Actor Lim Yu Beng on his role in Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon and his upcoming Hollywood rom-com

Back in December 2023, 8days was really stoked about speaking to Singaporean actor-singer Lim Yu Beng about his project Rebel Moon, Netflix’s highly-anticipated sci-fi magnum opus from director Zack Snyder. 

Inspired by Snyder’s love for George Lucas’ Star Wars and Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Rebel Moon follows two farmers (Sofia Boutella and Michiel Huisman) on the agrarian moon Veldt as they enlist a motley crew of badass freedom fighters (Djimon Honsou, Charlie Hunnam, Ray Fisher, Bae Donna, Cleopatra Coleman and E Duffy) to help defend their town against the Motherworld where Ed Skrein's Atticus Noble serves as its unflinchingly sociopathic emissary.

The tale is so epic that it’s split into two instalments – Part 1: A Child Of Fire and Part 2: The Scargiver. Per IMDB, Yu Beng plays a character named Heron and very little was known about him then.

And it would stay that way for a while: A Child Of Fire dropped in December last year but Yu Beng’s footage was all left on the cutting room floor, even though he was briefly in the trailer.

Eight months later King Heron finally sees the light of day in the longer, bloodier, more bonkers director’s cut of the saga, now rechristened Chapter 1: Chalice Of Blood and Chapter 2: Cure Of Forgiveness. The movies started streaming on Netflix on Aug 2. 

With that, balance is finally restored in the universe and everyone can rejoice and get back to their lives. “Well, thank you very much, first of all, for that sentiment,” Yu Beng, 58, said over Zoom.

Yu Beng is no stranger to American productions. He appeared in the Chow Yun-Fat-Jodie Foster-led historical epic Anna And The King, the David Carradine-starring Kung Fu Killer, and an episode of martial arts crime drama Max series Warrior.

The only difference is “[Rebel Moon] was the first one that was actually shot on US soil [in Los Angeles]”, he added.

Yu Beng’s Heron turns up early in Chalice Of Blood, where he’s seen making a valiant last stand against the Motherworld forces that have invaded his kingdom. Defeated, he comes face to face with Atticus Noble and meets a horrific demise. Remember that scene in The Walking Dead where Steven Yeun gets his melon bashed to bits? Heron’s death is reminiscent of that: An excruciating watch. 

Which is probably why he doesn’t want his parents to see it.

But the rest of his family, including ex-wife Tan Kheng Hua and daughter Lim Shi An, have seen it and are cool with it.

“My family is kind of a film family,” he quipped. “We’re all quite used to all the [make-believe] stuff. We know how it’s done. And so we just enjoy the craft.”

Yu Beng also shares that his scenes, filmed in 2022, were shot over eight days spanning a few months, and involved animatronic creature effects, tons of stunts and one dummy double.

“All the fight scenes are all me,” he pointed out. There was, however, one moment that required his stunt double and action choreographer Victor Thi Lopez to step in. 

When he wasn’t filming, Yu Beng was busy putting the finishing touches to his debut album, Notes To Self, a collection of nine songs he’d previously performed live in 2015.

He had been putting off the recording for a year and just when he was about to lay down the tracks, he got the call for Rebel Moon.

“I was sort of working on it from LA while my co-producer was here in Singapore,” he said. “We were communicating and sending drafts to each other. So all that was happening simultaneously [with the Rebel Moon shoot].”

Notes To Self came out on Jan 30 this year.

Next on Yu Beng’s slate is another American production: Worth The Wait, a romantic-comedy which marks the US directorial debut of Taiwanese filmmaker Tom Lin Shu-Yin (the Golden Horse Award-feted The Garden Of Evening Mists).

Filmed in Vancouver and Kuala Lumpur, Worth The Wait centres on the interconnected lives and romances (a la Love Actually) of an all-Asian ensemble cast.

Yu Beng said the movie will surprise viewers who only knew some of the actors from action flicks – notably, Sung Kang (the Fast & Furious franchise), Elodie Yung (Daredevil) and Andrew Koji (Warrior).

“These people [have played] killers and they’re doing this sweet rom-com, and it’s so sweet because all these guys have that in them,” Yu Beng enthused. “It’s so adorable to get all these action guys doing this. It’s amazing!”

Other cast members include Ross Butler (13 Reasons Why), Lana Condor (To All The Boys), Osric Chau (Supernatural), Karena Lam (American Girl) and Tan Kheng Hua.

This story was originally published in 8Days.