The Life List: Peter Yu tested positive for Covid-19 after kiss scene for Deep End

Actor Peter Yu (seated second from left) tested positive for Covid-19 just a day after filming the kissing scene. PHOTO: CJ ENM HK

SINGAPORE - On the afternoon of April 12, cast members of Deep End were seen taking wefies, mingling with one another and speaking in front of cameras unmasked. It was like a throwback to pre-Covid-19 times.

The stars of the upcoming series have gathered for an in-person press conference in a co-working space at Park Regis Office Tower. The show is by the Hong Kong offshoot of South Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM.  

The series is about the horrors of the dark Web and cyber-sex crimes, and the cast includes Singaporeans Peter Yu, Glenn Yong and Aden Tan, and Taiwanese James Wen, Vera Chen and Erek Lin.

Here are five things to know about the series, which began filming in Singapore in March. It will be sold to streaming platforms after its completion.

1. Directors team up

The series is directed by two acclaimed local film-makers: Yeo Siew Hua (A Land Imagined, 2018) and K. Rajagopal (A Yellow Bird, 2016). They worked on the script together with playwright Kaylene Tan in English before translating it into Chinese for filming.

In a separate telephone interview, Yeo, 37, says: "There were a few layers. CJ ENM is a Korean company, our producer Fran Borgia is Spanish and Raja is more comfortable working with the script in English, so we wrote it originally in English before translation. But we did give the actors some space to tweak the Mandarin lines so it sounds more natural for them in speech."

Rajagopal, 56, learnt Chinese in school and communicating with the largely Mandarin-speaking cast was not a big hurdle. He says: "I understand Mandarin - it's just been 30 years since I learnt it, so my vocabulary is minimal, but I'm able to communicate. I also have Siew Hua on set and the Taiwanese actors can understand English quite well too. I don't think anything was seriously lost in translation."

2. Bold scenes

What drew Wen (The World Between Us, 2019) to the project was the script, which included bold scenes of sex and crimes such as deep-fake pornographic videos.

Deep-fakes are manipulated videos and images that digitally replace a person's face with someone else's.

The 44-year-old plays a psychologist bent on chasing down the administrator of an exploitative Internet chatroom.

"I think as Chinese, we're a little bit more conservative and we self-censor when it comes to sensitive topics like this, but I found that this script was willing to push those boundaries," he says.

Singaporean actor Tan (House Of Fortune, 2016) plays Yu's troubled son in the series. The 30-year-old says: "This frank depiction of sex is not something you see often in local entertainment."

3. Kiss of Covid-19

The cast of Deep End starring (from left) Peter Yu, Vera Chen, James Wen and Eunice Li. PHOTO: CJ ENM HK

Local actor Yu, who worked with director Yeo on A Land Imagined, stars in this series as a man who appears to be a dedicated husband and father, but is harbouring a dark secret. His police officer wife is played by Taiwanese actress Chen (The Rope Curse 2, 2020).

Just a day after filming a kissing scene with Chen, Yu tested positive for Covid-19. The 54-year-old says: "I immediately asked her if she was okay."

Chen, 42, managed to steer clear of the virus. "Everyone was texting to ask if I was okay. Thankfully, it's been three weeks and I'm still in the clear."

4. Pandemic learning

Deep End was a chance for the local and Taiwanese actors to see the Covid-19 pandemic from different viewpoints.

Singaporean Yong (Ah Girls Go Army, 2022) says: "I caught Covid-19 a while back, so I was casually asking the other actors if they'd got it yet. The Taiwanese actors were quite taken aback because it's still very rare to catch Covid-19 there. I had to explain that in Singapore, if you don't have friends who have caught Covid-19, then you probably don't have friends."

Taiwanese Lin, 24, says: "It's quite an eye-opener to see Singapore's approach in learning to live alongside the virus, which I think we must all learn to do."

5. Thrilled to travel

(Clockwise from top left) Deep End cast starring Erek Lin, Aden Tan, Julia Huang and Glenn Yong. PHOTO: CJ ENM HK

The Taiwanese actors were excited to travel overseas for work. Model-actress Julia Huang recalls: "I checked three times to see if it was real and I was screaming to my roommate, 'I'm going to Singapore.'"

The 24-year-old, who portrays a top student driven to suicide by a deep-fake video, has since toured the Singapore River, tried Founder Bak Kut Teh and visited Gardens by the Bay.

Veteran actor Wen is enjoying his time here as well. He says: "My scenes are more concentrated, so I'm not working as many days compared with the other actors. In my one month here, I'll have maybe 18 days off.It's really like a mini-vacation for me."

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.