Young and Fabulous's bad boys & love stories
We spoke to the star-studded cast ahead of the movie's launch
Additional Photos: Encore Films
Videos: Tan Shi Qi, Kimberly Tay
It's not every day you get to put on a school uniform after you cross the big 2-0, but that's exactly what local actors Aloysius Pang and Joshua Tan had to do for the coming-of-age film, Young and Fabulous. Rounding up their schoolyard trio is Malaysian internet sensation Joyce Chu, who makes her big screen debut with the show.
Coming up with a movie that hit home with the younger generation here, directors Michael Woo and Joyce Lee shared, was an uphill challenge as many youths they spoke to professed to not having watching local productions - and that is something that they're hoping to change.
Aloysius and Joshua – who play a nerd with secret ambitions of being a fashion designer and money-faced jack of all trades respectively – will both turn 26 this year, and admitted that dressing in secondary school uniforms wasn't as easy as we'd have thought - especially since the pair are almost a decade older than their reel-life selves. Another hurdle faced by Aloysius was a burst blood vessel in his eye on the second day of filming, for which he admitted feeling guilty for, as the team had to spend days toiling over every frame to ensure that it was edited out of the final product. Joyce added to a chorus of laughter, “Actually, Aloysius and Joshua started spouting stubble if we shot for too long, so we had to edit that out, too.”
Above that, Joshua and Joyce let on that Aloysius went on a walk down memory lane when he returned to his secondary school for promotions last week. “I think he had a lot of conflicting emotions when he was there,” they grinned, before Aloysius cautiously explained, “I had a lot of memories – both good and bad when I was there (…) I wasn’t the best student back then.”
L-R: Joshua Tan, Aloysius Pang, Joyce Chu
“To me, caning was a common occurrence – I’ve been through both public and private caning – and I’ve done all the bad things that you can possibly imagine and probably all the bad things you could never even think of as well. I don’t talk about this in specifics because my mom reads articles about me and I don’t want to remind her of these painful memories again,” he added.
Not to be outdone, Joyce chirped that she had a brush with misadventure while she was in school as well. “We had a captain’s ball competition and I got a little arrogant because I won. I flicked my hair at the losing team and the next thing I knew, I got water flung at me from all angles when I went to the canteen,” she admitted. “My parents were notified about it and they weren’t too surprised because they knew that I had a bit of a haughty streak in me,” the Malaysian singer continued. “I regret doing that back then.”
Her parents, it seems, play a large part in Joyce’s life, with the 19-year-old bashfully declining to discuss more about her bed-scene with Aloysius. Admitting that “his heart-rate went up during the scene”, Aloysius explained, “Maybe it’s because I haven’t been so close to a girl for so long, I did feel my heart race when we were filming.”
Joshua chimed in, adding that while his character was the one who caused the situation in the film, that he was the one who felt the most awkward because “I just stood there like a lamp post, I didn’t know what else to do!”
Jeffrey Xu
Aloysius and Joyce weren’t the only ones who caused trouble in their school-going days, with Jeffrey Xu, who has his first crossdressing role in the show, once being involved in a brawl with over a hundred people. “When I was in high school, a group of us had a disagreement with some other guys and so we called for backup – I had around 10 friends on my side but the other party managed to round up almost a hundred people and we ended up fighting. We made the headlines the next day and some of them even got arrested,” the 27-year-old shared.
With Jeffrey having put his troublemaking days behind him, we caught up with him with regards to his budding romance with Felicia Chin. “We’re not officially together – we’re still at the stage of getting to know each other. She’s filming in Malaysia and I’m in Singapore, the both of us are busy and we’ll definitely make an announcement if we have good news to share,” he grinned.
Have Jeffrey Xu and Felicia Chin started dating? 徐鸣杰和陈凤玲的感情状况如何？ TOTL0160525008030618
Jeffrey Xu & Felicia Chin
“I don’t think there’s a need to hide our relationship if we’re in one – I’d go around gloating about it like “Yeah, she’s my future wife, what can you do about it?” and kiss her on the cheek,” Jeffrey chuckled. “When I date, it’s with marriage as the ultimate goal so I’d definitely work towards that.”
Adding that his mother has found out about their blossoming relationship, the actor admitted, “Yes, my mom read about it in the news because it blew up this much. She’s seen photos of us together and told me that she likes her and thinks Felicia is very sweet-looking.”
“She did nag about me not telling her but I promised that I’d tell her if there are any developments and she let it go after that,” Jeffrey added. “If there really is any good news to share, I’d inform my family first, followed by my close friends.”
Additional Photo: Felicia Chin/Instagram
Quan Yi Fong
With his mother keeping a hawk’s eye on his personal life, we couldn’t help but to check in with proud mummy Quan Yi Fong on her daughter, Eleanor Lee’s flourishing career. Yi Fong plays a stern, kiasu mother in Young and Fabulous who constantly harps on about her sons Royston (Aloysius Pang) and Jordan (Jordan Ng)’s need to excel academically.
Unlike her reel-life self, the 42-year-old shared that she has “always supported Eleanor in chasing her dreams, as long as what she’s doing is proper”. She once shared with Toggle that she would love to see her only child excel in showbiz and even surpass her in terms of popularity, but grinned that that “won’t be possible for her – at least in Singapore”.
“I support her in expanding her career in China or elsewhere, but in Singapore, I think she’ll never be able to surpass me – at least for the next 20 years,” Yi Fong declared. “She calls me when she’s on set working with Chinese stars and I actually find it a little embarrassing because I turn into a bit of a fan whenever I hear that she’s with someone famous,” she chuckled.
Maintaining a wide smile on her face while fielding questions about her daughter, Yi Fong’s mega-watt smile dimmed when we asked about her ex-husband, Peter Yu’s return to showbiz. She politely declined answering any questions on him or his comeback, but immediately went back to her bubbly, energetic self once the interview wrapped.
Additional Photo: Quan Yi Fong/Instagram
Young and Fabulous opens in cinemas on May 26 and is rated PG13 for some coarse language.
Quan Yi Fong: My daughter won’t be able to surpass me! 权怡凤：我女儿不可能超越我！ TOTL0160525008030617
L-R: Aloysius Pang, Joshua Tan, Joyce Chu
L-R: Composer JerryC, Director Michael Woo, Director/Producer Joyce Lee
L-R: Aloysius Pang, Joshua Tan, Joyce Chu
L-R: Joyce Chu, Jeffrey Xu, Henry Thia
L-R: Director/Producer Joyce Lee, Jordan Ng, Quan Yi Fong
L-R: Gurmit Singh, Aloysius Pang, Joshua Tan
L-R: Joshua Tan, Joyce Chu, Aloysius Pang
Elvin Ng prepared a little something for Quan Yi Fong
The gala that night was attended by a host of local stars
The gala that night was attended by a host of local stars
The gala that night was attended by a host of local stars
The gala that night was attended by a host of local stars
The gala that night was attended by a host of local stars
The gala that night was attended by a host of local stars
The gala that night was attended by a host of local stars
The gala that night was attended by a host of local stars
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