SGIFF dialogues sees Singaporean actor Chin Han share the leaps of faith and decades of hustle that shaped his career

What would you do if you had only 48 hours to get from Singapore to California, USA? And that too for a job interview?

For actor Chin Han, buying that plane ticket was a no-brainer. Then again, this ‘job interview’ was a once-in-a-lifetime audition for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

The fact that he knew almost nothing about the role didn’t matter.

“Nolan doesn’t give out scripts,” he shared during his ‘In Conversation With’ session at this year’s Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) on 4 Dec. “It could be one word, it could be one sentence, it could be anything.”

Despite the secrecy, he knew he had to leap, a decision made easier by his family’s unwavering support.

“My sister and my mum kind of ‘conspired’ to see me off at Changi Airport, because they were like, this is the sequel to Batman Begins, and it’s Christopher Nolan. No matter what the role was, that was my dream.”

A mad dash to Batman

Armed with almost no information and barely enough time to fight off jet lag, Chin Han boarded a plane. He landed in Los Angeles on a Friday night.

The next morning, he drove to Culver City for the audition.

“Your adrenaline is high, everything’s going great… and then you walk into an office with 10 people who look exactly like you,” he said with a laugh.