Following along with the filming of the latest drama adaptation of the wuxia novel Return of the Condor Heroes has been an endless well of WTF mirth. First producer Yu Zheng casts the least suitable leading lady Xiaolongnu in of all time by selecting Michelle Chen. Then he proceeds to photo shop half of her off in official drama stills to turn her into a lithe willowly semblance of Xiaolongnu. He casts hottie Chen Xiao as male lead Yang Guo but then styles his character like a cross between a period MC Hammer and a hobo from the Lower East Side. He re-jiggers the story line in ways that will make viewers spit up blood (Li Mo Chou likes Yang Guo, too! Xiaolongnu and Yin Zhi Ping were dating!), all but guaranteeing ratings for the sheer rubbernecking curiosity of seeing just how much of a hot mess this will turn out to be. The drama is reportedly done with filming and heads into post-production which ought to be a quiet time before the first trailer hits, except last week the media and netizens lit up again with more laments for how unattractive Michelle Chen is for the role as the beautiest beauty of all time that is Xiaolongnu.
It’s not really beating a dead horse, maybe a half-dead horse, when pictures leaked of Michelle’s stunt and body double in the drama and people were bowed over with how pretty she was and how she actually looked better suited to play Xiaolongnu. The young actress is a 20 year old college acting student who has gotten bit parts in a few dramas while still going to school, and was offered the role to play Michelle’s double in RoCH. Her name is Ro Mei Qi, and she pretty much fursploded the weibo hotlines when pictures leaked of her dressed as Xiaolongnu on set and then promptly made Michelle look that much worse. Viewers are wondering now if Yu Zheng actually likes Michelle when he cast her as Xiaolongnu, or he was actually trying to punk her by casting her in a wholly unsuitable role, dressed in clothes that make her look dumpy, given two horns for hair in a style that no woman can pull off, and now given a body double that outshines her in looks and figure. Ah Michelle, I don’t think she’ll ever ever make this role from a huge bad idea into something surprisingly awesome, the way Chen Qiao En transformed her gender-twisted antagonist role in the latest drama adaptation of The Swordsman into the scene-stealer of the entire drama.
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Poor Michelle. That first side-by-side pic is the WORST. You couldn't have picked a more unflattering photo of her as XLN. And when placed beside the fresh-faced XLN double? Th lady didn't stand a chance in hell. More's the pity.
She looks so-so in the second one. The third pic is okay but looks suspiciously photoshopped.
The fact that the double is "prettier" and physically better suited to play XLN than the actual actress makes this whole scenario positively farce-like.
Yeah, that's so upsetting. If they stuck to "the stunt double is a better actress," then fine. Instead they got shallow and pointed out how "ugly" Michelle is.
Michelle is not ugly. People need to look into a mirror and reassess their souls.
She physically does not fit the role. Would you get Meryl Streep to play Helen of Troy? And Michelle Chen isn't even 1/10 of the actress that Meryl Streep is so I fail to see any discernible reason why she was offered the role.
@rina I totally get that, and the disappointment of the fans of the original epic... But calling her ugly just Cuz she doesn't fit the physical description of the character is different... it doesn't reflect well on them and I'm beginning to see them as a bunch of fangirls
@D, ok, I get what you're saying. Yeah, some of the reactions are definitely OTT.
In this case it would be nonsensical to critique who is the better actress. The stunt double needn't be a good actress, and neither does the actress cast to play XLN. The sole requirement for that role is "most beautiful woman in the world". Period. She has the personality of a dish rag and barely makes any facial expressions other than icy stare, ergo acting really is not required to play the art. There hasn't been a single XLN in drama history who could act, simply because it's pretty hard to find a good actress who is also that level of beauty.
@Rina: That's a totally false comparison. MC is "less pretty" because she doesn't fit an ideal perpetuated by greater society. Meryl Streep is not the right age, and would not make sense at Helen of Troy, independent of your assessment of beauty.
@ockoala: I do apologize if I came off rude, but the real impetus for this comment is a fear for the perpetuation of internal misogyny. MC has been mentioned before (on this site even) to pale visually against other actresses, apart from her character here. Ergo, you cannot use the argument that people are reacting simply because she's "unsuitable for the role," for being under an arbitrarily established threshold for beauty.
