'It was a brand new world': Ferlyn Wong recounts first foray into stunts and fight scenes in new fantasy drama

Local actress Ferlyn Wong jumped into new territory with The Spirit Hunter, a local fantasy drama series that required her to be suspended in mid-air, fight with swords and use martial arts.
In a recent interview with AsiaOne, the 33-year-old shared her experience preparing for her role as Hua Cheng Feng, a swordswoman with a life purpose — to give back to her god-uncle after he saved her life.
Ferlyn said: "It was a brand new world for me, learning how to handle a sword and look cool doing it. Training gave me a space to focus, to make the sword feel like an extension of myself. It is definitely not as easy as it looks."
The drama also stars Hong Ling as Tian Nana, a 20-year-old girl burdened to carry a toy sword infused with the spirit of Jian Ling (Richie Koh), which curses her to see supernatural entities that she must defeat.
She told us she spent two months undergoing stunt training in Singapore two to three times a week, while also filming Emerald Hill — The Little Nyonya Story in Johor.
Initially, she thought juggling both characters would be difficult since her roles in Emerald Hill and The Spirit Hunter were "vastly different".
In the former, she plays Zhou Hongyu, who works in a brothel until she discovers she was born Anya, a member of the wealthy Zhang family.
However, once it became her routine, she realised training for two hours after shooting the drama became a "therapy session" for her.
She elaborated: "It actually became an avenue for me to escape the environment and mental state of my character in Emerald Hill. It gave me the space to recalibrate and return to the Emerald Hill set with a clearer, healthier mindset."
Once she began filming The Spirit Hunter, Ferlyn sustained a fair share of bruises but they became her badge of honour: "Since I'm usually fighting against men, I often end up with bruises. They hurt for days, but secretly, I'm proud of them, especially when the fight scenes turn out really well."
Many of her action scenes were with Tyler Ten, who plays Zhou Jie.
She told us she was "quite relieved" she would be acting opposite the 29-year-old, as they have worked together on two other dramas, Emerald Hill and I Do, Do I?.
"(We have) an unspoken relationship because we grew up together. So when I knew it was with Tyler, I knew that our chemistry was going to be there."
Ferlyn added that in one particular scene by the poolside, she gave Tyler "permission to go full force".
"We had already built a strong level of trust, and we knew our fight choreography would sync perfectly. Of course, I ended up with the most bruises after that scene. Hitting him is like hitting a huge rock."
In another scene, Tyler had to act like he was choking Ferlyn.
She didn't want it to look like he was withholding his strength so she told him to "just go for it, strangle me, just strangle".
Due to his strength, Ferlyn did have to remind him to let go while they were doing the scene.
Although a dance background from her time in the now disbanded K-pop group Skarf helped her memorise the choreography and execute the moves, fight choreography requires a little more control, she said.
"You have to exert the force, but right before you reach them, you have to stop a little bit, just so the impact is not as big as the real move," she explained.
Ferlyn's first fight scene was with supporting actor Mark Valentino, and it got off to an intense start. "In my first few fighting scenes, I literally punched him in the face, but we just continued the scene," she recalled.
When the director yelled "cut", Ferlyn asked Mark if he was okay and thanked him for not stopping the scene.
To her surprise, he replied: "No, thank you for continuing."
Ferlyn was suspended in the air for some of her action scenes, assisted by a professional team from Hong Kong.
"There weren't any moments when I felt scared or unsure. I believe that in every action scene, trust is crucial. Trust between the stunt team, your scene partner, the crew, and yourself," she told us.
"Once that level of trust is established, you know everyone is looking out for each other's safety. That's why I never had any doubts and I would usually just go for it."
Ferlyn said she had no problems doing wired scenes alone. However, when it came to doing them with other actors, like Elvin Ng, she admitted there were some difficulties.
"There were times when his speed was faster than mine because of the weight difference, and it took a few more takes to get the perfect take. But he's very professional," she said, adding that he would often tweak his movements and acting after checking the result.
"So that's why I said the cast is very important. When I saw the cast list, I was very confident that we won't waste time. All very intelligent actors and actresses."
The Spirit Hunter is available on demand for free on Mewatch. It will also premiere on Channel 8 on July 3, airing weekdays at 9pm.
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