What was Jesseca Liu 'cursed' by during the filming of her new drama Mind's Eye?

She plays the lead in the new drama Mind's Eye, a macabre series which contains copious amounts of torture and gruesome scenes, from what we could see from a five-minute trailer shown during the press conference on Tuesday (Dec 17).

While local actress Jesseca Liu didn't have to film any of those bloody scenes, she was nevertheless plagued with an inexplicable "curse".

"If the first take is okay, the rest of the takes will be fine, too. But if I mess up the first take, then that's it. The following takes will not go well. It's a curse," the 40-year-old told AsiaOne.

The source of her frustration? A tennis ball.

In the Toggle drama, she plays private detective Si Jia, who possesses precognitive abilities to dream, see, or hear a moment from the future, specifically when death is about to strike.

Armed with the visions, she teams up with police officer Yi Wei (played by Tay Ping Hui) to track down a serial killer before the bodies pile up.

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

Besides the unusual ability, Si Jia always hits the bull's eye. There are scenes of her playing darts and throwing a tennis ball against the same spot on the wall.

"Whenever the camera wasn't rolling and I was just practising or playing around, I would hit the bull's eye without fail. But when the camera started rolling, I would definitely miss the spot. I don't know why," Jesseca told us with slight resignation in her voice.

"So no one actually knows that I'm a crack shot."

This "curse" got so bad that she once had to throw the tennis ball over 100 times to accommodate the different camera angles. By the time the shoot was completed, her arm was aching.

"I think it was the immense emotional pressure to perform. I was so angry at myself for missing the target."

Mind's Eye, which also stars Michelle Chia and Frederick Lee, will air only on Toggle from Jan 3.

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com