Mixed Signals’ Roz Pho on Dating Apps, Her DUI Incident And The Sex Scene That Got Away

ROZ PHO: Like most of the shows, I had to audition. After a month or two after After Love, Beatrice called me, “Can you audition and send in a tape?” The scene that I did at the audition was not in the show at all. It was a totally uncomfortable scene of me flirting with an ang moh, with all different sorts of accents. My character on Mixed Signals, Amanda, is a SPG.

Were you familiar with the source material?

It wasn’t until the table read did I realise it was based on a 1989 play. The good thing working with Bea is that she always does a table read. So at the very least, I know who plays what character. Everyone does a cold read, so you kinda feel the tone of the whole show. That was where we met Michael [Chiang] and she told us that Michael wrote it 30 years ago.

I’ve seen the first three episodes and I find Amanda incredibly annoying.

Unfortunately, she becomes progressively annoying (laughs).

What kind of research did you do?

I watched some TV shows and tried to copy the sexy woman’s walk. They walk with a slight hip sway. But I didn’t want to overdo it. For me, once I did the walk, because there were a lot of scenes of me walking, it kinda helped me [define] Amanda’s look.

What TV shows did you watch?

I based the walk on Sarah Rafferty’s character, Donna, on Suits. The way she walks gives her character an energy that’s really different from everybody else. I’m not as voluptuous as her, so I can’t overdo it.

If I can’t find someone, I would totally do it. My cousin, who is 35, hasn’t had any luck with girls ever, his whole life. I encourage him to go for speed dating and social activities like that. If not to find someone there, maybe you can learn to interact with people. Because if you always hang out with your friends and own family, you are not going to meeting anyone new. The longer you’re single, the more afraid you are of talking to people.

I honestly think match-making agencies are a lot better than Tinder and all those dating apps. They’re totally based on looks and based on what they write in their profile. Sometimes I don’t think people truly know themselves; the image of themselves may not be the image they portray to others.

With speed dating and match-making, even though it’s very awkward, you actually have the physical interaction. That’s very important. In real life, you can suss them out. On Tinder, when you meet the person, “Oh, he doesn’t look as nice as the photo.” Or “She says she is a fun person when she isn’t.” You're already going in with a preconceived impression of that person.

In the end, [the guys used the dating apps for] booty calls, right? But most of my friends really want to find love and it’s really, really hard. I have a guy friend who’s really handsome and nice but his online game is very bad. He got a match but once he started texting with the girl, the girl just ghosted him. I looked at the message he sent and it sounded so creepy. But I know him, he’s fantastic but he just sounds terrible on text.

How’s your cousin doing now?

He has a girlfriend now. They met through the OkCupid app.

The show also deals with Artificial Intelligence. What are your thoughts on machines taking over the world?

It’s kinda scary. I read this article about MIT creating the world’s first psychopath robot. Depending on the data they feed the robot, they can turn out into something crazy later on. At the end of the day, we rely on machines to do a lot of things and they definitely can do things better than us. But sometimes you need a bit of heart and only a human can do that.

So like driverless cars, is it? (laughs)

You were fined S$1,750 and banned from driving for 15 months. How do you move around these days?

I'll call a taxi or my husband, poor guy. I would gently say, “I’m heading that way…” He: "Oh, I’ll drop you there.” I: “Thanks…” If not, I wouldn't ask. I’ll just get there myself.

What kind of feedback did you get after the news of your drink-driving broke?

I was kinda upset on that day but I couldn’t really put a finger on why I was upset. Is it because my story is splashed all over the news — it’s on every online news outlet — when there were other people charged in court as well. That’s not fair! But I did break the law.

I got a few hate messages — four, actually — like, “I am so disappointed in you” and “I can’t believe you drink and drive”. But I got a lot of encouraging messages as well, saying “hang in there” and “at least you’re safe”.

My actions aren’t just about me. Someone could be crossing the street, and if I were intoxicated, an accident could have happened. So I can either choose to wallow in self-pity — Oh my God, my mistakes will haunt me for the rest of my life — or I can own it and take responsibility for my actions, and move on.

How else has the incident affected you and your husband?

Now that we have realised there’s zero tolerance for drink-driving, we are living the cab life now. There was one day he only had one drink and even though two hours had passed after he drank, we still called a valet just to be safe! Valet and cabs are our best friends now.

What’s next for you?

I’m going on holiday. Thank God I have savings. Let’s ride it out and see when the public will forgive me. So by the time I come back, the dust would have settled. Hopefully, there will be something in the pipeline. We’ll see.

Doggy style!

If they had kept that scene After Love would’ve beaten The Last Madame to become Mediacorp’s first M18 show.

That sex scene was shot for comic effect. Poor Andrew. I just basically didn’t move. He was the one doing all the work. I couldn’t story stop laughing. I. Could. Not. Stop. Laughing. And we had to do the scene over and over. Andrew was like, “Stop laughing!” I was like, “I can’t take it!” And it got totally cut out.

I believe you have more than one love scene.

I was a total slut on After Love! I have three love scenes – one with Benjamin Kheng, one with Shane Mardjuki, and one with Andrew Lua. All three love scenes were very different. Beatrice actually sat me down and explained to me [how she was going to shoot them].

Unfortunately, the one with Andrew Lua is censored. With Ben, it was really just close-ups. All I had to do was make sure that our eyes were locked on when we kissed; the camera made the whole thing magical and romantic.

But with Shane, I couldn’t eat that day because I was really nervous. With him, it was full-on make-out and there were a lot of movements. There was a part when he came through the door and pulled me in and then I screamed and ran out of the room. Then I said, “I’m sorry, it’s not you. Just give me some time.”

Then Bea came up and pulled me into her arms: “Come, I will do it with you.” So she rehearsed the scene with me. After that, I could do it. It was really one of the terrifying moments in my entire career.

Beatrice was like the intimacy coordinator…

First of all, I’m not really comfortable being sexy and I’ve been with my boyfriend and now husband for so long. On Mixed Signals, there are no love scenes, but [Amanda’s wardrobe] made me a bit uncomfortable: I’ve never worn so many tight clothes in my life before. So halfway through the shoot, I requested that my clothes be not so tight.

Michael Chiang’s Mixed Signals airs Tue, Ch 5, 9.30pm. It’s also on Toggle. After Love is on Toggle as well.