New “Return of the Condor Heroes” Casts 18-Year-old Eleanor Lee as Little Dragon Girl?
The eighth television adaptation of Jing Yong‘s (金庸) wuxia novel Return of the Condor Heroes <神鵰俠侶> did a global casting call earlier. Eighteen-year-old actress, Eleanor Lee (李凱馨), was rumored to have landed the role of Little Dragon Girl in the new Mainland Chinese drama.
The Singaporean actress is currently studying at Beijing Film Academy. Eleanor’s father is Singaporean actor Yu Hongrong (俞宏榮) and mother is program host Quan Yifeng (權怡鳳).
Despite her young age, Eleanor has already appeared in notable productions, including a short film by Ann Hui (許鞍華), web drama Solaso Bistro <有問題的餐廳>, and The Big Boss <班長大人>. Due to her youthful beauty, Eleanor especially delighted viewers in Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy <海上牧雲記> as the young version of the female lead character, Su Yuling.
Little Dragon Girl is guaranteed to boost Eleanor’s fame, as the role also made Idy Chan (陳玉蓮), Angela Yin (潘迎紫), Carman Lee (李若彤), Jacklyn Wu (吳倩蓮), Crystal Liu (劉亦菲), and Michelle Chen (陳妍希) into bigger stars.
The new drama adaptation will feature a twist: the story will be told through the eyes of Guo Xiang, who is the teenage daughter of Guo Jing and who also admires Yang Guo. The studio producing the drama wants to cast young actors aged 18 and up in order to reach young viewers.
Fans circulated stills of Eleanor in her costume fitting for Return of the Condor Heroes. Due to the black backdrop and Eleanor’s all-white costume, some fans felt she resembled the female ghost, Siu Sin, from A Chinese Ghost Story <倩女幽魂> instead.
Casting Still Not Finalized
On March 23, the studio producing Return of the Condor Heroes was reached for comment. The representative stated that the casting of Little Dragon Girl has not been finalized. “The character, Little Dragon Girl, is highly attractive to everyone. Various Internet rumors circulated earlier regarding the casting. Actually, we are still doing casting calls and don’t know which actress will portray this role yet.”
Note: This article was revised on March 23 to reflect new information that the role of Little Dragon Girl has not been finalized yet.
Sources: Ettoday.net; Sina.com
This article is written by Jayne for JayneStars.com.
Never heard of the name Eleanor before but I heard of Elena or Elaine.
Jesus! Thank God finally for the first time ever they know how to cast somebody more competible. If she cannot fight or act, her appropriate looks might make up for me at least.
She looks very natural and youthful, reminds me of Kathy Chow in a way. I didn’t like Tribes and Empires because people walk, move, talk like turtles. So I don’t know much of her acting.
Hopefully she has some fighting skills, lately the 2 big actresses like Dilireba and Hu Bing Qing fight like they’d never eaten before. Very skinny and going to fly away when the wind blow, their kung fu were slow as heck…
@davy erh I’m sorry but I do not find her pretty >_> not in the period costume picture. No comment on her modern look, as I tend to find most are generic until they hit that one character that they perform well for me to think they super pretty. I’m gonna sound mean by saying sup with Chinese producers and casting ugly duckling in the role of XLN >_> I’m sorry but I grew up watching many beautiful women take this role that the recent 2, this and Michelle one really making sure I don’t watch any of them >_>
@littlefish She looks weird especially that nose? haha lol
@wm2017 sadly it is lol
@littlefish If some of you are only judging on looks only, then Angelababy should fit the bill.
@msxie0714 lol….you must be kidding…not everybody with pretty looks can be Little Dragon Girl…especially Angelababy.
@msxie0714 yea, I second snoppy’s opinion. Pretty face doesn’t mean XLN, has to be the cold icy type, that looks stunning in white. Angelababy, ignore her meh acting, doesn’t have that cold quality to her beauty, her beauty is more princess type. And in general and I, she demonstrated she can’t do icy cold >_>
@littlefish XLN do not have to act too much because she is emotionless, she is very quiet (as long as it’s not stern angry quiet). The “looks” will be most important of course because I am too sure nobody can fight like LYF, so of course the look will be very important. It’s not like anybody can “act” at all these days either, no good actresses at all.
Tong Liya is actually really good at acting, but always overlooked. She is very very pretty too, her dancing skills is top notched and her fighting skills was decent in the Palace drama. Everyone is by passing her like crazy. Moreover, Tong Liya is natural for sure.
Of course Eleanor is really good compared to ZLY who everybody keeps pushing for, but her acting is not on par while her looks is all 90% consist of eyes only with a tiny mouth, and also very bad fighting skill. Not like I am looking forward to a very good Condor Hero movie/drama, all films these days are disappointing and my expecations are not high but still…ZLY makes it sound worse. Eleanor is at least natural and didn’t cut her nose or face.
