Eddie Peng Went to War for “Operation Mekong”

It was unlike any film Eddie Peng (彭于晏) has shot before. Operation Mekong <湄公河行動>, a crime action film directed by Dante Lam (林超賢), stars Eddie Peng and Zhang Hanyu (張涵予) as Chinese narcotics paramilitary officers sent to the Golden Triangle region to uncover the mystery behind the Mekong River massacre. The film is based on a real incident that happened in 2011, when two Chinese cargo ships were attacked on the Mekong River. All thirteen crew members on board were killed.

Operation Mekong, which spent three years in pre-production, started principal photography in September 2015, and filmed at locations such as Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Yunnan, China. Dante Lam encouraged the production team to shoot at real locations. One river battle scene took six helicopters and forty motorboats. Another car chase used up nearly a hundred luxury cars.

Eddie said he’d never felt this fragile about his life before. “Explosions would be set off at close proximity. Mud and dirt were scattered all over my body. The sound of it would still ring in my ears. It felt so realistic, and the sound deafening. It’s like I was really at war!”

Eddie and Hanyu fought across cities, skies, oceans, and plains in the movie. Zhang Hanyu recalled, “The crew rented out a shopping center and built a bar as part of the set. We fought from night to day. In the end, the entire set got destroyed by bombs. Such an explosive film!”

Operation Mekong was released in China on September 30, 2016. It is slated for a release in Hong Kong on October 6 and Taiwan on October 7.

“Operation Mekong” HK Trailer

Source: Oriental Daily

This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.