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Straits Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Celeb Pawrents: Actor-couple Jesseca Liu and Jeremy Chan track their fur kids with AirTags
Celebrity couple Jesseca Liu and Jeremy Chan with their cats Tigger, a white 19-year-old male domestic shorthair, and Crusso Meimei, a three-year-old female tabby. PHOTO: COURTESY OF JESSECA LIU SINGAPORE – Celebrity couple Jesseca Liu and Jeremy Chan are so protective of their fur kids that they keep a close watch on them all the time. The actors installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to monitor their two cats, who are kept strictly indoors. They also placed AirTags on their collars to track their location should they escape. Liu, 46, and Chan, 43, are devoted pawrents to Tigger, a white 19-year-old male domestic shorthair, and Crusso Meimei, a grey three-year-old female tabby. Both were adopted when they were kittens. The couple currently shuttle between Singapore and Malaysia to film Mediacorp's 2026 blockbuster drama The Leftovers. The dystopian crime series about organ trafficking also stars Li Nanxing, Zhang Zetong, Cheryl Chou and Desmond Tan. Despite their busy schedules, Chan and Liu, who tied the knot in 2017, try to spend as much time with their cats as possible and constantly check the CCTV cameras via their phones to see how they are doing at home. If they are both away from home for a longer period, the popular Malaysian actress will call in her friend, who is 'the cats' godmother and takes care of them like her own children'. Liu is up for the Best Actress trophy at the Star Awards 2025 on July 6 for her strong performance in crime drama Unforgivable (2024). She also earned nominations in five other categories, including two Favourite Female Character awards for her roles in Unforgivable and the drama Once Upon A New Year's Eve (2024). Chan received three nominations for the annual Mediacorp awards, including Top 10 Male Artistes, Best Programme Host and Most Charismatic Actor. The Singaporean actor-host hosts culinary show Murder On The Menu, now showing on Channel 8 on Wednesdays at 8pm as well as on mewatch. Liu's affinity for animals can be traced back to her formative years in Langkawi, Malaysia, where there were many stray cats and dogs. 'Growing up, I was constantly surrounded by animals. In a way, they were all my pets,' she says. Before the couple adopted Crusso Meimei, they had another male tabby named Crusso, who died in November 2021 from pancreatic cancer. He was 14 years old. 'Crusso Meimei reminded us so much of Crusso that we decided to name her after her older brother,' says Liu. She adds that she has always been particularly drawn to cats. She attributes this to a sense of emotional kinship with them. 'I believe cats are very much like me – emotionally sensitive yet not overtly expressive,' she says. 'How can you tell they're sensitive? Just look at how wildly they play with you. When it comes to the humans they love, they always retract their claws. They would never intentionally hurt you.' A particularly touching memory that epitomises this bond involves her first cat, Tigger. On occasions when Liu found herself locked out of her home, Tigger would ingeniously squeeze through a window simply to sit by her side until help arrived. 'If he truly wished to run away, he could have done so easily. Yet every time he 'escaped', it was solely to be with me,' she says, adding that Tigger has always been a gentle, reliable companion. The relationship between Tigger and Crusso Meimei has evolved. Given the significant age difference – Tigger being a senior cat and Crusso Meimei still youthful – the initial adjustment period was understandably challenging. 'They had a love-hate relationship. It warms my heart sometimes to see them cosy up to each other as brother and sister,' says Liu. 'Meimei is full of boundless energy,' adds the Emerald Hill (2025) actress. 'She loves to play and knows exactly when to turn on her charm.' Describing both cats as very 'manja' (Malay for affectionate) towards them, Liu feels Tigger and Crusso Meimei may be more attached to her husband, as he spends a lot of time playing with them. 'He's also the strict dad, while I'm the gentle mum,' Liu says, adding that she's her 'cats' slave' and she cannot stop cuddling them. Both cats sleep with the couple and 'stick to us at different times'. She adds, with a laugh: 'It's funny how smart they are – they totally know who to go to depending on what they want.' Caring for Tigger and Crusso Meimei is a responsibility Liu and Chan take very seriously. Both cats are sterilised, microchipped and kept strictly indoors for their safety. 