GUH. *Incoherent spazzing* I need. I want. I must have. CTS released a 25-minute preview for the upcoming TW-drama Material Queen, starring Vanness Wu and Lynn Xiong. I watched it with stars in my eyes, totally entranced by the story and the indescribably beautiful cinematography. MQ is helmed by the PD who did one of the prettiest TW-dramas in the last decade Autumn’s Concerto, and this time she takes her billion NT budget and every penny appears on the screen in the form of the location shoot, the specially constructed backdrops, the CGI fantasy sequence, and of course, the costumes designed by Patricia Field.
While Vanness’ acting in MQ appears in the form of being stalled somewhere between Meteor Garden 2 and Autumn’s Concerto, Lynn is perfectly cast. She’s got this glitter in her eyes, this steel in her spine, this desperation mixed with determination, to use what God gave her to get what she wants. OMG, this one scene killed me when Vanness defends her to the horrible ex-fiancee of hers who seems to think someone selling herself for money is somehow less than someone buying someone for money. Click to watch the extended preview.
Part 1:
Lynn is a supermodel working in Paris. She was abandoned by her mom in an orphanage, and her motto in life is to never want for security. Hence she will do ANYTHING in exchange for money, including getting herself affianced to a brutish Mainland Chinese nouveau riche money baron. She mistakes Vanness, who is a poor violinist studying in Paris, for billionaire heir William Norman (Vanness was hired to be his body double) and uses completely transparent meants to lure him. Even though he sees through her tactics, he also sees through her loneliness and need for security.
They are starting to have feelings for each other when the truth is revealed. Vanness is kicked out of his music school once his part-time job is discovered. He goes back to Taiwan, and Lynn goes back as well with her fiancee. Except she gets promptly replaced by another pretty young thing, and ends up renting a room in the ramshackle outdoor market area where Vanness grew up, and where his mom sells vegatables for a living.
Part II:
Vanness helps Lynn land yet another chaebol (this one handsome, young, and rich), but in the process, they discover that maybe love is more important than money. I love how the drama doesn’t pull any punches about Lynn’s character – she’s a golddigger, she knows it, everyone around her knows it, and she’s not ashamed because she’s striving for success the only way she knows how.
MQ totally reminds me of one of my oldie fave J-doramas Yamato Nadeshiko with Nanako Matsushima and Shinichi Tsutsumi. Sigh, I need to keep chanting this mantra over and over again: “you cannot afford to recap another drama, so don’t think about it, lady!” Material Queen premieres on Friday night June 17, 2011
What is the name and artist of the song at the beginning of the first clip?
If you click on the Material Queen tag, it’ll take you to all my MQ posts. The song is called “Is This All” by Vanness Wu feat. Ryan Tedder of One Republic. It’s going to be the theme song for MQ. I linked to a video of it in one of my previous posts.
Nooo! Please recap this!
This drama seems really different from the other tw dramas and is the only to have caught my eye in a long time.
I think I should give it a chance. It looks good! Unfortunately, like you, my drama schedule is full at the moment, and I also have something called a real-life that gets in the way of my drama addiction(stupid real-life). What to do? 🙁
while you need to keep reminding yourself how you cant recap too many dramas, I need to keep reminding myself that I cant afford to watch too many dramas either and June 17 is like next week…how I wish this was airing in two months instead…that preview just makes me even more anxious to watch this now…and I absolutely agree that the director seems to have made the best of use of all the money that was put into this project…also even if you dont decide not to recap this, could you consider giving us your first impressions or how you feel about it as the series progresses??
also thank you so much for keeping us updated with all the stills and previews for this drama!!!
Anyone else wondering how they’re going to live on 4 hours of sleep a night? Why so many interesting dramas?!
I’m not even wondering anymore…..sleep is way overrated anyways
It’s odd to see Vanness in this role, you know the less than mighty-rich kid. hahahahahaha There were times in the trailer that he looked old and in some awfully young than his age. However it seems refreshing to see him dressed down like this. I hope he gives better acting in here because I honestly do like the improvements he showed in Autumn Concerto. I agree with you, AC was probably one of the best Taiwan dramas ever… hehehehehe
I don’t watch much Taiwanese, so i’m not sure if i’ll make the time to watch, but still, first impression… seems pretty interesting. The main girl is interesting, she’s different than the usual 😉
There is a korean version starring Go Soo and Kim Hee Sun, “My Fair Lady”.
you changed your page layout! i prefer the old one.
I kinda like this layout – It’s nice and clean! Kinda refreshing actually 🙂
One of the few rare times I like changes. 😛
Sorry to disagree!
Ewwwwwww !!!! He is so OLD now. Both lead actor and actress are not good looking at all which makes me So will NOT watch it.
Awww, I’m so sorry Vanness had the temerity to, well, I dunno, AGE WITH TIME, because that is clearly not allowed in the drama world. People need to be frozen and then un-thawed twice a year to film a drama and then shoved back into cryogenic freeze.
