What Does TalkingCock.Com Founder Colin Goh Say When He Orders Bubble Tea In Taiwan?

8 DAYS: Which part of Taiwan are you staying?

COLIN GOH: We're now in Taipei, at the foothills of the Maokong tea plantations.

Foothills of Maokong tea plantations? So do you drink a lot of tea and what’s your favourite tea?

Yes, I do drink a lot of tea and I love Muzha Tieguanyin, which is the local speciality.

And your place is not too far from the zoo. How often do you go to the zoo?

And you know what? I actually haven't had time to go to the Taipei Zoo yet! It's partly because I can't imagine it can be better than our Singapore Zoo. But I really should rid myself of that bias and check it out.

Taiwan didn’t impose any lockdown amid the COVID-19 crisis. So what was that like while we were sequestered at home over here?

Like life in Singapore before the CB, lor! We can eat out, go to the night markets, do everything as usual, though if a venue is particularly crowded, they enforce mask-wearing and hand sanitisation. The thing is that after their experience with SARS, the Taiwanese were already in the habit of masking up, so it's not seen as any burden here.

Since the move to Taiwan, how’s your Mandarin so far? What’s your most common used Mandarin phrase?

It's improved out of necessity, though it's never good enough. There hasn't been a day that's gone by so far without someone remarking, "你不是台灣人吧." (You aren't Taiwanese, are you?) And I think the phrases I use most often must be 真的假的？(For realz?!) or 拜托啦 (puh-lease!)

Have you picked up any Taiwanese traits?

You mean besides wearing masks religiously? Well, I've picked up the Taiwanese habit of using the English word ‘over’ to mean ‘excessive’ or 'extra', as in "You're adding sugar to your bubble tea? Why are you so ‘over’?"

What did you have to put hold on during this period?

I actually had a lot of work travel plans, which all kena torpedoed by COVID-19.

Did you get to complete a pet project or pick up a new hobby?

Actually, I've been super busy with work. After our Dim Sum Warriors musical completed a giant tour of 25 cities in China — which was like all of my teenage rock 'n' roll dreams come true, except in Mandarin — we turned Dim Sum Warriors into an ed-tech bilingual learning system that's about to launch in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, mainland China, Australia and the US.

Let’s talk a bit about Singapore Dreaming. It’s streaming on both meWATCH and Netflix. When was the last time you saw the movie?

In 2018, when Taiwan's National Palace Museum licensed it for several screenings. Actually, when the film was first released in 2006, Taiwan was the very first country outside of Singapore to purchase the theatrical screening rights, so Taiwan occupies a special place in our hearts.

Off the top of your head, what’s the first thing you remember about making Singapore Dreaming?

How bloody hot and sweaty filmmaking in Singapore is! The toughest scene to film was the steamboat dinner in the tiny HDB flat. Every time we changed angles, we had to essentially move the entire flat. Plus, despite the steamy heat, no air-con was allowed because it would interfere with the sound recording.

In Singapore Dreaming, the family is divided over a lottery win. Now that you’re in Taiwan, have you had any luck with the receipt lottery?

Fun bit of trivia: Every incident in Singapore Dreaming was based on a true story, i.e. we personally know people who went through those experiences. Except one: we don't actually know anyone who's won the lottery. Having said that, someone who recently watched the show on Netflix messaged me that after watching the scene where Richard Low makes Dick Su pick numbers, they decided to do so too — and won $200! And yes, I'm aware of the Taiwan Receipt Lottery. Haven’t won anything yet, though.

Singapore Dreaming was your second movie. If you and Yen Yen were to make the movie today, how differently would you do it? Now that you have a stronger command of Mandarin, do you think that would’ve changed the way you directed?

Nah, Singapore Dreaming was never meant to be a Channel 8 Mandarin movie. It was always meant to have the naturalistic chapalang mix of languages we have in Singapore. Plus, I'm not Shakespeare, so I don’t insist actors follow my lines to the letter. In fact, pre-shoot, we workshopped the script extensively with the actors to adapt the dialogue to their own natural speech cadences. In fact, several years back, Academia Sinica, Taiwan's national research academy, invited us to a conference to speak specifically about our use of language in Singapore Dreaming.

As for what I'd do if I were making it today, with digital effects much more affordable... I'd set the movie in space, with maybe a CGI scene of our executive producer [and plastic surgeon] Woffles Wu battling a horde of aliens, armed only with two syringes of botox! But seriously, the main thing I'd change if I could would be the marketing. Back then, with social media only in its infancy, we just didn’t have the resources to push the film as far as it deserved. Still, we can't really complain. Every single year since it was made, it continues to be screened somewhere in the world, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. That's a pretty remarkable achievement for a tiny indie movie from Singapore.

In the movie, Yeo Yann Yann’s character is pregnant and has issues with her husband and her maid. Yann Yann would go on to win two Golden Horse Awards for Ilo Ilo and Wet Season, for playing characters who are pregnant and have similar domestic problems. Singapore Dreaming feels like the first of a trilogy for her. What was it like to direct her back then?

Yah lor, Anthony Chen, why you copy us? Joking, joking! I think it's fair to say Singapore Dreaming was Yann Yann's first truly substantial film role, and we're glad it opened doors for her. She is a true superstar who fully deserves every accolade she's won. We've become great friends after the movie, and we hang out whenever we're in the same city. She really brings intelligence, sensitivity and intensity to every role. And though she plays anguished souls very often, she's actually very fun to have on set too!

When Singapore Dreaming first came out in 2006, I was kind of disappointed by it because I was expecting Talking Cock Part 2. But when I watched it again a few days ago, I really enjoyed it very much. Partly because I watched it through the lens of nostalgia. Together with the other movies like Mee Pok Man, Money No Enough, 881, we get to see Singapore from a different era. Are there places or buildings you wish you’d captured on film?

I get what you're talking about. Every now and then, we rewatch Peter Bogdanovich's [1979 drama] Saint Jack which has scenes actually shot in Bugis Street back when it had transvestites, and also a sequence where [lead actor] Ben Gazzara mails something in the General Post Office which is now the Fullerton Hotel. But we got pretty much what we needed for Singapore Dreaming setting-wise. I wonder if anyone's moved into the Toa Payoh flat we shot in...

And speaking of Talking Cock, are there discussions to make it available for streaming?

I think it's just too brave for any platform to select a movie with the word 'Cock' in its title. But we were very chuffed that in 2017, the Singapore International Film Festival honoured Talking Cock as an "Iconic Singapore Film" with a special screening at the National Museum. We get asked to make a sequel all the time. Who knows? Maybe if my backside is itchy enough... We are very, very happy that Singapore Dreaming is now streaming on Netflix and that meWatch is also picking it up, though. We're now getting lots of great responses, which is pretty amazing for a 14-year-old film!

Singapore Dreaming airs Aug 25, Channel 5, 10pm; it’s also streaming on meWATCH and Netflix.

Photos: Shigemi Iyota (Main); Colin Goh

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