So C-actor Wang Yibo remains focused on his movie career but there is a wide swatch of types of movies from small budget to arthouse to local blockbusters to international hits. A lot of it is luck if you ask me in picking the right project but one star with a nearly every movie is a hit track record is HK-superstar turned director/producer Stephen Chow. He’s singlehandedly created a genre (mo lei tau) and has so many funny performances and movies he’s endlessly meme-able. He’s also known as the creator of the ingenue next movie starlet from Karen Mok to Athena Chu to Anita Yuen to Zhao Wei to Huang Sheng Yi to Jelly Lin so he’s reportedly going on a multi-country audition hunt for the female leads of his next movie Shaolin Women’s Soccer, and yes like the name suggests it is a sequel to the global hit Shaolin Soccer twenty years ago. The movie is just started in pre-production but reportedly Wang Yibo’s team is working hard to get him a role in the movie. I have no problem with trying to do that, good roles have to be angled for.
I’ve gotten more and more interested in his career as more people here denigrate him. From watching Youtube videos of him, he seemed very willing to spend time to learn things. There’s a video of him learning to do a segment of Chinese opera over and over again and his performance (with full opera makeup) after practicing was pretty good, down to the walk. There’s another one of him learning a sword dance for a competition and he spent hours practicing. I hope he gets this role because I think he’ll do well.
@Gennita…it seems to me that Yibo’s true passion in life is dancing and performing on stage. I was first introduced to him via the Untamed and while I thought he did well for the role, XZ stole my attention more and I was pretty indifferent to Yibo (I do love all their goofy antics in the bts tho. It’s very sad that Cent’s insane fan cultures ruin that cute friendship/ working relationship between the two guys). Then I stumbled onto Street Dance of China and I was so impressed by Yibo’s obvious love and passion for dancing. And he was quite cheeky on the show too so I start to think much more favorably of him. I also think his resting bitch face is kinda hilarious but his unprofessional demeanors at interviews and at brand events kinda make me meh. It’s too bad that the way to really succeed in China seem to be in the acting industry only because there are not enough stages for idol performers like him (and I mean idol in the sense that they’re trained to both sing and dance).
I think if he can get a role in this movie, he could do well. He would be great at the physicality that the role requires and he has a cheekiness humor in him that could be developed into good comedic timing.
Yes, I agree with you and I too call it his resting bitch face. 🤣 He’s also very ZX when women or female fans approach him or walk with him—he pretends to air-cuddle them for photos or gestures for them to go ahead of him. I notice this at ceremonies.
He definitely is very competitive in the dance shows. I enjoy his wins a lot.
I agree he seems like a natural performer but maybe an introvert. He doesn’t seem to comfortable in interviews but on stage he comes alive.
Hold on…I’ve heard rumours about him going to the length of shaving his head for a casting audition but still failed to get the role, which explains why he kept wearing a hat/cap during events like Weibo Night. Don’t tell me it’s this movie?
Oh…no wonder we have been seeing him wearing caps, long wigs etc
I dont think a shaved head is good enough to get a role…but who knows. He is a liuliang, he might just get it.
He failed the audition.
His backing is too strong though so that means little for people like him. Lack of talent is irrelevant, the huge money behind him is why he has been getting roles.
@HL Well, I hope he gets casted for something soon. Heard he hasn’t been filming any new works for more than 300 days already.
@Lilith, so long? He hasn’t been in any variety shows for a long while too. I was surprised not to see him in Street Dance of China but since he kept winning, I guess having new mentors are better.
@HL Yeah there’s a fair number of rumours surrounding why he hasn’t film any works for so long. The most ridiculous one I’ve heard is contracting HIV, like how can it be? If it’s true, no one will dare to work with him already.
Even though his talent is not acting, he clearly love it, and from what u guys have said he put in effort for his roles and he is not taking the easy way by taking in idol dramas, but doing movies. I like this guys because he keeps to himself and from his recent interview , he has his future planned, which is always reassuring to hear from these stars because they know , they will not be popular or maybe to some extent acting forever. Am glad he will be OK, even if acting doesn’t work out for him in a long run. Way to go WYB 🤛
I wouldn’t call it taking the easy way out by doing idol dramas, it’s because he has the backing that he can pick up movie roles which he clearly doesn’t really have the talent for. More talented actors than he is, don’t have the backing or the opportunity to do movie roles and are stuck playing repetitive roles in idol dramas. I wouldn’t put that to his credit, more to the credit of the people bankrolling him.
It was said that some heavy-weight shareholders of his company are investors of those films, e.g., Alibaba and ByteDance (mother company of Tik Tok). That’s why the production teams can’t reject him in the cast. He didn’t deserve those roles per his awkward acting IMO.
I’m indifferent to him in the Untamed since XZ obviously carries the drama. But after checking his subsequent dramas with very good costars, I judged this guy didn’t have acting talent.
Lmao sure.
There is a reason nobody has touched that in over half a year.
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He is a idol I find pushing his boundaries before he really stabilized his art and skills. He is a idol due to being a good looking liuliang. But he is still lacking in experience as a solid actor.
As he has investors behind him, maybe he can get a role in Stephen Chow’s project. He did star in a movie with Tony Leung, who I have to say did not help promote the movie nor make any comments about working with Yibo.
I dont dislike Yibo, I am just cautious of any idols who place themselves at a platform too high. It cannot be healthy for his career. I bet his fans will disagree with me… but that is my own opinion and others are entitled to theirs.
Why would TL help promote the movie when WYB PR machine took over and made it seem like he is the main lead and the success of the movie was his?
Not to mention, it was when the now infamous roadshow happened that got Wang Yibo the desperate illiterate title, that was discussed all the way up in the government.
