This is definitely one of the most bizarre bibimbap casting mashups I’ve ever come across. I can’t definitively say whether the end product will be good or bad, but my prediction is hot mess with tons of eye candy. Yoona of SNSD will be following in the footsteps of many of her Korean acting brethren and heading over to Mainland China to partake of the bigger pond of dramas and paychecks. She’s just been cast as the leading lady in the big budget historical drama Warrior God Zhao Zhi Long. She’s the second K-actress to headline a major Chinese period drama in recent days, earlier this year Kim Tae Hee filmed Wang Xi Zhi about the famed Chinese calligrapher.
The male contingent surrounding Yoona in this drama is pretty deep in pretty boys. Lin Geng Xin continues his meteoric rise and joins Yoona as the titular warrior god Zhao Zhi Long himself. Rounding out the expected love triangle is another Korean, Kim Jung Hoon will be playing Zhao Zhi Long’s rival on the battlefield, political scheming, and fighting for Yoona’s heart. As if there wasn’t enough already with those two, Li Yi Feng play’s Lin Geng Xin’s best friend and fellow warrior on the same side, Du Chun is famed consigliere Zhu Ge Liang, and Yan Kuan gets to play the juicy role of Liu Bei. Filming starts in January with a schedule August 2015 premiere date on Chinese television.
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Wow!Definitely didn't realize how many pretty boys are involved until now. Zhao Yun is definitely my favorite character from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and knowing this universe of battle/war a little bit, I am not too worried for Yoona either. She just need to be a gorgeous eye candy. :)
Since she is going to be dubbed anyway, the voice actor is the person who is going to do most of the "acting." I understand why the Chinese studios are casting Koreans (1)they are cheaper, (2)it jump starts China's desire to play in the culture wars, by exporting their dramas like Kdramas have been able to do - their own hallyu wave so to speak.
What I don't get is why the Korean companies are helping them. Yes, they love money, and the Japanese market is slowly shutting down on them, but for a people who like to to claim they are so different from the Chinese, even sometimes arguing about a shared heritage, why are they de-facto agreeing that their looks are essentially the same?
Only normal people claim that, Korean patriots. Big company executives have no pride or shame, they are just in it for money. And with Jp turning away from them,China is a logical next move.
It still feels somewhat recent when LGX starred in BBJX as 14th. I am surprised his star has risen to first lead's already.
OMG....
This has major fail written all over it. How can she possibly connect with China's historical character?
Its popular to do that now, it is Hunan Tv's 2nd half mega drama so even if the drama sucks it may still do well.
Thanks for the response @rinodino. Just wondering, is the character she's portraying important, well known and admired in China's history? I have not seen any of Yoona's dramas, but I take it the Chinese audience thinks she's a terrific actress to be allowed a cross-over acting opportunity like this one....Do you know how well Kim Tae-Hee's (?) historical drama did in China? My initial shock will wearing off...lol. Pop culture strikes again.
@mskololia
Cn audience never has any say in casting whatsoever, so this casting is more on Yoona's marketability to perhaps the Intl audience more than her real talent, not saying she is horrible. Case in point, Michelle Chen as XiaoLongNu in the airing ROCH got the loudest outbrust of protests fr the audience ever in every aspects of her as misfit and still it is happening. To be terribly honest, I doubt the majority of remote controlling cn aunties and uncles have heard of KTH let alone Yoona.
KTH's Cdrama has no airdate yet, no one is sure if any cdrama will see the daylight with the ever changing ironfist censoring policies dictating what genre is allowed to air or not as the wind blows.
The only truly successful crossover of a K actress has only been Choo YaHyun, the rest of the bigger Hallyu names Jang Nara, Chae Yim… etc never got true household recognition.
Thanks @mookie. I'm not that familiar with KTH either but remembered an article about her entering into the China too so this left me thinking that the SK casting calls are bankable to China's producers. Well, I just started and am currently enjoying Damo Yao. The looks Hu Ge gives as Meng are faint-worthy.
my reaction was "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" when I saw the headlines. T_____T
So excited about this the production looks strong ,32 millusd budget ,,thats one of the most expensive drama ever
But only Lin Genxin, Kim Joon Hoon and Yoona are confirmed, the rest are prior rumors though
Yes! I'm happy
Interesting...that's all I gotta say about that.
Btw, koala, have you seen the previews for new movie coming out called Blackhat with Tang Wei and Leehom Wang casted alongside Chris Hemsworth? Worth checking out i think!
ons word . too much pretyhh!!!!!
Imo LGX, LYF r both much more dashing young things in anything but period garbs and every rumored casting looks so out of character it will take lots of their best effort to convince anyone.
Watch Yoona get more popular than KSH and LMH in China, she already has huge fanbase there. Btw she looks gorgeous in that picture.