Ethan Juan: My bottom looks smooth and shiny

SINGAPORE — One of the reasons I love speaking to actors is that they get to do things no one else does.

Just look at action stars Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Donnie Yen. They are paid to chase people in cars, run away from exploding houses and beat people up. And to think one of the most exciting things that happened to me at work was discovering free Milo in the pantry.

But you know an actor is really serious about his craft when he does the unthinkable: Baring his bottom to all and sundry on the silver screen in a sex scene. At least, that is what Taiwanese actor Ethan Juan does in his latest film, Paradise In Service.

“It looks very big,” Juan quipped cheekily, when we asked him what it felt like to see his own posterior on such a large screen at a recent interview at the ArtScience Museum. “But I think it looks quite smooth and shiny. I am quite happy about it.”

He added: “When I was shooting that scene, I really didn’t think too much about it. I just did whatever the director (Niu Chen-zer) asked me to do. But it was really awkward when we gathered around to look at the monitor after we finished the scene. It was like ... wow!”

But filming steamy sex scenes wasn’t the most difficult part of making Paradise In Service, which tells the story of a boy who undergoes military service on the perilous Kinmen Island in the late 1960s. The 31-year-old had to go through five gruelling months of physical training and filming, during which time his girlfriend, actress Tiffany Hsu, was not allowed to visit.

“In the movie, my character asks himself why he doesn’t have a choice and why he has to serve in the army. I asked myself why (I chose to make this movie), too,” said the actor, who explained that he eventually decided to take the role because he wanted to give his grandparents’ generation a voice. “But I chose to make this movie because it’s fate. We knew it would be very difficult playing this character and that our box office earnings wouldn’t meet expectations because it’s not a politically correct film.”

He continued: “The director and I had many good opportunities to make commercial films — simple and profitable films — and to make a lot of money, but we both chose to make this movie because we felt it was something we had to do.”

This is why it won’t be the last time we see Juan — or his bottom. Even though he won the Best Actor prize at the 2010 Golden Horse Awards ceremony for his performance in Monga, which was also directed by Niu, he admitted that it was only recently that he developed a clearer idea about his chosen career.

“I entered this industry without quite knowing what I was doing,” he said. “But now, after going through some ups and downs, I have a better idea of what I should be doing. I’ve realised in the last two years that I want to spend the rest of my life as an actor.

“In the past, I always thought about when I would leave the industry. But now, I am clearer about my work and more at ease. So those thoughts about leaving have also become more distant.”

Paradise In Service opens in Singapore on Nov 6.