If a woman like this is considered repulsive, what about all the women in the world who don't even come close? Are all of them lesser beings for it? Is beauty the only requirement for acting, such that a beautiful face is forgiven for everything else the actor lacks? Even if the character's personality is that of a plate, I don't see why she has to be reduced to a doll on screen. Why not let a talented actor inject her with depth? Is that out of the realm of plausibility?
When we can answer those questions as women without wondering if we are under the thumb of a male dominated society, I'll be more accepting of this kind of criticism. Your reasoning makes sense in this case, but there are bigger fish to be frying. Ask yourself if you've seen a male get hate for not being "hot enough," and photoshopped to death through an entire drama. Then ask yourself why that is.
Hey guys ok honestly yes Michelle not crash hot sure but now moving on is that hes changing the story now with all this BS please cant someone stop this how can Yang Guo love all these people and then love XLN the romance of it all is she is the one and only and no one can change that wish the bastard would die how can he do this you could called LOCH and ROCH pretty much Legendary Wuxia stories and hes pretty much rubbed the worst thing any one person can think of and rubbed it into our faces and made us eat it puke it back out and eat it again the world would be a better place with out people like him how can he even be a producer or director or whatever the hell he is someone should shoot it
One more thing if anyones out there and can get their hands on the original print of the film please destroy it before he can make copies and release it to the public so that half the population wont die from watching such blasphemy damn feels good to vent
There are a number of versions been made already. But this is one, I will not be watching.
Ouch.
Is it right to criticize an actor just on the basis of beauty? I mean one can point out if she is a bad actor but saying how ugly she is, it's so rude.
To be fair, the character she is playing is beauty of all beauties in Jin Young's world so no, I don't think it's rude. Remember this is the entertainment industry, where looks is one's ticket to stardom. Is LYF a good actress? Definitely not, but she was a beautiful XLN and that is who exactly XLN is.
Xiao Long Nu is all about her beauty, and the story is mostly about a major noona romance.
LOL, casting her as Xiao Long Nu is like giving her candies, then using a stunt double for her is just giving a tight slap and snatching those candies back. She'll be forever scarred in mainland for sure, definitely a major mess up picking up this role. Yu Zheng is a poison boil of the industry.
Koala are you as beautiful as XLN to have the nerve to criticize Michelle Chen like that?
When will this fallacious argument ever die?!
One does not have to be beautiful to recognize beauty (or its absence)... I don't know what Ms. Koala looks like but she's well within her rights to call MC ugly.
I think nobody should call anyone ugly...there is no standard for beauty as it lies in the eyes of the beholder..
You absolutely fail at comprehension.
If the storyline really has been changed so much then nobody knows how big of a role XLN has until it airs. Maybe there's a reason MC was cast instead of a generic pretty face (ie for her acting skills). And the drama hasn't even aired but you've already decided that MC isn't 'good' enough to pull this off? In your own words XLN's character needs no acting skills and exists to be a beautiful doll, no? You're contradicting yourself. Anyway it's always tricky to cast someone who's supposedly the most beautiful woman in the world, and it would be controversial no matter who was cast, like Liv Tyler for Arwen in LoTR or Diane Kruger for Troy. In cases like this it always requires a degree of understanding from the viewer.
What really annoys me is the criticism or MC's looks in this post. Doesn't the movie industry hold actresses to high enough ridiculous beauty standards? I don't know what world you live in that MC looks dumpy in anything she wears, or ugly. I had a real WTF reaction to that. I don't know if your opinion on MC irl is colouring your words but you just sound petty and this whole post was rank with sexism. I'm really disappointed because I visited this site a lot for my drama recaps and news but I don't hold with people who so freely spew misogyny.
But a lot of ROCH has to do with XLN's untouchable beauty and MC clearly is not THAT beauty. If she was casted as HR in LOCH, I don't there would be an issue because HR's character is all about smarts. XLN's beauty is ethereal. MC is not. There is a legion of actresses who wouldn't be suitable for XLN. The fact that Michelle took this role, she must know that she's opening up herself to be dissected.
