So first word on the street is that The Days of Seclusion and Love is being postponed and now Tree of Life (Born to be Alive) is going to be moved to 2025 start as well, which frees up the male and female leads for those dramas to pair up elsewhere. C-ent casting says Yang Zi and Liu Yu Ning are in talks for the Huace produced period C-drama Family Business (家业 Jia Ye). It’s a female empowerment costume drama so I feel like it’s another story like Blossoms in Adversity type ladies step up and run the family business. I’m good with the drama story outline and the leads but let’s wait and see if this is confirmed.
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Yang Zi is being typecast. This sounds like what she’s done already…Please choose something more challenging. I dare these actresses to take a antagonist role. Jeez.
I don’t blame these actors, Yang zi herself, has said she want to play a Villian role, if she doesn’t have that kind of script in hand at the moment, she needs to make do with what she as. Beside these projects all needs production teams and investment, so according to what is ready to be shoot they take it if the character is interesting enough for them to play. It seems that what happens to most actors. some project are finding it difficult to find investment now because of how poorly c dramaland has been this year as I said before. Those that are lucky to find a project to act on take it when they have the chance, I guess it might also be the reason why they move from one project to another Without a well rested break.
Actors getting typecasted has always been there (normal), it doesn’t bother me so far has the execution is done properly. Chinese ent has so many options to choose from with the amount of project they shoot within the year. If nothing at all, we will get at least one show to entertain us. Nothing is new under the sun imo. Am sure when she has that script, she will definitely want to play that to change things up like every actor who get the opportunity.
I agree with you. I have seen top artiste picking films that is not in their style and just did so badly, it affected their career…Not worth it.
Just keep their rice bowl is more important then please curious audience. Pick a good script..
I am sure there are independent films in China, more serious roles she can take. Its normal to get typecast if you want to be typecast. YZ has been in the industry long enough, she should take more challenging roles, she should be more selective instead of just accepting what is available. I haven’t been impressed with her last few dramas.
Yes, execution is the key. I don’t mind the same old story, just how it is told. Be a good story teller.
@ HL as if there are any good scripts in Cdramaland these days. Its a industry where women leads are still very dependent on men on most of the storytelling. So yeah, maybe an antagonist role will finally see her in a different light. Always playing the good guy gets boring.
@neen, your question on Chinese scripts is good… that is very hard to find now.
Yang Zi’s acting history involves a number of different roles from a kid till now. I will not worry about her typecast…as long as script is good. Just do the role.
Good script, good cast, good role is what matters more then her being typecast. My honest opinion. I sincerely dont think she will be typecast long term…she will not be a short fleeting actress…I can see her act even when she grows to 60s.. Actually, I dont know if I am alive to watch her turn 60.. 🤔😂
Oh, she is here to stay for a while so far she doesn’t do anything stupid regardless of what others think of her or her acting, she has earned her place in the ent industry.
I agree..
Yes please do it. I have the popcorn ready lmao
I’m usually not the one for YZ’s visuals, but I think she looks beautiful in this still. YZ doesn’t have to be an antagonist to showcase her acting range. The problem of C ent rests mostly on scripts and directing. C writers can’t come up with good scripts in broader genres other than cheesy idol-ish stories. Poor and lazy directing makes it worse. Dazzling settings and styling don’t help at all. C actors just don’t have good projects to challenge themselves.
@somebody, u couldn’t have said it any better 👏 👌
Agree. All style and no substance is unsustainable.
There seemed to be quantity but not much quality in Cdrama land.
It all comes down to personal taste. For me, literally anything is better than cheesy idol scripts.
For example, I recently finished two non-idol dramas called The Bad Kids and The Long Night. I think they had great directing and good scripts with no dazzling settings or hot actors to draw the viewers in. However, I’ve seen a few people say they were boring, pretentious or slow. To each their own, I say.
@CB Haha cheesy idol scripts…. when I see international web give low rating about a C-drama, the first thing I guess is “Oh, this drama probably don’t have cheesy idol romance or idol actors”. There are many good C-drama without cheesy romance but when you recommend to someone, they’ll ask “Is there any romance?” LOL What a loss!
U are right, it all boils done to personal taste, n even I may self have tried this so called serious drama in c drama with their interesting concept, I can’t get into it no matter how hard I try. Not that I don’t enjoy serious dramas but am yet to enjoy a chinese so called serious drama.
@somebody I think censorship is the biggest issue; I have seen the list of censorship and themes that are not allowed and it’s crazy, ML characters have to possess “high morals”, human beings are wicked and characters with flaws are realistic and fun to watch but forcing the main character to repent and act kindly, get karma only will make it fake and viewers will react to him/her.and taht why the plot always have holes or unreasonable situation/lines.
Agreed. Censorship is the major reason that C writers have no guts to explore creative concepts. The plots always predictable. In particular, I found the C dramas in the recent years have become “preaching.”
I don’t mind Liu Yu Ning but I feel like every other casting now involves his name. I already feel like he’s everywhere. Please give other young actors chances as well! It does feel like casting revolves around the same people.
Other young actors will have their chance, LYN is only one person and can only take on one drama at a time even if many dramas are looking to cast him.
He is currently in high demand as he is versatile, very cooperative and has a great reputation in the industry. In addition to that he also has pretty large liuliang which is always a plus, making him a popular choice for casting teams.
Lmao LYN is not in high demand. He does the same thing over and over again. That’s it and he will never move from it.
My thoughts about YZ is that I do not think she is a good actress and I think she does not look good in front of the cameras anymore.
