- Joined
- Aug 8, 2008
- Messages
- 3,619
- Points
- 48
http://tnp.sg/show/story/0,4136,257798,00.html?
BUBBLE TROUBLE
Actress Mindee Ong recounts her toughest scenes for upcoming movie Perfect Rivals
By Kwok Kar Peng
October 09, 2010
PICTURES: A.I. PICTURES, MILEAGE COMMUNICATIONS
THERE she was soaking in a bathtub and covered up to her shoulders with soap suds.
But local actress Mindee Ong was anything but relaxed - not when she had 14 men looking on.
Her 'spectators' were crew members working with her on the set of new local movie Perfect Rivals.
The movie, scheduled for release next year, is about two rival bak kwa (barbecued meat) sellers, Mei Mei (played by Irene Ang) and Chen Hao (Hong Kong actor Ha Yu).
Ong plays Mei Mei's daughter, Yuan Yuan, who dresses up as a man to infiltrate Chen Hao's home and bak kwa shop to uncover the secret to his tasty meat slices.
In the bathtub scene, a drunken Xiao Ma (played by Malaysian singer-actor Josh Lai) stumbles on Yuan Yuan taking a bath. Xiao Ma is Chen Hao's son.
On the phone in Penang, where Perfect Rivals was being filmed, Ong told The New Paper: 'Josh was so shy when we did the scene. He didn't know where to stand and looked away when he spoke to me.'
The actress is no stranger to scenes involving sex.
In 12 Lotus, local director Royston Tan's 2008 getai movie, her character was beaten and bruised. The actress eventually broke down after shooting a violent gang rape scene.
But this was her first bathroom scene.
'I was feeling shy too,' Ong admitted. 'But I didn't want him (Lai) to feel any more awkward than he already did, so I told myself to imagine that I was at the beach wearing a bikini.'
Unfortunately, there was no flesh-coloured bikini on set, so Ong had to settle for skin-toned underwear.
Ong said: 'The scene in 12 Lotus, where actors tore my shirt in half, had been my most revealing (to date).
'But the recent bathtub scene showed the most skin because I wore only a skin-coloured tube top and underwear.'
The 30-year-old actress said that at certain camera angles, it looked like she wasn't wearing anything.
Lai, 25, admitted to The New Paper that he was very embarrassed and shy while filming the scene and had to force himself to look at Ong.
Permission to touch
He also asked for her permission before touching certain parts of her body.
'I touched her leg accidentally many times and I think it's a sensitive issue between a man and a woman. But Mindee seemed okay with it,' he added.
Even for Ong, filming the scene with so many male crew members around was awkward initially.
'But as the hours wore on, the fact that my buttocks had gone numb was worse than having the men around,' she said.
The actress spent six hours soaked in soapy water for the scene.
Because she left puddles of water on the floor each time she got out of the tub, the production crew had to mop the floor before every take.
So she eventually decided to simply sit in the tub - even when the tub was being moved - while the crew made adjustments to the set.
By the end of the shoot, her skin had shrivelled.
Worse, she developed a cold which persisted for a week.
Still, the bathtub shoot wasn't the worst scene for the actress. She groaned as she recalled the vomiting scene.
Ong said she had to bathe in 'vomit' for the part where Lai's character throws up a mixture of coffee, milk and oatmeal into the tub.
'I had to splash the 'vomit' to cover my chest so Xiao Ma wouldn't notice that Yuan Yuan is actually a woman,' she recounted.
'I was grossed out even though the food was all fresh. It didn't smell bad, but Josh held it in his mouth for a long time for the shoot.'
But Ong thinks that her biggest sacrifice for Perfect Rivals was having her breasts bound for her cross-dressing role.
She said: 'I had to wear an elastic band to flatten my chest and it was so tight and hot.
'I hated it. And because I'm so petite and fair, I had to wear long sleeves and at least four layers of clothes to make me look bulkier.'
