Keung To and Jer Lau from HK boy band Mirror to make debut in movie

Keung To (left) and Jer Lau. Photo: Handout

Keung To and Jer Lau, two members of the wildly-popular Hong Kong boy band Mirror will make their screen debut with a feature film produced by Emperor Motion Pictures, the company announced on Monday (Aug 16).

The currently untitled production is to be directed by writer-director Kearan Pang (29+1) and will also star award-winning actress Teresa Mo (Tomorrow Is Another Day). Pang was previously a guest star of ViuTV's reality show King Maker, in which Mirror was discovered.

Details of the production such as story synopsis, budget, start date and international sales company are yet to be revealed. However, it was indicated that Mo and Keung will play mother and son roles. Mirror and four-piece boy band Error were formed following the first season of King Maker in 2018. But they did not shoot to superstardom until this year. In the last few months, they have become an antidote to the political strife and Covid-related gloom that has descended on Hong Kong over the past two years.

And they have revived regional interest in Cantopop, a once dominant Asian music genre that has been edged aside by Korea's K-pop, some Japanese acts and Mandarin-language performers addressing the Greater China market.

Mirror has inspired extravagant manifestations of fandom. Adoring fans have spent millions of dollars renting advertising hoardings, celebrating their idols' birthdays, and even redecorating a cruise ship.

That mania has quickly been parlayed into lucrative advertising contracts with A-list fashion brands including Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry, and with large corporations HSBC and McDonald's. Band members are now appearing on reality TV shows and getting acting gigs.

Mirror's Anson Lo and Edan Lui starred in BL (boy love) drama Ossan's Love, a Hong Kong adaptation of the Japanese drama of the same name, backed by ViuTV. It was so successful that the Hong Kong version will be streamed in Japan from Aug 21 on TELASA, a streaming platform belonging to TV Asahi, which produced the original Ossan's Love.

Supernatural Taiwan series Sometimes When We Touch, starring Keung and Lo, is now available on Taiwan's GTV and myVideo, and streamed on iQiyi. It will be available on ViuTV from Sept 13 onwards.

Mirror's popularity has contributed to ViuTV's sharp rise in revenue, according to the recent interim results of parent company PCCW. The telecom firm said its free TV and related business enjoyed a 97% increase in revenue to HK$256mil (RM139mil) in the first six months of 2021. Propelled by 150 new clients, advertising revenue also increased by 66% year-on-year to HK$188mil (RM102mil). PCCW also operates multi-territory Asian streaming service Viu.

"I'm a little nervous, but I'm glad that Keung To is also there with me. This is a great beginning and we can grow up together," said 28-year-old Lau, acknowledged as the group's best singer. – Reuters