For me to watch a drama where she is the major star it must have to be really what I like otherwise no way. Her presence repels way too much me to watch it unless the drama is really what I want to watch.
Off-Topic.
One thing that very slightly piss me off on people here and on X is that you all ignore the Chinese modern dramas which do fit into the “idol” box. You all do not go into Douban and check out the scores and reviews with machine translator to see if there is anything interesting that is not into “idol” box.
You all watch only what is hyped and celebrated inside of the bubbles of X and other places where international people go to chat about Chinese dramas.
You all into “idol” romance stuff so I must do some propaganda and say that China is putting out some very interesting short-lenght dramas with good actors. The producers of these dramas are really competitive and want to be better than the “big” dramas. I guess it might become true soon.
@ Jiao, I get what u talking about, u think audiences here dont know about Chinese serious drama based on douban score which most believed are of quality, of course we do. It just idol dramas have more exposure and most people tend to enjoy them more than the so called ‘quality’dramas, that why it talked about more. Asia Dramas or Tv shows are entertainment to just entertain us one way or the other depending on your preferences, some people don’t even differentiate idol or serious drama like they way u put. They just watch it because they enjoy the story enough to sit through it.They are others who watch quality shows but not Chinese ‘quality’shows because they have not find one that they can get into it to enjoy the storyline. It all about preferences believed it or not most people don’t take this things so seriously, it only in c ent that audiences what to critise every inch of the dramas and actors.
Please don’t take this the wrong way but r u an audience from Reddit c drama because they is see most idol dramas ‘trash’ and serious dramas the ‘best’ thing ever, forgetting that most people just watch dramas to be entertained and get out of their reality .
Can you give some suggestions? I know there is a “proper” drama category but some that in lie in that category are either family dramas or patriotic dramas. But I may be wrong.
Not necessarily “proper” dramas, but there are non-idol dramas that explore other genres like the Three-Body, Imperfect Victim, The Ideal City, City of the City, Candle in the Tomb series (though this isn’t exactly modern) etc.
@Lilith on, Thanks
I don’t know the exact term for it, I think I heard both serious and proper and have only seen Three body in the list. But I honestly don’t get why there needs to be this distinction. Dramas should be divided by their genres. Audiences have varied and changing taste just because someone likes an idol drama today, does not mean they won’t like the other serious dramas too. So I don’t understand the prejudice around watching idol dramas either, it’s just a genre.
@wapz Probably because idol dramas are seen as having low entry requirements for actors and actresses, and the audience also tend to give more leeway when they watch idol dramas. Think about it, when people watch idol dramas, they mostly care about how handsome the male lead is and whether he is swoon-worthy or not. Take Yang Yang for example, he’s bad at acting but still manages to hit popularity with idol dramas like LoveO2O.
How do we go into Douban when that is not available to many international fans? You can’t blame it on people from X or sites like these really.
I fully agree with you on checking out dramas on Douban. I often read here and other socmed international netz’s accusation that douban ratings are skewed by haters, investors, bla bla bla… and of course those are fans of some actors/actresses, whose works don’t get decent douban ratings :p. While SOME douban scoress may indeed suffer from fandom wars, the majority of raters are public/casual watchers. Douban has also made scoring stricter to prevent from massive bot ratings.
One thing to remember is douban reflects the perspective and preference of Chinese audience. So if your taste happens to not align with them, be it. Doesn’t necessarily mean you have bad taste, and neither do they. The Chinese are even more critical towards their own dramas & movies than the foreign ones. Personally, I find most of the higher douban rated dramas deserve their score.
Interesting. Why is Tree of Life postponed? Is it due to insufficient investment money? That can’t be right, the drama is even rumored to have Hu He joining. Unless her previous dramas didn’t do as well as claimed to be?
Word is no investment money.
Considering the economy, can you blame noon for not jumping into this? No matter how oily Yang Yang is these days, he has steady, consistent viewership so makes sense they picked him. As for her, well. Apparently the financial results were not satisfactory otherwise investors would go for it.
That is what some audiences don’t understand, when an actor is able to bring in investment regardless wheather he or she can act, will still have works to do because they r still relevant. If that will change in the future, time will tell but as we stand now , this is how it is in the industry.
That’s weird. Although her data is watery, I don’t think she generates losses for dramas. Plus if Hu Ge joins the drama (even as special role), there should be no problems getting investment money, unless news about Hu Ge joining is false.
Her dramas did well enough, LE was the drama with the highest advertisements for the first quarter of this year, BCE made it to financial report of Huace for last year and first half of this year while LYF2 is Q3 and Tencent hasn’t released financial reports for Q3 so till then.
For the postponement of Tree of life, I heard that they had to revise the script again that’s why it has been postponed
Yes, her dramas did well, and she actually name has one of the top actresses producers and investors will invest in.
Hmmm…this script revision doesn’t sound right with me. Shouldn’t the script or at least the main plot be more or less settled if Yang Zi has accepted the lead role offer? Postponing a project for over 4 months just to make script changes, I’ll be worried about the quality of this project.
@Lilith we don’t even know if filming for tree has been postponed or not. The only thing we can do now is to wait it out for official announcements for the casting and filming of it
Everything about this drama is coming from HER camp.
That she is even in this drama.
That Hu Ge will be in it.
That it is being postponed for script revision.
These are all things from her people. The only thing Daylight ever said about this was to deny when rumors about her first went wild on Weibo.
You’re right, I’ve searched the old news and it seems Daylight has never confirmed her casting.
I need Yang zi to play as villain.It should be epic one.