At last night’s Word of the Actor session, I chose to do a scene from “Boys Don’t Cry” with my scene partner, Ethel. For those who’ve watched this awesome film, it’s the scene near the end before Brandon & Lana have sex. I knew it was a difficult scene to do – because of the subject matter – but I really wanted to challenge myself this week.

It’s a girl-on-girl scene, but with a twist. I played Teena Brandon (originally played by Hilary Swank, who won an Oscar for Best Actress for this role), a transgender male. One review described it as “a sad song about a free spirit who tried to fly a little too close to the flame”.

The scene was so good… It was awesome. The feeling when I was Brandon – it was really liberating & I totally forgot I was a girl. I was just him, being in love with a girl who he has lied to continuously, but finally comes clean with. It was an intimate scene that felt so right.

Thank you, Ethel!

I wore a shirt & put my hair up in a cap to be in character, but didn’t capture a shot of that.

I love you.

I watched the film today, never having watched it before. It was heart-wrenching, but I felt so much love for Brandon. He was really a lost soul crying out for help.

Had an awesome session with Kelvin Ke, our director for the day.

It’s been a crazily busy week, comparable to last week’s hectic rush. And the week is only half over! Spent Mon & Tues at an NIE Training Video shoot, where I played two different teachers for different case scenarios. Mon & Tues was also spent at a theatre workshop & a rehearsal for an upcoming performance (details below!).

On Wed, I went to watch my 10-year-old students perform at an exhibition in school, after which I did a voiceover for a Mandarin TVC – my first time! I did the English VO for the same TVC last week… And as expected, they had some trouble with my American-accented Mandarin, but I think I did pretty okay.

Wed night was spent workshopping “Boys Don’t Cry”, then today, I had an early morning 1-scene shoot for a TV drama. Just finished a rehearsal for an upcoming short film with another NYU Tisch Asia student – I’m playing a corpse. Hahahaha.

Last week, I had a couple of interesting shoots.

NYU Tisch Asia 1st-year student’s short film

Untitled as yet, but I call it “The Body Parts Fetish”. Haha.

This was another one for Lasalle, titled “Slayer”.

And the week is not yet over. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be playing a professional music composer in a corporate video over the next 2 days, and a druggie in a weekend shoot with another NYU student.

Conclusion:

Angry Teacher. Daughter seeking for parents’ love. Dying girl who finds hope. Girl turned boy. Real Estate client. Corpse. Professional Music Composer. Druggie.

One week’s work. Phew.

COMMERCIAL BREAK:

ShowOff6 Performance

26 & 27 Nov 2009 (Thu & Fri)

8p.m.

The Substation

Four plays – “The Circle of Truth” (which I’m in!), “Old Friend”, “Not Crazy” & “Going Nowhere” – presented by Faithworks.

Get your tickets from GateCrash today!

P.S.1 My friends said they saw me in a TVC – the one I did with Derrick & Steve & the whole ensemble – but I’ve not been able to see it yet! No time to watch TV.

P.S.2 I’m hooked on the recent Taiwan serials “桃花小妹” (Momo Love) & “下一站，幸福” (Autumn’s Concerto) starring 黄靖伦 Wong Jinglun & 吴建豪 Van Ness Wu respectively. They’re so different, but so captivating! “Momo Love” is laugh-out funny & far-fetched with adorable characters whereas “Autumn’s Concerto” has great acting & a relatively strong storyline.

P.S3 I want to catch Jinglun when he comes to town over the weekend, but it looks like my schedule is packed.*Sobz*

P.S I’m trying out this P.S. stuff because it’s a trademark of Jinglun’s blog (which I’ve been poring over) & I’ve got so much to say but no way to categorise my thoughts. Haha. Okay, I’m done.