Yang Zi and Xu Kai Dive into Filming Modern C-drama Story of Joy
So Yang Zi hasn’t just been promoting her recently aired drama Lost You Forever Part 1, she’s also currently filming modern C-drama Story of Joy on top of recently finished filming other modern C-drama Stories of Youth and Love. Depending on timing we may see one or both of these modern dramas before Lost You Forever Part 2 airs and the one I’m more inclined to check out is Story of Joy since it’s adapted from a popular novel by beloved writer Yi Shu and also her male lead is cutie pie Xu Kai. I can always watch him when I like his leading lady and the story is decent, his limited acting ability notwithstanding he’s just boyishly charming onscreen to me. Anyways, Yang Zi is on a roll and I hope her next dramas continue to grow her acting talents.
YZ’s on a roll! She’s snagging all the popular novel adaptations ain’t she? lol Good for her.
This isn’t a popular novel, a lot of cnetz assumed it was a costume drama due to the title LOL including me and got disappointed that it’s a modern drama.
I find YZ too meh in modern dramas, be it Ode to Joy, Gogo Squid, or Oath of Love. This and her 199爱 drama with Fan Chengcheng will do average at best because the filming is short compared to her costume epics. Apparently Xukai rejected the ML role in Lost You Forever 😆🤭 and Yuzheng deserves it for ripping off TongHua.
People are mostly curious if Golden Hairpin will be refilmed and who is her next ML in historical drama Di Mou since YZ gives her all in costume or period roles and will film 6 months at minimum. I hope she does a Republican era drama soon since she can pull off the curly hair
Is Yang Zi getting micro changes? She looks so different from the Go Go Squid days. The changes are gradual, but over time and collectively, she now looks very different. Or it could be aging or camera angle…?
She has her teeth done. She used to have 2 small teeth. Now removed and straighten. So her cheek and her face look slimmer.
Her 2 small teeth are so cute!!
@ doc
YZ lost quite a bit of weight since GGS. That drama dressed her terribly. I think she looks better now.
@ dcc
I typed dcc, autospell kicked in. Sorry!
She looks great these days – weight loss and the usual shebang that you can find at the aesthetic doctor – fillers, threadlifts, ultherapy, sculptra, botox etc. People tend to underestimate the effects of non-invasive treatments but changes can be quite significant.
Having said that, I really think she needs to act opposite older, more masculine, less pretty actors. I say this very very objectively, her looks lean on the more matured side and acting opposite young pretty boys is just going to emphasise that. I would describe her look in Lost You Forever as “matronly” next to a very ethereal looking Deng Wei, boyish Zhang Wanyi and Wang Hongyi, who looks like he’s straight out of school.
Eh, I’m not a fan of her visuals but those shitting on her age need to go live in the 7th century as the concubine of some dickhead and use straw pads or die in childbirth. We are in the 21st century and people have always been OK with older fatherly MLs pairing with way younger FLs (Nicky Wu, Kevin Cheng and Cecilia Liu?) but when it happens the other way the actresses get called out by women because women love nothing better than to shit on other women.
Fact is Yangzi is the only C-actress other than maybe Zhao Liying or Yangmi that could have secured the big investment, publicity, adverts, and delivered acting-wise to make LYF a big success. Dilreba, Li Yitong, Zhao Lusi, Esther Yu, Bai Lu would either fail to secure enough investors and ads, or not get enough people giving it a go, or fail to crossdress as a jaded man convincingly. YZ is a famed child actor and Home With Kids is such a classic people will watch her in anything because she has Nation’s Daughter status. Her male costars are very very lucky because she’s known for making actors famous, they are literally sucking on YZ’s fame because she’s so famed she doesn’t gain much new fans but her MLs gain millions of fans from acting with her.
Can C-drama fans carry a discussion on visual harmony or mismatches without getting upset ? Kim Go Eun’s role as a student opposite Gong Yoo in Guardian was heavily criticised and while I think Song Hye Kyo is the most beautiful, I agree with all those questions on why Lee DoHyun was casted in the Glory when her chemistry with the age appropriate Jung Sung Il was top tier. Having Park Bogum and Jang Kiyong as co-stars were also missteps and well discussed.
