Ian Fang stripped and groped by 'tai-tais' for new drama

The music starts, and the cameras are rolling.

Ian Fang dances sexily, and a salacious pack of four cougars pull his clothes off, groping his chest excitedly over his singlet.

"I think they loved it," the local actor joked to AsiaOne last Friday (Jan 3) while recalling a scene from his latest drama Happy Prince.

We were at the press conference for the Channel 8 series, and the two young male leads seem to have gotten the raw end of the deal.

While Romeo Tan has had to learn how to portray a person with Tourette syndrome, Ian went through an arduous period of Muay Thai, hydro fitness, and lion dance lessons to prepare for his role.

And of course, dancing for hungry tai-tais.

In the series, he plays Dawei, a character who takes on any job as long as it's not against the law and his morals. In the above-mentioned scene, Dawei was only supposed to dance (clothed) for the women, but they have other ideas.

The 30-year-old told us: "I was a little bit paiseh about the scene, and it was uncomfortable having the (female actresses) touch me like that. But it's my job, I have to do it.

"I have to be professional. I'd rather do it well once than to keep doing the scene again and again. Before filming the scene, the actresses and I also discussed what they would be doing."

But as weird as it was filming that scene, it was nothing compared to picking up Muay Thai for the drama, he added.

Ian and his co-star Malaysian actress Denise Camillia Tan underwent over three hours of Muay Thai lessons, and according to him, it was the toughest of all the preparation work for this drama.

[[nid:473373]]

"I learn taichi in my free time, and I also picked up American boxing for my role in (Mediacorp drama) All Is Well, but Muay Thai is totally different. We had to learn the basics, and wah lau, I really wanted to die," Ian groaned in recollection.

"We had to run, skip, and do all the cardio exercises, as well as the punches, elbow strikes, and kicking the sandbag.

"This is my most physically tiring drama ever since joining showbiz."

Happy Prince will be available on meWATCH, formerly known as Toggle, from Jan 13, and on Channel 8 from Jan 15 at 9pm.

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com