IT would have been a first for her - stripping for the camera.

And Fann Wong was close to saying yes.

But in the end, she decided against it.

So it was actually a body double who flashed the bare back and butt in the Jack Neo movie Ah Long Pte Ltd.

Fann plays a tomboyish triad boss who marries an effeminate dance instructor played by Mark Lee. One scene shows her character stripping to reveal a huge tiger tattoo across her back and butt to her husband.

At a press conference yesterday, Fann told The New Paper why she had decided not to bare: 'I didn't think it was necessary to reveal that much.'

The 37-year-old MediaCorp actress said that while she was willing to bare her back, she had balked at the idea of revealing her butt.

Fann Wong and Mark Lee feeding each other yusheng at the Ah Long Pte Ltd press conference.

She said: 'Ultimately, I'm still my company's asset, so it's not as if I can make the decision to strip by myself.'

While Jack was disappointed, he said he respected Fann's decision. With a sigh, he said: 'Actually, I was confident of persuading her, but there were 'technical issues'.

He declined to elaborate on what they were.

On why he insisted on having the scene in the movie, Jack said: 'It was out of consideration for the film's foreign investors. The scene might become a talking point when we sell the movie in the international market.

'That's the only reason we included the scene although, personally, I was fine with doing away with it.'

The task of finding a body double was left to Malaysian producer Sampson Yuen, who had a week to do so.

It was not an easy task, as Sampson explained: 'A lot of girls were unwilling to do so or their figures were not like Fann's.'

Malaysian model Chen Xin Yi, 25, was eventually picked by Fann, Sampson and Jack.

Standing at 1.72m and weighing 50kg, she is 1cm taller than Fann who weighs the same.

Xin Yi, who was paid less than $1,000, told Lianhe Wanbao that it wasn't about the money because she was a fan of Fann's.

'I only asked one question, 'Do I get to meet Fann?' If I can, I would do it,' she said.

She got her wish. Fann was present during the filming of the scene and gave Xin Yi full marks for her performance.

The set was cleared to put Xin Yi at ease and she had on a certain type of underwear.

Fann joked: 'Her figure is better than mine, that's why she's the one stripping, not me.'

But Mark, who was also present during the filming, was diplomatic.

He said: 'Looks-wise, Fann is definitely prettier. But I cannot judge their figures because I've never seen Fann's (naked back)...

'But the tiger tattoo was so big that it stole the focus away from the figure.'

ACTOR SPITS ON FANN

Fann did have to suffer some 'torture'.

Like being 'spat on' more than 40 times by co-star Richard Low, who plays a retired triad boss whose spittle flies onto her face.

Fann complained in jest: 'Richard was so mean. Every time we finished a take, he would take a sip of water and give me an evil grin before doing more spitting.

'It got smelly after a while, and Richard wasn't even apologetic.'

They hide behind a table when emcees Marcus Chin and DJ Cai Lilian demand that they kiss for the cameras.

There was also a scene in which Fann and Mark had to submerge themselves in a jungle cesspool to avoid being captured.

The first 'cesspool', made of chocolate sauce, bananas, chendol, caramel and honey, was deemed not filthy enough. So the pair had to redo the scene with a 'cesspool' that had more ingredients thrown in.

They were surrounded by flies and ants the moment they got out. Fann recalled: 'It was so icky, there was green and brown stuff coming out when I took a shower.'

But she said her skin felt a lot smoother after that, 'maybe because of the concoction'.

Jack later told reporters the crew had added 'a few drops of urine' to the cesspool as a prank, without Mark and Fann knowing.

But all this was nothing compared with what she went through while shooting on location as her boyfriend, actor Christopher Lee, served a six-week jail sentence for drink driving.

She felt lost after filming when, out of habit, she checked her phone for SMSes from him, only to realise he couldn't send any from jail.

She said: 'I guess it was heaven's will in a way. It pulled me away to a faraway place so I could concentrate on my work and forget about my troubles.'