“CLEAN” skin is what we need, like Carman Lee who is natural looking, not super duper white but decent white. I cannot stand those plastic Snowy white skin (they are not even creamy but white-white extra white) such as ZLY, ABB, DLRB, GLNZ, etc. The description of XLN in the novel is that she is “white” but the actresses above skin are very exaggerated. Even worse when there are smoothing effect. They need to tone it down with some dark makeup.
@davy uhm I was talking about white clothing lol but I agree with you. May I ask why we bring ZLY in here lol? I’m not her fan, just wondering. XD did someone say to cast ZLY as XLN? Anyway, I agree ZLY is a bit overrated, and I also agree that Tong Liya is always getting the short end of the stick, however the new nirvana in fire 2 should help her a lot, no? While Tong Liya is very beautiful, I think her downfall is that she looks mature, young audience can’t deal with mature look lol, that’s why ZLY is great as she’s 30+? And can still look like 24+ only
@littlefish Earlier, the person people most wanted for consideration was ZLY together with LGX
The most popular XLN is still Carman Lee despite that she lacked the teenager look.
@davy lawl I c, guess ppl still haven’t gotten over the crappy PA. Sure I like the main couples, but that was one train wreck, as much as the first part was interesting, it was also draggy and like a lot of pointless. If it wasn’t for LGX’s character, the whole show can go.
Uhm -.- logic? Stuff happens inside the tomb, no one knows but YG and XLN, how the eff can GX know anything…. or is this twist more like: the beginning scene, GX, then 20 yrs ago, and normal POV again >_> that’s not a twist, that’s pretending to be a twist and then just lengthen the drama for GX and YG’s shippers? It sounds rubbish >_> they need to stop with the remaking. Where is the ban law when you need them lol
Say all you want about Liu Yifei, looks wise she was the perfect Dragon Girl. Acting wise… well… never mind.
This is like the what? how many adaptations in like 5 years? I think they are determined to get it right so they will make 1 every year until they find the best combo.
Looks wise, sorry, I don’t think Eleanor cuts it. so even if her acting’s smashing, well, wait for it, 6 months later YET another adaptation.
@funnlim do you think Carmen Lee not perfect? I say both Liu Yifei and Carmen are pretty perfect in term of look, but Carmen’s acting is much better.
@littlefish isn’t dragon girl supposed to be very young? Still liu yifei. She was stunning in her first scene and then of course she had to act.
@funnlim I’m with @littlefish. Carmen Lee was my idea of a perfect Dragon Girl. She didn’t look a teen but was very beautiful and otherworldly. Crystal was pretty but I thought her massive hair and costumes swamped her.
@funnlim LYF looked young. Younger than YG. Odd pairing. She also is not an ice beauty.
@tiffany Yeah I agree with you. LYF isn’t an ice beauty. I think Carmen’s acting is better.
@funnlim I don’t understand why people would complain LYF and YM acting, all I see is so many actresses copying their acting. The way they smile, turn, look at things, all copied by too many to name.
@davy uhm I don’t think it’s copy as such. It has more to do with the Chinese directors have their certain ways. They would be like act like this, act like that? That’s why the childish drama, with overly childish actress, acts the same exaggerated ways. Can you name what move of LYF that ppl copy?
This Eleanor girl’s facial features are too “doughy” to play the role of the ethereal, mature & icy Little Dragon Girl. Similar to Michelle Chen – total miscast.
This girl’s been getting roles after roles in big productions, even though her acting is okay at best and her facial features average. Me thinks her parents are helping her pull some ropes in the ebiz so she can participate in these grand dramas and get lead roles one after another. Without those opportunities, I doubt she has a leg to stand on. She’s better off doing modern dramas – her face doesn’t fit these beautiful roles they keep pushing on her for ancient dramas (and subsequently, on us as the audience.)
My fav Little Dragon Girl to date is Carmen Lee. LYF actually fit the ‘austere & icy’ look of Dragon Girl well, but that’s because she’s a block face to begin with and once she starts acting, you can tell she doesn’t have the gravitas to pull the role off.
@coralie I think Eleanor Lee’s face suits modern dramas well too. Her acting in “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy” was stiff; don’t really have confidence in her pulling off the role of Little Dragon Girl.
Looks wise, I also think Carman Lee is the most beautiful. She looks picture perfect with Louis Koo, but at most their acting chemistry was just mediocre together. Acting wise, I like Idy Chan, who portrayed Little Dragon Girl’s vulnerable side better.