WYB can’t string two sentences together and it didn’t get better since.
I was surprised by how ‘loud’ Tony Leung made his feelings knew by not promoting the movie…as I know he promotes his projects and will give interviews. It was then, I realised the rumours may have some truth.
Tony Leung did promote the movie both remotely and in person, he also praised Yibo in the documentary made to commemorate his 40th debut anniversary. Maybe you should stop always commenting on things you have no idea about and misleading people.
Thanks for update… I have right to comment what I did not see…but since you saw he did do so…I will thank you for correcting my mistake.
Tony did promote the movie both remotely and in person. He also praised Yibo on his own volition in the documentary commemorating the 40th anniversary of his debut while talking with Felix Chong. You really should stop commenting about things you have no idea about and misleading people. Your bias against Yibo is clear from all the shady comments you always make about him, too.
I have only watched Yibo in The Untamed and I thought he did a solid job there, although to me Xiao Zhan definitely stole the show. His role was much more central to the plot and of course, Xiao Zhan is a much better actor (not to mention more good-looking, but admittedly that is subjective). I have also watched snipets of Street dance of China, and I think he really shone in those. Other than that, I have no opinion of him, but honestly, if an actor wants to further his career, I don’t see why we should have any sort of negative opinion. Let him try, if he makes it, good for him. As for him being illiterate, well, I personally don’t see why actors must be scholars or even be considered role-models. Parents should raise their kids so that they don’t take Yibo or any other actor, illiterate or not, as role-model when it comes to education, ethics or whatever. In other words, parents should teach their kids to not idolize anyone. Society tends to pin our failure as parents or even teachers vis-a-vis our kids to other kids. Well, that doesn’t seem fair, does it.
@Nena…100 % agreed with you that we should not expect celebs to be scholars but I do think being interviewed is part of a celeb’s professional duties. And doing promotion is part of an actor’s tasks so the least they can do is study enough to speak adequately and with a gracious attitude about what they’re there to promote. That’s the part that annoyed me about Yibo’s past interviews “controversy”. Like it’s not his fault he has a resting bitch face, but he also came across ill prepared and full of negative attitude about doing promo which is part of his job.
‘Ill prepared’ is the key word. In the road show, you can see how he was ‘ill prepared’ in promoting the movie. And it is that attitude that made him look bad. I also dont think Yibo like engaging with media/Press thus they dont connect with him. I am aware he had bad experience with some of them but in a Press conference, road show, offical events, he needs to engage and be professional.
@R, I am not his fan, hence to be honest with you I don’t know exactly what the controversy was! 😁
I thought it was him being not well educated, in the sense he’s kind of an ignoramus, but I do agree with you that if the questions he was asked were on his drama/film and he was there to promote his work, an extra effort would probably be necessary!!
Other than that, I have been told several times that I have a resting bitch face (normally by people who afterwards get to know me and tell me things like: “wow, you are so sweet after all!”). So I sort of have sympathy for persons with that kind of resting face. I swear, we are not really prickly!!
You’re free to think whatever you want, but sometimes it’s important to consider the circumstances as well. The movie is a thriller with an important plot twist regarding his character, so it’s perfectly understandable that he wanted to avoid answering questions that could spoil the plot. There was one question about time travelling, and actually many artists refused to answer similar questions and were even more harsh about it, however only he is being accused while others get a free pass, if it’s not a double standard then I don’t know how to call it.
@Ellie…I mean if the other actors you mentioned get discussed here then am sure there will be criticisms against how they answered as well if the answers came across as unprofessional. There’s a way to deflect a question to avoid spoilers that would come across better and more professional than how Yibo did it. Perhaps it is unfair that the press zeroed in on his interviews more than others but that’s the price of popularity/ fame. You’ll get more money and more opportunities but you will also get scrutinized a lot more.
@Ellie
Nah, it had nothing to do with spoiled, he had no clue how to answer. Not then, not after. His education is severely lacking. He doesn’t need a formal degree but he does need at least basic analytical skills and comprehension and he does not have one ounce of those.
I used to wonder at Yuehua why they don’t just make him memorise certain basic answers but then it actually became apparent he can’t even do that. Smh.
He doesn’t have to be a scholar. He should do his job professionally at least which he absolutely does not do.
And knowing how to write, which he doesn’t, and having basic conversational skills, which he doesn’t, is not being a scholar.
How do you all know he doesn’t know how to read and write? So how does he act and read the script then? Someone says it to him and instructs him?
At this point koala is notorious for bringing up unconfirmed, even malicious hearsay about Yibo from who knows where. The agency is ‘trying’ said who exactly? His agency doesn’t even have an access to such movie resources, he landed all three movies because the directors reached out to him themselves which was confirmed by them. Even fans have no idea about that movie’s existence but here koala goes presenting it as a confirmed fact. Ridiculous.
Yuehua is literally the most powerful agency in China. For the love of everything, please stop being so embarrassing.
They get him all his roles and everyone knows that. Just stop. Stop. I can’t handle the second hand embarrassment.
her rumors of xiao zhan are also rare, remote rumors not even talked about or circulated by the most reliable/well known accounts on weibo. she’s just posting random stuff for clicks now.
I’m not interested in his casting news since he can’t act. He always had that monotone and drab looks as if he just got offended. All his photos look that way like life is so boring. LOL.
War of Faith
Nuanced, sophisticated espionage story of the civil war in China at the beginning of the Communist movement. Wang Yibo and whole cast is excellent and the pace of the story is more like Hollywood than the overly languid pace of most Chinese dramas.
I personally think Wang Yibo could cross over to Hollywood if his English is fluent.