* Extracted the movie's storyline & Yuwu's interview

Leap of faith required

For some members of the cast of Leap of Love, MediaCorp Raintree Pictures' latest movie, doing the romantic comedy required a leap of faith.

For China-born rising star, Qi Yuwu, the leap involved finding the confidence to tackle his first English-speaking role.

For his co-stars, celebrity couple Li Lin and Allan Wu, it had to do with accepting her kissing scenes with the as-yet-uncast male lead.

Leap of Love is a $2.5 million Raintree project that has been a long time in the making. At yesterday's prayer ceremony at Boat Quay, which marked the start of production, Raintree CEO Daniel Yun said he had first discussed the idea for the project - based on local writer Catherine Lim's novella of the same name - five years ago.

Production is now going ahead with talents such as Venezuelan director Fina Torres (who directed Woman on Top, with Penelope Cruz), director of photography Kwan Pun Leung, who worked on Wong Kar Wai's 2046, and a cast that includes Nadya Hutagalung, Vernetta Lopez and Sarah Jane Dias.

Filming is expected to finish by the end of March, said Yun, with the film slated to hit cinemas in "the second half of the year'.

In the film, Li Lin plays a firm believer in destiny and romance. She falls for someone whom she thinks is her destined partner and proposes to him on the leap year date of Feb 29 - also her birthday.

She does not know, however, that the man of her dreams is already taken, so an unusual love affair ensues, with meetings on Feb 29 every four years.

For Qi, a Star Search 1999 alumnus and Guangdong native, speaking English was the key challenge.

"I play someone whose mother tongue is not English, so I think it should be okay for me," he said. Qi took English lessons in China but only started practising the language when he arrived in Singapore.

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Source: Raintree Pictures

Credits: Veyonce of YWP

"SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE" MEETS "SAME TIME NEXT YEAR" IN ASIA

"LEAP OF LOVE" BY DR CATHERINE LIM

Dr Catherine Lim is by far one of the most famous and controversial writers from Singapore with a strong sense of humour and wit. She is a writer with a celebrity status that commands respect from the local arts community. Catherine has had her novels published internationally in countries such as UK, USA, France, Germany and other European countries.

LEAP OF LOVE is based on Catherine's novella by the same title that was commissioned by Lycos Asia as the first e-book from Singapore. The beautiful love story with its interesting premise was perfect as Raintree Pictures' first movie adapted from a novel. With a Singaporean setting where Asians speak English, the unusual premise of this romantic comedy provides the potential of a break out hit.

The project won the Busan BFC Award at the Pusan Promotion Plan 2002.

SYNOPSIS

Chang Li-Ann, a delightful dreamer, is convinced she will one day meet the love of her life, her soulmate, her Mr Right.

In the year 1992, on that fateful day of February 29, she finds him in Jeremy Lee at the Blue Paradise Café and puts her faith in an obscure Irish leap year tradition that states a woman has the right to ask anything of a man on this day and he cannot refuse her. Li-Ann risks it and asks for a date. To her delight, he agrees and they embark on the most unforgettable night of their lives, running through the old Chinatown of Singapore. Their jaunt, however, ends in sadness when Jeremy reveals that he has to go back to Canada that night and that he is engaged to be married. Disappointed and hurt, Li-Ann tries to move on with her life. However, the bond and connection she had with Jeremy and the feeling of being totally alive for once are too overwhelming for her to leave that memory behind.

A commitment from Jeremy to see Li-Ann every four years on February 29 leads to an emotional trip where we witness her joy, pain, longing and hope. The story takes us from Singapore to Canada and into the new millennium.