Tony Yang Joins Tang Yan, Hawick Lau for “Lady and the Liar”

Official Poster

 

From the makers of the beautifully executed period series Prince of Lan Ling come another period drama starring Tang Yan, Hawick Lau, Tony Yang and Lemon Zhang called Lady and the Liar千金女贼. What is more interesting about this production is that it brings back the art director responsible for the artistic scenery in Prince of Lan Ling, Gossip Girl artistic director Charles E. MacCarry and the South Korean team responsible for the awesome special effects in Painted Skin 2. If the producers are willing to spend as much and make sure that the technical aspects are well made, this could be another sure fire hit in the making.

The story took place in the 1930’s during the Shanghai Concession, at a time when chaos gripped the land. It tells the story of Jiang Xin (Tang Yan),the daughter of the richest man in Shanghai but lost all her memories due to a shipwreck. Her life was stolen by Du Xiao han (Yang Rong) posing as Jiang Xin. Their fates are interchanged. Two men helped her regain her memories but who would she trust, the man who lied to her, Bai Zheng Qing (Hawick Lau) or the man who constantly stood by her side, Wen Sheng jie (Tony Yang).

The boot camp will start in December and is slated for release next year. It is a 45 episode period-romance directed by Zhou Xiao-peng. The team gathered for the ceremonial peace offering and prayer lead by Tang Yan and Tony minus Hawick, who was absent due to prior filming commitments. I actually wonder how they manage their schedules. All 3 of them are currently doing other projects. It will also be Hawick and Tang tang’s second time working together but I’m pretty sure that no “love angle” is necessary since everyone knows that Hawick is engaged to Tang Tang’s real life BFF Yang Mi.

 

Tony Yang, Tang Yan

Tang Yan

Production Team

Never Give Up Dodo – Episode 1

The verdict is out. This hilarious, naughty, in-your-face comedy is something you should not miss. If you haven’t started watching it, drop whatever you’re watching right now (Go!) head over to tv.sohu.com or whatever channel is available from your location and start streaming! I guarantee you’ll not only have a hearty laugh but you’ll be on the floor LMHFOing. If you don’t I’m telling you, you’re missing 10% of your life. Or maybe not exactly 10% but ypu’ll be missing a hell lot. Not convinced? I’ll give you some reasons why you should watch it.

Reasons for watching:

1. Godfrey Gao acting cute on camera.

2. Godfrey Gao taking his shirt off.

3. Godfrey Gao pouring beer all over his naked body.

 

My brain just self combusted conjuring such powerful images of him especially the third one. Sorry, give me a moment to collect my thoughts. This lady is so utterly giddy that I’m seeing stars and hearts all around. I’m afraid I’m writing gibberish here. I love this show so much but I wish it’s much longer. My only gripe is that it’s only 25 minutes for 10 episodes. Too short.

 

Here’s a quick recap.

Qian Dou dou is a loser when it comes to love. After a fortune teller told her that she’ll never get married and will be alone till the day she dies, all her previous relationships have failed no matter what she did. Her first fiance eloped with her bridesmaid so she had to return her wedding gown. But the shop refused to accept telling her that nobody could wear the gown because her breasts are too small. She returned to the same shop a second time for the same reason but was refused again. This time her fiance married another woman. But Duo duo refused to believe that she doesn’t have any luck in men.

Duo duo (Yin Hang), is now a manager in the company runned by her friend Director Sun (Li Yuan) where Xu Fei (Godfrey Gao) used to work but is now starting his own business. Duo duo and Xu fei are engaged and the couple love to role-play and pretend to be strangers making out. They have bought a house together but unfortunately the broker swindled them.

It turns out that another person has already moved in. Duo duo refused to accept the situation as such so she went to the house to meet the owner. As luck would have it, the person who moved in (who’s the real owner’s friend) was none other than her ex-fiance Li Dong (Mike Sui). The three struck a deal. They would all live together.

This is where the hilarity began. Soon after moving in, Xu Fei and Li Dong started their “competition”. They tried to outdo each other to show Duo duo whose a better man. They made the same, omelette but ended up appreciating one another in a bromantic kinda way. They flexed, stripped and poured beer on their bodies to show who has a better body.

They would spy on each other too. They even fought about a stuffed animal (which was given to DD as a gift from LD). But Xu fei had enough and wanted to move out. So they decided to stay at one of his ex-girlfriend’s house who according to him was fat, ugly and nerdy. The couple packed and left. They rang the bell at XF’s ex-gf’s house and out came a vixen!

Beautiful Country with Ruby Lin and Yuan Hong Drops Official Trailer plus Poster

The first trailer is finally out! Was that fast or what!

