'I couldn't breathe': Aimee Chan binds chest and shaves head to play a man in comeback drama
Aimee Chan takes on the role of a male character (left) in the TVB drama Romeo and His Butterfly Lover.
PHOTO: Facebook/TVB, Instagram/Aimee Chan
PUBLISHED ONOctober 11, 2023 5:29 AMBySyarifah NadhirahNearly a decade after her last drama, Canadian-born Hong Kong actress Aimee Chan has returned to the small screens to portray two different characters - a pair of male-female twins.
In a recent interview with Hong Kong media, the 42-year-old shared about some sacrifices she made to play the male character Zhu Yingqiao, in the currently showing TVB series Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, which also stars her husband, actor Moses Chan.
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CyF1-UjPqGS/?img_index=1[/embed]
As she had a lot of action scenes including gun fights, Aimee revealed that she trained in taekwondo before filming began, focusing on her kicks and flexibility.
On top of gym exercises to build her stamina, she also attended a three-month action training course.
A lot of thought was also put into her styling so that Aimee could switch between her two roles easily. Because of her many action scenes, her hairstyle was carefully chosen to avoid the need of a wig and it was eventually decided that she would shave her hair at both sides of her head.
When Aimee tied her hair up showing the undercut, she would be portraying the brother Yingqiao; when her hair was let down, she would be the sister Yingtai.
She found the haircut "stylish and natural".
"The results look so good. When I look at myself in the mirror, I feel like I really look like a man," said Aimee, adding that she also lost weight for the role.
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx4ta7bv25B/[/embed]
She also explained how she had to deliberately lower her voice and bind her chest at the request of the executive producer: "I couldn't breathe with my chest bound, and I had a lot of action scenes which consume so much energy."
She hadn't filmed a show for nine years, and admitted she felt stressed during the initial period. "I remember we filmed more than 10 scenes on the first day. After that, I shot many scenes continuously for the next four or five days.
"It was like a dream. When the lights were on me, even saying my lines made me very nervous. I had never been so anxious before.
"I remember I even had crying scenes scheduled for the end of the first day of filming. I thought to myself, 'Oh my god. I haven't filmed in nine years, but there are crying scenes on the first day.' I couldn't sleep or eat during that period, it was as if I was going through a heartbreak," recalled Aimee.
Aimee last starred in the 2014 drama Ruse of Engagement. She then took on supporting roles for movies like The Gigolo 2 (2016), and her last acting gig, When Sun Meets Moon (2018).