‘Oh, where are we?’ Kiwi on starring in hot new show
Arriving on the United Kingdom set of the big-budget sci-fi drama 3 Body Problem was initially a little overwhelming for New Zealand-Chinese actor Jess Hong, writes
Jess Hong admits the last couple of months have been something of “a tornado”. The 27-year-old Auckland-born New Zealand-Chinese actor, previously best-known for the local, low-budget bilingual series Inked and appearances on Kiwi staples The Brokenwood Mysteries and My Life Is Murder, is now a leading light in one of the biggest shows on the planet – Netflix’s sci-fi spectacular
3 Body Problem.
Based on the first book in an acclaimed trilogy by Chinese author Liu Cixin, this genre-bending series from the creators of Game of Thrones sees Hong play Jin Cheng, one of a group of brilliant scientists who join forces with a dogged detective to try to stop a significant threat to humanity after the laws of nature inexplicably unravel.
Back home for a breather and to soak up “the quiet and the fresh air”, Hong says how she ended up starring alongside the likes of Doctor Strange’s Benedict Wong, The Crown’s Jonathan Pryce, Alita: Battle Angel’s Eiza Gonzalez and Thrones’ Liam Cunningham and John Bradley still baffles her.
“When I auditioned for this, I was in the middle of a kids’ show tour around New Zealand for Duffy Books in Homes. It was very wholesome, spiritually fulfilling and a great way to see the country.
“At the time, this was still called Untitled Benioff [after Thrones’ high-profile writer-producer David], but I sent off my first self-tape into the void, never expecting to hear anything back. To my surprise, they wanted more scenes and asked if I could try different accents, before then requesting to meet me on Zoom.”
Four further audition stages later – including a session with legendary casting director Nina Gold and two “chemistry readings” with other actors – and Hong was shocked to discover she had the part and was booked for a nine-month shoot in London.
Confessing that she was both captivated and a little overwhelmed as she attempted to get up to speed with Cixin’s books, Hong was also surprised at how big a role Jin’s was – given that she’s a character only in the third book – and how much of her own personality the writers seized upon.
“They love weaving your little idiosyncrasies into the character so it can be as authentic as possible. That’s why they wanted to meet you before they cast you.”
With Covid restrictions still very much in force when filming took place from
October 2021 to the middle of 2022, offset “mingling” was necessarily kept to a minimum (“although we did sneak around a bit and try to do group hangs”, Hong admits).
However, she definitely bonded with Taiwanese-born Zine Tseng and UK-based Aidan Cheng, ironic given that “our three characters never interact”.
“With Zine, I think we both felt that same sense of like ‘oh, where are we?’ She had just come out of drama school [UCLA] and I was just a few years out of drama school [Hong graduated from Wellington’s Toi Whakaari in 2018].’’
She also singles out Bradley for helping her adjust to the initially daunting scale of the project.
“He was great. I remember he came to hang out with me and Zine one day in Hyde Park. I was admitting to being nervous and hesitant and all of that and he said to me, ‘you know, you’ve just to breathe into it and – at some point – you’ll just realise that you’re awesome’.
“It was nice to have someone kind of go, ‘it’s okay for you not to feel fine right now – but you will’. That was so touching, I think I even had a tear that day.”
Bradley was also right beside Hong during one of the craziest parts of the shoot – the three days they spent in harnesses for a two-minute scene in episode three. “That was really fun,” the bubbly Hong recounts, ”I’d just look over to John and be like, ‘our job is really f…ing weird, isn’t it’.”
She says what she loves about the show is that it’s a character-driven human story. “Hopefully why people care about the existential stuff is because they’re relating to the characters.”
As for what she thinks viewers will take away from the series, “I hope people take different things – and then debate what the meaning of the show really was. I think that’s one of the most fun things about something like this, which has so many different genres and elements to it.
“But personally, I think I relate to Jin in the way that we both believe the world can be a better place if we just keep moving forward, don’t give up, just keep putting one foot in front of the other, there’s got to be some solution somewhere. And we’ll figure it out, even if we can’t see the outcome.”
With 3 Body Problem receiving both critical acclaim and attracting a large audience, there’s already talk of a second season (Benioff previously hinted at needing four to do justice to all three books).
Hong says she would sign up again “in a heartbeat”, but, in the meantime, she’s just happy to be home “slowly recharging” and catching up with friends.