Star of romantic drama series More Than Blue suffers cornea abrasion because she cried too much

Occupational hazards. When you have to cry for hours at a time for days, something's going to happen.

For Taiwanese actress Gingle Wang — who's the star of the upcoming TV drama series More Than Blue, it was cornea abrasions.

In a press interview for the show held yesterday (Sept 22), the 22-year-old said: "My eyes got too dry from all the crying and so I had to keep removing my contact lens and then wear them again, to the extent that I had abrasions on my corneas."

She added there was a time when she and leading man Fandy Fan filmed crying scenes the entire day.

The scenes aren't gratuitous. More Than Blue is about bittersweet love, and screenwriter Hermes Lu said that he hopes "the audience will be so moved that they will need a packet of tissue to wipe their tears during every episode".

The 10-episoder tells the story of star-crossed lovers Chang Che-kai and Sung Yuan-yuan from their college years, and is based on the 2018 Taiwanese film of the same name.

Though they have feelings for each other, Che-kai never confessed his feelings to Yuan-yuan, as he's aware that his hereditary terminal illness would strike any moment. Hence before he dies, he tries to find a companion for her.

Apart from a more intricate storyline that gives greater context to the characters, the drama plot mostly parallels what happens in the movie.

The film version was so popular that it broke box office records in Taiwan in 2018, and holds the record for the highest-grossing Taiwanese film of 2018 in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Fandy, 26, shared that more than half of his scenes include crying.

"We filmed crying scenes for a very long time, and my manager prepared some tonics for me to hydrate and replenish my energy. Gingle cried so much that she … couldn't wear her contact lens because it hurt too much and her eyes were so red."

He recounted a scene with his onscreen mother where he wept copiously for six hours from morning to night. He eventually had to apply cold pressure on his eyes to reduce the swelling.

On the scene that left the deepest impression, Fandy said: "It was when (my character) Che-kai breaks down on the bridge thinking about how Yuan-yuan is about to leave him. This scene is similar to the one in the movie.

"Gingle was there but off-camera, and when I finished the scene, I realised she was sobbing even worse than me. I felt really fortunate because she had already finished her scenes but she stayed back to provide the emotional setting for me. She very earnestly opened up her feelings to help me in that scene."

For Gingle, it was the last scene she filmed before the whole production wrapped up that is stuck on her mind.

"It was the classic 'running after the car' scene, which is in the movie version as well. It was an arduous day for me, because I'm not an actress who can break character easily. I felt sad the moment I reached the film set, and I didn't dare to look at Fandy because throughout the production, I felt deeply emotional every time I looked at him or heard his voice," she said.

"So that day, I didn't look at him and I kept my earphones on because I didn't want to hear his voice. He finished filming before me, but he stayed behind as well. When I finished a scene, he hugged me or held my hand, and said things that Che-kai would say to Yuan-yuan."

The series also stars Wang Bo-chieh, Ivy Shao, Eleven Yao, Figaro Tseng, Phoebe Yuan, Ma Nien-hsien, Tsai Jia-yin, and Bai Runyin. The series, co-produced by mm2 Entertainment Taiwan, will premiere in 2021.

ALSO READ: Taiwanese hit romance film More Than Blue to get TV series

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com