Jesseca Liu's new creature feature is finally releasing after 5 years but she wasn't worried it would be canned like her 1st film

It's been a long five years from the start of production to its release, but Jesseca Liu wasn't concerned whether her movie would ever be screened.

In a recent interview with AsiaOne, Jesseca responded to queries comparing the delays of her latest flick to a canned production that she acted in back in 2007.

"It's different, I really feel it's very different," the 43-year-old said. "This movie has greater monetary investment and the production is much larger.

"It's completely different from Untold Beauty — that was my very first movie and truth be told, I had no idea what I was filming."

Jesseca's latest movie is Circle Line, which follows her character as she and her son try to survive a strange beast that lurks in the country's subway system.

Production for the film began back in 2017 but was put through multiple delays.

Untold Beauty (2007) is a local supernatural romance movie by Roy Lim which also starred then-Taiwan heartthrob Fan Chih-wei.

[[nid:606587]]

Ultimately, Untold Beauty never saw the light of day — but Jesseca wasn't worried that Circle Line would suffer a similar fate.

She admitted: "I don't even know what the circumstances were behind the film back then (for Untold Beauty), and I feel that for this one (Circle Line) I at least understand what's happening."

The production of Circle Line was hindered by three years of Covid-19 and the computer-generated (CG) images required quite a bit of time to do, she explained.

Additionally, although she wasn't too clear on the reasons why, she knew that the crew had to travel to Thailand and other countries to work on the CG for the movie.

Jesseca also felt that worrying for the movie's release wasn't something that she should be concerned about. Instead, the responsibility falls on the producer and director of the show.

"I'm just one of the actors among the many," she added.

'I don't have to imagine'

Actors can bring personal experiences into their act, but a scene in this movie hit very close to home for Jesseca.

In the movie, Jesseca's character and her son are survivors of a car accident, where the vehicle flipped three times and launched her out.

[[nid:608131]]

The boy was left with a large scar on his back as well as trauma that leaves him incapable of speech.

But Jesseca is no stranger to car accidents, having been in one herself when she was 18. The accident left her with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for six years.

And she mustered that experience for her performance in Circle Line.

"I thought back to the situation when I had my accident and replayed everything in my mind again," Jesseca said.

"So I didn't have to imagine. The only difference is that the friends I was with have been swapped with family."

Speaking more on her experience with PTSD, she also explained that there was no fear during the crash itself.

"It was very fast, just two or three seconds. You pass out very fast and wake up equally fast… In the moment, you won't panic or feel fear, you'll just think to yourself, 'Okay, I need to get out, I need to get help.'"

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCCDlbZ3zQ4[/embed]

For her, the fear and PTSD came once she tried to ride in cars again.

Although she's moved past her PTSD now, Jesseca has expressed that even till this day she's occasionally afraid of riding in fast-moving vehicles.

Circle Line also stars Andie Chen and Peter Yu as well as Taiwanese actor Patrick Lee and is now screening in cinemas.

ALSO READ: 'People call me crazy': Jesseca Liu recalls losing herself with friends, including going nude into hot spring

khooyihang@asiaone.com

No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.