Hong Kong Comedy King, Stephen Chow, turned 61 on Thursday (June 22), and to mark the occasion, shared some really good news on Instagram.

The star’s last project was in 2019, when he served as director, writer, and producer for The New King of Comedy, a remake of his classic 1999 film, King of Comedy.

As such, one can imagine how excited fans were when Stephen posted the IG video which featured the first draft for his new movie, Shaolin Women’s Soccer.

That’s not all - he’s also looking to cast actresses for this update to his 2001 classic Shaolin Soccer.

“Here is my birthday wish,” he wrote, before continuing: “To spend time with so many pretty girls (young, beautiful, smart, curvy, ATHLETIC). All countries are welcomed. The more the merrier!”

He also hoped that there would be “people mountain people sea” applying for the roles, which basically, is the direct English translation for a Mandarin phrase which signifies a crowd of people. “Just don’t be ugly,” he added.

He then provided an email for interested parties to apply and warned that “photoshopped [photos]” will “never work”.

As one can imagine, Stephen’s post has become very popular with local and overseas celebrities alike.

“I [can] kick,” wrote local actress Ya Hui, who punctuated her comment with soccer ball emojis.

Then, there were a couple of interested parties who tried to shoot their shot, despite not fulfilling the criteria of being a “pretty girl”.

“Happy birthday, I can audition as a woman,” wrote Shaun Chen, while getai star Wang Lei asked: “Can a transgender person [apply]?”

“Can I be one of the girls???” questioned Edison Chen.

Hong Kong star Myolie Wu also threw her hat in the ring with this cheeky comment: “Is it a must to be young and beautiful? Is it okay if I’ve given birth to three [children]?”

Hong Kong media contacted Stephen’s agency to confirm the news. When asked if the upcoming film will see large-scale worldwide auditions, Stephen’s assistant simply replied: “[We’re] conducting the worldwide audition via e-mail and will announce more details at a later date.”

They then asked if Cecilia Cheung, who starred in Shaolin Soccer, would be part of the movie, and when filming would start for Shaolin Women’s Soccer.

Stephen’s assistant, however, remained tight-lipped, only commenting: “We’ll finish the recruiting process first.”