Will “Legend of Dark River” Cement Gong Jun’s Comeback?
His role as Wen Kexing in Word of Honor <山河令> made Simon Gong Jun (龔俊) one of the hottest male stars of Cdramas, but his recent poor performance in Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red Moon Pact <狐妖小紅娘月紅篇> and lack of chemistry with co-star Yang Mi (楊冪) annoyed viewers and led his reputation to plummet, following disappointing roles in The Legend of Anle <安樂傳> and Rising with the Wind <我要逆風去>.
Fans Nickname Gong Jun Reighing”Beauty” of Dark River
Dropping three new looks from new wuxia drama Legend of Dark River <暗河傳> – a spin-off from The Blood of Youth <少年歌行> – which he started filming in mid-June, fans have been raving about Gong Jun’s handsome looks including one of him in a masked black outfit while holding an umbrella, and another of him in red costume and black veil while wielding a sword. A third imaging set saw him decked out in a black/red outfit with black-gold crown and riding on horseback while holding a sword, with a black veil adding to his mysterious assassin vibe.
Garnering praise for its costumes and exquisitely-designed props, the character styling successfully leveraged on Gong Jun’s good looks and ignited popular discussions around his character Su Muyu. Interestingly, top key words used by netizens described Gong Jun “beauty” and “good looks”. As his character is the Su family chief of the mysterious killer organization “Dark River”, he was labeled by netizens as “Dark River’s No. 1 Beauty”.
Topping DataWin’s drama index – which based the drama’s social influence on popular discussions, media mentions, and topics which most attracted readers’ attention – for the fifth time, Legend of Dark River had at one point surpassed Yang Zi (楊紫) and Tan Jianci‘s (檀健次) anticipated season two of Lost You Forever <長相思>, as well as upcoming male-centric wuxia dramas Go to the Mountains and Seas <赴山海> and The Immortals <凡人修先傳> starring Cheng Yi (成毅) and Yang Yang (楊洋) respectively.
Source: Upmedia
Lets wait and see….
People need to put him in an all-male dominated drama. He can only do well there. Chemistry with all his female leads have been lackluster and it’s either because he fears gossip or he’s gay. If he does poorly in his next project, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him drop to a B-lister.
I wondered about that too. I have wonder why he lack chemistry with his female leads. Gay or not, that does not matter but as a actor need to do his job… otherwise he will be down graded…
Agree. There are gay actors that have great chemistry with their female counterparts. They also have good acting skills. For him, the acting and chemistry aren’t there. But it’s true he really shined with BL.
I wonder if it’s only due to his lack of chemistry with female co-stars or WOH is his one and only lucky surprise regardless of the genre. Did he do decent in other non romantic scenes of his BG dramas?
@BearBear I have watched afew of his earliest low budget dramas by chance…storyline was not great but I did find him interesting as a newbie. His breakout from Word of Honor did surprise me as he really shine in that drama… Unfortunately, I have yet to finish any of his dramas after…
Hi @BearBear, how are you?? Hope you are enjoying summer.
Hi @Hohliu , Gay or not, a leading man has to have that chemistry, that charisma that makes him a magnet to the leading ladies. There are two Taiwanese actors that have such great onscreen chemistry with ALL their leading ladies that peopke said these men were married to, dating or living with two of these leading ladies. That would never happen. One of them is trying to find his way back after serious S**ual abuse court findings. I’m talking Aaron Yan. The other one shall remain nameless, for now, though I’m sure you know who I nean. These two men are gay, but they were born with that leading man chemistry effect. An actor either has it, or he doesn’t, whether he is gay or straight. Gong Jun obviously dies not have it. He just might ĺose his leading man status.
@Renren Yes, Arron is gay but he can act well with female actresses. The other can do the same too.
The only drama I’d ever finish watching from him is Word of Honor. I would say that’s his best. The rest of his dramas, I tried but I could never push on to finish them. I believe one doesn’t have to be born with talents. You can learn them and polish those talents as you go. But many of these actors just don’t try, put enough efforts nor any at all into learning how to act. They have so much money and resources to help them grow as actors. I don’t buy the excuses fans give “they tried, they learned, they improved, etc. The results showed otherwise.
I’m not a picky watcher. I don’t expect “WOW” performance. Just do a decent job, be able to get into that character and convince the audience of your role is enough for me.
If they couldn’t even give a passable performance then they should step down from their leading roles. All these fans with only blind devotion should just admit what it is. If their idol is faring poorly at the only job he is tasked to do, they should get him to improve instead of giving excuses consistently.
This is why I enjoy reading your comments, they are so sensible and constructive. I totally agree and could not have said it better, two thumbs up.
Of course, the fans who are delusional are going to make every excuse in the book to support their idols lack of screen charisma and lack of connectivity with his female costars.