PUBLISHED ONJanuary 01, 2023 2:32 AMByJolynn ChiaThey are the heroes of a supernatural drama series but don't expect them to be dealing the punches.
In a recent interview with regional media that AsiaOne attended, Taiwanese actor Tseng Jing-hua revealed: "I thought there would be many scenes of us beating others up, but turns out there were many scenes of us being beaten up, too.
"I feel that pretending to be beaten up is harder than beating people up," elaborated the 25-year-old, who shot to fame playing Birdy, a bold high school student in the hit LGBT romance movie, Your Name Engraved Herein (2020).
Jing-hua, together with this 29-year old co-star Peng Cian-you, were speaking to reporters for their upcoming fantasy comedy drama series Oh No! Here Comes Trouble, to be shown on iQiyi.
Jing-hua plays teenager Yi-yong, who wakes up from a car accident with mysterious superpowers.
Together with his school rival Guang-yan (Cian-you), they attempt to solve crimes with rookie policewoman Chu-ying (Vivian Sung).
Jing-hua and Cian-you had to undergo extensive training to learn how to pretend being beaten, falling and also writhing in pain. They also had to ensure that it was executed realistically on screen, which is crucial but difficult to execute perfectly in the moment.
Jing-hua added: "We cannot ask other actors to hit us for real, so we have to put in effort into imagining how it may feel and look like."
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While the two actors hadn't been accidentally hit by other actors at any point, they still got injured when they were not careful.
Cian-you admitted: "We usually have to protect ourselves against injury, but I was so keen to do my best that I got bruises all over my legs. So, I learnt to protect myself better thereafter."
This was not their only challenge. Cian-you added he had some struggles visualising the supernatural elements in the action scenes when they acted with a green screen.
For example, in one scene they had to move rapidly in the direction of a light beam, and the actors had to build mutual understanding in order to do it in tandem.
Cian-you explained: "It was made more challenging as it was also the first green screen action scene that I was involved in, plus I needed to juggle the comedic elements at the same time… I am especially thankful to our action instructor Lin He-hsuan, who guided us closely in the action sequences."
Jing-hua built on Cian-you's view, saying that as it was the first time he's acting in a comedy, it was difficult to achieve the effects exactly the way that the director expected.
"There were many lines in this series, so it was crucial that we memorised all the lines perfectly so that we could switch smoothly between scenes and also between action and dialogue," he said.
On a lighter note, both shared that their high school selves in real life were significantly different from their characters in the drama.
For Cian-you, it was a struggle to act as Guang-yan, who is individualistic and detached, as the latter is very different from his bubbly and outgoing personality. The silver lining is that as the show progresses, Guang-yan becomes warmer towards his friends and more identical to Cian-you's real-life disposition.
While Jing-hua's character Yi-yong isn't so different from him in real life, he felt that he is less brave than his character.
"I may be impulsive too, but I consider the consequences before I act. However, Yi-yong is braver; if he wants to know the truth, he will risk it all to get it. I am not as brave as he is."
Oh No! Here Comes Trouble will be streamed on iQiyi with the release date to be announced later.
jolynn.chia@asiaone.com
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