These days, Mediacorp veteran actor Chen Shucheng, 74, is known for his ‘grandpa roles’ in shows such as Old Is Gold (2019), and The Heartland Hero (2021).
Back in the day though, Shucheng da ge was one of local TV’s most popular leading men and even has the honour of being the first actor to shoot a kissing scene in a local drama.
Shucheng, along with other veteran stars, appeared on the latest episode of documentary Singapore Screens: A Cinematic Journey.
They recalled their experiences working on some of our most iconic dramas and Shucheng got candid about that groundbreaking scene which he shot with former actress and his eventual wife Huang Peiru in the 1984’s The Awakening.
Needless to say, the scene was the talk of the town, even making the headlines on both English and Mandarin newspapers.
Speaking to 8world in an interview, Shucheng said that kissing scenes back then were nothing like the passionate make-out sessions we’re used to seeing on TV now.
Instead, he described the kiss as a gentle peck, like “a dragonfly touching the surface of water”. Even so, the actor was nervous and had butterflies in his stomach.
At that time, Shucheng was 34 and Peiru, 23, and they had yet to become a couple.
They rehearsed the scene twice, and did it in just one take when the cameras started rolling.
Shucheng chuckled: “I didn’t ask Peiru [how she felt], because she was very reserved and shy.”