Unplanned kiss just felt right
Tosh Zhang and Cheryl Wee on why they smooched in new movie even though director didn't tell them to
For the upcoming local 1950s-era romantic movie My Love Sinema, audiences can expect an unscripted kissing scene between local actors Tosh Zhang and Cheryl Wee.
In it, the star-crossed lovers share a slow smooch on the lips after eloping in the middle of the night and finding shelter in a house in the forest after being drenched in the rain.
Opening here on Sept 8, it tells the story of a young man (Zhang) who moves from a kampung in Malaysia to Singapore to pursue his dream of becoming a film projectionist.
He meets and falls in love with a Chinese teacher (Wee) who is caught between her obligation as a dutiful daughter and her feelings for him.
Ah Boys To Men heart-throb Zhang told The New Paper in a joint interview with Wee yesterday at a press conference: "The director (Tan Ai Leng) didn't tell us we must kiss, she just wanted us to go with the feel and mood of the scene... but in the end, we did it."
Zhang, 27, and Wee, 29, did not rehearse how or when to kiss during the scene.
Wee said: "Even until the scene was set, we hadn't discussed whether we were going to kiss.
"(The way the kiss was done) was really suitable for the 1950s era (because of the uncertainty) of whether we were going to kiss."
TASTE OF CHICKEN
She recalled having eaten salted chicken before the scene, to which Zhang joked: "I got a bit of the taste (during the kissing scene)."
Wee added: "Yah, I ate the whole chicken just to give you the taste."
When asked to compare his two big-screen kisses so far - the first was with China actress Eva Cheng in 2014's The Lion Men - Zhang said: "I feel this one (with Wee) was definitely more intense and (I am not saying that) just because she is looking at me (now).
"This story is a lot deeper and at that point, we were not just kissing for the sake of it...
"It happened after we ran away and finally our characters had a moment together to absorb each other's presence."
The pair hemmed and hawed when asked to rate each other's kissing abilities and eventually came to the conclusion that they "looked like professionals".
Wee, who said she has been trolled by Zhang's female fans on Instagram since they started filming in Ipoh, said: "I am more scared of their reaction than of my boyfriend's."
My Love Sinema also marks Zhang's first lead role without his Ah Boys To Men co-stars, which is why he "definitely feels the stress" as he does not have the likes of Joshua Tan, Wang Weiliang or Maxi Lim "to share the pressure with".
Even though the movie showcases the cool rapper's tender side, Zhang, who is single after ending a long-term relationship a few years ago, said he is "not a romantic guy at all" in real life.
But that does not mean he is not capable of executing swoon-worthy gestures when the mood takes over.
He recalled: "The craziest thing I've ever done was for my ex-girlfriend.
"I bluffed her into thinking that I forgot about her birthday and told her that I was going overseas.
"I even went to the airport departure hall to take a photo with my friends and printed out fake air tickets and sent them to her.
"But actually, I was outside her house waiting for her with balloons, and together with my friends, we sang her a birthday song."
"The director (Tan Ai Leng) didn’t tell us we must kiss, she just wanted us to go with the feel and mood of the scene... but in the end, we did it."
- Actor Tosh Zhang
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