Charmaine Sheh Signs with Louis Koo’s Agency
Following the moves of former costars Raymond Lam (林峯) and Jessica Hsuan (宣萱), it has been confirmed that Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) has officially signed with Louis Koo’s (古天樂) agency.
The 43-year-old actress, who is currently starring in the Mainland Chinese drama Story of Yanxi Palace <延禧攻略>, left her former agency TVB in 2011, after 14 years of service. She went on to collaborate with other agencies, such as ArtExpress Production and TVBC (TVB’s agency in China) before settling down with her own production studio in 2016.
Reports say that Charmaine’s career will be managed by Louis’ own managers Ronnie and Leo. Joanne Chan (陳早茵), daughter of filmmaker Philip Chan (陳欣健), will also be managing Charmaine’s career. It has been said that the trio and Louis have been working on a new film for Charmaine.
Charmaine and Louis are old friends. When Louis was still with TVB, the duo costarred in 1999’s Detective Investigation Files IV <刑事偵緝檔案IV>, which is currently rerunning in Hong Kong. In 2015, they starred as a couple in the film version of Triumph in the Skies <衝上雲霄>; their collaboration continued with the 2017 horror film Always Be With You <常在你左右>. The duo were already in talks of an agency collaboration during that film’s production.
As of today, Louis’ agency One Cool Film Production has signed artists Jessica Hsuan, Raymond Lam, Philip Keung (姜皓文), and Ling Man-lung (凌文龍).
Source: HK01.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Louis Koo’s roster is almost as good as Wong Cho Lam’s roster of superstars such Leanne Li and Eliza Sam….
@jimmyszeto differences is his stars can actually act xD
@littlefish
Wong Cho Lam signings are elite. Especially Leanne Li. I think Louis Koo needs to sign all of Sean Lau, Nick Cheung and Francis Ng to compete with Wong Cho Lam’s roster….
@jimmyszeto
WCL’s agency is a joke.
@anon @jimmyszeto Both have some solid actors/actresses in their roster but Mr. Koo definitely has the ones with more acting talent and ability
@kaykay
Well worked out!. We didn’t know this…
@jimmyszeto LOL just realized you were being sarcastic. but really, i do think WCL probably has some decent ones on his roster For what it’s worth, I don’t think anyone in the virgin’s club is a bad actress aside from christine kuo who i find extremely unwatchable.
@kaykay
What are the quality artists CURRENTLY signed with WCL?
I knew of Sheren Tang, but she left.
@anon
The ones Wong Cho Lam have signed are mostly Hong Kong failures who are looking for a quick buck in mainland China. The ones Louis have signed are either established movie stars or actors/actresses who have the talent to make it in movies. So when Eliza Sam says that she will move into movies when she signed with Wong Cho Lam, she is just showing that she is either deluded or she is just another church going liar….
@anon Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought Joyce Cheng and Babyjohn Choi were part of WCL’s crew?
@kaykay
Not sure, if they are, Joyce Cheng is an average actress at best. I don’t even know who Babyjohn Choi is.
@anon Speaking of Sheren…I just heard that she and Sunny Chan will be filming a series for ViuTV – the series will be produced by the author of the Margaret and David books (which ViuTV had turned into a TV series over the past 2 years). Sheren and Sunny will play a married couple and the theme of the series will be about older couple relationships (kind of in the same vein as M&D, which was also about relationships except the central couple was younger). I’m excited (first time I’ve felt excited for a series in a long time), since Sheren and Sunny are 2 of my favorite actors/actresses, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them onscreen, the pairing is fresh (trying to remember but I don’t think the two of them have collaborated before), and the theme / plot will be more relevant to society as well as different from typical HK series (no more TVB recycled formula – yay!).
Side note: so glad Sheren left WCL’s management company because the “opportunities” she was getting before (ie singing on Mainland variety show) were just plain stupid! I read that Sheren’s requirement with ViuTV was that she receive the entire script in her hands before filming and they delivered on that already.
In related news, veteran actress Amy Chan Sau Man (another actress I like) will also be filming a series for ViuTV but not the same one as Sheren and Sunny. Wow, ViuTV is really hitting it into the park with the veterans this year – after reuniting Greed of Man father and son Adam Cheng and Michael Tao in the Detective Psycho Prequel earlier in the month, now they’re bringing on veterans that many of us have been waiting a long time to see again. Hope they keep this up!! I for one will definitely be keeping an eye out for their upcoming series!
@llwy12
That’s great news! I can’t wait to see Sheren Tang back on screen. It’s been years. Same with Amy Chan.
