stick to your day job!
so i got an email weeks ago from a colleague to help his friend who's doing her masters in film at New York Uni (they have a branch in our country) and needed someone 'tough' to play the role of a head diver of a navy seals-type mission. all that was required apparently was to grunt a couple of lines in hokkien and at some point, be submerged for close-up shots in full scuba gear. so i thought, why not? let's chalk that up to another item on my do-list to 'play a bit role in a film'.
well, turns out it wasn't as simple as channeling my inner ah-lian. we were put through bootcamp style stealth-stalking which caused my thigh muscles to ache for days on end, do re-takes too many to recall, be plagued by equipment failure leading to rescheduling and all this atop an authentic kelong off pasir ris with constant puke-inducing undulation and where its sole toilet facility was literally a hole above the sea, yes the same sea we may be mulching around. so short of catching an exotic viral strain from the murky waters, i had to grapple with the possibility of accidental swallow.-faint-
in any case, it ended up spanning nearly three weekends, over-nighters and too many ciggies to pass the waiting time while they set up, rehearse etc (i only got home at 4am last night)
most memorable moment: chatting with the wife of the kelong owner and bonding over our shared addiction for fb gaming haha yes wifi-friendly despite challenging sanitation. go figure
didn't hurt to have eye-candy cast for company haha! guess what they're all teachers, too ;]
the director, who's an exotic heritage of negro & indian
what i've learnt to appreciate is even for that 30 second perfect shot, it took hours just to prep, clapboard-takes to the power of infinity and mostly new-found skill of how to look bad-ass without constipated expression (think tom cruise haha)
looking more like a ninja!
interestingly after meeting up with the director, she re-wrote the script to fit my disposition and demeanour. i am indeed honoured (even if i speak only in 10% of the end product)! and the original role was 'petite diver'. haha guess that changed too after meeting me.
an extract from the screenplay:
'salt and pepper hair' hahah she's sweet. she could've said 'grey hairs of neglect'
well if all goes well and her promo clip gets approval to go full-length feature, then you saw it here first!
well, turns out it wasn't as simple as channeling my inner ah-lian. we were put through bootcamp style stealth-stalking which caused my thigh muscles to ache for days on end, do re-takes too many to recall, be plagued by equipment failure leading to rescheduling and all this atop an authentic kelong off pasir ris with constant puke-inducing undulation and where its sole toilet facility was literally a hole above the sea, yes the same sea we may be mulching around. so short of catching an exotic viral strain from the murky waters, i had to grapple with the possibility of accidental swallow.-faint-
in any case, it ended up spanning nearly three weekends, over-nighters and too many ciggies to pass the waiting time while they set up, rehearse etc (i only got home at 4am last night)
most memorable moment: chatting with the wife of the kelong owner and bonding over our shared addiction for fb gaming haha yes wifi-friendly despite challenging sanitation. go figure
didn't hurt to have eye-candy cast for company haha! guess what they're all teachers, too ;]
the director, who's an exotic heritage of negro & indian
what i've learnt to appreciate is even for that 30 second perfect shot, it took hours just to prep, clapboard-takes to the power of infinity and mostly new-found skill of how to look bad-ass without constipated expression (think tom cruise haha)
looking more like a ninja!
interestingly after meeting up with the director, she re-wrote the script to fit my disposition and demeanour. i am indeed honoured (even if i speak only in 10% of the end product)! and the original role was 'petite diver'. haha guess that changed too after meeting me.
an extract from the screenplay:
'salt and pepper hair' hahah she's sweet. she could've said 'grey hairs of neglect'
well if all goes well and her promo clip gets approval to go full-length feature, then you saw it here first!