Liv Tyler looked regal as Arwen. Diane Kruger is beautiful. MC had to be retouched till she was unrecognizable to look even passable as XLN. If XLN's character is to be warmer and softer, then why did she have to be photoshoped so much? For an iconic role like XLN, it's 80% looks and 20% acting chops. MC is by no means an ugly girl. She would be cute in a idol drama, but for a role, but as XLN, no thanks.
When there are hundreds and thousands of words written in a famous novel describing a very famous leading lady character in specific terms of beauty, then yes, it is perfectly legitimate to critique whether the actress cast to play that role fits that very specific description of beauty. Michelle Chen is not the beautiful that is XLN. Period.
I never said Michelle was ugly in the post. Not sure where you are extrapolating that from. I said she's unattractive for the role of XLN and I don't see any sexism or misogyny in that opinion. The knee jerk reaction to deem a critique of superficial looks either sexist or misogynistic is unfounded in the context of analyzing whether an actress (whose job is to perform a role in visual emoting) fits a particular part, especially one so iconic in literary text.
Daniel Radcliffe was cast in the first Harry Potter because the boy looked exactly as Harry was described in the novel. He couldn't act his way out of a paper bag in the first movie, but the producers went with visual similarity over casting a young actor who could actually act (and had acting experience whereas Daniel had never acted before until HP1). That was the better choice versus picking a 10 year old boy who was tall, blond, and thin and therefore way harder for the audience to really get into watching the movie when the Harry onscreen looks nothing like the Harry as described in the novel. This is the same critique is all. Michelle looks NOTHING like XLN as described in the novel, regardless of whether Michelle is pretty or not in real life.
This is my first commenting and I read this blog a lot, so first, thanks for always providing timely updates, Koala! I really enjoy reading most of your blog posts and I don't mean for this to be criticism at all! I merely feel very strongly about this issue and want to comment that I think the public is in fact perpetuating harmful standards of beauty for women when they criticize MC for not "fitting this role."
While it's true that we often want actors to "look the part," I think what makes that argument dangerous for this role is that to "look the part" of XLN, you have to look "beautiful," and so when people say MC doesn't "look the part," that is really just a roundabout way of saying she is not "beautiful." And you might say that XLN is described at length in a very specific way, but just looking at the picture of the stunt double who is lauded for her beauty, isn't the audience really just projecting ideas of conventional, modern beauty onto XLN--i.e., large-eyed, tiny-faced, and thin? That is, are they really thinking about XLN's particularly textual descriptions, or are they just reacting reflexively based widely disseminated cultural ideals? And if the latter, then they are in fact making a judgment on how "beautiful" MC is, not vis-a-vis XLN's textual description, but actually just based on what a "beautiful woman" should like in this day and age--that unrealistic image of the waif-like supermodel.
All this is to say, I think it's unrealistic to say that the public is merely objectively comparing MC to XLN the textual character and not making some inherent, reflexive judgment about whether MC is beautiful in the way that our society deems is beautiful. I would argue that critics are holding her to a standard of beauty that modern media has defined and perpetuated, and in criticizing MC's face and her figure and denying that these features could also be "beautiful," they continue to uphold an impossible standard of beauty for women.
Thank you for sharing the lovely thoughtful comment, Blu. ^^ It's definitely food for thought and absolutely a valid counter-opinion on this particular topic.
Correction, Daniel Radcliffe debuted in David Copperfield TV series in 1999.
