Zheng Shuang is the Rumored Female Lead of Emerald Jade Lover with Lee Jong Seok

C-dramas do everything fast and that includes casting and spoilers. Hot on the heels of news that Hallyu actor Lee Jong Seok was going to headline upcoming Korean-Chinese co-production C-drama Emerald Jade Lover, now comes the spoiler leak that his leading lady will be C-actress Zheng Shuang. I have a hard time finishing any Zheng Shuang drama, but honestly I don’t dislike her. Love Through a Millennium was probably her only work I liked but her debut in the C-version of Hana Yori Dango that was Let’s Go Watch Meteor Shower wasn’t all that bad.

She’s admitted to full on plastic surgery two years ago, which was hard to deny since her entire face changed, but that’s not my problem with her. I just need her to really dig deeper and sell me on her acting more than just be perky and cute. She has two already filmed big C-dramas coming up in college modern drama One Smile is Very Alluring with Yang Yang and Qing dynasty period drama Lonely Court in Late Spring with Hawick Lau, and if either hits huge before Emerald Jade Lover airs then it’s only going to work in Lee Jong Seok’s favor. Both dramas are based on super popular C-novels so it’s possible that Zheng Shuang’s star will skyrocket next year.

Emerald Jade Lover is set in the 1930’s and 40’s Shanghai, and Lee Jong Seok plays a returning overseas executive with mysterious background birth secret, while Zheng Shuang’s female lead is a girl who’s life has been cruel to the hands of fate but changes once she crosses paths with the male lead. Filming begins in the January 2016 and the drama will film for three months.


Comments

Zheng Shuang is the Rumored Female Lead of Emerald Jade Lover with Lee Jong Seok — 24 Comments

  1. I’ve heared he has to do this project just because of his agency and his fans had campaigned against his renewal of his contract a few months ago! If this is the fact so it would be really unfortunate!

      • He needs to move to CJeS, which is were Song Il Gook (triplets father), Hwang Jeung Eum and many others have moved to recently. They follow the Hollywood model, were the agency acts as a representative, and not as an employer of the talent. So the celebrity has more say in the career and keeps most of their income. They actually have some of the biggest South Korean film stars already on their roster.

    • Yeah, people are pretty sure this is Jongsuk’s parting gift to his agency, since this was a lot of money. No one expects him to renew with them.

      • Oh but also apparently Jongsuk has a say in the script which is a first for a Korean actor and he has director Jin Hyuk (despite Doctor Stranger, Jin Hyuk has a lot of good dramas under his belt), so I’m not too angry. China’s treating him really well so maybe this will be a good experience for him.

      • Anyway it doesn’t mean he can save a poor written script with his power to change it in some parts, probably just turn it to something better but too far from great.

  2. koala, your choice of LJS’s photos amuse me.
    Anyhow, not looking forward to this drama, sounds makjang to the core… but probably would watch it for being a fan, like doctor stranger just watching for his scenes, skipping the most.

  3. The plot of this C-drama sounds so cliche, typical of Chinese post-Ching-pre-Communist period stories. I’m not really interested even LJS is case as the male lead.

    Now off topic. I’ll be curious about Zheng Shuang’s C-movie with Yang Yang. This young actor caught me off guard in Tornado Girl and won my heart as a fan after reading the original novel. He surely had that aura to relive the composed and determined Taekwondo boy in the novel. And he nailed it. He doesn’t shine so much in other dramas with very limited screen time. I’d be interested in seeing how he interprets a very different but even more alluring character in another adaptation of Gu Man’s novel. As to Zheng Shuan, I think she’s pretty either before or after surgery. Unlike other drama viewers, I do think her beauty fits the description in the novel, One Smile Is Very Alluring. I have no idea of her acting though since I’ve never watched her dramas. On top of these drawing points to pique my interest, the perk is that there’re also a substantial amount of flirting dialogues and intimate scenes in the novel. I don’t know how Yang Yang, who always assumed roles with innocent looks or pure-hearted image will be able to deliver that grown-up sexual attraction. This would be exciting enough for a fan with perverted mind. LOL

  4. “C-dramas do everything fast and that includes casting and spoilers.”

    I’m sure that’s true but they’ve actually been in talks with Jongsuk since at least Pinocchio. The producer who worked on Diamond Lover flew to Korea to talk to Jongsuk on the Pinocchio set, he posted a picture he took with Jongsuk and the caption was something along the lines of ‘welcome to China’. It caused quite an upset among his Chinese fans back then lol but it’s now happening. I think they’ve been planning this for a long time maybe including the actress’s involvement.

  5. Everyone think lee Jong suk doing a chinese drama for charity or just the benefit of his company
    When most kstars are trying to be able to get into the c-industry because it’s where’s the money at.

    I want fo see him in k-dramas too but he def will get the triple amount of money by doing this drama
    and it’s his first gig

    • I get that China pays way more but Jongsuk has been doing fine. Most of the people you see going to Chinese tv are idols or people whose fame has dropped over the years like Lee Dahae or Yoon Eunhye (sorry to say). Jongsuk’s in the prime of his career in South Korea, for a 20ep kdrama he make a bit over 1 million usd. I know he’s making over 5 million usd for Jade Lover and that’s a lot of money, but Jongsuk was already making enough to support his celebrity lifestyle. Of course money’s great but he’d need to like the work too and I do hope that’s the case for Jade Lover, most people have no hope for the drama but I’ve been trying to be optimistic. One thing’s for sure though, Jongsuk actually wanted the kmovie One Line but he had to decline and it went to Siwan.

      Meanwhile, his agency had been saying they want to advance into China and join partnership with or get investment from DMG all through 2015. Lo and behold DMG is investing into this drama. Sounds like an exchange to me. But I think his agency pushed too far because now that Jongsuk’s contract is expiring the industry is saying there’s a high possibility that he’s leaving. If he was happy with his agency then he wouldn’t think twice about renewing, right? We’ll see in mid-January if he leaves or not since that’s when his contract expires. His company is still saying they’re in the process of discussing renewal which is laughable this late into December. Reports say he’s already in contact with other agencies.

      • @iforgotmyusername, Is there anyway to contact with you in priviate? Any foroum, e.mail or sns? Thank you in advance

  6. It’s been a weird 2015 for LJS. Especially, he said he was going to do a movie after Pinocchio but somehow every rumored project fell through. He said during a fan meeting, that he had been waiting for a movie to begin production so he wasted a lot of time. And that one did not work out at the end. With the contract expiring, there must be a lot of mess going on and that is unknown to outsiders.

    • It’s not all that confusing. I think Jongsuk was meant to take a movie before Jade Lovers. From the way Jongsuk spoke about a movie he wanted that put him in a dilemma since the production kept getting delayed, it’s safe to guess that One Line (the movie he wanted) was meant to start filming early or mid 2015 but the production kept getting pushed back. After a while, One Line was estimated to start filming in late December 2015 and it would have taken several months. Jade Lovers starts on January 18th 2016 and films until April. The timing of both productions ended up overlapping and he had to choose one or the other.

      • News just came his contract was not getting renewed and that Jade Lovers was really a goodbye gift to his agency (the report says: Lee Jong Suk decided to participate in the Chinese-Korean collaboration drama ‘Jade Lovers’, showing his loyalty to the company he has worked with for so long. News translation by hitoritabi).

  7. Whatever LJS chooses, i will respect n support his choice. Not a fan of cdrama but will watch only his part. Hope he can get a good kfilm/kdrama deal ~ that will be happiness ?

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