Firelily - My story behind it

The casting

In October, 2018 I was on holiday on the beach in Beihai, China.

An email for casting!

I could not believe it. Is this real?

After I read the synopsis, I realized it is real. Suddenly, I got very disappointed because I fell in love with the story and got the connection with this main character Jia Huang but the casting call is not for Jia. Whatever the casting was for, I was eager to join this project.

I flew back to Belgium. Because of the jetlag, I woke up very early that day. It was on15th November, 2018. I met Emily van der Veer, the film director and Mathias Sourbron, the casting director of Firelily. We chatted immediately like friends. It seemed that we have been known each other for a long time.

She looked at Mathias and said : ‘Let’s cast for Jia’.

I could not believe it. Is this real? For Jia?

She knocked her head and Mathias said: ‘OK.’

The casting itself was not difficult even if I had to cry in front of the camera. My tears were like a running river which surprised me as well. This was the first time I cried in front of the camera.

From that day, my life is totally changed.