Phyllis Quek thought she was getting a nice, relaxing role of a rich housewife but Zheng Geping had different plans for her.
In an interview with AsiaOne for the new Mediacorp drama Soul Detective, Phyllis revealed that she originally believed her role would be a simple walk in the park, but later found out that she had action scenes to shoot.
The 50-year-old actress laughed: “I didn’t know! At the time, Zheng Geping told me the role was a rich housewife and felt I was really suited for it, so he asked if I wanted to come and act.
“I agreed to it and didn’t even look at the script — I trusted him!”
Local actor Geping, 58, is the executive producer of Soul Detective and Phyllis is making her return to acting in drama after five years of absence.
She added she was happily expecting to get to ride in a big car, live in a big house and lead an easy life in the drama.
“I didn’t think that this housewife would do so many things that she shouldn’t be doing!”
In the drama, Phyllis plays housewife Yu Jiachun, the other half of Peh Ching Keong (Guo Liang).
Although Jiachun’s scenes primarily involve romance with Ching Keong, this changes towards the end of the show when she discovers a very important truth that leaves her character in shock.
But the real shock to Phyllis was likely the amount of action scenes that she needed to do, no doubt subverting the expectations she had of her character.
Highlighting one scene where she had to jump off a pedestrian bridge, Phyllis shared how difficult it was for her.
Filming took place on a bridge in Ang Mo Kio, she said, and while she stood on the ledge of the bridge, she could see cars speeding along beneath her feet.
“That scene was definitely up there in terms of how tough it was to act out,” she admitted. “I have acrophobia and I also needed to use stunt wires for the scene.”
Although it wasn’t her first time doing a high-flying wire stunt, the last time she did anything on stunt wires was over two decades ago, Phyllis recalled.
Up on the bridge, she was so scared that her eyes turned red and she nearly cried.
And while standing at the edge wasn’t too scary for her, what really shook her up was the drop she had to do – not just once, but just under five times because they had to shoot multiple takes.
Thankfully, the crew saw how distraught Phyllis was and decreased the height that she needed to jump from, she said.
Explaining how her character got into that predicament, she explained: “I was running away — I needed to escape the police as well. My character reached a point where she had nowhere else to go.”
Aside from this scene, she also mentioned that there were others where her character had to run, chase and jump around.
“I was cheated! This privileged housewife isn’t privileged at all!” Phyllis lightheartedly complained in the interview.
When asked if she voiced her complaints to Zheng Geping, Phyllis said she did not. “We’re actors, so we try our best to be as professional as possible.”
Soul Detective also stars Bryan Wong, Jesseca Liu, Carrie Wong, Cavin Soh and Nick Teo. New episodes are aired at 9pm on Channel 8 and will also be available on demand for free on meWATCH.