First discovered on talent search programme “School Belle and the Beau” while he was still studying at the National University of Singapore, Singaporean actor Elvin Ng has come a long way in his 15-year acting career.
In the latest episode of Guo Liang’s talk show, “The Inner Circle”, Ng talked about how he had lost his temper at a Taiwanese co-star after being bullied for the entire period of filming in Kuala Lumpur.
Losing his temper
The second mystery guest on the show was Ng’s football buddy of more than ten years, Raphael Wong.
Wong revealed that Ng’s competitive spirit comes out during their football games together, when some players do not perform up to his expectations.
Such situations caused the actor to “lose his temper a little”, according to Wong.
When asked about Ng’s temper during filming, Ng clarified, “I don’t lost my temper for the sake of it. There are special examples where I have lost my temper.”
Bullied by co-star
The 40-year-old disclosed the details of one example when he was in Kuala Lumpur for a shoot with “a more experienced actor from Taiwan” who was playing the role of his big brother.
Without naming the actor or the show, Ng described the man as “the macho type who wanted to be the boss.”
In the show, Ng’s role was meatier and the actor apparently could not bear to see that, and so he tried to “throw his weight around on set.”
Ng added, “From the second day onwards, I’d leave my bag in a corner and he would place his chair over it and look at me like this,” demonstrating the menacing look that he had received from the foreign actor.
Ng wondered why the actor was doing such a thing.
He cited another example of how the actor tried to break his focus, “When the camera was shooting me, he’d do something unprofessional with the intention to distract me and cause me to forget my lines. And then he’d be pleased and say, ‘See, you think you’re a top actor?’ or something entirely irrelevant.”
Standing up for himself
Ng continued to tolerate the bizarre antics but his patience eventually ran out on the final day during a rooftop scene.
“The scene involved a lot of emotions and he said something disrespectful and I just shouted at him,” Ng said.
He then asked the producer and the rest to come up to the roof.
Ng described himself as “angry and shedding tears” because he was bullied the entire time.
He had told the producer, “I could have spoken up about this incident on the second day [of filming]. It’s easy [in such a situation], either he is replaced or I am replaced. But it would look like I was acting like the big shot,” and concluded, “It was tough.”
Ng also shared his dilemma about voicing out his unhappiness, “I was also mad at myself for not enduring until the end [of the shoot]. However, if I had endured all of it and returned home with my tail between my legs, I’d be letting myself down.”
More relaxed now
When Guo asked Wong if Elvin’s temper has improved, Ng’s good friend replied, “It has improved tremendously.”
Ng said,
“I feel that overall, I have grown more relaxed with myself so my expectations of others have relaxed too. When I was on the football field previously, I may have been venting my feelings due to the immense work stress. Now, both work and football are enjoyable for me.”
Top images via meWATCH.