Yen signing a poster for a lucky fan who managed to get through the crowd upon his arrival at the Old Courthouse. – Photo by Kong Jun Liung
KUCHING: Hundreds of screaming fans greeted superstar actor Donnie Yen upon his arrival for a special meet-and-greet session at the Old Courthouse here yesterday.
Although the session was scheduled for 2pm, fans began showing up as early as 12.30pm and stood shoulder-to-shoulder hoping to catch a glimpse of the star of the ‘Ip Man’ series and ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’.
“Are you guys happy about the festival?” Yen asked in English, referring to the Asean International Film Festival and Award (AIFFA) 2017, with the crowd roaring in response.
“You guys have such a beautiful festival, and I am so honoured to be here today,” he added, quipping his famous mantra from his role as Chirrut Imwe in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’: “I am one with the Force, the Force is with me.”
Yen, who was accompanied by his wife Cecilia Wang, also gave out goodies to lucky fans and took a selfie with the crowd who had gathered there to meet him.
One lucky fan, meanwhile, related his ‘magical moment’of getting Yen to autograph a Lego model of his character Chirrut- still in its box- as the actor was leaving the venue in his vehicle.
“I didn’t wait very long for him to appear, and I actually didn’t have much hope of getting his autograph because I had a feeling security would be tight from watching a video of his appearance at the airport yesterday,” Aaron Kuek told thesundaypost after the event.
“I actually bought the Lego model before the event and kinda had it planned out, but he left the venue quite fast.
“I had to squeeze my way through the crowd and ran up to him as he was standing and waving from the sunroof of his vehicle as he was leaving. I called out his name, and he turned to me, smiled, took my gold marker and the Lego set to sign. That was a really magical moment,” Kuek said while holding up his prize.