Phillis Quek, a former Mediacorp artist who stars in the new show Soul Detective, initially thought that her role in the drama would be different. The 50-year-old actress said that when she was cast for the role she expected that it would be a relaxing one, but the producer of the film had other ideas.
She had no idea that she would need to shoot action scenes.
In an interview with AsiaOne, Singapore’s digital content platform, the actress said that Zheng Geping, the executive producer of the drama series, asked her to be part of the team. He told her that her character will be a rich housewife which he felt was appropriate for her.
“I agreed to it and didn’t even look at the script — I trusted him!” the actress said.
Phyllis Quek has been on hiatus from her acting career for five years, and Soul Detective marks her return in front of the camera. With this, she was expecting to be living a comfortable role in the drama.
She was shocked to know that the housewife she is about to embody would do things that a normal housewife would not even think to do.
One particular scene had scared Phyllis during their shoot – she had to jump off a pedestrian bridge. She admitted that it was really tough, especially since she has acrophobia (fear of heights). She needed stunt wires for the scene to be successful. Doing this stunt, she nearly cried out of fear.
Aside from this particular scene, her character needed to run, chase and jump around.
“I was cheated! This privileged housewife isn’t privileged at all!” Phyllis declared in her interview with AsiaOne.
The drama, Soul Detective, is the third part of the supernatural trilogy that follows a Netherworld policeman as he joins forces with a human policeman to capture spirits that have escaped to the human world. It is available to watch for free on meWATCH.