Ivy Chen Visits Good Friends Joe Cheng and Janine Chang on the Set of You Light Up My Star

The upcoming FTV cable network TW-drama You Light Up My Star has started filming and with it comes the first look at the intriguing drama produced and directed by acclaimed Taiwanese director Qu Yo Ning (Director Winnie). He’s worked with both Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng multiple times together in their most famous turns in the It Started with a Kiss series, and even worked with them apart before. Two years ago he helped Ariel reinvent herself into a mature acting image with In Time With You, and now he’s back to present Joe post military service and I’m super curious to see what ensues. You Light Up My Star reunites Joe with his Honey and Clover co-star Janine Chang and it’s a pairing that is as sold as it gets. There is so much co-star swapping in Taiwan dramas any way since the acting pool is so small compared to Japan, Korea, and especially China. Janine’s best friend Ivy Chen visited the filming set last week and was roped into playing an extra for the day. Ivy is also good friends with both Director Winnie (who directed her in the C-drama version of Tiny Times) as well as Joe. Hilariously her role required her to literally play dead and Ivy expressed a great appreciation for extras since there is so much waiting around for just a few seconds of screen time. Ivy teased that she wanted her extra role to have a kiss scene with Janine, and it would be awesome if she could steal Janine from Joe in the drama plot. Sadly Director Winnie needed her to play dead and even dabbled some fake blood on her lips and had her lay on a hospital gurney for the entirety of the filming. I read that Joe’s character in the drama is an actor who is suffering from depression and may even have multiple personalities, hence Joe has expressed great pressure to really deliver on this role. Joe’s last few dramas have all been duds for me (Channel X, Love Actually) but he’s definitely talented and I trust Director Winnie has an interesting story to tell. On a side note, does anyone think Joe’s a dead ringer for his BFF Mike He with his floppy looking hairstyle?