Jay Chou smiles a lot.

Although it isn’t glaringly apparent, if you look closer, there’s a little twinkling in his eyes, that tiny upward twitches at the side of his mouth that hint of a smile.

At the Singapore Secret “Secret” press conference at Fullerton Hotel, Jay Chou and Kwai Lun-Mei turned up looking refreshed, bearing no signs of fatigue from jet lag. They were a portrait of spiffiness in sartorially co-ordinated outfits (colour-wise); the former opted for the school boy look in a nostalgic black and white shirt with skinny tie, grey pants and canvas sneakers and the latter was a picture of elegance, clad in a grey sporty tank-dress, with a cut-in shoulder and patchwork at the bottom, matched with black heels.

In town to promote his directorial debut, the infamously dour, sour-faced and taciturn Taiwanese artiste persona is conspicuously absent from the Fullerton Hotel. Instead, the Jay Chou that UrbanWire saw answered to a fusillade of media queries obligingly, as he nattered off loquaciously like a runaway train.

A man of few words? Co-star Kwai Lun-Mei, who plays Yu in Secret begged to differ. “My first impression of Jay was that he is very cool, a man of few words. The first time I met him, I was thinking that the situation for the both of us would be very awkward, not knowing what to say. Unexpectedly, he turned out to be very humorous. I felt very comfortable and relaxed around him, which came as a surprise to even myself. In real life, he is very different from his on-screen persona.”

When asked what drew Chou to cast Kwai as the leading actress as well as his love interest in Secret, the virgin director replied, “It was her charisma that I first took notice of. In her previous film [Blue Gate Crossing] she acted more like a boy, so I hope to present a more feminine side of her this time round.”

Another cast member that Chou set his sights upon was popular veteran actor, Anthony Wong, who stars as Chou’s on-screen father, Chiu. This is the second time Wong plays Chou’s Dad, the first being in Initial D. The difference this time round is that Wong takes on a more humorous role, that even Chou commented that during the screening of Secret, Wong would induce mass laughter from the audience whenever his face appears on screen.

Said Chou, “Anthony Wong has always played serious characters on film. Like me, he likes to act cool. But, it’s because of that, that he is a magnet for women. But, in real life, he’s a very funny and humorous person. It was by chance that I stumbled upon him playing a piano, so I thought it would be great if I could infuse that element into the film. I was playing the piano at home, and he came and sat down beside me and played alongside me, as though he’s ‘hinting’ to me to include this scene in the film. He can take on a wide array of roles, besides serious ones, he can be very friendly and down-to-earth.”

It turned out that Chou’s casting choices hit jackpot, and serendipitous discoveries when he found out that both Kwai and Wong could play the piano!

When asked about Kwai’s kissing scene in Secret and how she prepared for it, she commented, “The kissing scene took place very naturally. We are all actors and actresses, so there was no need to account to anyone.”

Kwai also added that at the age 23, it was great for her to take on student roles. With her youthful looks, it doesn’t seem possible that she will take on more mature roles in the near future.

Chou also emphasised on how important this film is, so much so that he invested as much time and effort in this flick as his debut music album in 2000. With Secret, he finally consummated his dream of being taken seriously as a movie director.

Fans are anxious to know if he got hooked enough to the process that Secret will herald a beginning of more films from Chou. To that, Chou’s pragmatic answer is that he will let the box office ratings speak before making a decision. His hope, however, is that ratings will be “half of The Curse of The Golden Flower”, which he starred in with Chow Yun Fatt and Gong Li.

So what is the main message that Chou hopes to bring to youngsters out there through this movie?

“The main message is for people to appreciate the better times in life, because they pass you by very quickly. To me, I think the teenage student romance is the most innocent and happiest. First love is not necessarily a bad memory, on the contrary, it contains one’s best memories. I think we should all grab whatever opportunities that pass us by, because real life is not the same like celluloid, where you can press ‘rewind’.”