Koh Jia Ler 'slept' with director Anthony Chen to prepare for new film Wet Season

First it was Malaysian actress and co-star Yeo Yann Yann and now, it's director Anthony Chen.

In the course of filming Wet Season, local actor Koh Jia Ler has 'bedded' both of them.

Speaking to Lianhe Zaobao yesterday (Oct 2), Jia Ler revealed that he slept at Anthony's place for a month and they even shared the same bed.

The 18-year-old said that this was because firstly, he had to lose 8kg for the role and Anthony wanted to supervise his diet and secondly, Anthony didn't want him to oversleep and be late for filming.

"Thankfully the bed was big enough but Anthony said I hit him at times when I was turning in bed," he said.

Describing the experience as "painful", he admitted that Anthony was pretty strict with him. He recounted an instance where he was trying to unwind after a long day of filming and wanted to use his phone to chat with his friends but Anthony confiscated it and chased him to bed to ensure that he was rested.

As a wushu practitioner, Jia Ler did get to display his skills as part of his role but admitted that he had been duped into taking on the martial art.

He said: "My mother lied to me. She said I can protect my girlfriend with wushu. Who knew I'd end up using it in my acting?"

However, he does aspire to take on more roles in action flicks and cites Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan as his inspiration. Jia Ler also mentioned that after he completes his National Service — he enlists next year — he will work on developing his craft as an actor.

SIX NOMINATIONS AT THE GOLDEN HORSE AWARDS

Wet Season is the second film from Ilo Ilo's director, Anthony, and reunites Yann Yann and Jia Ler — both of whom played mother and son in Ilo Ilo.

This time, however, they'll be playing lovers.

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The film is set in Singapore during the monsoon season and tells the story of Ling (played by Yann Yann), whose life and marriage are breaking down because she's unable to bear a child. Her friendship with Wei Lun (played by Jia Ler) tides her through the frustrations and disappointments, eventually leading her to rediscover herself.

It was also recently reported that the film has garnered six nominations at the Golden Horse Awards — for Best Narrative Feature, Best Director, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

Jia Ler told the Chinese daily that he was asleep when the nominations were announced and woke up at 8pm to a barrage of texts: "I didn't know what time the announcement was and I was very puzzled by the congratulatory messages. Later, my brother-in-law told me that I had been nominated."

However, the actor said that he only celebrated for a minute before he went to take a shower.

WET SEASON WILL HAVE AN M18 RATING

Anthony previously expressed his concern that Wet Season might be censored or slapped with an R21 rating.

But he can rest easy because the film is rated M18 and it won't be censored. In fact, the film has been selected to open for this year’s Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) on Nov 21.

Anthony said: "It's a milestone for us to be able to premiere Wet Season at the 30th Singapore International Film Festival and I'm especially happy. The focus of the festival is on Singaporean and Southeast Asian films and I treasure this opportunity to screen the film."

Wet Season will open in cinemas on Nov 28.

bryanlim@asiaone.com