the Newpaper interview: maybe now my parents will stop bugging me to get a real job

 

 

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 THU 27 DECEMBER 2007 

 SOMETHING in the video she posted online made Hollywood auteur Wayne Wang sit up.

Pamelyn (left) with co-star Shanghai-born Li Ling in The Princess Of Nebraska.

So he flew Singaporean actress Pamelyn Chee to San Francisco for an audition. He cast her in his indie film, The Princess Of Nebraska, the same day.Wayne told Canadian magazine Exclaim!: 'I found her on YouTube.'Somebody said to me, 'You should check this girl out'. There were a bunch of clips of her and, in one, she was letting loose in a really free way.'She reminded me of Maggie Cheung whom I worked with in Chinese Box.'Besides indie films like Chinese Box, a love story set against the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China, Wayne has also helmed Hollywood movies, like The Joy Luck Club.

Fresh from the film festival circuit, Pamelyn is now back in Singapore for a holiday.The Victoria Junior College theatre studies and drama alumnus is also looking for a producer for a new feature film, which is to be shot here.Does she think the good luck that landed her the role in Princess will follow her in this next venture?Laughing, Pamelyn said: 'Wayne loves to tell everyone he found me on YouTube.'The real story is that my agent sent my acting reel to the casting director for Princess.'But there were problems viewing it, so I put it on YouTube instead.'The video clip was of Pamelyn's character, a defiant and opinionated slave, arguing with two other slaves as they lay chained to a bed.The 20-something actress said she did not have high hopes of being picked to audition for Princess as the location was not in her favour.The film was casting in Los Angeles and San Francisco, on the US west coast, while she was based in New York on the east coast.Pamelyn, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in graphics communication from New York University, said: 'Usually, they'd pick a west coast person for the job.'There are so many actors in LA. I didn't think I would get it.'SURPRISEDSo when Wayne called her in April, she was taken by surprise.She said: 'I was literally trembling for the first few seconds and I mispronounced his name.'Not only was she flown across the country for an audition, Wayne also created a role just for her.Her character, X, a karaoke bar hostess, was not in the original screenplay which was based on a short story by US writer Li Yi Yun.Pamelyn said: 'Wayne had this vague idea of X. I think seeing my performance crystallised it.'The short story follows a day in the life of Sasha, a young Beijing girl studying in the US, who travels to San Francisco for an abortion.In the movie, Sasha meets X and has a brief relationship with her.Wayne said he cast Shanghai-born 'newcomer' Li Ling in the role of Sasha as her own character was like that of the fictional character.As for the role of X, he said: 'I wanted somebody very different from Ling, somebody more Americanised... Pamelyn fit the bill.'Her character speaks in Mandarin and American-accented English.'SUGGESTIVE SCENES'The father of Sasha's baby does not appear in the film, and the two actresses do have a couple of 'suggestive scenes'.Nothing explicit, said Pamelyn, just 'frolicking in bed in our bathrobes'.She said: 'We show some leg and share a short, intimate kiss. It wasn't uncomfortable as it wasn't a lingering kiss.'She said of Li Ling: 'We just clicked right from the start and had a lot of chemistry.'Wayne asked if I would mind acting older and uglier in the movie to provide a better contrast to Ling Li's character. I agreed immediately.'I think he's so used to Hollywood actresses who always want to look their prettiest all the time.'Not that Pamelyn has any qualms about taking on unconventional roles.She has cross-dressed for the role of a girl pretending to be a boy in The Shanghai Hotel, which was shot in New York last July.The movie about human trafficking was her 'first big film'. Her co-stars included veteran gongfu actress Cheng Pei Pei and Hill Harper of TV series CSI: New York.Neither film will be screened here.Pamelyn said her involvement in Princess has given her good exposure. She hopes it will lead to 'a steady stream of interesting roles with good directors'.In between acting jobs, she models for television and print advertisements.The once-struggling actress, who used to bartend to pay the rent, declined to reveal her pay.But she said: 'I definitely get paid a lot more in the US compared to if I were working in Singapore.'But if the scrīpt is good, I'll take the job for very little money.'She said: 'Since I was in primary school, I'd never thought of doing anything else but acting.'After graduating from university, she took part in open auditions for plays and films before eventually engaging an agent.Her education was paid for by her parents as well as a scholarship from the university.Pamelyn said: 'My parents still think I'll get a 'real job' one day.'To them, acting in films is not serious, it's 'play play' only.'She chose to stay in New York as it is her favourite city.She said: 'People here are also more open-minded and willing to take chances.'But location doesn't matter, I'll go wherever there's work.'**** Heartland issues? No thanksIT is time to take a fresh, new look at Singapore - through the eyes of an outsider.That is what actress Pamelyn Chee, who is in her 20s, hopes to show in her new film.The project, which will be shot here, is still in its early stages.And details about the screenplay remain closely-guarded secrets for now.All Pamelyn would say is that it is 'not going to be a heartland film'.It is likely to fall within the psychological drama genre.She said: 'We are trying to represent Singapore in a way that has not been seen before.'Can we push the boundaries of Singapore so that it is not restricted to just heartland issues?'Without missing a beat, she answers her own question.'I think this can be done because of the outsider perspective from our international crew,' she said.FOREIGN TALENTShe is collaborating with Italian director Vicenzo Tripodo and US screenwriter Matthew Griffin.Tripodo, who hails from Sicily, was a successful opera director before he switched to film directing five years ago.Griffin, who got his masters in writing from Columbia University, works as a film editor and producer.The trio met while working on a previous project.Right now, both Tripodo and Griffin are in other countries wrapping up another project.Pamelyn, who is represented by Fly Entertainment, is back in Singapore to make contacts and, hopefully, find a producer for their project.She said: 'I'm dying to work in Singapore. It's time I do something back home.'