Liu Yifei’s “The Love of Hypnosis” to Air

Ancient drama Dreams of Splendor <夢華錄> in which she paired with Chen Xiao (陳曉) saw ‘fairy sister’ Crystal Liu‘s (劉亦菲) popularity at an all-time high after a successful comeback to the small screen. News broke that one of her previously completed drama The Love of Hypnosis <一曲三笙> has finally been given the green light to air, after four years of being shelved!

Spate of Negative Rumors

Originally named Records of the Southern Mist House <南煙齋筆錄>, The Love of Hypnosis starring Crystal Liu and actor Jing Boran (井柏然) is adapted from a comic of the same name. Filming had wrapped in June of 2018 and it was originally scheduled to air in end 2019, but was pulled from screens due to a spate of negative rumors surrounding the script and cast.

According to one rumor, filming for The Love of Hynopsis clashed with Liu Yifei’s filming of Mulan <花木蘭> and was delayed due to rescheduling. The final straw was due to the production’s second male lead, actor Zhao Lixin (趙立新) having made pro-Japanese views on Weibo and was classified as a tainted artist, after he defended Japanese soldiers whom he said had not stolen artefacts from the palace museum but had chosen to burn them, which was “uncharacteristic of invading troops.” Due to these reasons, the drama was shelved for four years with periodic rumors that it has been banned from airing.

Fans Worried about Draggy Storyline

Recently, it was said that post-production editing using artificial intelligence has been used to replace Zhao Lixin’s face, exciting fans who are also looking forward to seeing Crystal in the drama’s charming period styling. Fans are also excited to see how ‘fairy sister’ Crystal Liu will portray Lu Mansheng, the female lead with split personalities who appears as a genteel lady in the day and lets her crazed alter-ego loose in the night. Male lead Jing Boran is another highlight, having captured the interests of viewers in recent years with his screenworthy performance and smoking hot looks.

CCTV Drama’s Weibo also announced that the 68-episode A Love of Hynopsis has been shortened to 55 episodes and was due to air. However, some fans remain worried about the drama’s quality, as Crystal Liu was believed to have posted about her dissatisfaction with the production crew on her Weibo profile and even unfollowed the drama’s official Weibo account. Jing Boran and Crystal were said to show haughty behavior on set during the drama’s filming, for which the crew released a clarification statement only much later.

Another nagging issue was the lengthening of the drama from its original forty episodes to 70 episodes. While it has since been cut to fifty-five episodes recently, some netizens fear the story will still be too draggy due to the added fifteen episodes.

Source: Upmedia