'We don't take them out as they are shy and afraid of new environments. We don't want to stress them out,' says Liu. Their dietary needs are carefully managed, with a particular emphasis on providing Tigger with proper nutrition tailored to his senior age. Despite their busy schedules, Chan and Liu, who tied the knot in 2017, try to spend as much time with their cats as possible. PHOTO: COURTESY OF JESSECA LIU While the joy of having pets is immeasurable, Liu acknowledges that it is not without challenges. A particularly alarming incident occurred in 2024 when Crusso Meimei leapt up to a cabinet and tried to jump down without realising how high it was. The resulting fall was accompanied by a distressing cry, prompting an urgent visit to the veterinarian. Fortunately, Crusso Meimei emerged unscathed, but the incident was a stark reminder of the constant vigilance that pet ownership demands. 'That incident really gave us a huge scare,' says Liu. Joanne Soh is a lifestyle correspondent at The Straits Times, with a special interest in entertainment and pop culture. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘One of the things that made it so special was that it wasn't for everyone': ‘The Leftovers' EPs and cast on the show's legacy
Damon Lindelof is the first to admit that The Leftovers was a bit of a hard sell for mass audiences. The critically acclaimed show, which ran for three seasons from 2014 to 2017 on HBO, attracted a devoted, passionate but relatively small fan base, who were drawn in by the haunting exploration of grief and its aftermath. More from GoldDerby David E. Kelley on the secret of his prolific career: 'Don't ever assume you're smarter than the audience' 'I'm glad I'm still alive': Jon Hamm and John Slattery on 'Mad Men,' 10 years later 'King of the Hill' cast and creators on revival: 'Bobby's got a little bit of fame and a little bit of swagger' Lindelof reunited with executive producers Tom Perrotta (whose novel inspired the series) and Mimi Leder and cast members Carrie Coon (Nora), Amy Brenneman (Laurie), and Ann Dowd (Patti) at the ATX TV Festival in Austin to "reheat" The Leftovers, sharing their first impressions of each other and the series, the most 'terrifying' scene, and the show's lasting legacy. Lindelof revealed he was nervous before his first meeting with Perrotta. 'It was a job interview in a lot of ways, but you just completely and totally put me at ease, and by the end of the meeting, that was the beginning of the next five years of our lives,' said Lindelof. As a fan of Lost, Perrotta said he felt like it was a 'blind date' — 'because what does he think of me?' he recalled wondering. 'And then what I remember feeling was, this guy has the quickest mind that I have encountered and I'm going to have to really be on my toes.' ('Somewhere my wife and son are laughing,' quipped Lindelof.) SEERemembering 'The Leftovers': Why do Emmy voters hate TV's best show so much? Dowd said she wasn't impressed when she first read the script. 'I thought it was ridiculous,' she said. 'And I can tell you I have never loved a character more. I thought, 'Well, what's gonna happen if I'm not talking?' I can't believe the power you have in your room when you're not speaking. Everybody is waiting for you to do what you're going to do. I loved her. It took me a minute but only a minute.' Brenneman said she had 'whiplash' from the transition from her far more glamorous role on Private Practice. 'Damon said, 'Here are the reasons you shouldn't take this job: It shoots in New York, you can't wear any makeup, and you have no lines,' she recalled. laughing. But she said yes because 'I like new things. I don't think I've ever seen this, and you seem to be making it up on the fly.' For Coon, she said it was her first 'real job,' having done mostly theater and some commercials at that point in her career. 'I had no idea what was going to happen and I remember learning several years after the show ended that because I come from the theater and you respect the writer, I was the only actor on the show who wasn't constantly emailing and asking questions,' she said. 'I would just get the script and then I would do it. I still don't do it.' Joked Brenneman, 'That's why you work a lot.' Leder was brought on for the fifth episode, which happened to be the stoning episode. 'How am I going to direct this and not kill the actor?' she worried. (The answer: CGI rocks.) From there, though, she came on board as an executive producer to pursue 'the meaning of life, miracle of life. And I'm still in search of it.' 'You can make a TV show or a movie and it can be really good. But this was making this big beautiful baby that touched everybody's soul,' she said. 