She added that her inner layer of clothes would be drenched in perspiration even before filming started. And she developed heat rash under her armpits.
Ong confessed that she was worried that the binding would have a permanent effect.
'I asked my GP (doctor) if my breasts would become smaller and he told me they would be fine because I've passed puberty,' she said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Chee, it's a 'bust-up'
WHILE Mindee Ong had to bind her breasts to flatten her chest, Pamelyn Chee had to enlarge them.
In Perfect Rivals, the 28-year-old actress plays Ong's sister, Zhen Zhen, who has a C-cup chest.
In between filming, Chee told The New Paper through e-mail that she had to wear 'two layers of chicken cutlets' for the boost.
Huh?
'I meant silicone stick-on bras,' she clarified.
'And they kept threatening to get unstuck from the body...because it was really warm in Penang and I was sweating like crazy.
'On the first day (of filming), Irene (Ang, who plays her onscreen mum) was like, 'Wah, so big!'
Apart from that, the bigger bosom didn't pose any inconvenience because, she described, it wasn't 'Playboy size'.
Chee said she had to wear cleavage-revealing clothes for the entire film but didn't mind because she believes her body is part of her instrument for expression in her job.
Away from work, the actress prefers looser clothes and isn't a fan of revealing attire.
But she wasn't self-conscious about being in sexy outfits while she was filming with her male co-star, Taiwanese singer Stanly Hsu.
Chee said they often laughed when her 'cutlets' came loose.
She added that she didn't notice if anyone was staring because she was too pre-occupied with acting.
Realistic
Getting those falsies to look realistic was an art in itself.
'Every day, the wardrobe person spends a good 15 minutes sticking me up - it depends on the cut of the dress I'm wearing,' she said.
'It has to fit exactly in the right spot without showing. And also, tonnes of double-sided tape (was needed to) prevent any exposure.'
Chee declined to tell us her real cup size, only that it changes with 'the time of the month'.
But she did say she has never wished for bigger breasts. Her rationale: 'If you are small, you can always be padded to look bigger, but if you are big it's hard to make it look smaller'.
BUBBLE TROUBLE
Actress Mindee Ong recounts her toughest scenes for upcoming movie Perfect Rivals
By Kwok Kar Peng
October 09, 2010

PICTURES: A.I. PICTURES, MILEAGE COMMUNICATIONS
THERE she was soaking in a bathtub and covered up to her shoulders with soap suds.
But local actress Mindee Ong was anything but relaxed - not when she had 14 men looking on.
Her 'spectators' were crew members working with her on the set of new local movie Perfect Rivals.
The movie, scheduled for release next year, is about two rival bak kwa (barbecued meat) sellers, Mei Mei (played by Irene Ang) and Chen Hao (Hong Kong actor Ha Yu).
Ong plays Mei Mei's daughter, Yuan Yuan, who dresses up as a man to infiltrate Chen Hao's home and bak kwa shop to uncover the secret to his tasty meat slices.
In the bathtub scene, a drunken Xiao Ma (played by Malaysian singer-actor Josh Lai) stumbles on Yuan Yuan taking a bath. Xiao Ma is Chen Hao's son.
On the phone in Penang, where Perfect Rivals was being filmed, Ong told The New Paper: 'Josh was so shy when we did the scene. He didn't know where to stand and looked away when he spoke to me.'
The actress is no stranger to scenes involving sex.
In 12 Lotus, local director Royston Tan's 2008 getai movie, her character was beaten and bruised. The actress eventually broke down after shooting a violent gang rape scene.
But this was her first bathroom scene.
'I was feeling shy too,' Ong admitted. 'But I didn't want him (Lai) to feel any more awkward than he already did, so I told myself to imagine that I was at the beach wearing a bikini.'
Unfortunately, there was no flesh-coloured bikini on set, so Ong had to settle for skin-toned underwear.
Ong said: 'The scene in 12 Lotus, where actors tore my shirt in half, had been my most revealing (to date).
