Zhao Jin Mai Lands Coveted Female Lead Role in C-drama Irreplaceable with Male Lead Wei Da Xun
The drama train keeps rolling for C-actress Zhao Jin Mai, fast becoming near the top of the ’00 flowers in C-ent. She is reportedly entering the filming set next month in August for the iQiyi C-drama Irreplaceable (无可替代 Wu Ke Ti Dai). It’s a high profile project due to the screenwriter being Zhang Wei, who wrote A Dream of Splendor, A Journey to Love, The Imperial Doctress, Female Prime Minister (Legend of Lu Zhen), and many more. His dramas are typically female lead centric with strong growth and achievement stories, and Zhao Jin Mai is the first ’00 flower to land a script of his, normally he works with even bigger named established actresses. The male lead was supposed to be Chen Xing Xu but last minute he got edged out by Wei Da Xun, who is still riding the leveling up from the second male lead breakout in Fireworks of My Heart.
Replacing Chen Xingxu is their lost. He is a talented actor. He would have been a better choice. But they made their choice and Chen Xingxu moves on.
Wei Da Xun, even thru he has been in the industry long and is very well connected. His acting path is not smooth… He can act some roles very well…but to get a good lead male role, this is the first, isn’t it?
I still feel he is too old for Zhao Jin mai… he is 36yrs already, she is just 22yrs old.
I never feel comfortable with huge age gaps between romanacing leads, no gender specific.
How is he well connected? You made me curious
I am referring to fellow artiste.He has beenaround a long while and getson with many artistes. I am not referring to capitalist. That he is not top runner.
If she were around or in her 30s, the age gap wouldn’t bother me.
The writer is interesting, not the cast. I hope this script with decent directing will change my perception about ZJM. She hasn’t shown enough acting chops or allure for me to appreciate.
Zhao Jinmai in Drifting Away 漂白 is actually good. I am surprised she could carry her role well in the serious drama. It was not a easy to watch drama at all.
Interesting! I started to watch My Generation, her 2nd collab with Zhang Linghe, right after I made this comment. Surprisingly, I found it entertaining and decide to follow. I ate my own words. I guess I got traumatized by extremely boring Amidst A Snowstorm of Love. LOL
I have trouble watching ANY legal or crime Cdramas. The plots look fake to me in general. Kdrama is so bold to deal with corruption in the public system. But Cdrama always presents a perfect image of CCP authority that is just a perfect lie.
Same here. After seeing her in Amidst a Snowstorm of Love with Leo Wu, my image of her is young and docile, almost too sweet. While that might work well for youth and idol dramas, her acting chops so far haven’t convinced me that she’ll be able to deliver in more mature and complex roles.
I could not watch Leo Wu’s overly intense looks..I dropped the drama in Amidst a Snowstorm midway. 😅
Someone mentioned Reset, she was good there too. She is still young…I believe her skills will improve as she gains more experience.
@HL, I fast-forwarded through a lot of that because I also found Leo Wu’s acting as a romantic lead very cringeworthy. Not watching him again in romance if he doesn’t tone it down. Reset is a short drama so maybe I’ll check it out.
It does seem an odd pairing since his dramas are hit and miss and she has been on roll for sometime now. Never pictured this pairing at all. Guess we will see when the time comes how great or bad a match they make.
See her in Reset. An interesting time loop drama. I think she’s pretty great. Amidst a Snowstorm was a deceptively simple role but it required a lot of attention to the minute details of romance. I think she handled it well.
She was terrible in Snowstorm. But she did well enough in Reset and another I watched, I forgot the title, that it is possible Snowstorm was just an aberration. I am yet to start the new one but people I know say she is OK. Nothing amazing but passable which is good enough.
She impressed me more with her acting in movies than in dramas.
She started her career showing solid skills, but now, she can be a hit or a miss.
ZJM’s acting is fine to me. Nothing extraordinary but the industry is still so dominated by 90s born actresses that it makes ZJM stand out among the few 00s actresses. After a few years we’ll see if she’s able to keep up her momentum as competition increases. As for WDX he’s also fine to me. I don’t have a problem with the pairing. Yes, there’s a big age gap. But it’s not disgustingly large and they’re both adults.