Yu Zheng Picks Michelle Chen to Play “Little Dragon Girl”
After it was announced that Yu Zheng (于正) would be adapting wuxia novel Return of the Condor Heroes <神鵰俠侶> into a television drama, netizens erupted into discussion over what changes he would make to the storyline and characters and – more importantly – who he would cast as the female lead, Little Dragon Girl. Yu Zheng recently confirmed that Taiwanese actress Michelle Chen (陳妍希) would be taking on the role.
Although many netizens feel that Michelle has too much baby fat to portray Little Dragon Girl, who is one of the most beautiful females in Jin Yong’s (金庸) novels, Yu Zheng guaranteed that viewers would be convinced after seeing her in costume. Moreover, he revealed that Michelle had already slimmed down to 100 pounds.
“She is very celestial and beautiful, and she looks exactly like the Little Dragon Girl in [Taiwanese artist] Chen Shufen (陳淑芬)’s drawings,” Yu Zheng gushed. He added that Michelle’s portrayal of the character was sure to be one-of-a-kind.
Joining Michelle as Little Dragon Girl and Chen Xiao (陳曉) as Yang Guo are a slew of good-looking actors that include Yan Kuan (嚴寬) as Wang Chongyang, the lover and rival of Lin Chaoying; Sean Chen (陳翔) as Lu Zhanyuan, the ex-lover of villain Li Mochou; Li Chen (李晨) as Yang Kang, the father of Yang Guo; and Jiro Wang (汪東城) as Kublai Khan, the Mongol commander who becomes the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. Lu Yi (陸毅) will also be joining the cast, though his role has not yet been revealed. On the female side, Viann Zhang (張馨予) will be portraying Li Mochou, with Zhao Liying (趙麗穎) as Mu Nianci, Yang Guo’s mother.
Changes to Characters and Love Stories
As expected of an Yu Zheng production, some of the characters will be undergoing changes. For example, Little Dragon Girl would be a very attractive female teacher who also has a silly and cute side to her. Zhen Zhibing, a Daoist priest who has a crush on and later rapes Little Dragon Girl, will become more adorable, and Huang Rong will be as cute as she was in the prequel, Legend of the Condor Heroes. Li Mochou will have a more important role in the drama, and could be considered the second female lead.
Yu Zheng’s signature element of sadomasochistic love will naturally still find a place in Return of the Condor Heroes. Apart from the famous love story between Yang Guo and Little Dragon Girl, there will also be flashbacks to romantic turmoil between Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying, Li Mochou and Lu Zhanyuan, and Yang Kang and Mu Nianci.
To the surprise of many, Yu Zheng also plans to mention another master-disciple relationship: Huang Yaoshi (Huang Rong’s father) and Mei Chaofeng (the disciple who died saving him in the prequel). “In Teacher Jin Yong’s revised version of Legend of the Condor Heroes, there is a part called ‘Gone Beyond Recall,’ which talks about this love,” said Yu Zheng. “In the drama, Huang Yaoshi will tell Yang Guo of what he personally went through. Because he thinks that it would be a pity for someone to miss a chance at love, Yang Guo becomes even more resolute in his love for Little Dragon Girl.”
Phenomenal Spending on Special Effects
Yu Zheng also revealed that he would be emphasizing the comedic and magical elements in Return of the Condor Heroes, adding that the spending for the drama’s magical effects surpassed 100 million RMB. “Many of today’s fantasy dramas are too unsophisticated,” he said. “They look like video games. I want to change this phenomenon.”
In order to improve the choreography, Yu Zheng invited the martial arts director of Bodyguards and Assassins <十月圍城> to design action scenes that stood out but were also realistic. He also invited a team from Hollywood to create the settings, hoping to embody the scenes from the original source. As for the giant condor that Yang Guo befriends, Yu Zheng shared that the bird will not a puppet, as was the case in previous adaptations, but will instead be computer-drawn.
Source: Hunantv.com
This article is written by Joanna for JayneStars.com.
Lol in my personal opinion I don’t think she should be Little Dragon Girl. She doesn’t have the face, body or air to her to be little dragon girl. I find the choice of Chen xiao was good though.
LOL..I know OMG…probably the ugliest casting of this classic charater EVER? they have got to be kidding? The HK one, even thou i wasnt a fan, she nails it to a T and Crystal Liu was a pretty one too which i also havent fully watched hahaha but i do know they were perfectly casted. but this??? what??? seriously???