 

My Thoughts:

It’s good to see Ruby Lin in something other than her soft feminine roles in most of her period dramas. I don’t really see her as great actress but she’s good in this one. But I also think that she has to toughen up a bit more to convincingly portray a cross-dressing, sword wielding girl. It’s a bit too much to compare her to the likes of Shu Qi or Zhang Zi Yi. However, it’s great to see the variation in her acting skill.

Two words, YUAN HONG. I’m trying not to overpraise him but forgive my bias. I am just a girl (all right I’ll stop there). He does brooding really well and when most people would rather overact, he on the other hand, underacts. I like it when he does that. With his eyes and mannerisms telling the story. This has got to be his best so far.

Ma Tian Yu. Where did the pretty boy go? What I see here is a MAN! And the older version of him with just a little bit of stash, is surprisingly so magnetic. I never thought he could do well as a rogue.

The backdrop plus the sad, soft music does justice to this series’ title — Beautiful Country.

 

Beautiful Country official poster  

 

The couple Liu Xiu and Li Hua in their matrimonial garbs. I’m guessing it’s for their second wedding. Or it could be the first (but I highly doubt that since they were pretty young and poor then) Or the third (when he’s already the emperor of  Han) They will be married thrice after all.

 

 

Ruby Lin, Yuan Hong Historial Drama “Long Ballad” Newest HD Stills

Long Ballad 秀丽江山 is a Ruby Lin co-produced and starred historical drama adapted from a novel by Li Xin with the same title. It tells the story of a university student named Guan Li Hua who time traveled back to two thousand years ago. She possessed the body of the teenage daughter of a wealthy family during the Han Dynasty named Yin Li Hua. A straightforward and quick witted girl. It also tells the story of Liu Xiu, an ordinary peasant boy who ascended to the highest seat of power in all of Han and became emperor. It was a time of turmoil and war but the two experienced the purity of first love only to be separated by their circumstances. But fate reunited the two of them once again and both fought side by side in their ensuing battle to restore and unite the dynasty. Amidst palace intrigues, interweaving conspiracies, and war is their love strong enough to withstand the test of time?

According to lady producer Ruby Lin the story will remain faithful to the novel except for the time travelling part. Should I be grateful for that? I guess so. I think I have enough dose of time travelling dramas or series, thank you very much! Long Ballad is in the peak of filming in Xiangshan as of this writing. It boasts of beautiful costumes and natural scenerary plus a whole batallion of men in wigs and body armors including Yuan Hong who plays Liu Xiu, Kenny Kwan (Deng Yu), Yu Bo (Liu Xuan), Zong Feng Yan (who’s a staple in historical dramas in my opinion having made a gazillion of them!) Wang Yuan Ke, Jean Li, etc.

What’s different about this upcoming drama is that Ruby Lin is not playing a heroine who uses her beauty (Schemes of a Beauty, Glamorous Imperial Concubine) but instead she’ll be a feisty, blade wielding lady ala Mulan. If the drama gods agrees, it will be released early next year.

 

Check out the gallery below.

Ruby Lin

Yuan Hong

Upcoming Mainland Drama “One and a Half Summer” Releases First Stills with Nichkhun

Although One and a Half Summer won’t be airing until the middle of next year Interfax and CJ Entertainment released the first wave of stills in HD. The drama which has started production since July is expected to wrap up next month. Although the premise may not be all that fresh, a bunch of college kids learning to be independent, reaching for their dreams, fulfilling their passions and falling in love, yep! indeed we’ve seen a zillion dramas with the same story line. But, it doesn’t stop drama addicts from waiting for this one to come out, myself included, for the sole reason that it’s got 2PM‘s Nichkhun as the lead. This is not his first acting work but his first in China. I am eager to see if there’s more to him than his cute,baby face.

The drama centers on the female protagonist Luo Man played by actress Xu Lu, a cheerful, good-hearted tomboyish Philosophy major who’s constant companion is her childhood friend Li Xiu Qi played by one of mainlands hot property Jiang Jin Fu, a typical, law major goody two shoes. Nichkhun is Zhang Hao, a mischievous, musically gifted foreign student who flew to Beijing because of a girl he likes, Shu Qing played by Yu Wen Wen, a glamorous yet sad rich girl who’s secretly into rock music. A whole bunch of other college kids completes the characters including actors, Meng Jia or JIA from MissA, Zhu Dan, Wei Da xun, Wen Ting et. al.

The first encounter between Lou Man and Zhang Hao would result in constant bickering between the two but we all know where it would eventually lead. I wonder if they have chemistry or whether Lou Man would end up with Li Xiu Qi instead. It remains to be seen. Until then, let us first enjoy these first official batch of teasers.

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photo credit: sina