There will be many intimate and kissing scenes between Singapore's most talked-about celebrity couple, Fann Wong and Christopher Lee, in a new movie, The Wedding Of The Year.

The fictional Wedding is slated to open during Chinese New Year in January, ahead of their actual wedding expected to be held in September next year, though they will not give an actual date or the venue of the wedding dinner.

Director Ekachai Uekrongtham tells Life!: 'I have already asked them to start rehearsing. But they told me they do not need too much practice for the kissing scenes.

'The movie producers have had the idea for this movie for two years and it is just nice that we can have both Christopher and Fann to act in it.'

Written by Ekachai, playwright Desmond Sim and Yes 93.3FM DJ Dennis Chew, the MediaCorp Raintree Pictures and Scorpio East Pictures production stars the real-life couple as a pair of celebrated actors who hate each other but get married to further their acting careers.

Fann, 37, says: 'The movie's plot is very different from our real love life, which is why I accepted the role. I wouldn't want a movie which is a biopic of our own love stories.'

Does she think it is bad luck to get married to the same man twice?

'My fortune teller once told me I should marry twice, so I guess it is falling into place now, as I will be marrying the same man again,' she says.

She and Lee, also 37, are acting together again after eight years. The last time they starred opposite each other was in the television series Looking For Stars (2000), where they also played lovers.

Yesterday, the cast and crew of the film were at Cityhub Hotel in Jalan Besar for the traditional prayer ceremony that marks the start of filming, which will take place in Singapore and Malaysia.

The movie is budgeted at between $1.3 million and $1.5 million.

Interestingly, the location of the prayer's ceremony is near the site of the hit-and-run accident that Lee was involved in two years ago, an offence for which he was jailed for six weeks.

About the coincidence, he will only say: 'I haven't been here in a very long time.'

For their real wedding celebrations, the couple will be holding two wedding banquets in Singapore and Malaysia. Lee is from Malaysia.

They also say they are currently looking for a new apartment to move into after their marriage.

Is the movie a good preparation for the real thing? Fann says: 'As I have not been thinking too much about my own wedding, starring in this movie will allow me to have an idea of how a wedding is like, which is not bad.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 12, 2008.