This series is doomed to fail…even Yan Kuan can’t save this series.
I wonder if master Jin Yong & his massive fanatic fans will have a colossal spitblood watching this upcoming version.
As if it wasn’t enough that Yuzheng messed up the “Smiling Proud Wanderer”, now he also lays his hand on this one.
No wonder someone threw water on his face before. maybe next time someone will throw some daggers instead.
Yu Zheng is obsessed with Taiwanese actresses.
How many adaptations do we need? And why change the plot?
No one can top Idy and Carman as the ice-cold XLN. Stop.
but this is a mainland adaptation not hk one?
Seriously, this ROTCH already failed. Not to mention its cast doesn’t fit the roles, the story sucks. I’m sick of Yu-Zheng-ism. Jin Rong should speak up this time to stop YZ from ruining one of his masterpieces.
Has Yu Zheng got Jin Yong locked up in his cellar or something? I can’t believe this is the same guy who banned TVB.
I was wondering the same thing or has JY lost his mind??? Michelle Chen is not ugly but does not have the XLN look at all. She looks more like a Lu Wu Shuang. I guess they are running out of ideas so have to keep on remaking the same old novels over and over and over again….
I think it was more the issue of money rather than faithfulness to the novel.
TVB is cheapskate but at least they picked fitting cast for the characters. YZ just butchers them, but is really good at fawning over people.
Is this her costume for this film? If so, then right off the bat it’s wrong. There’s not supposed to be blue and there shouldn’t be tiny pieces of hair sticking out all over the place.
Sorry but this girl isn’t pretty at all – but hey on the upside, that probably means her face can still move unlike YZ’s favourite Yuan Shan Shan.
As usual there will be massive changes and the end product will be grotesque, I’m sure. Happy for Chen Xiao that he gets to lead, and always enjoy Yan Kuan and Lu Yi but can’t get exited over this crap.
Major brain aneurysm awaits fans as this version of XLN will fall in love with Zhen Zhibing 1st, the woman hurt by her 1st love.
And I’m not making this up.
seriously?!?!
that explains the raping scene to be quite adorable? since it’s not a rape but a consensual sex after all????
gosh… how i hate YZ so much….somebody needs to lock him in a dungeon to never see a day of light ever again!
I think it’s still a rape, at that point XLN already likes YG.
YZ is attempting to ‘humanize’ a rapist. Ewww.
@ sehseh
Yu Zheng is not the first producer who tries to do so. Yang Pei Pei humanised the Yin Zhi Ping too (Jin Yong change the character to Zhen Zhibing as not to disrespect the real Yin Zhi Ping). But, Yang Pei Pei didn’t make him adorable.
“Huang Rong will be as cute as she was in the prequel
This is silly. Huang Rong was a 16 year old girl in the prequel. Of course she’s cute and adorable. But, HR is a 30+ years old woman with a grown up daughter in ROCH, not to mention the leader of Begger Sect. How can she still be cute and adorable? That will make her look very silly.
I used to dislike Huang Rong in this sequel, thinking that all charm and personality has been sucked out of her. But then I realised my biggest disappointment with her (and to a lesser extent, Guo Jing since he wasn’t as tolerant) is for raising and spoiling a child like Guo Fu.
All the above comments made me chuckle out loud !! In agreement to all that’s been said !! I have to especially mention the casting of Jiro Wang as the Mongolian Khan ???? Really ? No offense to all his fans out there (Pls don’t flame me) But…. really ??
And how can YZ make a rapist CUTE ????? I really don’t get his ideologies !
I’m not sure if im gonna watch this. remakes are most of the time bad. but chen xiao is there. been a fan of him since the first female minister. so its a difficult decision for me. i want to see more of his acting.
there’s a sentence i dont quite understand: a Daoist priest who has a crush on and later rapes Little Dragon Girl, will become more adorable
what does it mean? that the priest rapes little dragon or that little dragon will becom adorable? cant imagine someone being raped and become adorable.
the rape scenes were populair in hk now they’ve reached china too??? those scenes are just horrible. i just dont understand why people likes them.
Yeah my first thoughts too. Trying to have the audience like a rapist. Are you freaking kidding me?
There must be something lost in translation because that sound so off. I am SICK of remakes.
We all have choices to watch or not to watch. What’s the prob.?
True, but we all get tired of hearing about remake after remake as well.. It also shows that they are running out of ideas and cannot think of anything new.