'But the recent bathtub scene showed the most skin because I wore only a skin-coloured tube top and underwear.'
The 30-year-old actress said that at certain camera angles, it looked like she wasn't wearing anything.
Lai, 25, admitted to The New Paper that he was very embarrassed and shy while filming the scene and had to force himself to look at Ong.
Permission to touch
He also asked for her permission before touching certain parts of her body.
'I touched her leg accidentally many times and I think it's a sensitive issue between a man and a woman. But Mindee seemed okay with it,' he added.
Even for Ong, filming the scene with so many male crew members around was awkward initially.
'But as the hours wore on, the fact that my buttocks had gone numb was worse than having the men around,' she said.
The actress spent six hours soaked in soapy water for the scene.
Because she left puddles of water on the floor each time she got out of the tub, the production crew had to mop the floor before every take.
So she eventually decided to simply sit in the tub - even when the tub was being moved - while the crew made adjustments to the set.
By the end of the shoot, her skin had shrivelled.
Worse, she developed a cold which persisted for a week.
Still, the bathtub shoot wasn't the worst scene for the actress. She groaned as she recalled the vomiting scene.
Ong said she had to bathe in 'vomit' for the part where Lai's character throws up a mixture of coffee, milk and oatmeal into the tub.
'I had to splash the 'vomit' to cover my chest so Xiao Ma wouldn't notice that Yuan Yuan is actually a woman,' she recounted.
'I was grossed out even though the food was all fresh. It didn't smell bad, but Josh held it in his mouth for a long time for the shoot.'
But Ong thinks that her biggest sacrifice for Perfect Rivals was having her breasts bound for her cross-dressing role.
She said: 'I had to wear an elastic band to flatten my chest and it was so tight and hot.
'I hated it. And because I'm so petite and fair, I had to wear long sleeves and at least four layers of clothes to make me look bulkier.'
She added that her inner layer of clothes would be drenched in perspiration even before filming started. And she developed heat rash under her armpits.
Ong confessed that she was worried that the binding would have a permanent effect.
'I asked my GP (doctor) if my breasts would become smaller and he told me they would be fine because I've passed puberty,' she said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Chee, it's a 'bust-up'
WHILE Mindee Ong had to bind her breasts to flatten her chest, Pamelyn Chee had to enlarge them.
In Perfect Rivals, the 28-year-old actress plays Ong's sister, Zhen Zhen, who has a C-cup chest.
In between filming, Chee told The New Paper through e-mail that she had to wear 'two layers of chicken cutlets' for the boost.
Huh?
'I meant silicone stick-on bras,' she clarified.
'And they kept threatening to get unstuck from the body...because it was really warm in Penang and I was sweating like crazy.
'On the first day (of filming), Irene (Ang, who plays her onscreen mum) was like, 'Wah, so big!'
Apart from that, the bigger bosom didn't pose any inconvenience because, she described, it wasn't 'Playboy size'.
Chee said she had to wear cleavage-revealing clothes for the entire film but didn't mind because she believes her body is part of her instrument for expression in her job.
Away from work, the actress prefers looser clothes and isn't a fan of revealing attire.
But she wasn't self-conscious about being in sexy outfits while she was filming with her male co-star, Taiwanese singer Stanly Hsu.
Chee said they often laughed when her 'cutlets' came loose.
She added that she didn't notice if anyone was staring because she was too pre-occupied with acting.
Realistic
Getting those falsies to look realistic was an art in itself.
'Every day, the wardrobe person spends a good 15 minutes sticking me up - it depends on the cut of the dress I'm wearing,' she said.
'It has to fit exactly in the right spot without showing. And also, tonnes of double-sided tape (was needed to) prevent any exposure.'
Chee declined to tell us her real cup size, only that it changes with 'the time of the month'.
But she did say she has never wished for bigger breasts. Her rationale: 'If you are small, you can always be padded to look bigger, but if you are big it's hard to make it look smaller'.