Hubert Wu, Regina Ho to Star in “Return of the Cuckoo” Remake
TVB announced that it will remake classic drama Return of the Cuckoo <十月初五的月光>, which originally starred Chilam Cheung (張智霖) and Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) two decades ago. The remake is confirmed to star Hubert Wu (胡鴻鈞) and Miss Hong Kong 2017 first runner up winner Regina Ho (何依婷) in the leading roles.
Other than her sweet appearance, Regina was a favorite during the pageant and has an affinity with the audience. Since becoming a TVB actress, Regina caught the eye of executive Virginia Lok (樂易玲), who singled the 25-year-old to promote due to her confidence and natural performance in Airport Strikers <機場特警>as Mat Yeung’s (楊明) materialistic girlfriend. Though her role was unlikeable, she stood out for two bold scenes in which she sat on Mat’s lap and washed a car while wearing a bikini.
A quick learner, obedient, and willing to take risks, Regina is promoted at a time when there is a shortage of female leads. A source said, “Many of TVB’s leading actresses have either left, or are married and having babies. TVB is very worried and is trying to promote younger actresses to fill the gaps. Originally, Crystal Fung (馮盈盈) was a prime candidate for promotion, but she was too busy focusing on her love life. TVB likes to promote employees who are obedient and have an affinity with the audience. Regina is a good fit with her sweet appearance and well-proportioned figure.”
Big Shoes to Fill
Return of the Cuckoo was TVB’s most popular romantic drama of the 2000s. Chilam’s role as a mute and his selfless love for Charmaine’s character touched many viewers. The drama was also memorable in other ways, as Charmaine delivered a breakthrough performance in her early career and cemented her status as leading lady, while the theme song sang by Chilam was also very popular.
A source disclosed, “It seems that the storyline is very simple, but there are many touching moments between the male and female lead characters. As far as I know, these scenes will be kept because this drama is at least 20 years old. Many of the younger audience may not have watched it before. TVB hopes to utilize a new method of filming, and use many fresh faces to repackage the drama.”
Starring in the remake, Hubert and Regina are very compatible although they are working together for the first time. On preparing for his role, Hubert said, “I took some sign language classes earlier–it’s pretty fun.” In her first leading role, Regina admits there is a lot of pressure, “I was very happy when I got the role. Thanks to the producer for taking a chance with me; I’ll do my best.”
Other supporting cast members include Michelle Yim (米雪), who will portray Nancy Sit‘s (薛家燕) original role as Regina’s mother. Joey Law (羅天宇) will take Steven Ma‘s (馬浚偉) role as Regina’s other love interest.
Sources: Weekend Weekly, HK01
This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.
Omg omg … take a deep breath, thus the treasure trove! Where to start …
1st “TVB likes to promote employees who are obedient”, WTF employees/actors/directors etc are HUMAN BEINGS not pets or children.They do not need to be “obedient” it’s a job not slavery but I am sure TVB equate the two as the same thing. Hire and promote due to talent.
2nd Good lord, talk about a lack of creativity. TVB couldn’t get two screen writers to muster an original story up? To remake a remake (loved how this article failed to mention this series was already a rip off of a Korean series). TVB 2021 slogan we just give up.
3rd When will TVB stop using that dam “beauty” pageant as an open audition. All or majority of these “beauties” including one Regina Ho are either beautiful or talented.
Thus ends my rant.
@seriously
Miss hk really declined in quality of participants in recent years , due to favouritism and unfair choosing of winners, and TVB itself declining. Some winners are still ok and get prettier onscreen overtime eg Sisley Choi, this Regina though…..
I loved the original series the nostalgic feel, really good acting and good looking leads. They’re not going to be able to top this
@ice006
True but when any series is considered a classic, it immediately gets branded as that even if the casts and all are only average. They were lucky to first so anyone who goes after them will get critiqued no matter what as they are not considered “original” if you know what I mean.
This is going to suck big time
Desperation when trying to remake a modern series romantic series. If someone wants to watch this type of series then just rewatch original. Not outdated at all…
Chilam was great in it. Charmaine improved but I still didn’t like her at the time. The story of them being essentially siblings was a bit hard for me to get over.
It is nice that TVB is using younger actors, but this is a set up for failure. The comparison will be too great. Can’t they find an original story?
Omg what a fail. The reason Charmaine got popular in Cuckoo was because she was beautiful! And she had amazing chemistry with Chilam. And it had amazing supporting cast in Nancy Sit. Regina Ho is neither charismatic nor beautiful…hard to see this being successful. @seriously which k-drama did they rip this from?
OMG……why is all i have to say
Can’t wait to watch:)
Ew no, just, no. So unoriginal to do a remake and the sad thing is they don’t even have good solid actors to promote either. TVB needs to invest time in teaching their new artists rather than throwing them in lead roles without any type of training or without any seniors to learn from. But unfortunately, they don’t want to do that, and they are too stingy with their pay so all veteran actors have left for good. You can’t reap rewards without investment. It’s not like back then when there was no competition for TVB and actors had nowhere to go. Not sure if TVB will survive another decade at the rate they are going.
Tvb needs to stop wasting money and time on the remake especially no good actor. No wonder they keep loosing money that’s why they have to lay-off lots of employees.
Yup agree with everyone, why remake this classic, would have been better if they made part 3 if anything…they did do a movie sequel which was cute. It’s more like TVB industry has gone down…Is why I’ve been enjoying the Viutv series more now.
didn’t watch the original but this regina girl annoys the hack out of me. i think she was in girlie days. so annoying there
Unfortunately I never watched the original but without that you already know that these two can’t compete with the talent of the original cast. I don’t mind Hubert but I only see him as one character and he only has one range in his voice it’s weird. He’s better off as a singer.
Regina is talentless. So….
Seriously, I know the frustrations of everyone remaking this drama is extremely lame, same goes to me being a big fan of Charmaine and Chilam, but guys serious cut some slacks for these rookie actors. Not their fault that the company wants to remake this.
They are still new and Regina haven’t really had the chance to shine in her previous roles, who knows she might also improve tremendously like how Charmaine did for the original series?
Yall people should really stop being so negative and petty about everything