Christopher Lee open to filming R21 shows, but with one condition; talks coming back to Singapore after acting in regional productions

The fact that Singapore has an M18 drama series - and he’s starring in it, too - isn’t lost on local television’s ‘Ah Ge’ Christopher Lee. During the press conference for Kill Sera Sera last week, the 52-year-old mentioned a couple times that the show is “new” for local showbiz because of it’s mature rating.

Kill Sera Sera is not only dark - for a local show - but it also features risque scenes, including one of Lee with a laptop. As for what he’s doing, you have to watch to find out.

Lee even expressed his hope for audiences to support the show so they can do more in the future, possibly some R21 ones. That said, should the opportunity arise, will he be keen to film an R21 show?

He told Yahoo Southeast Asia in an interview (also on 18 Jan), “As long as the scale of it is something I can accept, why not? I feel it’s okay. Anyway, we’re actors, and as actors what we want most is to challenge ourselves appropriately.

“But my condition is - since I have a child - I have to know if there will be an impact on him. I will assess the opportunity from this angle.”

Pushing new boundaries in local showbiz

To be fair, Kill Sera Sera isn’t the first local M18 series.

There was Last Madame, which caused quite the stir as lead actress Joanne Peh stripped down for a bed scene, and its prequel Last Madame: Sisters of the Night.

Yet, it’s still raising eyebrows when local showbiz releases a show with mature themes. Even Lee was surprised when he read the script, and thought to himself, “‘Wow, we can do this stuff in Singapore now?’”

However, he also acknowledged that shows with such mature content isn’t really “new” for local audiences, as there are international shows available here with similar content.

Lee added, “For Singapore, I feel it’s great that we’re able to film this type of content recently. This is us keeping up with the market and current trends. So doing this (filming the show), I think it’s worth being happy about.

“I hope that in the future, the scale of Singapore’s drama series and movies can continuously expand to allow our local creators, actors, and production crew to film the stories they want without restrictions.”

Coming back to Singapore after acting overseas

In Kill Sera Sera, Lee plays the husband of Jessica Hsuan’s character, May Shaw. Their relationship deteriorates as Shaw throws herself into solving the mystery of their daughter’s death on the night of a leap day.

The show stars Taiwanese actor James Wen, Chantalle Ng, Damien Teo, Xu Bin, Zhang Xinxiang, Kiki Lim, and features cameos by actresses such as Lina Ng and Jesseca Liu.

This also marks Lee’s return to local showbiz after spending the last few years acting in regional productions - which snagged him two Golden Bell awards.

When asked why he decided to come back to Singapore, he replied without hesitation, “I miss home.”

Then he let out a hearty chuckle and added, “Actually, I’ve been wanting to film in Singapore for a long time. It’s just that in the last couple years, perhaps it wasn’t fated and there weren’t opportunities. In addition, I was filming quite a lot in Taiwan - taking on show after show - so I didn’t have time to split to film here.

“Since I left Mediacorp till now, I’ve always hoped to come back and film. I miss it here. I miss my old colleagues, even the young actors now.”

All 12 episodes of Kill Sera Sera will be available for free on meWATCH. There will be three new episodes released every Monday.

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