Singapore actor Romeo Tan opens up about his nightmarish experience as a first-time leading man in the drama “Sudden”, and his ‘romantic getaway’ with his co-star Rui En.

It was a dream come true for Singapore actor Romeo Tan.

He finally snagged his first lead role as the righteous yet troubled lawyer Fang Qiliang in the upcoming drama “Sudden”, and he was overjoyed about it.

But the dream turned into a nightmare for the 28-year-old actor, who found himself struggling to survive while shooting the drama about the lives of a group of lawyers.

Tan had to shoot back-to-back courtroom scenes for two weeks while working on “Sudden”, spending as much as 15 hours in front of the camera on some days.

It left him drained both physically and mentally, until things came to a head during the final days of the courtroom shoots.

He even started questioning if this marked the end of his acting career. Would anyone still use a lead actor who chokes?

The kindness of strangers

Tan revealed that he only managed to get through this challenging period with the help of his understanding directors, who broke down each scene for him and walked him through it.

His co-star Rui En, who played his character’s love interest Cheng Chuning in the drama, had also been a huge help, giving him advice and encouragement in his darkest hour.

“She helped me a lot. If she didn’t help me, I think I would’ve just died,” said Tan before going on to reveal that working on “Sudden” together had allowed him to get to know the real Rui En.

“We are not strangers any more. I find her very down to earth. She is not that ‘icy cold queen’. She just doesn’t like to mingle around,” gushed Tan.

“She never gave me any attitude. When you know her … she is quite a crazy girl inside. She can joke and laugh like crazy! She is not so uptight.”

Apart from gaining a friend, Tan expressed that working on “Sudden” had helped him mature as an actor.

The scent of Romance

Tan described “Sudden” as being a “very memorable” project, not only because of the challenging time he had shooting the courtroom scenes, but also because it is his first project which called for an overseas shoot.

Tan and Rui En spent eleven days shooting scenes for “Sudden” in Tasmania.

“The scenery was so beautiful it’s ridiculous!

“We had this scene where Qiliang asked Chuning to be his girlfriend while they were surrounded by sheep in a big field there.”

“It was so romantic! If I am a girl, I’d have said ‘yes’ immediately!” said Tan.

However, Rui En remembers things quite differently.

“It was smelly!” said Rui En, as she wrinkled her nose, pointing out that the smell of sheep and that of the dung they produced was quite overpowering, when they shot the scene.

“It is not as romantic in real life.”

“It looks nice, but that’s only because you don’t smell it on [television]!”

Sudden 骤变 debuts 02 September 2013 9pm on Channel 8.

Source: Channelnewsasia, The Malaysian Times

Categorised in channelnewsasia.com, EN, Sudden 骤变, The Malaysian Times.