In addition, it’s good to hear that good looks is your sole criteria for deciding whether to watch a drama or not. I’m pretty sure plenty of people subscribe to your modus operandi, but merely lack the balls to come out and say “I am a shallow twit.” I applaud you.
lol/
Wow. How could you even say that?
Have you not even watched the trailers and appreciated the quality of the camera-work and the costumes? Just this makes this drama deserved to be watched.
And I’m sorry, but many actors just gain charm while aging – think, I don’t know, George Clooney. And even if aging makes them look wrinkled or whatever, their job is not to be beautiful as much as to emote. Joseph Chang (DTLY’s Jie Xiu) might not be conventionnally beautiful, but he has the charisma and the acting abilities that are required from an actor. If beauty was all there was, then an actor would simply need to go through surgeries to make a drama ‘watchable’.
I’m sorry if this is an overreaction from me, but yours was one desperatly shallow statement that made me cringe as a fellow movies/dramas-watcher…
Lol there should be a like button for your reply ockoala!! Please recap this drama, please please por favor! I’m gonna create a banner to persuade you hehe
here’s my attempt to make a banner for you… pleaseeeeeee recap =D
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/af352/ibeeleaf/Untitled-11-1.png
Vanness did improve a lot in terms of acting, i mean, yea.. based on Autumn Concerto/Next Stop Happiness. As for Lynn, I think she worked very hard to outshine herself in the movie Ip Man I and II? I hope the result will turn out good for this drama, since it’s the first time for her to work in a lengthy shooting project. Can’t wait to see the chemistry in between the male lead and female lead.
LOLs. Indeed. Indeed. Indeed. There should be a like button for that.
Think it’s just the day’s events following from the 109 comments and going about shippers and pair-ed on/off screen lovers.
Anyways. Have been keeping my sight on this drama for a while. Will watch it regardless.
How about a compromise? – Brief recaps???? 🙂 This looks to be something quite worth catching esp since the quality of production and the scripting seems good.
when it rains it pours hehehe that the reason why all the good dramas are coming and rushing in all at once in jap , Taiwanese and korean drama im just so glad that im not watching any ann and ken thailand drama or i will go blind cause of drama overload my eyes are hurting already any way back to vaness im so gland he comes a long way after meteor garden which started my Taiwanese drama addiction ….. waiting for this
At first I have a bit of like reservation towards this movie cos I dont like having a lead actress being a shallow person but after watching the 25 minutes preview, it is kinda interesting… but I still like AA and VW in AC… they r so perfect together!
She’s a pretty girl and I love her character already. BTW, can’t figure out how this relates to Yamato Nadeshiko.
love the ost
love the trailer
love those dresses
last but not least….love the bling bling
ps: i might watch it if the eng-subbed available *grin*
OMG!! I am so impressed with the 25 minute preview, it’s not even funny!
I did not know what to expect of Material Queen, even after seeing the earlier teasers. The production quality (as shown in the teasers) is definitely very, very good and the storyline is interesting. But I much love a drama with “heart”. The earlier teasers did not reveal much of that. Plus I wasn’t sure of Lynn’s acting abilities and character development, and Vanness acting can be uneven at times.
But this preview totally blew me away!!! The high production quality is a given (as shown in the teasers), but the story and character development is totally drawing me in! Especially Lynn Xiong. It looks like a very well written character and she has just the right looks for it. If it had been any other idol actresses, I don’t think they could have carry the role through. Kudos to the director and producer for selecting her! I know many has thrown negative comments her way and also this drama cuz they don’t like Lynn Xiong. But if one just focus on her portrayal alone, and put aside biasness of looks and rumors news etc, I’d say Lynn totally nailed this character (at least from the preview).
As for Vanness, his role seems less developed in the drama. I also still see some unevenness in his emoting, and hope he will do much better in the total drama. I am actually quite interested in the 2nd male lead role (not sure who the actor is) who seems to have a complicated love triangle with Lynn and Vanness.
Kudos to the director and producer team (the same who did Autumn Concerto). The storyline looks well written and the directing is good, plus the production quality is top-notch. Most importantly, the drama has Heart.
Vanness is just so handsome here… weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!
“Ewwwwwww !!!! He is so OLD now. Both lead actor and actress are not good looking at all which makes me So will NOT watch it.”
No, you’re too young honey! Life only begins after thirty. 😉
I’ve always loved the subject, now I like the preview, so of course that I am going to watch it.
Paris, Lynn, beautiful cinematography very attractive….but i just cannot accept Lynn and Vanness as the OTP. i don’t think they match?!
I don’t quite like Lynn too (maybe she looks snobbish?), but agree she is right for this role. I’ll be watching because of Vanness. And I think the second lead is Daniel Chan Hiu Tung. I used to love his songs and he looks quite cute with his sort of uneven teeth, but that was many moons ago. Haven’t heard any news about him before MQ.