Yang Zi fans love to talk about how male co-stars leech off her popularity but have you stopped to think that maybe a part of the reason is because her looks (lack thereof) elevates their visuals? They won’t get the same halo effect next to a Dilireba or Yang Mi. Relativity is a reality. So having more visually and age appropriate co stars could actually help her avoid the visual comparisons. LBFAD on the other hand was very well matched visually and that elevated the drama.
@Guest
I already said I’m not a fan of her visuals and I prefer Tian Xiwei or Song Zuer, what do you want? Nobody cares about “visual harmony” as much as acting skills and Yangzi portrayed her role well, if anyone gets nominated for a Magnolia Best actress for a fantasy drama next year it will be her. Actresses older than Yangzi will look too old according to you (Cnetz say the only other FL who could carry a 1v4 costume drama is Zhao Liying), actresses her age like Dilreba, Li Yitong, Li Qin can’t act as well, actresses younger than her will not get the investment and also not act as well as her. I don’t like Yangzi but her crossdressing and male voice for 17 eps was very natural and mature. How are Kdrama actors relevant when their style of acting is super makjang and cringe? Just move back to the 7th century if you can even let YZ do a role without calling her “matronly” because you think she’s fat or whatever.
Yang Chaoyue, Esther Yu, Zhao Lusi could have done LYF and looked more “visually compatible” with those young actors but nobody would watch because 1) Nobody likes idol actors 2) Their acting skills aren’t good enough to portray a middle aged jaded man 3) The drama would look cheap because nobody is investing that much unless a proven actress with hits is helming 4) Actors like Tan Jianci and Zhang Wanyi are not going to sign up to act with Esther Yu or whatever. They have enough hits like Under the Skin and Awakening Age to not have to do FL-centric dramas but because it’s Yangzi and she has clout, those 2 actors are willing to act in a reverse harem even if they are famous in their own right. The scenes where Yangzi and Zhang Wanyi or Tan Jianci act are extremely satisfying due to the high level of acting skills shown but I fear it’s pointless to explain this to a visual obsessed Kdrama fan who just wants to see visual harmony pretty people onscreen regardless of the substance.
Xukai’s acting is pretty limited, but boy can cry so beautiful and his eyes gets really expressive during sad scenes.
Good for her. She has a great personality and can act. So getting good dramas is a win win for her and for us.
I want to see Xu Kai in a role like the one in Arsenal Milatary. He was so charming in this role. I wasn’t a big fan of Falling Into Your Smile and dropped She and Her Perfect Husband. I only watch modern drama and I didn’t like the FL’s character and acting in Go Go Squid.
So I hope I will like this one.
@ Sayaris
I dropped “Falling Into Your Smile” after two episodes because of CX’s acting. I don’t understand the hypes for it (FIYS) & Go Go Squid”.
Yu Zheng have been yelling out loud how he love for Yang Zi to pair with Xu Kai. Yu Zheng loves YangZi and really have loads of respect for her.
I am not a Xu Kai fan, but Yang Zi is really good at helping her co-star feel comfortable and natural with her. I love to watch is this pairing can create any positive chemistry…
Yuzheng just wants Xukai to ride on her fame like Denglun, Leo Luo, Li Xian, and now her LYF MLs. Yuzheng has been writing Weibo essays putting down Dengwei and LYF and deleting them after criticism so I’m quite sure Yangzi does not really want to trigger scumbag Yuzheng
We all know that… that is the industry. YuZheng is a bit*h… but he will not go away.
Xu Kai is a miss or a hit. My fave dramas of him are only Falling Into Your Smile and Arsenal Military. Probably, i love the story of those two dramas. But will always give his drama a try. Cuz boy is handsome.
The same goes to Yang Zi. I’ve watched many dramas of her but only 3 that i could finish. The one with Wallace Huo, Go Go Squid and LYF s1. But thanks to LYF, i finally pay more attention to YZ. She’s brilliant in her career, her personality is amazing… and she’s soooo humble.
But still, im more likely to see YangZi and Tan Jianci as leads. Lol. My Xiao Yao-Xiang Liu heart… shrug.