Well, TVB has run out of ideas long ago and Taiwan is no better (hence the constant remakes, sequels, and copying from famous Japanese idol dramas). But it’s the same with Hollywood….endless stupid remakes, lame reboots, boring prequels and sequels to superhero franchises. Ugh.
Movies and series come out constantly and even more than before so it is understandable to run out of ideas. But these JY remakes are getting really redundant and tedious.
Nothing here seems to fit for an adaptation, I think we all need to just pretend that this is just a joke and maybe watch it to laugh. I predict that Yang Guo will have feelings for Li Mochou. Or even falls for Guo Fu lol. It’s going to be like how LHC was in swordsman 😀
@ping0: LOL…actually, that’s not a prediction, since it’s likely not going to be far from the truth. I remember Yu Zheng mentioning in one of his recent interviews that Yang Guo is going to have more than 1 romantic relationship (outside of Little Dragon Girl) — and both the females you mentioned were ‘potential’ third / fourth parties…now, whether YZ decides to go through with the idea is another story…but seeing what he did to LHC in Swordsman, I wouldn’t put it past him to screw up the story big time by adding lame love stories between characters like that….
I agree with whichever poster above said that someone should lock Yu Zheng in a dungeon and throw out the key so that he never gets to touch another JY work again (though to be honest, JY himself is already too old and senile to even think straight, so I doubt he even gives a damn at this point)….
i cant think of a potential actress in this decade that can fit this role. =_= crystal fei didnt work out…stop with the babies~LOL
when i saw this picture i thought it was wong cho lam..
omg. i thought the same thing.haha
hahaha… good one!!! i think Wong Cho Lam looks better 🙂
OMG !! Now you’ve done it…. You’ve planted this image in my head !!! ROFLOL!!!
he manage to put his hands on this? someone should ban him from remaking great classics, here comes yu zheng with the butcher knife. poor jin yong, how he managed to hoodwink the author into letting him remake this.
I will probably laugh at this waaay more than I laughed at his attempt to make XAJH more “original.” Everything was so inconsistent. Remember how colorful Swordsman was? If he starts adding color to XLN’s costume, god help us all. Idy Chan is and forever will be the best Xiao Longnu to me, although Carmen isn’t so far behind. And did he just call ROCH a “fantasy drama” or did I misread? I hope I did.
This is just an attempt to make some money and to give the cast and staff a job because they are out of good ideas for anything new… Sad indeed…
Am I the only one anticipates Jin Yong will vomit blood at seeing this broadcast? Who the hell will find a rapist adorable?
This might have the best looking supporting cast but after Swordsman, I have really lost confidence in Yu Zheng producing wuxia series. I would rather he make one up by himself like “Rose Martial World” than ruin classic by adapting them.
can someone POUND some senses to the cast person and open his/her eyes. That’s gotta be the stupidest joke ever, michelle as little dragon? it will be the ugliest little dragon in the drama history.
It is the producer and directors that often pick the cast right??
Omg… No no no!!! Not my most beloved Jin yong novel!!!! gah, why can’t yu zheng destroy another story!?
Do any of you watch You are the apple of my eyes or Badges of Fury? Michelle Chen is an awesome artiste though she doesn’t look like slim angel. You have to watch her before pay the judges on her.
I guess no one should judge her acting if they have not seen her act. However, just based on looks alone, she is just not physically suit for the role of XLN. I am not sure about acting, but looks wise she is not fit for that role.
I think you say good plot and other factors will make a series well. Michelle Chen’s look isn’t suitable however her acting, her character and her make-up can make her well. I don’t think the last work of this director is close to the novel enough. They can change the character and we have to see the series to judge her performance in the character written in the particular series.
Disagree, acting alone is not enough in anything. If the character is a beautiful lady, you cannot just cast a plain woman and have the audience make do with acting and lie to themselves she is beautiful.
@ling,
True and to me the plot and other factors are usually more important, but I never said that the cast was not important at all. It is great to have a good cast that acts well but if I had to pick, I would pick the plot and other factors over the cast. But in the case of these remakes, we all know the plot do well already, so in these particular cases, the only thing left is the acting and cast since there is not much more to about in terms of plot.
Yes, Michelle Chen is a good actress. Except for “You are the apple of my eyes” she did very well in “Hear Me” (聽說)too as a mute girl.
