Reports: Tan kee Yun and Kwok Kar Peng

Exposed and vulnerable.

These aren’t words that you’d usually hear from MediaCorp artiste Rui En.

She has often projected an unflappable and icy-cool demeanour, both on- and off-camera.

But filming high-octane cop drama Unriddle II left the 31-year-old emotionally wrought – even till today, two months after the show wrapped its shoot.

“I’ve been acting for a while, but this is the first time I have no idea how my scenes will actually turn out on television,” she told The New Paper at the press conference for the show on Tuesday.

“Just thinking about it, it’s nerve-racking. It’s like being in a relationship where you give a lot, and vulnerability is all you can feel.”

The 20-episode series, a sequel to 2010’s popular Unriddle, premieres on Channel 8 at 9pm next Monday.

It reunites original cast members like Rui En, Chen Liping and Tay Ping Hui as elite members of the Criminal Investigation Department.

New additions like Elvin Ng as Rui En’s competitive teammate and Rebecca Lim as a mysterious psychiatrist.

Replete with twists and turns, Unriddle II sees the tanned, lean Rui En delving into darker and more hard-hitting territory.

Viewers who have caught the trailer on YouTube would have noticed the changes in her character, Xiaoman.

In one scene, she stumbles around, dazed and bleary-eyed, while in another, she points a gun at herself.

“We had several scenes that were really sad and emotionally draining,” Rui En recalled, declining to provide more details as it might give the plot away.

“When it comes to acting, I’ve always been very particular about timing and control; I tend to hold back so that I don’t overact…

But for this one, I felt I just had to let loose. It got to the extent that I started cursing a lot on set (like dropping the F-bomb), which shocked my co-stars and the crew. They certainly didn’t see that coming.”

Aside from sprouting profanities, Rui En revealed during the initial stages of filming, the sheer intensity of the scenes made her feel so “low and depressed” that she felt “suicidal” at one point.

“The thought did cross my mind,” she said. “If I hadn’t snapped out of it, I figure I would have gone crazy.”

Thanks to co-star Chen, she eventually managed to purge the negativity.

“I had a chat with her and she told me, ‘You just have to let it go.’ I’m very thankful for that,” said Rui En.

“Of course, her laughter also helped…Liping tends to burst into laughter after every serious, emotional scene – I have no idea why, but it’s infectious and makes me laugh along.”

The 46-year-old veteran actress and mother of one told The New Paper in a seperate interview she became concerned that Rui En was not stepping out of her character even after the directors had shouted “cut”.

‘I was worried for her’

“Those two nights that we filmed the finale, I was worried for her…She told me she felt very negative, which was something I could understand as I felt that same way too at one point during filming.

I told her she had to let the character go for a while.”

Chen recounted the day she, Rui En and Tay filmed from 8am to midnight.

The scenes involved Tay’s character, Zhang Yuze, becoming wheelchair-bound and later falling to his death – which Tay readily revealed at the press conference.

Rui En and Chen had tedious crying scenes from day to night.

“We were already feeling emotional from reading the script. In order to wrap up filming faster, we held on to these emotions so we could feel the sadness on set,” said Chen.

Catch #Unriddle 2 最火搭档 II from 5 March 2012 9pm on Channel 8.

Source: The New Paper

Categorised in EN, The New Paper, Unriddle 2 最火搭档 2.