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| FUN FACTS ABOUT SINGAPORE DREAMING |
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“Singapore Dreaming” features veteran actor Richard Low’s first bedroom scene. |
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This is Lim Yu-Beng’s first time speaking Mandarin in any production, and he hadto learn his Chinese dialogue phonetically. And he had to play the scene opposite Xu Jiali, a Beijing Opera student from China who speaks perfect Mandarin! |
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Director/Producer Woo Yen Yen is the only Singaporean woman director to complete two feature films. |
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“Singapore Dreaming” is the first feature film collaboration between Singapore and New York filmmakers. There was a previous feature shot in Singapore in 1979,consisting of a mostly American crew, using Singaporean extras. That film was “Saint Jack”, which starred Ben Gazzara and was based on Paul Theroux’s novel. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich and produced by Roger Corman, it was banned for many years in Singapore. The connection between “Saint Jack” and “SingaporeDreaming” is that Martina Radwan started out assisting Robby Mueller, the cinematographer of “Saint Jack”, who went on to shoot Lars Von Triers’ “Dancer in the Dark”, Wim Wenders’ Oscar-nominated “Buena Vista Social Club” and many of Jim Jarmusch’s films. Martina was thrilled to discover she was retreading the path of one of her mentors. |
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Director of Photography Martina Radwan was so taken by the plastic drawstring bags that we Singaporeans drink out of that she bought several hundred back to New York. “They make perfect sense for film crews,” she said. “You can hang them on C-stands and other equipment.” |
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All the liang teh supplied to the crew was brewed by director Woo Yen Yen’s mother. |
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As preparation for their roles, Dick Su (Seng) and Serene Chen (Irene) conducteda fake SMS and email romance for weeks before the shoot. To Serene’s chagrin,Dick gave her the nickname “牛奶猪” (niu nai zhu, which translates as ‘milky pig’). |
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To distract curious onlookers when shooting on Orchard Road, director/producer Colin Goh and 1st assistant director Stephen Chin staged a mock ‘ah beng’ fight. |
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In one scene, Yeo Yann Yann hit her screen-husband Lim Yu-Beng so hard that he was left with handprint bruises on his chest for several days. |
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The New York crew, director of photography Martina Radwan, assistant camera Wylda Bayron and gaffer Luis Colon, learned Singlish by writing down phrases they overheard from the actors and crew, and taping them to the camera housing. |
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In the film, Richard Low’s on-screen illegitimate son is played by executive producer Woffles Wu’s very legitimate son, Ollie. |
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Before the directors, Woo Yen Yen and Colin Goh even knew Yeo Yann Yann, the actress who plays Mei, they used her photograph on her agent’s web site as the visual to craft Mei’s character. |
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The role of Irene was written specially for Serene Chen, as the directors, Woo Yen Yen and Colin Goh, had worked with her on two previous projects, and were very impressed with her talent and commitment. The other two projects were “TalkingCock SingingSong”, a CD project, and “3Meals”, a short film. |
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