PUBLISHED ONJune 13, 2023 1:28 AMByYeo Shu HuiAfter 13 years in Singapore showbiz and winning eight Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes awards at the Star Awards, Romeo Tan may have reached a new milestone in his acting career — filming bolder intimate scenes with his co-star Joanne Peh.
In the new Mediacorp drama Shero, the 38-year-old plays Yue Ruixiang, a CEO of a shipbuilding company who romances Zhang Yinchen, played by Joanne.
The pair have been through a series of ups and downs while finding out the truth behind the disappearance of Yinchen's sister Yinxi (Carrie Wong) during a bodyguard assignment.
At the recent press conference for the series, host Kenneth Chung revealed that Romeo had a number of bed scenes — the most he has ever had to film for a drama.
Romeo, who was bashful at the revelation, said that he was worried about performing those scenes at first.
He said in Mandarin: "I didn't know if I could film a bed scene [well]. As you know, in my previous works, those [intimate] scenes that I did are mostly very 'parental guidance-rated', the only time that I had to do a slightly bolder scene was with Carrie [Wong].
"But filming with Joanne this time round, it feels like we are filming a M18 scene."
When asked if there was any awkwardness between him and Joanne when filming the scenes, Romeo admitted that he was definitely awkward at first.
He added: "Especially as a man, I would think about how to be careful. Joanne was really nice about it and told me not to worry."
Joanne clarified that "filming an intimate scene is the same as filming a fight scene".
She explained: "In filming a fight scene, communication is important, such as how I will swing my punches or put my co-star in an armlock, you will need to make your co-star comfortable. That is the same for filming intimate scenes.
"Intimate scenes are discussed in a professional manner, where to put our hands, how to position our heads and what actions we are going to do. We have to talk about all of these with the director and rehearse before shooting. I feel that by doing so, everyone will feel more comfortable. If there are any parts that we are uncomfortable with, we can always bring it up first."
She added that filming an intimate scene is "not as casual as everyone thinks" and because it is filmed in a professional setting with multiple considerations, such as getting the shot correctly, nobody will think too much about the intimacy.
Speaking to AsiaOne, Romeo said that although he has worked with Joanne before, this is the first time that he felt he really got to understand her better as they got closer during filming.
He added: "During the process of acting, Joanne shared with me a lot of her experiences and struggles in showbiz and how she picked herself up. To be able to act alongside her is a rewarding experience, as I am able to learn a lot from her."
Getting into Ruixiang's role is a natural process for Romeo once he looked at Joanne's face on set.
Romeo shared: "Whenever I looked into her eyes while filming, I would be able to know what she was thinking. I felt that while filming Shero, the chemistry that we had was like a couple. I have great admiration for Joanne."
In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, Romeo said that Joanne did a lot of "homework" in preparation to shoot the intimate scenes and would share it with him.
He told the Chinese daily: "Joanne sent me a lot of photographs that she found on the internet. Those photographs are about how couples interact with each other, their body language, how they place their hands when they are around each other, how intimate they can be and the types of intimacy."
Romeo added that she also discussed with him about the types of intimacy that is comfortable for both of them so that they could try them out during filming to present the scene well.
Romeo also told us that acting alongside Joanne has allowed him to "mature" in his acting and take his performance to greater heights.
He said: "Usually when portraying a romantic relationship in other dramas, I will act in a sequence and stop at where it should and have never thought about portraying the relationship in a more sensitive manner. There are multiple reasons, such as the script, censorship concerns or the director's call.
"But with Joanne, it could be that she has acted in other projects before that allows her a wider span of performance. So when she first brought this manner of working to the set, I was concerned if our performance would pass censorship. But later I thought, 'why not?'"
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He added that it is all about putting his bet on trying bolder intimate performances after discussions with the director and producer to break the boundaries of "playing safe".
From these experiences, Romeo said that he has learnt to better communicate with the production team and his co-stars on filming these scenes.
Said Romeo: "We want to film something that is believable to the audience. Audiences are not stupid these days, if your acting is not convincing, they will lose interest.
"What we are trying to do is to make our performance convincing so that audiences are able to immerse in our characters and the plot and like what we have filmed."
Shero airs on weekdays at 9pm on Channel 8. It will also be available on demand for free on meWATCH.
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