Hopefully, their productions will be as good as Detective Psycho. ViuTV quality is all over the place. Some of them are difficult to stomach for the casual viewer.
@anon More news on Amy Chan’s series – she will be co-starring with Liu Kai Chi (another one of my favorite actors, lol) and also Terrence Lau Chun Him (the young star from the M&D franchise). The series is going to revolve around the education system. Uncle Chi will be playing the principal of a school and Amy will be the assistant principal. Supposedly filming has already started but they will hold the official blessing ceremony + series announcement next month.
As for the Sheren / Sunny series, there hasn’t been a whole lot out about it other than what I mentioned above. According to the producer (Nam Fong Mo Tang – the author of M&D book series), she already delivered all 30 episodes of the script into Sheren’s hands. Knowing Sheren, she probably needs time to review the script and do her homework first….quite possibly they might make the official announcement for the series alongside Amy’s series next month (this is my assumption, as nothing has been mentioned yet).
I agree about viuTV’s series being all over the place though. Detective Psycho actually had its fair share of issues and the ending was slammed quite heavily by audiences for going the TVB route and losing steam. The series that is airing right now, Plan B, I heard isn’t that good either. But one thing I will credit ViuTV for is their effort – they’re trying hard to make series that are relevant to society and resonate with audiences, plus they don’t shy away from controversial subject matter and themes. Of course, they are a far cry from being “competitive” with TVB and I honestly don’t think they ever will be either due to their target audience pool being so different and filming methods too – for me though, ViuTV’s series (the ones I’ve seen at least) have more depth to them overall, though the filming process is definitely on a lower scale. With all that said, of course if we bring HKTV back into the picture, ViuTV’s series can’t hold a candle against them (HKTV’s series were the best quality series I’ve seen in years) and definitely if given the choice I would rather have HKTV back in the game instead of ViuTV, but since we all know that’s impossible now, at least ViuTV is a relatively viable alternative for those of us who are sick and tired of TVB’s formulaic series (though ViuTV does have serious work to do to bring their productions up to par quality-wise).
@llwy12
I tried watching 2 episodes of Plan B, and I ended it there. The acting is OK, but the dialogue and the selection of casts were bad. The leads aren’t charismatic either.
I missed HKTV productions. They were golden. I can’t wait to see Uncle Chi back on the small screen too. He’s one of my faves.
@anon LOL….you’re not the first person to tell me that about Plan B…looks like my decision not to even bother with that series is correct.
Not sure how much you’ve heard about the Detective Psycho Prequel that they’re currently filming but since you’re one of the few people who actually watched the original series (lol), was curious about your thoughts on the prequel. Out of the 3 guys they chose to play the younger versions of the leads in the prequels, I only know Neo Yau and Bryant Mak, both of whom do have acting talent (Neo has built up quite a bit of acclaim in the movie industry), so acting-wise, probably shouldn’t be too bad, at least from those two. I read that Adam Cheng is playing the role of their mentor/teacher and Michael Tao I think is playing a villain once again…
I miss HKTV too…in fact, the more I see crappy series come out whether from TVB or elsewhere, the more I miss them. Oh did you hear that TVB is trying to have a go at e-commerce as well? They are setting up something similar to HKTVmall through their Big Big Channel platform…..no doubt trying to reignite that rivalry again. Honestly, TVB needs to stop trying to get their hands into everything and instead just focus on making better the stuff they currently have…talk about being jack of all trades but master of none….
@anon
Yes.He’s signed many who gave zero demand and would never get a deal anywhere….
@jimmyszeto
Exactly!
@anon
News alert-Grace Chan, Grace Wong and Christine Kuo are next on Wong Cho Lam’s wish list….
@jimmyszeto LOL…love the sarcasm! Joking aside though, WCL’S agency doesn’t even warrant a comparison to Louis Koo’s to be honest. The best WCL is able to do in terms of “movie opportunities” for his artists is basically putting them in a Shaw Brothers production (which, we all know Shaw Brothers nowadays is crap – such a shame given how they were the #1 movie studio back in the 1960s/early 70s and was truly a force to be reckoned with back then). Oh and we already know WCL “neglects” all his artists because he’s overwhelmed enough as it is with his own work and doesn’t have any spare time to give to them (he has admitted so himself in several interviews) – which, to me, also shows lack of professionalism because a good artist management company shouldn’t require the top brass to personally manage the artists. Louis on the other hand, with his prolific film career over the last decade, has built up a pretty solid network in the film industry and now has access to some solid names (a few those being A-list level names) as well as truly good collaboration opportunities (I checked out a few of the anticipated productions that One Cool Film had promoted back during FILMART and they sound really good) – oh and he obviously has some really good managers working for him who will be able to give the artists the time and attention they signed up for. Charmaine definitely made a wise decision by signing with Louis – shows she is actually serious about developing a movie career (unlike the lip service that those who signed with WCL’s company aka Shaw Brothers 2.0 have been giving about how much they “want” to develop in movies….)
