Greetings and salutations, fellow stargazers! This is your Showbiz Sista on the set of the upcoming Channel U drama, Marry Me, on which filming has recently commenced.
But first, a pause to insert a true story from Yvonne Lim: “When people ask, ‘What’s the title of the drama?’ and I say ‘Marry Me’, they say, ‘No, I’m not going to marry you’!”
Yvonne, together with Jesseca Liu and Ya Hui, play a trio of friends with successful careers who, for one reason or other, just can’t seem to meet and marry Mr Right. Thomas Ong, Pierre Png, Yuan Shuai and Jeffrey Xu also star as potential candidates.
At 33, Jesseca does feel like she can relate to the role of “Rainbow”, the gorgeous boss of a dating agency who hasn’t been able to make the perfect match for herself. “I think this character was based on women around my age. So this show is suitable for singles, marrieds, or even men who want to understand how women think,” she said, adding that the trouble women face is partly that “I think the guys don’t have enough confidence”.
Jess also thinks this just might be a breakthrough role for her. “I am especially interested in this role because I’ve never taken on one like it – she’s coquettish, talks a lot and talks very fast,” she said. “The producer says I’m a person with low energy – when I’m not doing scenes, I’m quite chill. But this character’s energy is very high; she’s always talking a lot and making other people high. So it’s a challenge for me. And it might be my chance for a breakthrough.”
Yvonne, who plays a gynaecologist in a 20-year relationship that’s going nowhere, also feels close to the subject matter. “I guess I relate to the role in the sense that I’ve been very focused and busy with my career the past few years – not only in Singapore, sometimes I have to fly to China or even, recently, Malaysia for a few months to film. I have a relationship now, so, sometimes it’s not easy juggling a relationship and a career,” she said.
“My personal feeling is that, we will always have that perfect guy that we want. But as you get older, you realize that there’s no such thing as a perfect guy. I think if the guy has a good heart, he is responsible, he’s able to take care of the family, he is not a snob, and has a career at least – not the kind who just depends on you to support him – I think that’s pretty all right.”
As for Ya Hui, she’s pulling a Chen Hanwei. The actress has been frantically trying to gain weight in order to play a big girl whose self-esteem issues get in the way of romance. She’s still got some way to go, though – it’s a fat suit that’s giving her that well-fed look today.
“I wanted to have a double chin,” she lamented. “I have been working hard. I’ve been eating a lot but I’ve been losing weight. It’s unfair for me, too! It’s like when I need to slim down, I put on weight. When I need to put on weight, I slim down!”
Ya Hui’s DJ character gets paired up with Yuan Shuai, who plays a listener enamoured of her. On playing her lover, Yuan Shuai laughed: “I see Ya Hui as a brother!”
And since we were on the marriage theme, the 30-year-old singleton told Showbiz Sista: “My mom calls me every two or three days and nags me to get a girlfriend and get married. I tell her, ‘I hope the person I marry will be someone who makes me smile every morning when I wake up and see her lying next to me. Someone I’ll feel happy waking up next to and tiptoeing downstairs to make breakfast for her.’” Aww.
And what about the happily-married Pierre, who plays a taxi driver in love with Jess? Does he find women difficult to understand?
“You can either see them as a problem or you see them as a mystery,” Pierre theorized. “When you see them as a mystery… everything is interesting, and you are intrigued by just about every response you get out of her. Whereas if you find her a problem, you just want to find a way to avoid that problem – maybe you come home a little bit later, when she’s fast asleep!”
Catch Marry Me starting Feb 27, Wednesdays to Fridays at 8pm on MediaCorp TV Channel U. Showbiz Sista, signing out. Live long and pop corn!
