Gaining 10kg, getting down and dirty: Malaysian film Mother Bhumi allows Fan Bingbing to break through

SINGAPORE – In Fan Bingbing’s latest movie Mother Bhumi (2025), the Qingdao-born actress put on 10kg, wore a prosthetic nose and was almost always covered in sweat and grime to play a widowed farmer and ritual healer in Kedah, Malaysia.

The role was so removed from her glamorous public image and previous high-profile ones in period drama The Empress Of China (2014 to 2015) and superhero flick X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014) that it clinched the 44-year-old the Best Leading Actress prize at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards in November 2025.

Written and directed by Malaysia’s Chong Keat Aun, Mother Bhumi premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in late 2025, and will be screened here on April 25 as part of the Singapore Chinese Film Festival 2026. Tickets to the 7.30pm show at GV Suntec City are still available at $16.

In late-1990s Malaysia amid political unrest, Fan’s Hong Im struggles to protect her family in a multi-ethnic rice-farming village. By day, she resists land seizures; by night, she heals and exorcises. As colonial-era conflicts resurface, strange events unfold. The legacy of empire haunts the land, the living and the dead of Bujang Valley.

Taiwanese actor Bai Run-yin and Hong Kong actress Natalie Hsu play Fan’s on-screen son and daughter respectively.

During a virtual interview with local media on April 16, Fan – who was in town in January to launch her beauty brand Fan Beauty Diary at Watsons – said gaining weight was not a prerequisite for the job. Rather, she was the one who chose to pile on the kilos.

She added: “It was something I felt I should do. The role really required it. I felt my character needed to have a certain heft, whether it’s ploughing the fields or looking after the water buffalo. If I were too petite, my character would look like a thin, frail person in the shot.”

And 10kg might not even have been enough, she decided when watching herself on screen for the first time at Mother Bhumi’s Tokyo premiere. “I felt if I had gained an extra 5kg, the effect might have been even better.”

Fan usually eats one meal a day, but increased it to three to five meals, and consumed protein powder and worked out at the gym to build muscle. She recalled: “Even my mother was really worried about how much I ate. She said, ‘Wow, you are eating so much, can you handle it? Can you lose it (later)?’”

Challenging shoot

For the role, Fan also smoked, rode a motorcycle and spoke several languages she did not know, including Thai and Malay, as well as dialects such as Hokkien.

She said: “My language skills were completely insufficient to meet (the director’s) standards. So, after receiving the script, he spent about three months teaching me every single word I had to speak. We had three-hour-long video lessons daily, and I would memorise the pronunciations at night, including the chants and spells.”

She added: “Learning languages ​​is a simple thing for young children. But as you get older, you realise, ‘Wow, I have to learn these languages ​​that I do not understand at all and have never encountered before?’ It’s quite difficult.”

Filming in rural rice fields also presented its challenges. Apart from the hot weather, members of the cast were frequently bitten by mosquitoes, especially at night. Fan recalled: “Almost every exposed part of my body – legs, hands, arms – was covered in bites. You can see this in many scenes.”

In addition, Hong Im frequently walks around in soft mud, causing dirt to accumulate under her fingernails and toenails. Fan said: “Grime was constantly in these crevices, so I gave up washing under them, since they would be dirty again the next day. I told the director I would wash them properly only after filming wrapped.”

“Even so, after filming ended, it took 10 to 15 days of meticulously brushing my fingernails and toenails with a toothbrush to get the grime out.”

Then there was the challenge of acting with her animal co-star. For example, one scene required her to press her face against the water buffalo for some time. She said: “I did not know if it liked me or not, but I had to make it like me. Otherwise, it would reject me.”

She estimated that particular scene required about three to five takes. “The buffalo would sometimes turn its head away and walk away, and we would have to shoot the scene again. But whenever I saw it, I thought it was so beautiful, with such big eyes. When you look into its eyes, you feel like you can really see into its heart.”

Fan was thankful for the chance to showcase a side of herself that is very different from her off-screen image.

“For an actor, it is quite exciting to have such opportunities to change, and I have always wanted to break through. I have played many beautiful roles, so the challenge now is creating a different character and identity.”

Ties with Malaysia

Fan has developed a close relationship with Malaysia in recent years. She was a tourism ambassador for the state of Melaka in 2024, and was conferred the Darjah Pangkuan Seri Melaka, an honorary award which carries the title Datuk, in 2025.

Mother Bhumi, which was shot in 2025, marks her first time filming in the federation. She said: “Malaysian film-makers are really very simple and honest. The quality of (Malaysian) films is also very high, and the atmosphere on set was great.”

Fan explained that her China-based artiste manager of more than 10 years, Ms Jersey Chong, is Malaysian. After the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms Chong returned to Malaysia and was contacted by many Malaysian Chinese about work matters. This eventually led to Fan becoming Melaka’s tourism ambassador and a series of subsequent projects in Malaysia, including Mother Bhumi.

Fan said: “Malaysia now has a very special place in my life. I really want to introduce Chinese people to Melaka, and Malaysia in general. It is about cultural exchange between China and Malaysia, allowing people to see and learn more about one another. I have had a lot of fate with Malaysia, and it is amazing just how life unfolds.”

Clinching a Golden Horse Award for playing a Malaysian was a bonus. “I feel I gave my all and received something in return. For an actor, this is a very happy thing.”

The win will likely open new doors for Fan too. “I believe it allowed many directors to see more possibilities (in me), and I foresee some interesting and special scripts with diversity in them might be coming my way.”