@jimmyszeto I actually think that Louis’s roster is better than WCL’s. “superstars such Leanne Li and Eliza Sam”, Louis’ actors/actresses are way more over the top plus they are already established actors.
@sabrina
You think?
Glad to see 姜皓文 keep improving and getting bigger roles. He is in all the big productions now and getting good placements in the movie posters.
@mike Same! I love hak gor!
@mike Yup, agreed! Philip has very much been underrated and underutilized for most of his film career so it’s great to see him finally getting the opportunities he deserves! I’m actually looking forward to a few of his coming projects myself!
Honestly doubt charmaine and louis were friends back in 1999, as they did not even have 1 scene together.
I think they became fast friends after 2015’s triumph movie version, and again in 2016 line walker movie and 2017 again.
Read on the actual article, that Louis wants to push Charmaine to the next level in the movie scene and is working to tailor-made a role for her.
Nice to see that he is really taking care of her in his agency.
@polypeptide Wrong – I am currently rewatching DIF4 and they definitely had more than one scene together. There was even one particular scene with JUST the two of them exchanging lines. Although, I’d agree that they probably weren’t friends at the time.
@kaykay waittt whut, my memory failed me. By any chance are you rewatching it online?
@polypeptide @kaykay Louis and Charmaine definitely had scenes together in DIF4 – and more than 1 scene at that (though no, they probably weren’t friends back then – that I agree with)! TVB has been re-airing the entire DIF franchise (all 4 installments) in the midnight timeslot since earlier this year and for those in the U.S., all 4 installments have been on encoreTVB since way before then (I re-watched it already back in 2017, since TVB USA has had it on their site for at least a year now – with that said though, those who want to re-watch might want to do so asap because most likely they are going to take the series down soon now that the midnight timeslot re-broadcast is winding down). Oh and for those re-watching, media outlet HK01 has been doing some good supplementary (albeit short) articles about the midnight timeslot series, with special focus on artists from those series who are no longer in the industry – for nostalgic folks like myself, it’s been great taking a trip down memory lane and also getting some tidbits on what those (mostly former) artists are doing today. (They did the same for Blood of Good and Evil and The Feud Between Two Brothers as well as Files of Justice franchise when those all aired in midnight timeslot prior to DIF…)
@polypeptide Yup! It’s on icdrama and may be on the TVB Encore app as well. If you remember the characters at all, Law Lok Lam played Charmaine’s dad who was involved with some criminal activities including **SPOILER ALERT: murder and faking his death. He killed Kwok Fung’s character (who was Louis’ missing girlfriend’s brother) and there was a huge confrontation scene between Louis and Charmaine. I think episode 23 or something. Just watched it last week.
@kaykay LOL…yup….hard not to remember the characters and plot when I’ve re-watched that franchise more times than I care to count! Though truth be told, I watch that specific installment mostly for Sunny and the supporting cast, as I was never a fan of Louis (definitely not during his TVB days) and all the female leads in that series (specifically referring to 4th installment) annoyed the hell out of me….and yes, I kind of still have a bone to pick with TVB for pairing Sunny up with not one but two horrible actresses (at that time at least)….Louis at least got paired with Jessica and even later on, with Anne Heung, who was a way more competent actress back then than both Charmaine and LSS….every time I re-watch DIF 4, I go pull out the TVB Weekly magazine that I have saved from that time period that talks about the multiple alternate endings that they had supposedly filmed for the series – not sure that I like what they ended up using, but seeing that I didn’t really like any of the female leads, I guess it doesn’t make much of a difference….
@llwy12 hahaha! Tell me what are these other endings please! I actually love the love story between sunny and LSS even though her acting was bad, to this day, I still have their song on my playlist lol! Jessica n Louis were my favourite pair but their song made me want to kill puppy lol!
I want to rewatch dif4 but I don’t like how they kill LSS’s character
@littlefish Haha…I didn’t like any of Sunny’s relationship lines actually — he deserved better, IMO.
