It was her first time filming for a long period overseas, and it wasn’t an easy experience.
In the supernatural romance-fantasy See You At 11pm, local actress Hong Ling plays a high school student who commits suicide with her lover and becomes a ghost.
Based on a bestselling novel, the drama is a Singapore-Taiwan co-production supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority and Taipei Film Commission, and follows a student with the ability to see spirits.
Hong Ling’s character is set in the past, 30 years before the main story.
“There were a lot of emotional scenes… I didn’t really have fun and happy ones,” the 31-year-old told AsiaOne in a recent interview at the Asia TV Forum & Market.
She spent three weeks to a month in Taiwan, where most of her scenes were filmed after dusk.
“[My character was] going crazy, getting angry and crying. I had a lot of crying scenes,” she shared, admitting that it was a tiring experience.
“Whenever I went back to my hotel, I really had to rest and prepare for the next day… I was quite lucky because all my scenes were gathered in these three weeks, so I could really get into my character and act out all my emotions.”
Though she felt lonely on set playing a spirit no one could see, Hong Ling thinks it was necessary for her character and would avoid mingling with others on set.
Filming culture in Singapore vs Taiwan
Hong Ling recalled the filming culture in Taiwan being “special”.
“On set, everyone speaks very softly. They communicate through their intercom devices, so I didn’t know what was happening. If we changed shots, the director would speak to the assistant director through the intercom,” she explained.
“When filming in Singapore, everyone just shouts across the set, so you know what’s happening.”
But this helped her as the quietness helps her focus on her scenes. Hong Ling also had two to three days off during her filming period and her actor husband Nick Teo flew over during his break to spend two days with her in Tainan.
The couple, who married in 2023, is currently filming their new crime drama No Other Way.
They recently moved into their new home, and Hong Ling told AsiaOne they’ll try to do a home tour video soon.
She last starred in the fantasy drama The Spirit Hunter (2025) as the protagonist Tian Nana, a 20-year-old girl burdened to carry a toy sword infused with the spirit of Jian Ling (played by Richie Koh).
She told us how she went into “shutdown mode” after filming the series because she had many things going on at the time.
Her mother, who died from cancer in February 2025, had been admitted to the A&E in critical condition during her last weeks of filming.
See You At 11pm stars Taiwanese actors Liu Hsiu-fu and Chloe Xiang, as well as local actors Gavin Teo, James Seah and Jernelle Oh. It is pending a release date.
SINGAPORE HELPLINES
- Samaritans of Singapore: 1767 (24 hours) / 9151-1767 (WhatsApp)
- Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019
- Care Corner Counselling Centre (Mandarin): 1800-353-5800
- Institute of Mental Health’s national mindline: 1771 (24 hours) / 6669-1771 (WhatsApp)
- Silver Ribbon: 6386-1928
- We Care Community Services: 3165-8017
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