Joey Meng Suffered Emotional Anxiety from Filming “A Change of Heart”

*Spoilers*

It was not easy for Joey Meng (萬綺雯) to portray the powerful wife of Michael Miu’s (苗僑偉) character in the TVB drama A Change of Heart <好心作怪>. Acting as a villain for the first time, the 42-year-old former ATV star found her role as Tong Sin Hang emotionally draining and challenging.

“The first thing that producer Nelson Cheung (張乾文) and the scriptwriters told me about my character was that I loved my husband so much I was willing to go to the ends of the earth for him. I represented the dark side of humanity. I went from being a loyal wife to someone who commits infidelity. I bought it. If my cruelty was stemmed by money and power, it makes the role much more unlikable.”

The married Joey did not hesitate to accept her role when she knew she would have intimate bed scenes with 32-year-old Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪). “It is relevant to the plot. I had no problem with them. After all, there are limits to television, so I know these scenes wouldn’t go too far. I also have a shower scene, but I know the camera limits so I wasn’t nervous or embarrassed. I have nothing to show anyway.”

Intimate Scenes with Benjamin Yuen

Joey and Benjamin shared their first kissing scene after only having known each other for two days. “It was the second or third day of work, and I had to kiss Ben in the car. It was a very cold day, and the [kissing] scene was at the mountaintop. Although everyone stayed around the car, it was still really cold, and when we spoke, our teeth chattered. I also didn’t know Ben too well at the time, but when it comes to these scenes, I know the male would be more nervous than the female. That’s why I told him that his face deserved my trust!” Joey laughed.

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“The bed scene I had with Ben was a different story. In the car, we didn’t have much lighting. Not many of us could see what we were doing, so it felt like Ben and I were alone. But in a bed, in a studio, there would be intense lighting, and you could see every crew member very clearly. That bed scene was also a very cruel one – where I was manipulating Ben to get him do what I want. I would slap him, torture him, and then affectionately kiss him again. I had to say many mean things to him, and there was one point where I accidentally bit him too!”

The scenes were emotionally draining. After shooting them, Joey suffered mood swings and confided to her husband. “My husband did not mind my bed scenes. He was the one who convinced me to do them and told me to not be shy and try my best. If it is relevant for my role, the audience will be accepting of it. He told me that I would be proud at what I accomplished. When it comes to these intimate scenes, my husband will not give me baggage. Sometimes I cannot pass my own obstacle.”

Frightened by Michael Miu?

Joey admitted that she had difficulty sleeping during the months of shooting A Change of Heart and had to take sleeping pills. “I couldn’t sleep at night so I would fall asleep randomly on set,” said Joey. “But funny experiences came out of that.”

Joey explained that right after shooting her bed scene with Benjamin, she had to return to the studios in the early morning to shoot a sleeping scene with Michael Miu. The said scene was of Joey waking up to Michael at her bedside. “I actually fell asleep in that scene, and when Michael tried to wake me up, I jumped. I was not expecting to see someone else besides my husband when I wake up. Honestly, I was upset. For a moment, I didn’t know where I was. Michael couldn’t stop laughing at me.”

Trust in Her Husband

“My husband is the only one who can calm me down,” said Joey. “If I had a problem, I could call him at any time. Whether I was right or wrong, he would help solve my problems.”

Joey and her husband Chan Sap Sam (陳十三), a scriptwriter, have been married for 13 years. What is the secret for maintaining such a long relationship? “Trust in each other. That comes first. Also, share what we have with each other. I have many close male friends, and my husband knows every single one of them. His scriptwriting team consist of all women, and because of that, I liked to call him a pimp. My husband absolutely adores his team. Whenever we go on vacation, he will bring the girls along too. I don’t know his team personally, but he always spoke about them. When I met them, I felt like we were close. Similarly, my husband doesn’t know Michael Miu or [his wife] Jaime Chik (戚美珍), but I talk about them a lot, so he is very familiar with them.”

Source: Ming Pao Weekly #2328 via kuangaitvb.com

This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

  1. Beautiful! Love Joey! Love her acting! Such a professional Actress! Hope she win award this year.

    Really enjoy ACOH!

  2. she’s so cool! i think im liking her more after watching change of heart’ than in inbound trouble’. hm, i dont think i’ll dislike her, she’s a good actress beside her voice. hope to see her more on tvb dramas!

  3. This actress is beyond par. ATV actresses are full of crap. Anyway her acting and vocal control irritates the shit out of viewers. I am sure there are good main stars in TVB if not go poach from HKTV. A good script killed by a bad actress. Pathetic, pathetic

  4. she is absolutely gorgeous. wish she’d been with TVB in the early days. she would have been one of the popular fadans.

  5. She sounds so cute in the interview!!! Especially that part that lolll hahas she really fell asleep during shooting and was shocked to see another man by her side >_< like a teenage gal!!

  6. As an actress, she sounds “real” unlike some actress/actors who talks as if reading from a script.

    I sincerely wish she will have a happy marriage and to move up to be among the top fadans in TVB.

  7. She is lovely, very attractive for her age. She portrays this role very well and I am beginning to hate her role in this series!! She is the baddie here and think will get from bad to worse in this charactor. Hope TVB will be able to keep her

    1. I know, she can beat alot of those mid 30’s actresses. She’s so fit and just a sweet looking warm face that TVB lacks.

  8. She looks more Mongolian than Yee Meen’s wife. Is her surname using the same character?

  9. Joey Meng is such a cool chick! She has always played such intriguing leading ladies, from the fiesty vampire slayer Ma Siu Ling in My Date with The Vampire to the warm and delicate maiden in The Great General. Oh boy, I had given up with TVB dramas long ago, but may just be tempted to watch A Change of Heart for Joey’s femme fatale character.

  10. Think creative freedom period at ATV helped as ATV was completely uneven their dramas but they were willing to explore new ideas and complicated stories which makes Joey approach her character differently – no TVB baggage.

    Actually ACOH (from theme song to story) is very similar to ATV output. Shocked they showed the scene when Joey and Benjamin watched soft porn in film room!!

    I wonder if her husband will take up writing for TVB too – that would be awesome!

  11. I really like Joey’s character in this series. She does a good job playing someone silently “evil”.

  12. Joey can really beat most of the
    TVB fan dans in acting. TVB lack good actresses, all the talent ones are gone

  13. Wow, okay she is like my role model. Her marriage and attitude towards life is so admirable.

  14. “Joey and Benjamin shared their first kissing scene after only having known each other for two days.”

    I always read about actors having to do intimate scenes on the first day of shooting when the actors haven’t warm up to each other yet. Why is it always like that. Why can’t they schedule these scenes to a later date? Joey and Benjamin were already lucky they got the kissing scenes on the 3rd day.

    1. Because acting is a job, the schedule has been drawn up earlier and probably they thought do away with the so called cheapest easiest scene to do first. Even Hollywood productions are that way, some even on the 1st day and it is a full fledge sex scene.

  15. Her kiss scene in the car with Benjamin was pretty darn intense! I did not know she can kiss like that loool!

  16. I have a question, maybe someone can answer.
    I was wondering in TVB modern series, example like this one. The actors and actress here, do they get to wear their own clothing? Example Joey clothing, do she get to choose her clothing, or TVB choose it for her to wear?

    I know ancient wuxia series stuff need their own customs, but if it modern series like this, maybe actors can wear their own clothes?

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