@jayne I never saw Idy Chan’s version, so can’t comment on it. But I’ll take your word for it
Casting for Little Dragon Girl is not finalized yet. Just saw the news on Sina this morning. Updated the article with the following:
On March 23, the studio producing Return of the Condor Heroes was reached for comment. The representative stated that the casting of Little Dragon Girl has not been finalized. “The character, Little Dragon Girl, is highly attractive to everyone. Various Internet rumors circulated earlier regarding the casting. Actually, we are still doing casting calls and don’t know which actress will portray this role yet.”
@jayne hahahaha or they saw the reaction and retract their casting xD
How many of these remakes since 1983 … that’s the only one i saw, the rest i am not interested. Are there no other scripts or writers? Am i missing something?
Michelle Chen probably lowers the bar of XLN and now any actresses think they can be one. Eleanor should remain in modern drama.
@bearbear You are so right! Michelle Chen if not for that movie she would have forever stay in second or third line actress. She has such an average face and even more of an average actress but somehow made her a ‘godess’ sttaus hahha from that Taiwanese movie. That’s why luck is really a big factor in an actor/actresses life. Weird even…
@wm2017 lol I agree Michelle is second rate beauty for period. But in modern, she does look quite cute. Not goddess, but sufficient for being lead in modern. I don’t even like her but saw a few mv of her modern series
@wm2017
Actresses like Jessica Hsuan and Michelle Yip are very very average looking, when I first saw them I did not really understand why they would be the main leads. But they were casted in such good projects that you would only focus on their characters and not how beautiful they were. They can play Mary Sue a thousand times without problem because the storylines will always be interesting and fun. Today, whoever plays Mary Sue for the 2nd time will get bombed for being stuck with Mary Sue roles FOREVER and having no skills in any other things, etc. blah blah blah… I don’t know if acting can be something to blame on, if Jessica and Michelle’s dramas were so good in the past then how come their new ones would suck-suck so much? It’s not a deal of they cannot act, so “acting” is not to blame but the “story” is the main problem. Modern shows are slow and plots are non existing. I don’t care if these actors are getting better makeup, more colorful, more high technology with imaginative backdrops, etc.
Even Jessica and Michelle fell from their heights now too bc these projects are getting very low quality from the overuse of technology and non creative storytelling skills.
These days when a storyline finally happen to exist, they are just not even interesting at all. And depending entirely if the actors are eye-candy enough is only based on a very personal level of tastes. So, actors today are pushed to a total corner of plastic surgery because they will NEVER ever be able to become the next Jessica Hsuan and Michelle Yip with their natural self anymore. You MIGHT only be the successful star of a terrible drama if you look good enough to hook people in, or look ugly and also with a bad storyline so you can be the scapegoat and main source of failure in a bad story-telling drama.
You can be natural to get yell by viewers because they don’t appreciate it, or be plastic and also get lots of hate by viewers, or be smart and be plastic but deny that you are one. It is very unfair to only point at ABB as the only one, as there are others too.
I’m starting to doubt anybody with all the features of pointy chins, baggy eyes, eyes bigger than normal sizes, absolute flawless skin, pointy nose, extremely high straight nose bridge, etc. So, anyone with average looks I would give them +1 for not giving in to plastic surgery. And also +1 to who admit themselves openly.
It is unfair to doubt so many good looking people, but of course when somebody filmed with extremely light make up to no make up at all like Liu yifei and Liu shishi then there is no question about plastic at all. Viewers have very good eyes at times too.
My issue with some of these actresses is that they really think they can fit into any role without thinking whether their face is suitable for those characters. People say it’s not about how you look, blah blah blah, but if the script REQUIRES them to actually have a certain aura/look/personality AND they don’t have the skills to pull that off, then they’re really asking for it.
For example, Zhao Dong Yu is a very cute, lovely woman with good acting skills. However, she’s no breathtaking beauty. At least she acknowledges that and actually decline taking on projects where she needs to be beautiful. She has the self-awareness to admit that it’ll require stupendous amount of suspended belief to make her role believable. If she can’t convince herself, she once said, how can others believe her? And if other actresses believe they can take on beautiful roles without actually being beautiful, then I can only say they deserve the backlash.
@coralie Zhou dongyu is also one of the gals I consider very natural, her acting was amazing in Palace though that was the only thing I’d watch with her in it. What she said is correct. That is funny though, I actually consider her on a top beauty list. Of course She’s not a XLN type of thing because of her small size and lack of maturity feel, but she is still a beauty in her own way. I like her on the same level as Ariel lin, who is passable as a beauty in ancient garments so should be the same for ZDY.
