While actors like Rebecca Lim, Zoe Tay, Bryan Wong had fun punking co-stars and trading barbs in character on the set of upcoming Channel 8 drama, You Can Be An Angel Too, not everyone experienced the same level of gratification as they did. The “smurfy” trio, as Bryan would call themselves due to their blue uniforms, have a fun side to their characters in the show, unlike Elvin Ng’s prim and proper role as Fu Jia Zi.
“In the show, my character is the role model nurse. Everything you’d imagine or think a nurse to be, I am that,” he chuckled, adding that it was not easy for him to suppress his emotions or accept his character’s wishy-washy ways when it comes to love (co-star Sheila Sim plays his love interest, Liu You Le, in the show).
Likening their onscreen relationship to that of a tango dance where you’d “move forward one step” and then “take another step back,” he described their love story to be both gentle and coy. “One minute you want it, the other you don’t want it anymore… It was a bit hard for us [to portray such suppressed characters] because we are not like that in real life.”
In case you didn’t know, this is Elvin and Sheila’s second collaboration, they previously played a pair of bickering lovers in I’m In Charge – a far cry from what you’d see of them in Angel.
Keeping a lid on his emotions was so trying that he and Sheila both got irritated with their respective onscreen roles at one point in filming, said Elvin. It didn’t help that the role of Jia Zi was, to him, another of his “nice guy” roles again, following his turn as a devoted lover in World At Your Feet and an upright and law-abiding policeman in C.L.I.F. 3.
“Actually I may look serious, but people who know me well will know that I’m not. I’m more of a free spirit… I don’t like to be so regimented; it’s a bit tough for me. I’m not such a good guy, but I’m either a good guy, or like now, a very good nurse,” he lamented with a soft sigh.
The soon-to-be 34-year-old had a few more things to say about being confined in the goody two-shoes box and had more than once expressed a desire to “break out” of it.
“Can I be badder than just a good guy?” he pleaded, at one point during the interview.
“Nobody would think of me if they want a sissy or pervert role. I think it’s harder for me when it’s always just a good guy,” he said, “It’s hard to act a good guy with a lot of nuances and subtleties… when it’s more extreme, you have more free play and I look forward to that.”
The cast of You Can Be An Angel Too gather for a selfie after the press conference. © Provided by xinmsn The cast of You Can Be An Angel Too gather for a selfie after the press conference.
Despite his gripes about playing Mr. Good Guy for the nth time, he acknowledges that the best he can do right now – to the best of his abilities – is to be a good actor in his box.
Self-proclaiming to be going through mid-life crisis now – a view we disagreed with because, c’mon, he looks barely 30, Elvin theorised in all seriousness: “I only want to live till 70! Since I’m turning 34 (on Dec 23) that pretty much puts me in a mid-life crisis now.”
“I think it is a transitional stage and I also think too much,” he drawled on, reflecting on his words as he said them, before concluding himself to be an “emotional wreck,” “sentimental,” or just as someone who “thinks too much and make life difficult for myself.” (We think it’s a combination of all three, Elvin)
When asked if he had any birthday wishes for himself this year, this was what he said: “It’s to think for myself more and to make life easier for myself…. I just wish to find balance, equilibrium and happiness within myself.”
You Can Be An Angel Too premieres on Ch8, Jan 5 (Mon) at 9pm.