Race Wong Yuen-ling says the best thing about being an actress is that it allows her to become somebody else. Wong's CV is littered with a string of grungy, unpleasant roles, which contrast sharply with the girl-next-door image she cultivated as part of Canto-pop duo 2R.
Her role in Herman Yau Lai-to's new film True Women for Sale is a case in point. She plays Wong Lin-fa, a mainland widow pregnant with a Hong Kong man's baby - a role that most teeny-bop idols wouldn't touch with a bargepole for fear of putting their squeaky clean images at risk.
'Image wasn't an issue for me. I was only worried about whether I could do a good job in the film,' says the 26-year-old (right). 'I can be the sweet and pretty Race in my music videos.' She certainly doesn't look appealing in the film: no makeup and a body suit she wears to appear pregnant.
Wong's most daunting challenge, however, was doing the scenes in which Lin-fa mistreats her three-year-old daughter. 'In one scene, I was supposed to yell at her and spank her,' she says. 'When I grabbed her arm and she started crying, I was so afraid I might hurt her that I held back. [Co-star Anthony Wong Chau-sang] told me that I had to be true to the character regardless of what I felt about her actions, even if it meant spanking a baby. I had no other choice but to go all out - but with the child's safety a priority of course.'
Wong admits it was difficult for her to get into the head of Lin-fa. 'This character is totally different from who I really am. She is simple-minded, loud and straightforward, says whatever comes to her mind and is fearless when she's fighting for her own rights,' the star says.
'People like Lin-fa have to sell themselves in exchange for things I already have, so who am I to judge them? Instead of looking down on them, we should respect their choices.'
And they are tough choices. In Yau's piece of low-budget realist drama, Lin-fa sells her womb in Hong Kong, just as her neighbour, the drug-addled sex worker Lai Chung-chung (played by Prudence Liew Mei-kwan), trades her body for cash.