There is something inherently romantic about food. It is intimate, sensory and, at its best, a language of its own. In HBO Max’s new original Fired Up!, romance, too, finds itself in the kitchen, where the heat of cooking meets the smoke of desire, the warmth of a family—and, of course, rich laughter shared over meals.
Fired Up! is the second adaptation of GwangJin’s Webtoon manhwa Itaewon Class, following the 2020 K-drama of the same name. This time, the show stars Mandopop star Eric Chou, who is making his drama debut as Chou Lu-Yung; alongside Angela Yuen, Shao Yuwei, Wang Shi-hsien, Ben Wu, Cosmos Lin, Sean Lin and Akira Huang. Together, they are drawn into the family restaurant Chin Lai Hao, which serves as the centrepiece of the story.
The cast also each brought a personal twist to the adaptation, infusing details from their own lives and experiences into characters that had already existed on the page. Chou incorporated a childhood scar into his character’s story, while Yuen leaned into the unfiltered confidence and “diva energy” of her character, Chao Yi-Hsuan. Language became another point of localisation: Cantonese and Mandarin move between characters throughout the series, shaping how the characters relate to one another and placing language alongside food as another marker of Taiwanese identity.
Off-camera, food also became the bonding glue for the ensemble cast. Chou hosted hot pot dinners before filming began, while the Taiwanese tradition of cast and crew treating one another to meals continued throughout the shoot. Food was also part of the work itself: Chou and Yuwei spent two to three weeks training in a professional Chinese kitchen, learning to cut, slice and prepare dishes including three-cup chicken.
Ahead of the series release on HBO Max, Vogue Singapore sat down with the cast to talk about making the series their own, and the relationships that shaped their time on set—from the characters they came to love to the dishes that still transport them back to the kitchen.
While staying true to the script and the director’s vision, what personal touches did you bring to your character?
Eric Chou: I had this scar from my forehead down when I was around three, and for this character, I had to shape my hair, and you can see the scar. We used it for this character because when he was in high school, he got into this big fight, and it became something very personal. I’m glad this scar got to be used.
Angela Yuen: For me, it was incredible to play this character. I really love her. She’s so smart, she’s incredibly intelligent, and she speaks before she thinks. I love that diva energy, and I’ve never played any character like that before. I think it’s amazing because I got to command the stage, and to do that, I didn’t internalise my negative feelings. That’s a feeling I’ve never felt before—to be so confident all the time. In terms of the script, we did a lot of localisation to make it Taiwanese. For example, I speak Cantonese. I’ve never done that before, and that’s something very special.
Shao Yuwei: This IP—and this character, in particular—is one I’ve always really liked. Wu Hsiu-wen is a girl with a rich backstory; she bravely pursues the things and places she longs for, and she isn’t afraid. Even if those around her misunderstand her, she’s solely focused on achieving her goals. She’s willing to abandon everyone, even herself, to accomplish what she sets out to do. I did quite a bit of character research for her, and I remember one detail that really stood out to me: I added a scene where she eats a triangular rice ball. It’s a flavour from her childhood memories—not the kind of home-cooked meal people usually eat, but something she used to eat alone while hiding in a convenience store.
Akira Huang: After the make-up was finalised for my character, I spoke with the director. He realised that his overall look was quite intimidating, so he suggested to the director that perhaps this character might have a thing for rap elements. He then observed that many rap artists design their own slogans, so he created a slogan for the character Jing Nan as well: “Rebuilding Lin Chin-Nan’s Pride.” Why “rebuild”? Exactly—it’s because after meeting Eric’s character Lu-Yung and joining Chin Lai Hao, the character wanted to tell himself to start anew.
Food plays an important role in this series. What’s one dish that instantly takes you back to the filming days of Fired Up!?
Everyone: Three cup chicken! [Laughs.]
Ben Wu: Whenever I eat three cup chicken, I think back to all the dishes we made with the crew after I joined the production team back then, and that sense of passion really comes flooding back.
AY: For me, it’s a very simple dish from Taiwan. It’s Taiwanese sausage. I always miss that dish, even now, when I’m back in Hong Kong.
SY: This fish congee is the same bowl of congee that I used to bring over when I was a kid—we’d give it to my grandmother. That’s probably the only ingredient in the series that I actually got to savour properly.
AH: It’s definitely braised pork over rice. The most down-to-earth Taiwanese flavour comes from the simplest Taiwanese rice noodles.
Did you have to go under any professional culinary training for this show? And if so, who turned out to be the best cook?
EC: The team arranged for Shao Yuwei and I to spend around two to three weeks at this very hardcore Chinese kitchen with Michelin-starred chefs. They spent a lot of time with us trying out different dishes and, of course, three cup chicken. We also did that. It was quite challenging because we had to learn how to cut, slice and use the traditional tools.
AY: With my character, I don’t really have to cook. I use my brain, I use my mouth. I just eat and then I judge, because I play a YouTuber, super famous, and I have a great following. So it’s more like I command, and then people would bring their dishes to me. All I had to do was eat. That was amazing.
The show is driven by loyalty, conflict and tightened relationships. How did you guys build that type of dynamic and chemistry on set together?
AY: I would say Eric did a lot to make us come together because he’s the one always treating us to food. That’s why we gained a lot of weight. Actually, during shooting, it was like four months of shooting, and he would always treat everybody. Also, it’s Taiwanese shooting culture. It’s almost like everybody treats everybody to food.
EC: I had hosted a hotpot dinner for all of the cast, and I just wanted us to eat and hang out like friends before we started to shoot.
BW: Yeah, shout out to Eric.
AH: I just feel like every member of our Chin Lai Hao team really brings out their unique qualities. For example, Angela is very lively and playful. So she really gets everyone hyped up with all these new IDs during the livestreams. Then there’s our Eric—he’s like a warm, caring older brother. During K-pop events, he’ll have jackets ready for everyone to wear and take great care of us in every aspect—food, clothing, transportation, entertainment—and even hand out red envelopes to everyone. We’re one whole team—not a single person can be missing.
Cosmos Lin: Actually, I think the reason our chemistry is so good has nothing to do with the plot. At first, I thought Angela was really hard to get close to—she was so cool—but then she asked, “Do you think so too?” and I just burst out laughing. That’s one of her cute sides. The atmosphere was such that we were still giggling and joking around right up until “Action,” and we’d start the scene already feeling really close.
Which character would you personally want to spend the most time with?
AY: I wouldn’t choose myself because I think I can be a little bit hard to deal with sometimes. Ask my teammates. I would pick Lu-Yung because he doesn’t really talk a lot, but he’s very reliable. He has a strong, vulnerable and warm heart at the same time.
EC: I think I will pick Angela because her character in the show is what Lu-Yung really needs—her energy. It’s something that he doesn’t really have in his life, which is what was so attractive to him. For her to come into the restaurant and really help out with the entire place.
BW: I’ll pick my dog. I got a dog in the series. And a dog will never betray you.
Stream Fired Up! on HBO Max here.
