Stars' on-screen kiss caused stir at baseball game

The lead couple of new romantic comedy Adventure Of The Ring caused a minor stir when they filmed a kissing scene at a real-life baseball game in Taiwan.

The live audience was caught by surprise when the smooch between Taiwanese stars Chris Wang and Allison Lin was shown on the stadium's big-screen "kiss cam" during a break in the match.

Speaking to regional media in a video conference, Lin (The World Between Us, 2019), 35, says: "I got messages after the scene was filmed. People sent me links to articles saying our kiss made it to sports headlines.

"I got really nervous because Chris is a married man. I don't want people to think I was kissing him in real life. Thankfully, many netizens pointed out that we must have been filming as there's no way celebrities would cheat so openly."

Wang, 38, is married to his former manager and the couple have two children.

He says: "I had a bit of a prankster's mindset going into the scene. After our kiss cam was shown, I observed the reaction of the audience and they were looking around trying to find out where we were seated."

Adventure Of The Ring, an HBO Asia original, follows the story of a logical, level-headed actuary Yizhi (Wang), who is about to propose to his free-spirited flight-attendant girlfriend Lisa (Lin). His plans go awry when he misplaces his ring on a train.

The series, which premieres on Sunday on HBO and HBO Go, is adapted from a novel titled Ring Of The Day.

This is Wang's first leading role in five years. The actor-host, known for hosting travel variety series and starring in the popular drama The Shrewd Wife (2010), took time off acting after his daughter was born in 2015.

His other child, a boy, was born in 2017.

"I could not sleep the day before we started filming because it's been so long since I've had a leading role," he recalls.

"I had to work harder for this than for my previous roles because I had to catch up and warm up again."

For Lin, who was a flight attendant before moving to acting full-time, she felt at home in the role.

"The moment I stepped onto the plane set, the cabin crew in me took over. I became detail-oriented and was checking the counters to see if they were clean, if the bread baskets were in the proper position."

The actress also shares a number of similarities with her outgoing, impulsive character.

She says: "Lisa and I are similar in the sense that we're both quite impulsive in love. We both take action once we realise we want something."

Wang, however, is "almost entirely opposite" of his calm, logical character, who is not prone to flights of fancies.

In real life, he can be impulsive - he sold his house and moved his family of four into a camper's van to travel around Taiwan this year.

He says their nomadic lifestyle will continue for a while more. "Travel is not meant to be forever. We'll probably keep doing this until my daughter goes to primary school next July."

He and his co-star, who were chummy and chatty with each other during the interview, shared memorable times during filming.

Wang's character gets drunk in one scene and throws up.

Lin recounts with a laugh: "During that scene, he was really letting loose and giving it his all. And I was feeling a little bit like, 'Oh man, he's sucking up all the spotlight.'"

Wang says his wife shied away from visiting on set when he was due to film with Lin.

"She didn't want to affect Allison's emotions by being there and making it hard for her to imagine me as her fiance."

Caught by surprise at this revelation, Lin says: "That's really sweet of her."

• Adventure Of The Ring premieres on Sunday at 9pm on HBO (StarHub TV Channel 601 and Singtel TV Channel 420) and HBO Go.