Dai Yang Tian: A case of nerves

Singapore actor Dai Yang Tian often has an air of self-confidence when he meets with the media. He had been unflappable and spoke slowly and deliberately, without any hesitation. But things were different when Dai spoke to the media at a promotional event for his new film, the dark comedy "3x Trouble", about three friends Li Qing Tian (Malaysian singer Rynn Lin), Wu Dong Hai (Malaysian deejay Jack Lim) and Liu Zi Shan (Dai), who wind up on the wrong side of the law and get stuck with a dead body when they try to make some quick cash. He spoke quickly, sometimes going off-topic. He was nervous. "I am actually very nervous about the film, because it's the first time I am taking on a starring role in a film," explained Dai, who had previously played a supporting role in last year's gambling flick "The Ultimate Winner". "I hope Singapore viewers can accept my image in the film. It's very different from the type of characters I play on television. At least I hope that is the case." "I'm a newbie to acting in films. I hope people can give me feedback on my performance in the film; it is a way for me to mature as a film actor." Being "normal" Dai revealed that playing the righteous truck driver Liu Zi Shan in "3x Trouble", which also stars Taiwan singer Landy Wen, required a lot of preparation work. "I've never played a 'normal' working class person before. It's actually really hard to play an ordinary person from an entirely different culture," said Dai. The star said his strong Chinese accent made it especially difficult for him to portray Liu, who is supposed to be a Singaporean or Malaysian "everyman", so he set out to modify his accent by observing how Singaporeans speak at hawker centres here. He also studied how Taiwanese actors spoke and tried to emulate them, in order to shift his strong Chinese accent to a more neutral Taiwanese one, a much more manageable task than trying to adopt a Singaporean or Malaysian accent outright. Dai expressed that "3x Trouble" was worth all the work as he found it to be a unique film with a lot of "educational value". "I think it's very important for a film to have educational value. "To cater to mainstream tastes, most films today are either comedies or about romance, so it's very rare to have a film with a strong educational message," said Dai. "We may have become too busy working for a monthly salary and forget how important it is to have a meal with your family, how important it is to teach your kids how to differentiate right from wrong." "This film ('3x Trouble') could remind us of that." The 28-year-old star believes that educating the public is one of a celebrity's main duties. "As actors and media personalities, this is one of our core roles, because we can reach out to people. "Just like we are able to bring people gossip, things to laugh about, things to talk about, we can also bring people more important messages," said Dai earnestly. Matchmaking blues Playing the lead role for the first time in a film gave Dai the jitters, but so did his first 'public' matchmaking session, which was organised by a newspaper earlier this year. "They (the organisers) gave me over a hundred photos of girls to choose from and I got dizzy looking through all of them!" said Dai. Dai added that he did not enjoy matchmaking at all, and would avoid matchmaking sessions in the future. Even the word "matchmaking" bothered him. "I really never liked the word matchmaking, because the word is laden with so much baggage and carries with it a very strong indication of intent," said Dai with a grimace. "A matchmaking session is a terrifying thing. Think about it. "There are two people sitting across each other and they (the female party) start asking 'How much you make? Do you have a house? Do you have a car?' It's really strange," said Dai. "But that is the way matchmaking is! They are looking for a boyfriend and will be direct and want to find out all the details. That is too horrifying!"