There's a simple reason why director Vithaya Thongyuyong (also known as Witthaya Thongyooyong) chose to do "Brother of the Year" – because it focuses on sibling relationship. Through it, he is able to highlight the relationship between siblings, especially in Asian households where feelings are not usually readily expressed. "It's something you can't change, it's something you're stuck with," the director said, since most people will just have to cope with living with their siblings, even if they are as annoying as the ones portrayed in "Brother of the Year". The director struck gold too with his cast. The three stars' popularity aside, both in and outside of their home country Thailand, Nichkhun Horvejkul (Nichkhun), Sunny Suwanmethanont (Sunny) and Urassaya Sperbund (Yaya) also have great chemistry. So he didn't have much to worry about when it comes to their professionalism on set.
During the press conference held at Le Meridien Putrajaya on 3 July, the cast revealed their thoughts on teaming up for the movie. Interestingly, Sunny's habit of not bringing his script to the set actually prevented them from making mistakes while shooting (read more on this below). Nichkhun also revealed during their mall appearance event later that evening at the adjacent IOI City Mall that he is close to his family. He sees them at least once a month, either he flies to Thailand to meet them or his mother flies to Korea (where Nichkhun is based as part of the South Korean idol group 2PM) for work and his younger brother would tag along or his sister would fly to Korea to visit him. Whenever he has work in Thailand, his family is always the first one he would call up.
This is exactly the kind of family relationship that Yaya said everyone shouldn't take for granted for. Being the youngest in her family, the movie "really touched home" for the actress and she learned to be more appreciative of her family. This being the actress' first visit to Malaysia, she was visibly elated to be in the country, though hers was a short stay as she had to leave right after their mall appearance, while Sunny and Nichkhun made their way to GSC Mid Valley for their final meet and greet event for their one-day tour that same evening. Read on for more of what the stars have to say about "Brother of the Year":
Cinema Online: How do you guys feel being able to come down here to meet your Malaysian fans? Nichkhun: It's been a while, I usually come here for concerts or something related to music, this is my first time coming here for a film. So this is very special. Sunny: This is my first time here in Malaysia, I don't think anybody knows me. Nichkhun, your dialogues in the movie require you, as Moji, to speak in both Thai and Japanese, was that hard? Nichkhun: The hardest thing for me would be remembering the Thai lines. I've been overseas for so long, my Thai is getting really bad. My script, I had to read it a lot so I wouldn't get the lines wrong because I don't wanna mess it up for these guys and I don't wanna waste their time. I work a lot in Japan too, so I picked up on that quite quickly but this lady over here [gestures to Yaya], she's never spoken Japanese before but she shot [her scenes] in just 2 takes? She didn't make any mistake at all. Yaya: Well, in university I majored in languages. So I think it took me a week [to learn the Japanese lines], something like that.
Did you guys make a lot of NGs (No Good a.k.a. bloopers)? Yaya: Hardly. Nichkhun: We don't have much NG because we click so well that we know that [Sunny] is gonna act a certain way, we come prepared for it. Out of the three of you, Sunny is definitely more experienced when it comes to working in Thai films, how was it like working with him? Yaya: Well, one thing everybody on set noticed was that Pee Sunny never had a script on him. Because well, what he says is that the character is already seeped into his skin. So he's basically just being there as the character. So maybe that's why we don't really retake so much. Nichkhun: Everytime we do a take, every take would be totally different. Sunny never does the same thing over again. So it's really fun working with him because you have to really pay attention to what he's saying or how he's reacting to you and he's really professional. Sunny, did you feel any pressure then during the filming process? Sunny: It wasn't hard for me at all during the filming process because I enjoyed acting and working with [Nichkhun and Yaya] and the production. Your character in the movie was very bad towards his younger sister Jane, are you like that in real life? Sunny: I'm actually the youngest in my family. I'm quite a nice and decent person. [Grins]. Yaya: He's a big sweetheart and actually on set, he's a person that makes everyone laugh. But for me, when we're filming, he's the most supportive person.