A new year is upon us and with it comes resolutions and hopes for new beginnings. For Channel 8’s long form drama, Life – Fear Not (Life), however, the start of 2016 was tinged with sadness as they bade goodbye to the drama set and are preparing to wrap up filming for the 120-episode long series.
The full cast, which includes Chen Shucheng, Aileen Tan, Rayson Tan, Chen Liping, Felicia Chin, Aloysius Pang, Carrie Wong, Bonnie Loo and more, gathered for the last time at Studio 6 on Monday for the wrap-up party, where they spoke of their goals for the year and their best memories while working together for the past six months.
Aloysius and Felicia, who play siblings in Life, both chuckled that their best memories on-set include the times they spent together bickering. Despite this being their first time working together, they both agreed that their chemistry together was good. “To be honest – and this isn’t really a bad thing – but she hits people really hard,” Aloysius grinned. “She kept hitting me throughout the course of filming it did hurt quite a bit.”
Bursting out into laughter when we told her about Aloysius’s words, Felicia denied the accusation before admitting, “Once in a while, I’d pat him a little too hard (…) but I only hit people who I like so Aloysius, please know that I like you very much!”
While the two won’t be able to engage in sibling behavior after shooting wraps, they agreed that spending more time with their respective families is one of their highest priorities this year. “While I was filming Life, I didn’t really have time to spend with my mom and I might be busy with filming later in the year, so I’ll definitely want to spend more time with her soon,” Felicia mused.
One of the potential projects on her horizon is a drama in which she will play a lawyer for the first time in her career, in which the plot will focus heavily on the leading female. Musing that she definitely feels the pressure to work harder to portray the character well, Felicia shared that while “nothing is confirmed yet, it’ll definitely be a good opportunity for me”.
Apart from work, the 31-year-old has one more resolution for the year: to get a boyfriend. “I feel that I could spend more time on relationships (…) and isn’t it time for me to get a boyfriend anyway?” she quipped. “I think love is the most important; of course, mutual trust is too – that’s the foundation for all relationships.”
Acknowledging that she would consider a fellow celeb to be on her list of potential partners, Felicia also shared that she would “definitely announce that I’m in a relationship when the time is right.”
Her reel-life brother, however, doesn’t have love as one of his priorities this year. “One of my goals this year is to live for others instead of myself,” he declared. Among the things he’d like to achieve this year is to donate his blood marrow.
“I made this decision a while back because number of people around me have been diagnosed with leukemia. My parents, however, have their concerns about me going through with it. I only need to take a short rest after the procedure before going back to work but because there’s general anesthesia involved, the doctors said that there’s a 2% chance that I could slip into a coma,” he explained. “But this is a risk I’m willing to take to help others.”
Life’s hectic schedules also caused Aloysius to reflect on himself after his mother underwent surgery while he was busy at work. “On the day my mom was scheduled for her surgery, I was supposed to work from 7am to midnight. At the time, I felt that work was more important and that I wouldn’t be able to do anything even if I was at the hospital,” Aloysius shared.
Continuing, he added, “I held my emotions in check and went on with work but I couldn’t bear with it any longer and asked the director if I could use my lunch break to pay a visit to the hospital. On my way there, I suddenly felt that I was an unfilial son. She’s recovering well now, but I make it a point to spend time with her whenever I can.”