3 Body Problem's Jess Hong opens up about filming show's 'wild' and 'overwhelming' virtual reality scenes

Virgin Radio

27 Mar 2024, 13:06

3 Body Problem star Jess Hong has opened up about how the show’s “wild” and “overwhelming” virtual reality scenes were filmed.

The mind-bending sci-fi reality show sees several world-leading scientists - including Hong’s character Jin Cheng - drawn into playing a scarily advanced VR game. 

Game of Thrones stars John Bradley and Liam Cunningham are both among the other characters who are drawn into the VR world during the course of the show, as more is revealed about the game’s mysterious purpose.

Speaking exclusively with virginradio.co.uk at the Netflix show’s premiere, Hong revealed filming the action-packed and sometimes emotional scenes which occur in the show’s virtual world was “Wild!” She continued: “It was mostly in studio, but every now and then we would pop out onto a location.”

One of those locations was the gothic Wells cathedral, where some of the scenes for episode three were shot. “The set department, locations [and] costume departments all worked very hard to make sure we had at least something tangible to work with,” Hong explained.

But at times, the crazy worlds of the show’s VR headsets had to be filled in with the actors’ imaginations more than anything else. 

“It would be very overwhelming,” the New Zealander said. “Sometimes [when entering a studio] there wouldn’t be anything, but sometimes there would be half a castle in the corner of the studio and you could walk up to the top and look out over everything. So it was a real mixed bag. Every [scene] was different.”

Speaking about how she landed the role of Jin in the hugely popular sci-fi adaptation, Hong revealed that while auditioning for the part she had no idea it was going to be in a show based on the Chinese 3 Body Problem book trilogy.

“It was called 'Untitled Benioff' in the first audition,” Jess revealed, referring to one of the show’s creative leads, Game of Thrones’ David Benioff. “I got this one scene that was from what we now know as the game world, which was a little absurd, quite funny. And then another scene, which was this beautiful, dramatic scene between two awesome characters.

“I was like, 'Is this the same show? This is crazy.' So I was very intrigued right from the get go,” the actor shared.

3 Body Problem is available to stream now on Netflix.