Michelle has talents. Whether she suits Xiao Long Nu or not, I guess we should wait till we get to see more pictures and also some clips of how she portrays the character first.
I agree with you. There are commentors with prejudice around here. The character can be not the same to the novel. They can change it to suit Michelle Chen. Unless Michelle Chen can’t make it suitable for the new character, we can’t prejudice her.
I get what you mean. I feel the same way with Ariel Lin as well since she has such a baby face, but her acting manages to transcend any visual “limitations”.
The thing is, a big part of what defines XLN is her looks; she possesses an ethereal beauty that Michelle Chen fails to encapsulate. Plus, XLN has the personality of wooden plank anyway, so this is one of the few cases where I don’t mind if they just cast pretty faces in this role. (Then again, you may argue that she’s in need of a good actress to inject some personality into her…)
There are plenty of good actresses who fits the XLN character. Since YZ changed the stories to adjust her looks and everything else, what you have is a pirated XLN. My guess on the whole etheral thing is whenever she appears, she will have spotlights shining behind her, that sort of thing.
She may be the best actress in the world but sometimes you just can’t force it.
Argh. Forgot to add a big “but” at the beginning of the 2nd paragraph.
——-
I agree with HeTieShou and think that Michelle’s better suited for a character like Lu Wu Shuang. It’s even more worrying that they made her go from average looking to crap by giving her such nasty hair and costume. But given that Dongfang Bubai actually switched genders(!!), having XLN go from a great beauty to a Plain Jane is pretty tame by YZ’s standards. (Although he’s making up the shock value elsewhere by making a rapist more endearing. Uh… good luck with that…)
Viann Zhang as Li Mochou ???!!!!!
I am sure she is a wonderful actress but put it this way; she will be the least attractive XLN ever. Changing a few stories here and there is ok but what YZ is doing is changing the fundamentals. So instead of an adaptation I think the words INSPIRED BY will be more apt. As usual you can just dismiss this as the weird one of the bunch. Ever notice NONE of whatever YZ did is ever considered a classic? Because the man knows how to make ratings winner of the moment but he knows zero about making one which 5 years from now will stand the test of time. And he has weird taste in women. I like the fact that he finds generally not very attractive women as in his own words drop dead gorgeous so to speak but sometimes you can’t force it. Maybe make up will help, some PS but isn’t XLN supposed to be cold, not very inviting, yet naive to the ways of the world and DROP DEAD AWESOMELY GORGEOUSLY PURE AND BEAUTIFUL? Michelle Chen is already wrong for the role. We can wait to judge her but frankly she is wrong for the role, no matter how great her acting is. Anyway don’t believe YZ and whatever he says. He said a lot of things about Swordsman and look at what a mess that was. This one? Not just a mess or a trainwreck, it is like trains being made to be used on the sea. Just doesn’t mix, at all. YZ has once again prove that whenever he has 100% involvement he just displays awesomely bad taste. And sorry, for me even the actor chosen for YG is just wrong.
Whatever you may say about Crystal Liu, she was the perfect XLN looks wise. Everybody else is just too old.
As for Jin Yong, maybe he is in desperate need of money or perhaps some voodoo is involved. He got so pissed off with TVB who in hindsight treated his material with a measure of reverence and respect as compared to YZ who just bulldozed over it. So my guess is this is JY saying “TVB never paid me well”.
Oh YZ ah YZ, you’re the TVB of China, except worse. And I did like your trainwreck Female Prime Ministers and I do love Schemes Of A Beauty as much as I hate in equal measures all your Gongs. And Swordsman, never watched beyond that few episodes and now this. This is like the complete annihilation of everything good into everything usual.
As for humanising a rapist, the only way to do that is to make XLN the bad one. OOOOOOOhhhhhh I bet the fans have plenty to say!!
Well put!
Great rant, Funn. Lol!
Yup, Michelle Chen is plain wrong, wrong, wrong for XLN. She is so plain. XLN needs to be an other-worldly beauty. Crystal Liu had that detached beauty, so did Carmen Lee and Idy Chan. Michelle Chen looks too ordinary, like any girl you see in the mall.
Yeap, all of his drama, I can’t make it through pass first couple episodes. Michelle Chen is total wrong cast. She is one of those who doesn’t look nice in Gu Zhuang.
