Taiwanese drama set in Singapore features romance between 2 women

A mile-high romance is brewing in the air, but it's not your average romantic comedy. 

A new Taiwanese drama set in Singapore features Lilu Wang and Huang Peijia — both female — as the leading couple.

In fact, Lilu's androgynous looks caught the eyes of curious Singaporeans when they filmed here. Standing at 1.74m, dressed in a male air steward uniform with her hair shaved short, she looked every bit like a very pretty man.

However, in an interview with Sin Chew Daily, Lilu said her gender became the subject of many onlookers' hushed discussions and the gossiping left her feeling rather uncomfortable.

Handsome Stewardess is the third instalment of Golden Horse-winning director Zero Chou's Six Cities Rainbow Project. Launched in 2017, the project aims to tell female-centric stories from different parts of the Chinese-speaking world. It is currently airing on GagaOOLala, a Taiwan-based video streaming service. 

Handsome Stewardess follows Lilu's character Holly who, in a bid to pursue her new Singaporean love, Meng Lian, quits her job in Taiwan to become an air stewardess. However, due to the numerous issues she faces as a result of gender bias, Holly decides to don a male uniform instead.

For 29-year-old Lilu — also known as Hsiao Man from popular Taiwanese girl band Hey Girl — this is probably the biggest image change thus far.

When asked about her bold decision to snip off her long tresses, Lilu said: "I have to try something different from my previous characters."

Her on-screen lover is played by Huang Peijia, best actress at last year's Golden Bell Awards.

In preparation for her character, Peijia studied Singapore shows and consulted her Malaysian crew members in order to nail the Singaporean accent. 

Incidentally, Peijia admitted that she had a girlfriend during her university days.

However, when asked if she would date another woman, she explained that although she's open to it, she wants to conceive a baby naturally.

The transnational love story also features some iconic Singapore landmarks such as Maxwell Food Centre and Marina Bay Sands.

Of course, we can't have a story about flight attendants in Singapore without showcasing Changi Airport.

Chou felt that the airport's cutting-edge infrastructure, coupled with her impression of the country as a symbol of extreme competitiveness, made it the perfect setting for a story of an airline crew member struggling to fit into her workplace.

Despite being a lighthearted romcom, the series seeks to highlight some of the struggles faced by flight attendants.

"It is many people's dream job. You can fly anywhere in the world, there is a sense of freedom. But there are many restrictions at the same time. You have to please the passengers no matter what and you are forced to dress in a very sexist and unproductive way." Chou explained.

"I wanted to present these conflicts, but still in a comedic way."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=66&v=cI5oEQ3zOjo[/embed]

rainercheung@asiaone.com