“The Golden Hairpin” Looks for Ways to Salvage Production
Surging in popularity since her onscreen teaming with Sean Xiao Zhan (肖戰) in popular IP drama The Oath of Love <餘生，請多指教>, actress Yang Zi (楊紫) currently has two dramas pending release – the long-delayed period drama The Golden Hairpin <青簪行>, and also Lost You Forever <長相思> which co-stars Zhang Wanyi (張晚意).
Delayed for 4 Years
With production completed since year 2020, The Golden Hairpin had been slated for a 2021 summer release, but was derailed by then lead actor Kris Wu Yifan’s (吳亦凡) industry-rocking scandal, putting the fate of the 300 million yuan production into limbo since.
An onscreen adaptation of the novel Memoir of the Golden Hairpin by novelist Ce Ce Qing Han (側側輕寒), The Golden Hairpin, which was filmed during the height of Wu Yifan’s popularity took eight months. Thinking to leverage on Kris’ fame, the production crew even altered the female-centric slant of the book into a male-centric focus for the drama.
Since a gargantuan sum from investors had already been pumped in, the production team tried their best to salvage the drama for its eventual broadcast. Having built up friendly ties with the crew over 8 months of filming, and in order for staff to receive their wages which would be withheld had the drama been shelved, it is said that female lead Yang Zi has agreed to undertake 7 days of her schedule to reshoot portions of The Golden Hairpin at zero wages — the only condition being that all food, clothing, accommodation and transport costs are accounted for.
Yang Zi to Pair with Supporting Male Lead?
While the production team considered using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in post-production to change out Kris Wu’s face, they eventually decided against it as the use of such technology would cause the character to feel much less realistic. There was also swirling word that actor Kenny Lin Gengxin (林更新) will replace Kris, but the actor allegedly turned down the chance as his participation in Crystal Liu’s (劉亦菲) new romance project Rose’s Tale <玫瑰故事> has been confirmed.
Instead of searching for another suitable actor to reshoot Kris Wu’s scenes, it is likely that adjustments will be made to The Golden Hairpin’s story to reflect the female-centric focus of Memoirs of the Golden Hairpin, with the male lead’s scenes cut, to have Yang Zi romance the supporting male lead instead. The original 60-episode series could be condensed to 40 episodes with slight alterations to the plot.
Source: Upmedia
I am aware YangZi is not popular with some people but I really like her…I like her professionalism, her humbleness and ability to make all around her happy and laugh… She is a great person to work with, many production teams have good things to say. She is a well respected person in the industry. I dont find her beautiful but plastic surgery has helped her to stay strong in this industry. I am glad she did not over-do the surgeries like some stars.
It does not surprise me she is giving time to re-shoot some scenes to save this drama. I am in very curious to how she feels towards Kris the scum.. I dont think she was willing to be in this drama but it was her last project with her previous management company. I doubt she was jumping for joy knowing who her co-lead was.
I like her well enough to pay attention to her dramas and give them a chance when i may not if the cast is someone else. Wish to see her doing a wider range of productions and her acting is getting a little repetitive so maybe being in different type of roles will help to show her acting ability.
It is so unfair not to pay staff unless the drama makes it to the screen or streaming platform.
The new development does not sound promising. Reduction on the drama length, ML to FL focus…sounds messy.
7 days of reshooting is enough to change the whole plot?
Yes, it sounds right. They have done most of pre-production, principal photography and shooting. Usually the filming without multiple locations as done in C-ent (mostly scenery is computer generated or special on set location, not real life locations) shouldn’t take more than 30 days max with top actors being on the set 7-10 days full time and joint scenes overlapping 2 max 3 days of pre-production and preparation is well done. Unless director asks for reshooting and that can be a bummer to schedule and it increases costs of course. Post production can take a bit longer in this case as you need to do sound design, visual effects, add computer generated scenes, color grading and do anything else to enhance what was filmed before you put it all together in appealing story. They should have a lot of material from original shoot. Seven days sound just right. She is being super generous and kind to do this for free just to have it off the shelf.
What disaster awaits. A totally coherent storyline.
I, for one, am super glad that Kenny Li Gengxin is out. It’s like they’re trying to fix a doomed production with another doomed actor and just doesn’t make sense.