Liu Yi Fei is the best XLN so far…
I don’t know why ppls in china still watch his series to give it good rating so he can continue to butcher everything nice and beautiful just so he has classic titles under his belt :s wake up, ppls! Stop watching his series so he can go out of business And get lost Dx I’m sick of his ugly main actresses and actors -.- and the corny cliche, predictable plot line, predictable villains!!! Alternately, u guys are welcome to pour water at him or rocks >_>
“Yu Zheng guaranteed that viewers would be convinced after seeing her in costume.”
Well, she is in costume in this article’s picture and she looks like a man.
He couldn’t even keep the costume completely white, how can we trust him. This is almost as bad as when XLN’s costume was black in the 2003 version.
Kidd that was funny! I don’t feel she looks like a man but I just feel she is at best considered plain. Those who says let’s wait for her acting clearly doesn’t quite understand the description of XLN. I think there must be a universal acceptance what DROP DEAD GORGEOUS is.
Yu Zheng really doesn’t care, it was probably cheap casting. he’ll continue to enrage everybody and enrich himself since mainland china doesn’t mind snorkling up what he defecates out.
miscast! yu zheng already destroyed swordsman and now he’s destroying return of condor heroes too? what is jin yong thinking?!
michelle chen don’t give drop dead cold beautiful impression! she only gives cute bubbly schoolgirl impression!
Maybe cute bubbly schoolgirl is the new sexy. And that is so anime you know? And so wrong! Maybe she can sulk? She will be sulky XLN?
and that is why he decided to make XLN the school girl type with all the characteristics. otherwise it will not fit Michelle. this is all wrong, XLN is not supposed to be “immature” nor outgoing, don’t know what YZ was smoking when he decided to give every character a facelift???
Is this a facelift or rather more accurately an impersonation? Then why call it Condor Heroes? YZ is not insane though. He knows what he is doing. That is why I say he is tasteless. So much funding and he turns out mostly universal crap when he is 100% involved. And then he will borrow from his own series and other series but reverse engineering style so to speak. And then he will cry foul for all criticisms but to give credit to the man, he doesn’t care what people think. he thinks he is right. I enjoyed Female Prime Ministers and Schemes Of A Beauty but then those weren’t adaptation of famous novels. Imagine he adapts Twilight. Maybe he can make crap better. Maybe. Or he adapts Harry Potter. Harry will fight to the death with Ron for a really plain Hermoine who he will call beautiful and Draco would be falling for Hermione and do bad things but justified in the eyes of Yu Zheng. And he will set the entire series back in some dynastic era and maybe do away with the magic part.
Imagine he adapts Twilight. Maybe he can make crap better. Maybe. Or he adapts Harry Potter. Harry will fight to the death with “Ron for a really plain Hermoine who he will call beautiful and Draco would be falling for Hermione and do bad things but justified in the eyes of Yu Zheng. And he will set the entire series back in some dynastic era and maybe do away with the magic part.”
OMG, LOL! Yu Zheng might just read your Harry Potter idea and decide to use it. It’s no worse deviation than making a rapist likeable. What’s next? How about a chinese version of The Hunger Games and have Katniss Everdeen be played by a cutesy Rainnie Yang and have her fall in love with Gale played by Jiro Wang, who also has a relationship with Primrose….lol.
XLN’s beauty is very essential to the character, that is the wow factor in making the lead character mesmerized. his casting choice shows he does not have an eye for artistry nor integrity to the novel. ppl who are like him just make dramas for the money, he doesn’t care about the details nor fulfilling each aspect.
as for Michelle Chen, she does not even pass the first test, let alone be judged for just her acting. It’s a whole different ballpark to play XLN. XLN is supposed to be removed from the world and cool-and-still-faced as part of her persona, it doesn’t take top acting for this. The most important is the aura, rare beauty, and innocence to make the character itself stand out. XLN is not supposed to be kiddish, spontaneous, lively, that is all the opposite of what she is famously known for, why doesn’t Yu Zheng just write up his own garbage instead of borrowing others great names(JY) to infect and trash up??
Isn’t it more work to cast an unfitting actress like Michelle and have to change the character and story around so much to make up for the casting defect of his choices. it doesn’t make sense at all. he is just insane.
I agree with you on how he is changing the story to fit an actress. I disagree however on the insane part. He is perfectly lucid. He just doesn’t know how to make a hit that will last for generations.