'If there's a theme it's that there is so much loss and we continue on. And we live with our loss and our grief we have beautiful lives sometimes.' Lindelof credited Perrotta with the idea of moving the show to Texas for the second season. 'Tom had the initial idea for a town where no one departed in Season 1,' he said. 'And when he pitched the idea, all the writers were like, that idea is so good, we can't burn out the four-week story. So it just sort of sat there in the back of our heads. And when the first season ended, we all sort of really good about this. This was the ending of the novel, we could just end it here. Let's not double down' But then HBO ordered a second season, and the ideas that had been percolating came to the forefront, including Perrotta's pitch for a place that had been protected from the Departure. 'The show ended up dealing with so many different ideas, and it's ultimately, I think, about faith,' said Perrotta. 'But I think for me, it was about randomness and the way people make sense of a random universe. What meaning does Nora derive from what happened to her? What kind of meaning do they derive from their protected status as they perceive it? What does it mean for Nora and her family to show up there?' For her part, Dowd was thrilled about Season 2 — because 'Patti got to talk,' she said. But when she asked Lindelof why, he gave an elliptical answer. 'I think ghosts are more interesting when they're annoyed,' he told her. (Dowd would go on to earn the show's lone Emmy nomination for guest actress in the show's third and final season.) The second season also allowed more joy and warmth and humor to infiltrate the show, recalled Brenneman. 'What I always loved about this premise was something unexplained happens and people have all sorts of responses,' she said. 'Some people go to a faith place, some people go to a nihilistic place, some people crack jokes, some people weep. It gives you a range of things that I feel like we accessed more and more.' Coon recalled her pivotal Season 2 episode, when she went face-to-face with Regina King, administrating the questionnaire. 'I've often said I've only been intimidated two times and that's Holly Hunter and David Thewlis,' she said. 'But that's not true because I was scared of Regina. I was scared of Regina because she's so uniformly excellent. But then you work with her and you realize that the work she has done to get there is in her bones. She's one of the best listeners I've ever worked with.' The scene 'was extraordinary and it was terrifying,' said Coon. 'And it was really a scene that people call back to it a lot when they talk about the show. My makeup artist remembers just the eyelash on my face,' she said. 'But they didn't want to stop the scene.' And the other famous scene that they all debated was Laurie's near-suicide. 'When Laurie went into the water, scuba diving, we as writers were absolutely and totally convinced at the time that we wrote that episode that she was dead,' recalled Lindelof. 'But then everybody was super depressed, and we couldn't generate ideas. 'Finally I walked into Tom's office and I said, 'I think Lori is still alive.' And he was like, 'Thank god, because we've all been talking about it.' That was a case of the show just out and out rejecting something that we were trying to force onto it.' Finally, Lindelof grew emotional talking about the audience's response in the packed Paramount Theater in Austin. 'All I ever wanted to do for a living was tell stories because I was inspired by the stories that were told to me,' he said. 'As proud as I am of the collaborative efforts that remain on other things that I've worked on, this is the one that is the closest to my heart. And one of the things that made it so special was that it wasn't for everyone. So much of the work that we all do and are asked to do is to make it as accessible to as many people as possible. And that isn't to say that we were purposefully trying to exclude people, but what we were after was going to be challenging. The first season in many ways is like, 'Stop f--king watching. You have to lean in. This is going to be a show that's about suffering, and then it's going to be about what people need to do to overcome it or live with it.' And so the idea that there is a theater filled with human beings who understand that and tolerate that and appreciate that, it truly means the world to us.' Best of GoldDerby 'I cried a lot': Rob Delaney on the heart and humor in FX's 'Dying for Sex' — and Neighbor Guy's kick in the 'zone' TV directors roundtable: 'American Primeval,' 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,' 'Paradise' 'Paradise' directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra on the 'chaos' of crafting 'the world coming to an end' Click here to read the full article.
