C-version of Gossip Girl Finds Leading Lady in Park Min Young
This is a two-fer bit of news to me though neither aspect surprises me when the entertainment world is all about remakes and crossovers. Park Min Young is experiencing a bona fide career resurgence thanks to her well-received performance in the cult hit Healer. The drama didn’t get sterling ratings when it aired but had quite a vocal online audience. I would say her resurgence really started even earlier with last year’s A New Leaf while Healer merely cemented that she’s back for good after a two year hiatus.
Up next for Park Min Young is to follow the train to China – she’s been announced as the female lead of the Chinese drama remake of the US teen show Gossip Girl. The show’s been off the air now for a few years but was relatively popular when it aired, not to mention spawning the careers of many new pretty faced actors and actresses. The Chinese version will be produced jointly by Ming Dao and Yang Mi’s production studios in conjunction with Warner Bros. Original showrunner Josh Schwartz will be acting as a consultant on the drama which is transplanted to the top 1% elite late teens students living in Shanghai.
I’m hoping the C-version ages up the cast from high school to college, because there is no way in hell I’m going to believe Park Min Young is a rich high schooler. The production is reportedly doing widespread open auditions at all the major Chinese theater and arts academies to round out some of the main cast members, with the hope of finding new talent much like the original GG gave Blake Lively and Leighton Meester their big breaks. It’s unclear whether Park Min Young will be playing the C-version of Serena or Blair, but personally I found Serena dull as beans while Blair got all the best lines. Good luck to Min Young in her China foray and this project at least doesn’t sound like a trainwreck right off the bat.
Isn’t this like The heirs though? Rich kids, everyone involved with everyone bla bla. I hope they cut the “teens” part at least because PMY looks her age, not younger.
Yep that’s the first thing that popped into my mind. This totally spells DISASTER, which is sad as I liked PMY in City Hunter and Healer. The fact that it’s a Chinese production further decreases the possibility that it’ll even be a servicible script. This is definitely a pass for me.
No its definitely not the same as Heirs. You can’t even compare that show to this hit TV Series. GG has a more complex yet interesting storyline. There’s a very big difference especially with the characters’ personalities
Lol Serena was basically like a rich version of a Candy….or the girl version of Kim Tan in Heirs. The actress was terrible too, so bland and mumbling all the time.
I liked the actress for Blair better, at least she could emote and deliver lines well even in a silly teen soap opera.
Serena was not candy as she too had many negative shades, manipulations and selfishness. Which is not the case with pure and positive candy.
Yes, if you dissect her character, you’ll find that she isn’t as clean cut (putting her dark past aside) as she seems. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the actress who played her was lacking the capability in bringing out her depth. She came out as flat and one-dimensional for the most part.
*edit: I THINK the actress who played her…
Yeah she was more a ‘poor little rich girl’ type who came across as flat because the actress was so bad at emoting or line delivery.
and I think @pigsnout is right on the money with the comparison to Kim Tan in Heirs. He’s literally a genderflipped version of Serena, with some asshole tendencies added in.
The fact remains that Gossip Girl was ultimately a rather bad, and exceedingly addictive soap opera that maintained the CW record of scrolling through plot points at record speed, and its true star (the reason it became a hit) was almost solely because of Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf. I think the challenge for this c-version will be to find someone as compelling as Blair – I bet half the audience will check in solely to see how they portray that character.
I only cared about Blair during GG’s entire run. The plot became a ridiculous mess towards the end.
It has been reported that she’s cast as Serena. I wish it was Blair though.
The series was so addicting but poor quality wise. Serena was dumb, aa was Dan. By the end, the only character I cared for was Chuck. They messed everything up in the end. Blair was enjoyable but the show didn’t have a single character I could root for or was positive except Chuck, who himself was negative at first.
LOL. I watched GG for Nate. And Blair. And Chuck. But mostly for Nate. Can’t imagine this remake though. If it’s gonna be a mess, atleast be a hot mess.
Yes..Nate was pretty harmless and so handsome 😉
a drama about Chinese new HENRYs generation would be more interesting
p.s: HENRYs ( high earners, not rich yet)
GG was my guilty pleasure. The show was good except for the last two seasons and it was a hot mess. I mostly watched for Blair and Chuck. I really don’t think the C version is going to work. There was a Mexican version last year and it was so awful.
IDK…seems kind of weird. Plus I don’t like the idea of C-Version of Gossip Girl anyway. -_- sounds so unrealistic and exaggerated. don’t think it works in the Chinese society IMHO.
I mainly watch GG for Blair and Nate. And sometimes Chuck. It seems weird to make a c-version of GG. But i will try to watch a few episode before making the final verdict…
Wonder who will play Chuck, Nate and Dan?
I thought “V-Love” was suppose to be a c version of GG. Can someone explain it to me please?
I totally believe that PMY can pull this roll off, and call it her own.
I thought Kim Bum was scripted too? Two cutie pies for sure.
C-entertainment needs to stop casting korean actors into their productions.
Weird nazi (even tho I am not chinese) in me says, “C-entertainment for chinese actors” just like how “K-entertainment for korean actors”. This way we can get rid of half of rabid fan girls-commenters here who are happen to be avid fans of korean actors/actresses.