Yup, this project sounds horrid – from the casting to the awful liberties tkaen to change a classic novel and its core characters. A 30 something woman back in those ancient times still acting cute? Geez, this is not ROCH for generation Y, with young adults refusing to grow up. Huang Rong was already a mother of a teenager and leader if a powerful sect, she had too much serious issues to deal with than to prance around acting cute. The mature Huang Rong was played brilliantly by Au Yeung Pui San.
I never got the hype about Michelle Chen. Almost barfed on my lunch when I was watching some entertainment news and this stupid TVB reporter was gushing all over Michelle Chen and calling her the new generation ‘Cherrie Chung Chor Hung’. Like, reaching much? Michelle Chen doesn’t have an inch of Cherrie’s legendary womanly charms nor her immense star quality. This girl can only play the cute girl next door (and that is already pushing it at 30 years old), not the enigmatic and ice cool Little Dragon Girl.
HAHA OMG, I couldn’t agree w/u more. I was on these so called variety taiwan shows or awards or whatever and these hosts call her a ‘NEW GODDESS’, I was like WTH are they talking? They either need glasses or eye surgery ahhah..
I think she got recognized or her big break was from that stupid film that i skipped thru on utube, ‘ you are the apple of my eye or whatever ‘? that kai dude or other was naked onscreen n he also got very popular from that film, kind of like stupid american pie sort of films. I think she used to be on tv series and she was never a lead but literally got her break from that stupid film so even thou she is NOT in any way a beauty as they claimed, they automatically put her as such b/c of her newfound popularity. It was really weird how they could have casted her in such a classic role. For people who thinks Crystal Liu is not even fittingly casted, this is way way way worse than anyone who’s ever played this XLN character right?
Hah! What goddess?! The goddess of mediocrity? Fact is, the talent pool is so depleted in the chinese film industry today compared to its 80s heydays, where HK movies were the pride of asia and people imitated iconic HK stars like Chow Yun Fat. Nowadays, the so-called new generation movie stars are just one hit wonders. Kai Ko and Michelle Chen were just lucky to star in a nostalgic sleeper-hit movie (yup, a little like American Pie, lol) as it was not a hit because of them but the nostalgic comedic tone of the movie was seen as something fresh at the time. These actors are clearly just ‘flavors of the day’, celebrated in a desperate-for-fresh-blood, anaemic Taiwanese film industry. Michelle Chen tried to follow up her overnight fame from that high school romance movie by starring as the lead in a taiwanese drama, but that flopped dismally in the ratings. Obviously shows that Michelle Chen is no ratings guarantee nor box office draw, and that apple movie would have been a hit regardless of which two young actors were cast as the leads due to its nostalgic corny romantic storyline which hit a cord with taiwanese audiences reminiscing over their schooldays and first loves. I didn’t find the movie to be that moving, it’s a nice summer movie about stupid teens, that’s about it. No potential Maggie Cheung here, let’s not go overboard.
@felicity,
believe me felicity, when i heard the word ‘ GODDESS ‘ referring to this Michelle Chen i was more shocked than surprised. I mean i know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and don’t mean to be judgemental n all but that was just laugably shocking. But i kept hearing them praised her on that apple movie so i knew they were partial to that stupid character she played than to her real apperance itself. B/c she is just plain period, she can’t even be called beautiful let alone play a classic character like XLN. From the pics above, everything if off. Her face, hairstyle and esp that horrendous ancient outfit.
You are indeed correct, taiwan movie industry probably is lacking in a big way for that simple american pie like movie to make it so big when it’s only a stupid H.S. kind sleeper film that is more than mediocre and yet they made it sound like its a one of a kind classic film ever shown onscreen ahhaa… pathetic really.
Why are my posts not showing up, Jayne? So annoying!
I would love to see Ariel Lin play the Little Dragon Girl. She did an amazing job as Huang Rong , and as Xue Wu in Lan Ling Wang. Though she isn’t drop dead gorgeous, there’s something about her presence that makes her a very likeable leading actress. But since she’ll be gone to do her masters in the UK, I guess that’s not possible.
Exactly what I’m thinking. Her acting is just great
I’m still watching this drama. Michelle doesn’t have the kind of beauty like the other actresses but she has an interesting quality.
Everyone was rooting for another Zhao Liying and Chen Xiao collab esp after Female :Prime Minister:( Totally disappointed with the casting…
okie….Next! LOL…there are soooo many other actresses out there…I have nothing against her, but you need to look the part first before we can even talk about the acting…I think Liu Shi Shi would have been a good choice since she often looks really good in wuxia dramas, but too bad she’s in Yu Zheng’s rival company…
Pictures of some of the past Xiao Long Nv
http://culture.people.com.cn/BIG5/n/2013/0830/c22219-22745635.html
Wonder why the article left out the picture of the most well-known one i.e. Idy Chan.
