Tencent’s upcoming big-budget acting variety show Attention, Actors 演员请就位 (lit.) has hired directors Li Shaohong (Palace of Desires, Dream of Red Mansions 2010), Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, Legend of the Demon Cat), Guo Jingming (Tiny Times, L.O.R.D) and Zhao Wei (So Young) as judges who will assemble their own team from a group of 58 actors.
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Zhaoge is one of several stunning upcoming series shot on-location in Xinjiang. Others include Novoland : Eagle Flag, Ever Night: Dawn of the Empire, and Handsome Siblings.
Wow the cast of this Zhaoge 朝歌 has had done well since it started filming – Li Yitong and Legend of the Condor Heroes, Bai Yu in Guardian, Zhang Zhehan and Merxat in Legend of Yunxi, and then the current breakout hit of Wu Jinyan and Xu Kai in The Story of Yanxi Palace.
The Shang dynasty epic stars Wu Jinyan, Zhang Zhehan, Bao Jianfeng, Gillian Chung, Merxat, Xu Kai, Li Yitong, Puff Kuo, Jiang Yiyi, Hai Lu , Bai Yu, Bai Lu, Chen Shu, Liu Min, Lian Lian, Deng Sha, Zhang Jianing, He Hongshan, and Liu Zhiyang.
Given their successes, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Zhaoge airing soon.
Set in 1930s Shanghai, The Wasted Times 罗曼蒂克消亡史 stars Ge You (Gone with the Bullets) as Mr. Lu, a powerful and murderous gangster who embarks on quest for revenge after his wife and children are killed by Japanese officials.
N.B.: Some of the dialogue is spoken in the Shanghai dialect.
Yao Chen makes me think that cloudy beaches might be more perfect than sunny ones – but then, Li Xuedong turns up a heat not long afterwards, revealing that the 17th prince has a pretty nice set of abs. Meanwhile, Minna Yang (Huang Rong for the upcoming ROCH 2014) goes for our favorite newspaper look ( “black, white, and red all over”). Gillian Chung looks much more sophisticated than she does in Ancient Sword in her photo shoot here, while “her” pet kitten Zhang Yunlong (from the same drama) is quite manly, even in a butterfly covered blouse. Also, Kai Ko plays basketball with a baseball cap on in his photo shoot for Elle Men (probably the last for a while). Continue reading
Did you know that if you Baidu 古剑奇谭, you find a poll asking whether Qingxue (Yang Mi‘s character) or Shaogong (Qiao Zhenyu’s character) is the true love of Li Yifeng‘s character, Baili Tusu? As I type this, Qingxue is winning, but Shaogong still has over 250k+ votes (which keeps increasing: as of August 2nd, it’s at 340k+). (I haven’t figured out how to vote yet, but if we’re talking about the drama, the bromance between the two guys is more than a match for what’s been shown between Tusu and Qingxue…). idarklight believes the only reason why Dashixiong isn’t in this vote is because he would win by a landslide.
Asides from that, Ancient Sword 古剑奇谭 is still slowly airing on Hunan TV. Who do you ship? Ma Tianyu‘s adorable and mischievous young master with Zheng Shuang‘s fox demon, or Zhang Na‘s frail young lady? William Chan‘s eldest disciple with his sect sister? Qiao Zhenyu‘s physician with his childhood friend Zhang Meng, or his dead lover Gillian Chung?
If you want more cuteness, you can look at the cartoon versions of the characters here. Continue reading
Qiao Zhenyu’s face is sufficient reason for you to watch this.
Li Yifeng must have it really hard when both of the other two male leads are so much prettier than him. This week, we feature Qiao Zhenyu and Gillian Chung, the once happily married couple of currently-airing series The Legend of Ancient Sword. Qiao Zhenyu plays one of the two titular characters of the first game, the current life of an immortal master musician punished to the human world and caught in the wheel of reincarnation. In the process, his soul was split into four horcruxes parts, and the loss made him slowly lose his memory and rationality as he seeks to be whole again.
Stills of Qiao Zhenyu and Gillian Chung below the cut, and Qiao Zhenyu trailer below. Can you spot the Zhang Meng among the stills?
The OCD in me wishes they were arranged by the colors of the rainbow.
Crazy cast Legend of the Ancient Sword released its opening theme, Heart of the Sword 剑心, by Zhang Jie, and the ending theme, Faraway远方, by Yu Kewei.
The series has a ridiculously gorgeous cast of Li Yifeng, Yang Mi, Zheng Shuang, Qiao Zhenyu, Ma Tianyu, Gillian Chung, William Chan, Chen Zihan, Dilireba, Li Xiaolu, Zhang Meng, and Qi Wei, and will begin airing next Wednesday.
Which song do you like more? Who do you look forward to the most?
Seven leading females in one drama? Yes, please!
Ancient Sword must have one of the most incredible female casts in a while, with at least seven of them being regular drama leads by themselves. The series boasts a cast of Yang Mi, Zheng Shuang, Gillian Chung, Zhang Meng, Li Xiaolu, Chen Zihan,Dilireba, Zhang Na, Wang Yimiao, and Qi Wei.
I can’t believe we never posted character posters for this, but as the series is scheduled to air in July, be prepared for a lot of photo spam. Female character posters below the cut.
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New skill acquired : death by noise
You might think that the Legend of Ancient Sword 古剑奇谭 is a drama or a video game, but it’s actually ancient China’s latest rock band! The New Year character posters features the all-star cast of Yang Mi, Zheng Shuang, Ma Tianyu, Li Yifeng, Gillian Chueng, Qiao Zhenyu, Zhang Meng, William Chan, Chen Zihan, Ying Haoming, Gao Weiguang and Dilireba.
They also fall in love — in case, you know, you weren’t sure if that was going to be happen.
The director and screenwriter of last year’s Arrows on the Bowstring (箭在弦上) are back with their newest drama, the currently filming Extremely Urgent (迫在眉睫), which stars the unlikely pairing of Gillian Chung and Baron Chen as treasure hunter and treasure defender.
Extremely Urgent takes place after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Thanks to the weak post-Qing warlord government, thieves from all over have their eyes on the country’s treasures, many of which have fallen into the hands of the people. He Cai (Baron Chen) wants to protect a treasure map that may lead to the 64 volumes of the Yongle Encyclopedia, so he creates and becomes the leader of a treasure protection organization named Dancing Sand.
However, he doesn’t bargain on meeting Chen Mo (Gillian Chung), an American-raised Chinese-boxing expert who returns to Shanghai to hunt down a precious artifact. After her birth father was killed when she was thirteen, Chen Mo was rescued and adopted by an American man named Henry, who taught her the ways of treasure hunting. Although she and He Cai are initially on opposite sides, they find themselves drawn to one another and fall in love.