually want this to be a trilogy, where Bulan will try to eradicate all the smuggling syndicates in Malaysia, then head to Thailand and end it all in Vietnam. But all this depends on the reception first. Insya-Allah, it's in the cards.

What are your hopes for the movie?

Of course, I want this movie to be a box office hit. If I can bring it to film festivals that'll be a bonus. The box office collection is important for the producers who have invested a lot and to convince locals that we can produce good movies. I want to encourage producers and production companies out there to invest more in order to make high quality films.

Can you share with us what are your next projects?

After this, I will be working with Sein and Zizan once again for a horror comedy called "Dia Datang". The purpose of the movie is to honour teachers and highlight the issues that they face. It tells of a group of teachers who are held back at a boarding school and unable to go home for the holidays. Zizan will play the role of an ustaz and dormitory warden. I also plan to cast Mira Filzah, Bella Astillah, Sherry Alhadad and Elizabeth Tan in the roles of the female teachers. Insya-Allah, the filming will begin after raya and I aim to release this movie next year.

Don't miss out on watching "Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat", now showing in cinemas near you since 12 March!


Related Movies:
Bulan Dan Pria Terhebat (FFM) (Malay) (07 Dec 2021)

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