**SPOILER ALERT (for those who’ve never seen this series, though I highly doubt there are many people out there who haven’t watched at one point)**
The alternate endings were mostly with Sunny’s character — one ending he goes back with Charmaine, the other he’s with LSS (meaning she survives), the third he ends up with neither one, with the potential of “someone else” in the picture. In the end, they (meaning producer, scriptwriter, cast) couldn’t really decide 100% between those, so they decided on a fourth option that was sort of a mish mash of all 3, which is the ending they eventually aired (if you recall Sunny’s relationship line in the series, he does end up with LSS and then when she dies, there are some brief scenes which hint that he might get back with Charmaine, but of course he doesn’t and in the after credits finale scene, there is the hint of potential “someone else”). It was actually interesting watching the ending again after knowing the behind-the-scenes stuff on how it came to be. There wasn’t much mention of Louis’ relationship line so I assume the way his turned out was originally intended….
@llwy12 @kaykay , woah thanks for tip, didn’t know tvb encore existed LOL. Many old titles, time to dive back into the golden era.
Watched 3 episodes of DIF4, really brings back the nostalgia of good o’ tvb days. Its good to know how much thought went into the second couple, usually they would only focus on the main one which would be Louis and Jess.
@polypeptide You’re welcome. Yes, the good thing with encoreTVB is that they have a mix of old and new titles in there…however one thing to note is that they rotate the series through every couple months so if there is a series you want to watch, don’t hold off too long as they might take it down after a certain date (though they are usually good about putting the takedown date on there). Oh and in case you want English subtitles, there’s actually an encoreTVB app in English (for iPhone and iPad users, it’s in the App Store)…I’ve actually never used the English one but I think the selection of series is different on there. Its rare for me to say this but credit where credit is due — after so many years, TVB has finally done the right thing by providing a platform for those of us in the U.S. to watch their series online legally.
@llwy12 lol thanks! Sunny does deserve better but I still love LSS even though she’s pretty bad actress xD after reading your alternate endings, felt like I knew those before!!!
@littlefish You’re welcome! 🙂
Speaking of midnight timeslot and DIF 4 currently airing – now that both Charmaine and Jessica are under Louis’ company, maybe they should get together with Sunny and do a reunion dinner or something – that’s what the cast of Files of Justice did last year when their series aired in midnight timeslot – they had a huge reunion thing with all the main cast present (Bobby, Michael, Felix Lok, William So, Bowie Lam, etc. – also, most of the female leads were there too, include Amy Chan, Sheren, Flora, Eugenia Lau, etc.). Also, when DIF 3 aired, Michael Tao and Joey Leung reunited to film an advertisement together that parodied the series….Michael and Kenix had gotten together as well for dinner (where they also talk about the whole “car keys” thing playing on Michael’s character in the series not being able to pronounce Kenix’s “Jessie” correctly, lol). The midnight timeslot has actually gotten quite a bit of buzz over the years because TVB has been broadcasting many classic series on there that audiences are more interested in watching than current series (not surprising of course)…
@llwy12 Haha! I recalled the after credits. It was huge back then with the ambiguous ending hinting at Sunny and Jessica.
@llwy12 @littlefish Chamaine and LSS were painfully bad. Aside from Charmaine’s acting being super raw back then, her character was also horrible and annoying. I did like Sunny with LSS better even though I felt like what they did was shady (breaking the girl code, Sunny basically kinda cheated when he first realized his feelings for LSS, etc).
@kaykay Exactly! The acting being horrible is one thing, but both characters as written were annoying as well so in a sense it was a double whammy and that upped the frustration level for me (ok, well, triple whammy technically because Sunny was already one of my favorite actors back then so imagine my horror at him being dealt such terrible fate, lol). And no, the “hint” of him possibly getting together with Jessica at the end did not serve as any consolation because I’ve never been a fan of Jessica as an actress for one (not saying she’s not a good actress because she is definitely good, but just not my cup of tea) and two, her character in the series annoyed me as well (for different reasons than Charmaine and LSS).
@kaykay Uhm, I don’t think he cheated. LSS is possibly one of few, if not the only one, doesn’t try to steal her best friend’s bf. She wanted to voice out her feeling and find out if Sunny remotely like her at their first meeting before he knows charmaine, and feels that if Sunny didn’t meet Charmaine, they definitely have a solid chance of trying out with one another. And Sunny knows her for as long as he know Charmaine, they like best friends, the three of them. So he said what he said because he also likes her enough that if Charmaine didn’t exist, he knows they would try. So that was their mutual understanding, and both of them loves Charmaine. Pretty much, if LSS isn’t into Sunny, I swear she would fight with Sunny for Charmaine lol!