She was on the name list, just didn’t have the picture.
@Kidd: There is a long tvb baidu discussion/analytical thread with screencaps on the past xiao long nu since 1960 (nam hong) till today. 【姑姑】小龙女进化史-那些年我们一起追过的小龙女.
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2561304275?pid=38102012316&cid=38312176730#38312176730
From the pics on the page, Idy Chan and Carman Lee really are stunning beauties. Liu Yi Fei is beautiful too but I thought she was too cutesy for Xiao Longnu. These three actresses are people’s favorites because they really do look like a goddess. That’s what people associate Xiao Longnu with, not her martial arts or her personality, but her beauty. That’s her key feature. Michelle Chen is too plain and not pretty at all (at least from the pics above). Hopefully hair and makeup will make her look better. Acting comes second when you’re playing Xiao Longnu since she doesn’t have much of a personality anyway.
I agree that Idy Chan + Liu Yi Fei are one of the 2 most beautiful that’s ever portrayed this XLN character. Carmen Lee is ok too but i don’t find her to be that beautiful but bearable.
Michelle Chen – I doubt any kind of makeup will make anyone beautiful if she is not even pretty but that’s just my opinion. To me, she is just plain and ordinary.
@ Clamine
Thanks for the link. Interesting read. I never knew Nam Hong and Patrick Tse has played XLN and YG before.
Of all the XLN’s costume featured, I like Carmen Lee’s costume and hairstyle the best because it most simple. Living in a Tomb all her life and never ventured out, it’s only logical that she has plain attire.
Carmen Lee was my fav XLN, she has a sharp beauty, LYF is more of a soft beauty, Idy Chan is plain compare to them, probably because of the make up used back then. THis new girl is just plain Jane.
geez, this chick looks nothing like the character. she is so plain….
Maybe this is a picture badly taken, but if this is really what she looks like, well… agree, not good enough.
official pictures are out. check it for yourself: http://photo.weibo.com/1216431741/wbphotos/large/photo_id/3618785917874417?refer=weibosearch
No weibo here! Any other links?
Try here: http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthread.php/37586-Return-of-the-Condor-Heroes-神雕侠侣-2013?p=1065395#post1065395
OH!MY!GAWD!!!!!
Fans of Condor Heroes, DON’T GO THERE!! DON’T! ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR SANITY!!
By the way I just noticed. notwithstanding the rather tacky Photoshop effects, the English title is Condor HEROS. Did I see right?!
Funn, you saw right. The posted did print ‘Condor Heros’.
Crazy. Deliberate? Or mistake? Like Swordsman which became Swordman. and it should have been The Swordsman.
Condor Heros. Sounds like a Greek god now.
Let’s just hope he’s a crap speller, because if YZ ever thought that omitting the “e” was a cool idea, then god help him.
@Funn I couldn’t resist myself Funn! Michelle Chen looks sooo bad. The makeup and lighting did NOT help at all. And plus the hair is horrendous! Is she playing as Sailor Moon? The posters on spcnet were right. Chen Xiao looks like Hu Ge’s younger brother from Chinese Paladin with those bangs and loose pants. Gosh the hair and costumes cannot get any worse. Yu Zheng IS making this a fantasy drama. My worse nightmare has come true. NOOOOO!! On a side note Li Mochou looks very good.
With new concept like this one, I can understand now why my friend declared very recently “Huang Xiaoming is a legend” because let’s face it, Yu Zheng making Chen Xiao looking like a fool does make HXM look very very very good. And guess what? Yu Zheng hardly ever revises his character’s concept costume etc so everyone, this IS it.
I think the Sailormoon hair is the Ancient Tomb uniform. Li Mo Chou was also spotted with this hairstyle.
Btw, Viann Zhang as Li Mo Chou is beautiful.
I think it is very easy to be more beautiful than the leading lady.
I’d agree with most of the comments here. Michelle Chen doesn’t have the looks or the period grace for the role. Acting-wise she has the ability to connect emotionally (Hear Me) but there hasn’t really been anything earth-shattering or particularly memorable about her.
I thought she looks a little like Chapman To, could be his sister….lol…