Singapore singer-songwriter and actor Nathan Hartono says filming the upcoming local mockumentary The Sandbox brought out an unusually energetic side of him, with the stunt-heavy production encouraging him to embrace the physical chaos of the film.
Hartono plays Dennis D. Wong, an ambitious acting student in the comedy, which follows a struggling stunt-training school that suddenly attracts aspiring performers after rumours spread that a major Marvel production is scouting for talent in Singapore.
The 35-year-old said filming took place between May and June 2025 and described the experience as consistently energetic. The action involved jumping, kicking, punching and physical stunt work, which he said made him feel like a “feral child” whenever he arrived on set.
One of Hartono’s favourite sequences involved an extended training exercise filmed in a particularly long take. Rather than repeatedly stopping between moments, the cast continued escalating the scene with increasingly absurd movements and stunts as the cameras kept rolling.
The film is directed and written by James Thoo and features stuntman and action director Peps Goh alongside Benjamin Kheng, Fauzi Azzhar, Oon Shu An, Estelle Fly, Jon Cancio, Xuan Ong and Aaron Mossadeg. The film premiered at the 2025 Singapore International Film Festival before its commercial release.
Hartono’s character Dennis is portrayed as a know-it-all who constantly wants to demonstrate his intelligence and impress those around him. Hartono himself joked that Dennis would be far more difficult to tolerate than his character Warner Huntington III from Legally Blonde – The Musical.
The actor has also been balancing several creative projects. Alongside The Sandbox, he has worked in theatre, music and community arts, including Sing Song Social Club, a community choir founded by Singaporean musician Aarika Lee.
Hartono has described creative spaces such as the choir as important places where people can collaborate and create without necessarily treating artistic activity purely as a career. Sing Song Social Club brings participants together to learn harmonies and perform as a group, with Hartono among the musicians involved in its activities.
His involvement in The Sandbox also reflects a broader period of experimentation in his career, moving between music, theatre, film and community projects rather than focusing exclusively on recording and performing as a solo artist.
The film itself takes a satirical look at the ambitions surrounding blockbuster filmmaking. Its premise centres on people convinced that training at a struggling stunt school could lead to their big break after the rumoured Marvel production arrives in Singapore.
The Sandbox is scheduled to open in Singapore cinemas on Oct. 8, giving audiences a chance to see Hartono in a comedy built around stunt work, exaggerated personalities and the dreams of aspiring performers.
For Hartono, the project represents another step into a wider creative world — one where music, theatre, film and community arts increasingly overlap.
