Now that Hong Kong actress Miriam Yeung is married with a kid, she enjoys the feeling of being wooed by handsome men only in the movies.
The 40-year-old who is known as a goofy funnywoman tells Life! and regional media with a laugh that this is why she jumped at the opportunity to star in Johnnie To's romantic comedy Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2.
"I love that I can still enjoy that 'superior' feeling of being pursued by handsome men, that feeling of being a single woman, because I can't have any of that in real life anymore. So acting is a way for me to go into my dream world.
"And to be torn between Louis Koo and Vic Chou in this movie - both of whom are so handsome - I feel very blessed," says Yeung, who is married to public relations manager Real Ting, 35, with whom she has a two-year-old son, Torres.
In the new movie, a direct follow-up to To's 2011 film starring Gao Yuanyuan, Yeung plays a woman who is dating Koo's character and actively pursued by Chou's character at the same time.
In real life, her husband continues to shower attention on her, she reveals.
"He's a very caring and attentive person. For example, we'll be shopping and just looking around, and then, in the middle of a coffee break later on, he will suddenly get up and leave the cafe to buy something. When he comes back, he'll give me something that he noticed that I had spotted in a shop earlier. Even though I didn't say anything about wanting to get it, he just knew that I wanted it."
She adds: "For him to be so focused on me and everything that I do or want - I find that so romantic and touching."
Like her, Chou believes in small romantic gestures rather than the kind of grandstanding his character in the movie engages in - such as jumping in the sea to rescue Yeung's character (a scene the actress recalls with a shudder, because she does not know how to swim at all).
The 33-year-old Taiwanese actor says in the same interview: "I'm not a romantic person, at least not in that sense where you do extreme things. I always thought that keeping things simple and just being quietly happy as a couple every day is romantic enough."
He is reportedly dating 27-year-old actress Reen Yu, his co-star from the 2009 series Black & White.
After filming the movie, both Yeung and Chou decide that it is director To who is the most romantic of all.
Yeung says: "He doesn't talk much on set, but the fact that he can come up with such romantic scenarios in so many movies and set that lovey-dovey tone onscreen, proves that he is a very romantic guy."
Having said that, she does not deny that he is just as stern, even fierce, as he is reputed to be during filming.
"When he scolds people, he is a master in his choice of words. It's always just right, and never too much or too little," says Yeung with a laugh, recalling the time when the film's assistant director patiently explained a scene's background one at a time to more than 20 movie extras. This led To to lose his patience.
"The director shouted very loudly, 'Are you going to recite the entire Bible to them or something?' which shut everyone up immediately, including the poor assistant director. Everyone was so scared, but I found it hilarious."
Follow Yip Wai Yee on Twitter @STyipwaiyee
Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2 opens in cinemas tomorrow.