Why do we not retire the word 'beautiful' 'ugly' 'judge' if it is banned by our lexicon because it is 'spewing misogyny'?! and the words have to encompass every standard and definition especially when it is associated with womanhood?! As if it we are not woman if we are not physically beautiful and we need to be sensitive and call everyone a beauty?! Says who??! I do not agree with it and I just want to restore the proper usage of the word as is. For a character to be described to be the most beautiful woman, so be it, most beautiful is a ridiculous beauty standard by definition, why are we stripped of the right to criticize the physicality of a grown actress, why should this profession be held as some role model and pedestal for I assuming girls to base and define our womanhood on?! Actresses, playing certain roles have to portray on screen a convincing visual, some gain weight, be uglified, and in this case be an ethereal beauty, this is a make-belief, this is fantasy. No one with their right mind should ever want to be a XiaoLongNu, and if I personally know anyone who let me know XLN is his/her ideal woman, I would have to cut him/her to size, this is not what the entire womanhood have to be stringently judged upon, a neurosurgeon is judged upon her skill in her profession, so should an actress, and if part of the deal is to be convincing in a role, portraying an impossible dazzling beautiful woman, why can't we be canon to the source material, must we hug and embrace all body size and redefine the word 'lithe' used specifically to describe the character who is fictional and lives on a diet of nothing but s weird bee nectar and lives enclosed in a mausoleum for her entire life not exposed to a ray of UVA UVB and be delusional enough to say hey this is a representation of womanhood and we need to embrace all woman who would want to be such a bizarre unworldly character because if not it is a wrong projection to our sex?! How about we have a more stringent set of role models we should set a barometer on. Like hey, be as smart as your favorite female professor, or your own mother. IF we can not use the word beauty for a certain general accepted standard of physical aesthetics, why do we need the term inner beauty?! It would be deplorable to judge a teacher, a brilliant blogger with such a big heart, many other occupations and walks of life on sheer physical beauty but being an idol actress, which is essentially what MC is, she is paid for how pleasing she projects a physical image to the eyes on printed ads and engagements where she is doing nothing but show face and wear a piece of clothing. Most of us earn a much humble living by other means. And we can't even judge her physical appearance?! I for one is uglier than Michelle Chen, but I can still flagrantly call her out as extremely ugly and unsuitably a travesty for this role. Miss Chen might aspire to be an astronaut as well on top of being an actress attempting roles as drop dead gorgeous weird and ungodly thin wuxia heroines and good for her for having aspirations, but she can't just be one solely because she wants to. If she is going to play a ridiculous superheroine who can float and dance like air in the sky, I do not care to see her STILL working on and gloatingly losing weight, not until she is actively filming on the set and got pressure to, there is something called preparation for a role, either give us all a middle finger and rewrite/reinterpret the character as a short (you can't really say there are various standards of tall or short, these are statistical) pudgy ball of cute, it does not help she is the one calling herself a pig saying things like 'pig can fly' at weibo and her character most famous wuxia move is flying in the sky.
Thanks for the posts @Koala! I for one appreciate the insight into an industry - be it Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese, or Japanese - that is seldom easy to find out about when you mainly speak English. The fact that I can get all of that and more in one awesome blog? *awesomeness*
In regards to this post: can we please be realistic here? Can characters whose sole purpose is to be beautiful not be cast by beautiful actors anymore? Heck, hasn't everyone complained at one point about a beautiful/pretty actress playing a so-called "ugly" wallflower-type character? Michelle Chen is girl next door pretty; she is not beautiful, which my understanding is XLN's main, if not only requirement.
I am in agreement that the producer must seriously dislike Michelle Chen to be screwing her over this badly.
Ditto mira: Michelle Chen is very pretty, but in a very realistic, down-to-earth way, which doesn't match up with XLN's description of being an ethereal beauty.
& even if they wanted a "warmer, softer" version of XLN, they could have at least given her a more flattering hairstyle & costume, because what Michelle currently has is doing nothing for her figure or to help stem the criticism. I'm sure there's a talented stylist in the industry who would have been able to at least bring her closer to that other worldly ideal.
So yes, IMO, the producers definitely hate her, which is too bad, since I don't think she deserves all of the flak, except for having the bad judgement to take a part for which she is so unsuitable.
Well, and also being deranged enough to think she physically fits the role of XLN....
As reported by Captain K herself:
https://koalasplayground.com/2013/09/19/the-c-media-visits-the-set-of-the-chen-xiao-and-michelle-chen-return-of-the-condor-heroes-2014/
I don't understand.. I think Michelle is really beautiful- her stunt double looks like she's twelve..I dunno, I haven't read this novel so maybe she's supposed to look like a teenybopper, but to me MC fits the role.. if you wanna complain about how unflattering they're making her look I'd understand but man I got a bitter taste in my mouth after reading this post... I'm a little disappointed..
I Also think Michelle is prettier. The double has the plastic surgery look already. Fake v-line jaw ect... She could be plastic free but it's a look that has become a obsession for to many people.
Xiaolongnv is actually describe to have a rare beauty, but has the appearance of a cold icy emotionless woman wearing nothing but white. Michelle Chen may not have that description, but I've watched the available episodes already and she's alright when it comes to the character portrayal.