The next part where she won’t let him go after his breakup with Charmaine was because she found there is an opening for her, and she’s guilty about it that’s why she took that knife for Charmaine. Basically, when the playing field is level, why not fight for your chance of love, though maybe I need to rewatch to make sure if my memory of the series was correct lawl!
The fault of Charmaine’s character for me is that she didn’t let Sunny or LSS explained. Assumption is the worst enemy in any relationship!
I love Jessica, her character is always endearing to me. Like her since the first series, the red string one where she’s a fairy. Even though I love the other main girl lol. But Jessica and Sunny is just no no lol
@littlefish
Yes. Jessica costarring Deric wan. They have always had good chemistry. If anyone thinks that Jessica is a one trick pony then try watching A Good Match From Heaven where she’s childish but humorous.
@kaykay @littlefish @llwy12
ooh! Actually Charmaine attended the reunion dinner for DIF series, but I think she was the only one from DIF4.
And I think someone mentioned in this thread about Louis and Charmaine old photoshoot, I chanced upon it on Weibo. Nothing escapes in this day and age.
https://m.weibo.cn/6071447762/4268239590991121
I guess it’s my unpopular opinion but I feel Louis and Charmaine have better chemistry than Louis and Jessica.
I thought she opened her own management/production studio a while back. Guess that’s not doing so well, and that’s why she’s signed with Louis?
In any case, anyone watching Story of Yanxi with Charmaine in it? I hate to say it, because it’s a Yu Mama production (thankfully, not directed or written by him), but it’s a fantastic series so far! For once he picked a female lead I can root for. She’s been very consistent with her attitude so far. Charmaine is a support character, but plays an integral role in palace scheming. I don’t mind, though, because her character has a clear motive and distinctive reason for changing. My fear is that, as with any Yu Zhen production, it will start to deteriorate in the middle and wither away like most of his dramas. So far so good, though. Hope it keeps up.
@coralie she seems to be getting jobs just fine though, maybe she wants more focus on movies? and louis seems to have the best platform for that.
@coralie
I’m waiting for ENG SUB to be released before I can watch it. 🙁
@coralie No, her agency is doing well. In fact she has filmed several movies and taken on new, bigger endorsement in recent 2 years.
The reason for her to sign with Louis is because she wanted to produce drama, and Louis can provide the funds and wider network of investors in the industry.
@coralie yup, a lot of good things have been said about legend of Yanxi, but knowing YU mama, imma wait until it finishes then watch it lol. Not gonna risk that draggy middle bit and crapy ending lol! Even scheme of beauty, which I love, I did not like the middle bit at all, and it definitely got old at the end >_>! And even fuyao, currently has draggy middle though it’s heading to the final two weeks! Though I don’t think I will bother with fuyao >_> from the mini clips I saw here and there from the news site I’ve been following, it’s quite terrible lol
@littlefish I know lol. When I hear Yu Mama is associated, I usually steer clear. Same for Wong Jing. I am beginning to do that for jazz lam too. But YM didn’t write this drama so *cross fingers* that this will finish properly.
@coralie I’ve never heard of the female lead and I thought I might like her, but I didn’t so far. I don’t really like her attitude. In some scenes, it’s like she is someone who has power in a high position.
@sabrina I’ve never heard of her either. Apparently this is her second time ever in a lead role. So far she’s doing well.
She does have an attitude. But I enjoy it. Because her attitude isn’t one where she thinks she’s subservient to those above her station. And when she’s giving people attitude, there’s always a reason for it.
Her character will undergo changes and development as the series goes on (at least I hope it does, because the plot is moving in that direction.)
The only thing that throws me off about her is when she switches from poker face to match the expressions she needs when she’s plotting someone’s downfall. The transition isn’t as smooth, but while jarring, is still watchable.
@coralie I actually really like Yanxi as well. I think it’s refreshing and not draggy, and I do love the female lead. I read on some comments of people comparing this drama with DITROC because of the “finding sister” gimmick, but I must say it’s sooo much easier to root for this female lead over Annie Liu’s character. All Annie’s character ever did was flashback to the same 2 scenes with her sister every single episode while not doing a single thing… and getting rescued the other half of the time. This character is witty and as you said, consistent, which makes her much more likeable. Also Charmaine is great, and so are the empress, emperor, and the empress’ brother.
I heard that Yu Zheng is only producing for this drama, but is not the screenwriter nor director, so hopefully that means the drama will continue to be great.