Stephen Rahman-Hughes first appeared on the stages of 2006's "Puteri Gunung Ledang The Musical" as Hang Tuah, which is inspired by the 2004 motion picture itself. The half Welsh, half-Malay actor then made a minor appearance in a Malaysian movie entitled "Los Dan Faun" under Afdlin Shauki's direction. However, his breakthrough into the silver screen only recently happened when he was selected by Yusry Abdul Halim, the director of the coveted Malaysian epic movie "Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa" or also known as "The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines" in other countries to be the titular character, Merong Mahawangsa. We recently managed to catch the handsome hunk in town for the promo and gala premiere of the movie. Interview conducted recently at Robot Sushi Restaurant, 1Utama Damansara. Q: Hi Stephen, could you briefly explain to us the role that you're playing in Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (HMM)? Stephen: Merong, at the beginning of the film is a rash and rude loner who has slight social problems. I asked Yusry if we could portray Merong as an anti-hero at the beginning rather than being a hero right at the start so that he could go on a journey of self-discovery. It's very difficult to base a character on Merong because there actually wasn't much historical records on who he really was or if he even existed, so we went with what would be the most interesting Merong for this movie. Q: How much of research did you have to do on the character? Stephen: Before the shoot I was already looking at the character 6 months prior to production. There's wasn't much stuff written on the story, so it was difficult to get an idea overall. At the end of the day you have to put the history aside to do as much as you can because you want to be a more responsible artiste and actor. Q: You had to shoot at the seaside in tropical weather after being used to the weather in Europe. How did you manage to adjust to the differences? Stephen: It's not like I haven't been to Malaysia, but one thing that I haven't done was to shoot consecutively everyday for almost 3 months in Terengganu where it is especially hot during the time of filming. For me it was a lot of sun-block. If you see me at the beginning of the movie and at the end, I changed colour. *laughs* The climate had also affected my energy levels. There's this one scene where I'm fighting a hundred men but after the second person, I'm already wasted. Can you imagine when I had 98 more people to go! That scene took a lot of time to shoot and I think it was tough for the local actors as well.
Q: What was your experience like working with Director Yusry Abdul Halim and your fellow co-star Ummi Nazeera? Stephen: That was one of the highlights of the job actually. I consider Yusry my good friend now. We had a lot of dialogue between us and he was very generous as a director. He listens to my opinion and let me experiment in front of the camera. Yusry was very good at being clear about what he wanted. He was very patient with me during the 'Bahasa' scenes so it was a good working relationship. With Ummi we did some rehearsal before and she's a very talented, patient young actress. She really opened up towards an actor coming over from England who she doesn't know of and suddenly we have some chemistry on-screen. It takes a bit of work to find that trust but Ummi was very flexible to that. It can be difficult in Malaysian culture when it comes to the connection between a man and woman, but we have to make sure that level of trust is well-respected. Q: Could you share with us your bittersweet moments while shooting the movie? Stephen: Some of the stunt works can be trying. Some days I was so tired and wasn't sleeping well yet the stunts were taking place day after day. While some days I'll be in a harness flying through the air and some days I'll be landing on the mat. You've got to have a lot of patience. I got hurt a few times during the fight scenes because sometimes the contact was a bit strong. In my mind I had to keep the idea of the bigger picture and say to myself "I'm doing this for the movie" rather than having a personal moment and getting frustrated. I just wanted the movie to be the best it could be.
Q: What got you really attracted to play Merong? Stephen: There were a couple of things, first of all when I read the script I had an idea in my head of the character and there are certain characteristics that are kind of similar to myself, like we're both very playful. To be called to do something like that after Hang Tuah, which had been very serious and because of that everyone thought I was very serious in person as well! But I wanted to do something different and it's always an honor to act out as a character that has a historical basis or even purely based on myths. Besides that, I'm playing a lead role in a movie with my own stunt works. What's not to like about it? It's a great opportunity. Q: You recently got married. How did that come about and how's married life been for you? Stephen: I've known my wife for 9 years and we've always been kind of soul mates. But we were never able commit to each other properly because she was always touring as an artiste and I was always away too. I think finally I said "Look, there's no point looking for anyone else because we're so good together". I'm one of the lucky ones who found someone that I love and cherish. These kinds of feelings just evolve after 9 years and finally we said enough is enough, no more you being away from me and me being away from you. Luckily for me I married somebody I love. It's a great feeling.
Q: Tell us a bit about your wedding ceremony? Where did you go for your honeymoon? Stephen: We were in Tuscany, Italy. We had like 360 degrees of mountains around us at a huge villa with a swimming pool. We're very private people so we just invited our close friends and family. We kept it relatively small and we agreed that both us should be able to turn around and see anyone without asking the other "who is this person?" at our own wedding. We did a road trip for our honeymoon coming from Tuscany heading back to London. We stopped off at various romantic locations from the Alps and then Paris for a few days, and finally back to UK. Q: Your hopes and expectations for the rest of the year? Stephen: Onwards and upwards, to make sure I keep developing and challenging myself with more projects. This year's going to be pretty busy for me anyway but hopefully Merong opens a few more doors for me to have more movies under my belt. And also to just continue doing what I'm doing of course. "Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa" is showing at cinemas in Malaysia from 10 March onwards while a Singapore release is tentatively scheduled on 5 May 2011.