Singaporean actor Raynold Tan recalls ‘fun times’ filming 1st Pinoy BL series
MANILA, Philippines — Aside from its relatable story and easy-to-navigate storytelling, The Day I Loved You has a reliable ensemble cast, from lead stars to supporting ones. Part of it is Raynold Tan, the first-ever Singaporean actor to have played a lead role in a Filipino BL (Boys’ Love) web series. In this project, he is sharing the spotlight with Pinoy actors Tommy Alejandrino and Rabin Angeles.
The narrative has Raynold as Eli, the exchange student, and Tommy and Rabin as childhood best friends-school mates Nikko and Justin, respectively. Their characters form an interesting and engaging love triangle and treat viewers to a roller-coaster ride of emotions. With their unique personalities and compelling back stories, Eli, Nikko and Justin grow on the viewer.
“I was in a few short films and web series in Singapore,” said Raynold in an e-mail interview with The STAR about acting projects and creative works he has done in his home country. “However, most of my roles were smaller ones. My biggest role was in the web series, What We Could Be where I played Dylan.”
For Raynold, also a content creator, essaying characters gives him “a chance to explore the world of the character and come up with a ‘profile’ of what I believe the character would be,” shared he. “It makes me feel like a profiler we see on crime shows.”
As for him securing the role of Eli, short for Elijah (Yeo) and being part of The Day I Loved You, Raynold walked one through briefly by sharing that “my Singapore management agency and Philippines’ management agency learnt about the role of Eli being an exchange student. From what I know, the casting team believed that I fit the role and I was offered the opportunity. For the role, we sent in an acting reel with some of my previous works.”
What came after, as you and I could guess, were seeing Raynold reading the script to build his character and heading to the Philippines for the shoot. Articles available online revealed that he was a graduating psychology student of the National University of Singapore when the project presented itself to him. He took a 12-day break for the shoot, which commenced and culminated in March.
“I believe I am the first Singaporean actor to play a lead role in a Filipino BL,” he said and added that “BL as a genre is relatively new in Singapore. There aren’t many BL series being produced in Singapore and the genre isn’t as widely consumed as it is in other countries. However, BL has grown in popularity these past few years and the community is growing.”
Regarding the demand for the production of BL series in other countries, he said, “I am not the best person to answer this question but my personal view is that I think there is a huge acceptance and demand for BL series around the world these days.”
From the actor’s perspective, this is what Raynold had to say about Eli, from what the latter represents to what the character stands on love and gender?
“I would say that Eli is someone who puts up a strong front but is actually a softy inside. To me, he is the representation of loving someone for who they are. One of Eli’s lines that really stood out to me was ‘I don’t know (if I am gay), all I know is I like Nikko.’ This line really shows that Eli loves Nikko simply because he is Nikko, he loves Nikko as a person and is not swayed by gender,” added he.
How was your experience like working on a Pinoy production?
“It was wonderful,” said he. “Everyone did their best to make me feel at home and I did. Filming on set was so much fun, we were always laughing and making jokes when the camera was not rolling. I also learnt a lot on set from direk Easy (Ferrer) and the cast members. Looking back, I wish we filmed more episodes so that I could spend more time with everyone.”
As an actor, his creative process begins, as Raynold shared, with reading “through the entire script once before to get a general understanding of the character. I try to identify some similar characteristics between the character and myself and people I know. I then use these people as a model for different parts of the character.”
“Playing someone who suffers from a mental health disorder or a supervillain have always been roles I hope to get a chance to play,” said he about the characters the actor would like to take on in the future.
Meantime, watch Raynold in The Day I Loved You, presented by Regal Multimedia, Inc. (RMMI) and directed by Easy Ferrer, which is available on the official YouTube channel of Regal.
What fans can also look forward to is the Season 2 of The Day I Loved You.
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