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Joanne Peh and Qi Yu Wu spill the beans about baby Qi and 1965

Qi Yu Wu held Joanne Peh’s arm as they gingerly navigated down the steps at Shaw Lido. Once seated, they traded giggles and whispered into each other’s ears like teenagers on a date — not like a couple who are about to have their first child and their first film as co-stars.

Qi Yu Wu held Joanne Peh’s arm as they gingerly navigated down the steps at Shaw Lido. Once seated, they traded giggles and whispered into each other’s ears like teenagers on a date — not like a couple who are about to have their first child and their first film as co-stars.

“Can you both pose for the cover shot as if you’re on your date at the movies?” we ask Joanne Peh and Qi Yu Wu, at once feeling like the proverbial third wheel. “But make sure you’re both facing the camera!”

“But I wasn’t watching the movie (on our first cinema date). I was watching her,” Qi cheekily replied without missing a beat.

MediaCorp’s latest power couple has well and truly arrived. Married at a private ceremony last September, they were filming the SG50 celebration movie 1965 by November and 
announced Peh’s pregnancy in January (they actually learned of their bundle of joy in the middle of filming 1965). You couldn’t have written a better movie script.

Although there are no on-screen romantic sparks for their 1965 characters (Qi plays Cheng, a police officer and family man; while Peh plays a feisty coffeeshop owner’s daughter), their off-screen partnership is quite another thing altogether. This mixing of business with pleasure, however, bears no pressure on the twosome. Qi and Peh are a communicative pair (“We discuss movies and work all the time,” Qi said) and incredibly open about how they feel doing the highly anticipated film to mark Singapore’s 50th anniversary, being new parents, and this journey they call life.

Q: How important is it to do a film like 1965 in an SG50 year?

Joanne: How do you measure importance? For me, it’s ... if you are presented with an opportunity, you just do it without thinking too much. Things come and go. Only this year, when you do a movie like this, it’s exceptionally meaningful.

Yu Wu: It’s a very meaningful thing for me. Staying in Singapore for 15 years, I’ve always wanted to do something for this country because this country has done so many things for me. I’m now married and a son-in-law ... I appreciate all these opportunities. Of course, I’ve worked hard (for it) but Singapore has given me almost everything I have now; and I’ve always wanted to reciprocate. Filming this movie, I don’t know whether you can call it reciprocation or returning in kind, but although I am not Singaporean, I do feel like I’m half-Singaporean. It’s an honour to be in a movie that touches on building a nation.

Q: Are you feeling pressure for acting in a movie titled “1965”?

Yu Wu: It was very important to me what kind of movie 1965 was going to be. Yes, this is a movie about nation building but I didn’t want to be involved in a movie that was “educational” or “propaganda”. And when I got the script, it wasn’t like that at all. Honestly, as an actor, finding a good movie to film is also a very important thing. I felt everything came together when I read the 1965 script.

Q: So you’re not worried about the possible brickbats that might come?

Joanne: It wasn’t worrying because anyone who wants to make a movie simply wants to make the best movie they can. It’s just a matter of whether it’s a movie I want to do. So, it wasn’t really a worry for me to do 1965.

Q: Joanne, is 1965 a natural second film choice after your first foray with It’s A Great, Great World?

Joanne: For the longest time, I wanted something to sink my teeth into. When you do TV dramas, sometimes it’s a little bit harder because of the really short turnaround time, and it doesn’t give you the space and time to really delve deep into a character. Initially, when this movie role came up ... there was uncertainty about what the role was able to offer. The fact that the whole team was very concerned about character development and whether I was comfortable with the scenes or if the scenes made sense — for me, that was good enough. It wasn’t difficult to decide that I wanted to do this film.

Q: Yu Wu, did your role as a doting father help prepare you for 
real-life fatherhood?

Yu Wu: Actually, even now, I don’t know how to be a father!

Joanne: He’s not really a kids kind of guy. He’s not the kind that sees children and goes, “Can I carry?” (laughs) But he’s completely different with 
his nephews; and with the little girl who plays his daughter in 1965.

Yu Wu: I know I don’t want to be the type of father who says, “I am your father, you have to do as I say”. I want to communicate and I want to be open. I want to respect my children. My children can also influence me and I need to learn from them. I feel like it’s a two-way thing and I will learn as much from my child as my child will learn from me. I am from a Chinese family, where my father says, “You have to listen to me, always. I am the head of the family”. I realise it doesn’t have to be like that. I see some families where the father and children are all friends, and I see their interaction. I want to have that kind of communication and interaction with my children.

Q: You’ll both be modern Asian parents, then.

Yu Wu: There are certain things I think I would be very firm on discipline, principles and values.

Joanne: I think one of things is listening to your child and finding out how he or she feels. We didn’t get that growing up — it was very one-way, like “I tell you...”

Yu Wu: “I tell you so therefore it must be right.”

Joanne: You assume, as a parent, your child does not know any better. But (children) have feelings, too. They just don’t have a chance to express themselves. For us, we want to encourage our children to express themselves; so that we know (how they feel). They have to explore. They have their own paths and they have their own journeys. We just have to be there to support them along the way.

Q: What part of your respective 1965 characters do you most identify with?

Yu Wu: I feel he wants the best for the family and he wants them to live better lives. Cheng will do anything for his family. Family is very important, and this is one thing that I connect with very well.

Joanne: For my character, her whole idea of wanting to settle down in Singapore is to build a home here because this is where her friends are, her livelihood ... I would say I identify with her emotional want for love.

Q: Do you identify with 
her feistiness?

Joanne: I find labelling her “feisty” very interesting. She knows what she wants, she doesn’t care what other people think. In fact, I feel that she’s more instinctive than anything else.

Q: So, do you connect with that?

Joanne: I guess. In life, sometimes you just have to go with your instincts. You really don’t know what’s going to happen. So to me, instinctively, if I think whatever I am doing now, is not hurting anyone and it’s the right thing to do, the right direction to go, then, I’ll just go for it. Otherwise, nothing 
gets done.

 

1965 opens in cinemas tomorrow.

 

CREDITS

Credits

Photography: Jason Ho

Make-up: Kenneth Lee (96943670) using makeup from Chanel

Hair: Nigel Woo, Passion Hair Salon

Styling: Martin Wong

Qi Yu Wu’s suit: Gucci

Jewellery: David Gan Jewellery

Venue: Shaw Lido

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