RTÉ News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
When Tommy Tiernan when Paul Giamatti - their epic chat revisited
Now that the ninth (!) season of The Tommy Tiernan Show on RTÉ One is done and dusted, let's revisit one of last season's highlights - Tommy's chat with actor Paul Giamatti. Watch the interview in full above. For the unitiated, Giamatti is an Academy Award-nominated actor known for his acclaimed performances in films such as Sideways, Cinderella Man, and The Leftovers, as well as his starring roles in the hit TV series Billions and the Black Mirror episode Eulogy. Once Tommy gets over his shock at Giamatti's arrival, the duo settle into a fascinating and utterly frank chat about the art of acting and negotiating life's ups and downs. It's classic Tommy Tiernan Show. It's a buddy movie comedy waiting to happen...
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
28 Years Later's Trailer Shows A Terrifyingly Weird World Most Zombie Movies Don't
It's probably fair to say that zombie movies and TV shows have something of a pattern. There's an outbreak, we cut to years later when only a few survive, then follow a small band of survivors who get stuck on the roof of a mall. I think that's about 90 percent of them. Which is why the complete weirdness featured in the latest trailer for 28 Years Later is so incredibly welcome. One of the greatest TV shows ever made was Damon Lindelof's 2014 series The Leftovers. Where many shows have previously covered the territory of large numbers of people mysteriously vanishing, In The Leftovers, two percent of the Earth's population inexplicably vanished in a single moment. The program was set two years later, focusing on a small New York community, exploring the repercussions of this event. And it was weird. It was rooted in the unknown, in the lack of an explanation, and the consequences on society, whether it was the formation of deeply peculiar cults, or the personal trauma of losing loved ones. But also, other stuff: dogs were turning feral, deer became less timid, and there was this one waterfall... I bring this up because it's that same vibe of humanity's spiraling into strangeness that seems most key to this new footage from 28 Years Later. Rather than exploring the horror of the immediate zombie apocalypse, here director Danny Boyle seems to be using the three-decades-on approach to envisage a society that's known little else, and the bizarre, uncomfortable, and spiritual effects this has had on people. Plus, you know, people running away from brain-hungry undeads. The movie is out on June 20, so there's still a fair amount of waiting to do. But this is looking like it could be something very interesting. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Express Tribune
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
The Leftovers to leave HBO Max in June 2025
HBO Max is set to remove its critically acclaimed drama The Leftovers from its streaming platform, sparking disappointment among long-time fans. The series, which gained cult status since it concluded in 2017, will officially leave the platform on June 3, 2025. Originally scheduled to be removed on April 11, the departure date was pushed back by nearly two months. The Leftovers, based on Tom Perrotta's 2011 novel, explores a world shaken by the mysterious disappearance of 2% of the global population in an event called the "Sudden Departure." The show follows Kevin Garvey, played by Justin Theroux, and his family as they navigate the aftermath of the event, including grief, cults, and societal upheaval. The series became a critical darling and remains a fan-favorite, with a 91% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While HBO Max has built its reputation on a strong library of original series, The Leftovers' removal is puzzling, as the platform rarely takes down its own productions. The reasons behind the decision remain unclear, though some speculate it could be due to licensing agreements, cost-cutting measures, or an effort to reserve certain titles for ad-supported tiers. Despite the uncertainty, HBO Max's decision to delay the series' removal by nearly two months may reflect an effort to respond to fan complaints. With The Leftovers set to leave in June, fans are encouraged to stream its three seasons before it vanishes from HBO Max for good.
