Whenever local actress Hong Ling needed help getting ready for emotional scenes while filming upcoming crime drama In His Hands, she would call her actor husband Nick Teo.
When AsiaOne visited the cast during their filming in the Johor Bahru suburb Kempas recently, the 31-year-old shared that being a reserved person, sometimes it’s hard for her to show her emotions on set with the cameras and production crew focusing on her.
She recounted: “Sometimes, I would call Nick before the scenes, and he would say some encouraging words to get me into the character.
“When I’ve completed the emotional scenes, I would call or text him to tell him I think I did great or when I think I didn’t do well, and he would comfort me.”
Nick, 36, also told AsiaOne that they would discuss their script and scenes at home sometimes, so he could prompt her to get into the required emotions when she needed it.
He added: “I am observing her from the outside. A lot of times, I see she has the emotions [required for the scene], but sometimes it may be harder for her to get it out.
“So, when needed, she would call me and I would bring up some of the past incidents that we have been through, so it would trigger her emotions.”
In the drama, previously titled Crisis Man, Hong Ling plays Wang Ruonan, whose life spirals out of control after her father committed murder and disappeared, forcing her to deal with the aftermath alone.
Driven by her desire to find him, she joins Hand of God, which is headed by Situ Feng (Jasper Liu) with team members Miss O (Cynthia Koh) and former underground boxing champion Lin Xiaolong (Nick), and they solve crises through unconventional means.
However, Ruonan is repeatedly forced to choose between her conscience and self-interest while resolving the cases. In the meantime, she seeks emotional support from police officer Cheng Feng (Tyler Ten), Situ Feng’s longtime friend.
While Cheng Feng does not condone Situ Feng’s approach, he still turns to the latter when cases are beyond the police’s reach. As the three of them work together, they realise the true crisis has been lurking between them all along.
Helping Nick with Thai, teaching Jasper Liu Singlish
Help is mutual between Hong Ling and Nick, as they also practise their lines together at home. Hong Ling, who is half-Thai, would help him with some of his Thai pronunciation for the drama.
“Nick’s character is a Thai, so he has to speak Thai in the show… Nick would ask me a lot of questions about the lines, how to pronounce them and I would try to help him,” she said.
Despite the heavy emotions Hong Ling needed to portray her role, she added they are both mindful not to bring the mood home after filming, as it is a place where they can be comfortable with each other.
This drama also marks Hong Ling’s first time working with Taiwanese actor Jasper. Their characters Ruonan and Situ Feng are involved in a love triangle with Cheng Feng, played by Tyler.
Hong Ling shared that the cast bond over meals and pickleball outside of filming whenever they have time, and the local actors have also been teaching Singlish to 39-year-old Jasper, so he could better understand and communicate here.
She laughed: “We use a lot of Singlish and our Mandarin is different; Jasper couldn’t really understand us very well at first. For example, once while we were filming a scene, the director told us to ‘siam, siam, siam‘, because she wanted us to move aside for the cameras.
“He thought she wanted us to laugh (xiao in Mandarin) and asked what we are laughing for. There is a language barrier, but we managed to discuss and learn from each other, and we can understand each other better now.”
Siam, which is the Hokkien pronunciation for the Chinese word shan (to dodge), is often used in Singapore to tell someone to move aside.
Training to build MMA fighter physique
For Nick, who plays a former boxing champion, about 70 per cent of his scenes in the series involved fighting.
Although he had some training in muay thai previously, the challenge this time round is that it is more realistic.
He elaborated: “In the past, most of my fight scenes were filmed using camera tricks. But this time round, my character is someone who is very ruthless, so the stunt choreography aimed to project the role more [realistically], such as [punches] to the face and body directly.
“I have to hit the actors in every punch. I am quite worried I might injure them.”
Nick has also been building up his muscles by focusing on his diet and training — including weight-lifting, stretching and boxing — before filming began in February and has put on two to three kilograms in weight and muscle mass.
“For this role, I am trying to build an MMA fighter body… I did a few trial-and-errors to find the most suitable way for my body type, because I have to eat carbs or I would slim down quickly.”
He added he intends to maintain his physique even after filming completes in June.
In His Hands will be available on demand for free on Mewatch in September and premieres on Channel 8 in the same month, airing on weekdays at 9pm.
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