@davy Zhao Dong Yu is very cute & natural. I’d place her in the same category as Zhao Liying. Both very adorable and have an eternal youthful look, but neither are breathtakingly beautiful. I actually think Ariel Lin ranks beneath both of them (in terms of looks), but she’s cute nevertheless.
Someone I would put as beautiful and cute would be Joe Chen & Zoie Tam. Joe Chen *might* fit the profile of XLN when she was younger, but not now.
@coralie so that’s her name. My first impression of her was she’s an ugly duckling in palace but as the movie goes, gosh, she just blows you away, love her by the end of it. I think she’s pretty cute, not breath taking like you guys said, but she’s so good at acting, she’s top of the young generation for me. I like her a lot more than ZLY. Saw her in soulmates, and love her there as well. So far, I haven’t been disappointed by her, ZLY is yet to capture me.
I don’t think Joe Chen would fit the role of XLN either, her face is too immature? And tbqh, I still don’t find Joe Chen very beautiful. She’s not bad, but not more of the cute side like ZLY and ZDY
@littlefish Yeah I saw that movie with her & ZLY. Thank goodness I saw ZLY’s other works before I saw that movie haha, otherwise my impression of ZLY wouldn’t be that positive either.
Joe Chen has done cold characters before and she did them well. For example, playing as Dongfang Bubai in Swordsman (don’t watch it, but her role definitely shines.) And she can do cute, which is what propelled her to stardom in the first place (The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog.) And because I’ve seen her do both, that’s why I think she can play XLN. The problem is that she’s getting older, so she can’t play this role anymore.
@littlefish Agree with you. I don’t find Joe Chen beautiful either even in her younger days. Cute yes, beauty, no.
So, if looks is a major criteria for XLN, Joe Chen is not suitable either, even when she was younger.
@kidd Who do you find beautiful? just curious
@coralie Agree with Kidd I don’t find Joe beautiful either, cute, but not overly cute to the point like ZLY although they resemble each other a little.
Joe was one of those actress who was not all that attractive and is an “ugly duckling” but through her own effort of talent and funky-funny acting skill, she rose to stardom after Frog Prince and 100% Seniorita. She is just so herself, that is what people love. She had much harder time in serious roles, but she really did do well on each and every playful characters she got under her belt.
I once heard Sun Fei Fei almost made it to XLN but LYF was chosen over. SFF is really beautiful too, too bad that the plastic surgery for her lips failed otherwise she is really really beautiful. Really hard to believe, she was totally perfect and did not need such a thing at all.
Hi @coralie
I’m more familiar with the HK actresses.
Many of the past XLNs are/were beautiful, such as Liu Yi Fei, Carmen Li, Idy Chan, Mary Jean Reimer.
For newer actresses, I find the Amazing Esthers beautiful (TVB’s Christian sisterhood consist of Grace Wong, Christian Kuo etc) mostly beautiful especially Christine Kuo. For the 90s actress, I Kristy Yang would have been a good candidate for XLN in her younger days look wise.
I check out her other pictures in google. She looks a lot better in modern attire. All her pictures in costume looks unflattering. I hope the costume maker of this drama can make a difference. Or maybe her acting can make up for it if she’s able to exude the right aura.
I’m more interested to know, will any production company cast a plain /ugly actress as Cheng Lingsu if Flying Fox Snowy Mountain is adapted again. Actresses who have played CLS include Michelle Reis, Gillian Chung, Mimi Kung, Mirtha King. All beautiful actresses.
@kidd the TVB version in 1999 with Sunny Chan, is there a Cheng Lingsu Character? And if so, who acted her?
@littlefish It was Bell Liew.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Fox_of_Snowy_Mountain_(1999_TV_series)
Joyce Tang was Yuan Ziyi combined with another character in the novel. I think she was given a different name in the show.
@kk12345 thanks, I’ve seen that series but can’t seem to remember Bell Liew. That series just made me fall in love with Joyce and Marco, however Marco turn douche after the fame, which is such a pity >_< I don’t remember much about that series except Joyce and Marco lol!
@littlefish
There was a character who died for Hu Fei like CLS did. But, that’s their only similarity. Her name, personality, background and skills are all different from the book’s CLS. She’s street smart but certainly couldn’t think many many steps ahead like CLS.
The character’s name in Yiu Yat Yat (or Yao Yi Yi in mandarin) and she’s played by Bell Liew like @kk12345 said.
Now I remember her. Total miscast as XLN. Why not the producers just wait a decade before remaking the series again and again and again?
I was very impressed with the recent version of Legend of the Condor Heroes and would have been very intrigued if the same producers and studio made Return of the Condor Heroes and brought back the same cast but it appears as though it’s a different bunch of people filming this now. Let’s see how this pans out