Michelle Chia plays a psychopath in Mind's Eye, says the drama 'is scarier than I had thought'

A woman, bound tightly in layers of plastic wrap, lies on a cold surgical table, screaming for her life as a psychopath prepares his torture.

He raises his hammer and begins pounding.

Get ready for such gruesome scenes in Toggle's upcoming drama Mind's Eye, which will be telecast from Jan 3 next year. The 13-episode series tells the story of a young private investigator Si Jia (Jesseca Liu) who uses her special precognitive abilities to prevent homicides before they happen.

Together with police officer Yi Wei (Tay Ping Hui), Si Jia enters into a deadly confrontation with vicious serial killer Jia He (Frederick Lee) and his twin sister Jia Shu (Michelle Chia).

Watching the five-minute trailer at the press conference yesterday (Dec 17), the actors themselves were surprised at just how shockingly explicit the show is, especially by local TV standards.

"It's scarier than I thought," local actress Michelle Chia admitted.

In an interview with AsiaOne, the 44-year-old added: "Filming is usually very different between what's on-set and what you see on-screen. In the latter, you have the sound effects and the visual effects, but on-set, we were all joking, playing with the blood, cleaning up…

"There was so much going on the set and so many people taking care of everything, like where to pour the blood, where we were supposed to place it, or how to clean it. There were so many things to take care of, you don't really feel anything.

"But it did look quite gross sometimes with all the fake arms and legs, and the thought of drilling someone's hand or nailing someone, or using the hammer to hit them in the head [is gross]."

There was, however, one time when the macabre subject matter hit her. She was on-set in a nearby waiting room during a film break.

"One of the actresses — she was [playing] one of the victims — her screams were really real. It was my 'brother' cutting her up or torturing her. I could really feel her pain…. it sounded so scary," Michelle said.

Besides the gruesome murder scenes, there's something else that might be uncomfortable for viewers: the unusually intimate relationship between Michelle and Frederic's characters. For instance, the two siblings hug very often.

Mind's Eye is Michelle's first drama in two years, and she accepted the role immediately after hearing about it because it's so different from herself.

While Jia Shu is kind towards plants as she believes they have feelings, she is very insecure and doesn't question her brother's actions.

"Jia Shu has so much admiration for her brother, and relies on him so much that whatever her brother does, she just accepts," Michelle explained.

"She's also a little psychopathic because her brother will do something, and she'll be the one helping to clean up. While cleaning up, she would chat with him, talk about their childhood, joke, and have wine. Her behaviour is just very nonchalant, and she doesn't feel there's anything wrong."

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com