After Starring In Qi Yuwu's Directorial Debut, Sharon Au “Finally Understand[s] Why Joanne Peh Married Him”

Did you know Sharon Au almost wasn’t in Qi Yuwu’s directorial debut, Cendol, even though he specifically wanted to cast her?

The 50-year-old actress's first reaction when he approached her? “You do know I live in Paris, right?” she said to him. Sharon told reporters in an interview that she initially thought Yuwu had forgotten she wasn’t in Singapore.

Her initial response made Yuwu made him drop the idea of casting Sharon briefly, before later making it work.

But for Sharon, the invitation felt like a sign.

“It felt like a soft beam of cinematic sunlight suddenly shined into my tiny Paris apartment. A warm surprise,” she said.

Cendol, centres on award-winning interior designer Sarah (Sharon Au), who returns to Singapore to visit her mother Daisy (Goh Guat Kian) and reminisces how much she, her ex-boyfriend Joe (Darren Lim) and the city have changed over the years.

The film was selected for the Singapore Panorama section of this year’s Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) and is set to premiere globally on November 29 at Golden Village Cineleisure.

On hindsight, Sharon suspects that part of Yuwu’s life story was embedded in Cendol.

​He was 23 when he first moved to Singapore from Guangdong after winning the China round of Star Search in 1999.

“His brilliance lies in this; he wrote about himself, but not like a typical autobiography. He didn’t glorify himself or copy his life. He changed the backdrop, the characters, even the gender,” said Sharon.

She also shared that Yuwu didn’t feel like a first-time director on set, and described him as “really gentle”.

“Now I finally understand why Joanne Peh loves him so much, and why she married him!” she quipped.

When asked if she had any aspirations to be a director herself after being part of Yuwu’s project, Sharon laughed and said: “Absolutely not! After this experience, I know I will never be a director.”