The Cast of Extravagant Challange Attend Press Conference and Commence Filming

There must be something in the air around here, because I am way more excited about upcoming TW-dramas than I am about upcoming K-dramas (with the exception of Best Love). GTV is totally on a roll these days, it has Hayate the Combat Butler completed, and now Extravagant Challange, its long-awaited live-action adaptation of the manga Skip Beat finally starts filming tomorrow.

The main cast attended a press conference yesterday to introduce the leads and to start drumming up interest. Oh, my interest is on high alert all right. Super Junior’s Choi Si Won plays Ren, Lee Dong Hae plays Sho, Ivy Chen plays Kyoko, and Bianca Bai plays Moko. Si Won and Dong Hae’s Chinese really is quite good, so I’m finger-crossed there will be no dubbing.

I think it’s hilarious that Bianca Bai showed up at the press conference wearing flats (that girl never wears flats), a day after Dong Hae spoke to the media and joked that he was worried about acting opposite Bianca and being shorter than her, since she’s a top model in Taiwan and one of the tallest actresses in the industry.

It’s clear that the two ladies have just met their two male co-stars, but the four of them look great together, and I’m feeling my hopes rise again. The director (who directed last year’s award-winning TW-movie Monga with Ethan Ruan and Mark Chao) was asked about kissing scenes, and he said that he’s planning one for Si Won and Dong Hae, to which both boys protested loudly and said that was not cool.

The press conference:

Comments

The Cast of Extravagant Challange Attend Press Conference and Commence Filming — 20 Comments

V on March 31, 2011 at 9:38 AM said:

OMG, they at least got the casting of the male leads right. Big sigh of relief right there.

Still iffy about Bianca Bai as Kanae, but we’ll see … I always like to keep an open mind and will gladly welcome any sort of improvement in her acting skills. Wonder how she will tackle the prickly-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside Kanae.

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- Penny on April 19, 2011 at 9:46 PM said:
  
  i would have prefered Jerry Yan as the main lead… it was meant to be Jerry at first then he dropped out.
  
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D on March 31, 2011 at 9:51 AM said:

dang…Choi Si Won can speak chinese too??!!…his hotness just rose to another level right now…..also Hayate Combat Butler will also be airing in two weeks right?..will you be considering watching it?

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kiarah on March 31, 2011 at 9:57 AM said:

I don’t like that dress Bianca is wearing it doesn’t go with her body type.

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Kender on March 31, 2011 at 10:13 AM said:

I find it hilarious that the poster up there notes that Hae and Siwon are from Super Junior. XD

But yayyyyyyyyyyyyy I am so essite 😀

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- endodo4ever on March 31, 2011 at 2:54 PM said:
  
  We are so watching this together. <3333333
  
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vis on March 31, 2011 at 10:18 AM said:

@V: Yeah, big sigh of relief! Now it’s truly official!

OMG, Choi Si Won can speak chinese?! And good Chinese at that! That’s awesome~ Really hoping that there won’t be any dubbing then! Oh, my I’m getting so excited about this drama adaption~

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Blue Ocean on March 31, 2011 at 10:39 AM said:

the guys have a kissing scene, but not Siwon & the girl… that’s not fun.

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Sere on March 31, 2011 at 10:48 AM said:

a kiss between Siwon and Donghae? That would be nice. Heh. *hides*

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- estel on March 31, 2011 at 4:38 PM said:
  
  Hahahahahaha!!!!
  
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mookie on March 31, 2011 at 1:09 PM said:

O M G! This is directed by 鈕承澤?! I have no idea. :OOOOOOOOOOO my PD/ahjusshi crush. Now my interest in this just explode.

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dangermousie on March 31, 2011 at 1:39 PM said:

I am not a big fan of the manga (I don’t dislike it, it just didn’t grab me – it’s very episodic and not angsty/plotty enough for me) but this cast looks so cute, I just might give this one a go 🙂

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wiggles. on March 31, 2011 at 1:56 PM said:

I definitely agree with you, I’m more excited for Tdrama than Kdrama right now. 😀
and it’s a good thing it won’t be dubbed.

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jeankaycee on March 31, 2011 at 3:25 PM said:

im gonna keep an eye on this one because i like dong hae and siwon!
hope its gonna be good! ^_^

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estel on March 31, 2011 at 4:41 PM said:

Siwon-aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh~~~~!!!!

Omo, I am so excited for this. It doesn’t even matter if it sucks! (Okay, it does, because Athena sucked and there just wasn’t enough Siwon to keep me going, even though he’s my ILU. But still.) I don’t think I’ve seen the two actresses in anything, but considering my repertoire of TW dramas is, like, six that’s not surprising. But I have no knowledge of the source manga, so even if they chop it up I won’t care, so long as the story stays consistent.

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superseoul11 on March 31, 2011 at 5:49 PM said:

HYPERVENTILATING!!!! I CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS… OMG My life has meaning now!!! Donghae!!! :#: AWJ$%I#$U%IDJRF#$(^I$&()JDF sorry if this counts as spam.

I will have to keep myself entertained with something until this comes out…

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danni on March 31, 2011 at 8:59 PM said:

FINALLY, thank God! I feel like I’ve been waiting for this drama forever, I’m so glad filming is finally starting and all the craziness (hopefully) has stopped. Should be good, can’t wait for it to air.

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Anvesha on April 1, 2011 at 4:43 PM said:

Yay!! I love skip beat.. But I can’t hate Sho if Dong Hae is playing him!!!! He is one of my favs frm Suju! And I really hate Sho lol Anyways, I will check it out for sure 🙂

I don’t know much about the main girl but I actually don’t like Bianca much (that dress too is pretty bad)

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cleo on April 3, 2011 at 9:04 PM said:

just curious..
as far as i know their is no real 2nd female lead in Skip beat..
I mean there are many females in the story that go GAGA over Ren and Shou but those female aren’t present permanently.
I mean, the only other constant female character in Skip beat is s Shou’s manager, who has a platonic relationship with Sho as the story progresses (chapter 50 and up I think) and the other female character is Kyoko’s bestfriend Moko-san who isnt romantically linked to ren or shou?

So my best bet is that bianca would be playing the manager, right?
anyway I wonder how they will end this drama since the manga is far from being over like it is chapter 173 now but you cant see Ren openly and vocally admitting his attraction/love for Kyoko? or for Kyoko’s side, she still is confused with her feelings…
koala, what do you think, will they end the story like the one on the anime?

please please please.. can someone tell me…

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Xhin Celerio on March 1, 2014 at 12:47 AM said:

for those who didnt know .. siwon & donghae is not really learned chinese/taiwanese language they ‘ll have an interpreter which is hard for them to understand . so THAT WHY THIS is called the cast of extravagant challenge THEY didnt use SAME languages .. in the taping they’ll telling on what’s in script based on their languages for ex . in the scene that siwon calls ivy chen , siwon uses her korean language to tell what’s on the script on ivy chen and ivy chen replied to siwon using taiwanese language ..well it is hard for them because they dont use same language . (do you get it ?) that’s why they called this cast .. “the cast of extravagant challenge”

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