‘Luckily I’m strong enough to swing a golf club’: Phyllis Quek on playing a murderer in Soul Detective

Art may imitate life, but it can be difficult to seek real-life inspiration when you’re playing a murderer.

So when Phyllis Quek was cast as a vengeful housewife on the local drama Soul Detective, she took her cue from TV shows she watches in her free time.

She told 8world in an interview: “Although it's the first time I’ve played a murderer, I usually watch a lot of dramas, and nowadays there’s a lot of blood and violence.”

Despite the former actress being away from our screens for five years, she said that it was not difficult to get into the hang of things for her guest role. The only worry she had was accidentally hitting her scene partner.

She continued: “I usually go to the gym to exercise. Luckily, I’m strong enough to swing a golf club.”

The 50-year-old actress plays housewife Yu Jiachun, married to Peh Ching Keong (Guo Liang). Their relationship deteriorates due to jealousy and culminates in murder when she thinks he may be having an affair.

In real life, Phyllis revealed that she is far more laid-back with her husband, Australian businessman David Cox. 

“My husband gives me a sense of security and we trust each other a lot, so I won’t be as jealous and guarded as my character,” she added. “With my husband, I behave differently under different circumstances — I can be submissive, or I can be casual like a friend.”

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He actually laughed when she told him about her role in Soul Detective, deeming her “too kind” to imagine as a killer, even urging her to “pay extra attention” to the murder scenes in the dramas they watched so she could learn from them.

In turn, Phyllis didn’t practise her role in front of him either, wanting to gauge his initial reaction when the show aired.

When Phyllis originally accepted the role of Jiachun, she told AsiaOne that she didn’t realise she would have to do action scenes.

“At the time, (executive producer) Zheng Geping told me the role was a rich housewife and felt I was really suited for it, so he asked if I wanted to come and act,” she said. “I agreed to it and didn’t even look at the script — I trusted him!”

She even had to do stunts, jumping from a bridge not once but five times due to the scene requiring multiple takes.

“That scene was definitely up there in terms of how tough it was to act out,” she admitted. “I have acrophobia and also needed to use stunt wires for it.”

Soul Detective also stars Bryan Wong, Jesseca Liu, Carrie Wong, Cavin Soh and Nick Teo. New episodes air at 9pm on Channel 8 and are available on demand for free on meWATCH.

ALSO READ: 'Took the hell out of me': Bryan Wong's role in Soul Detective is very different from what he's used to

drimac@asiaone.com

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