TVB’s “Chinatown” Finally Holds Blessing Ceremony
Jazz Boon’s (文偉鴻) upcoming TVB drama Chinatown <唐人街> is finally ready to greet the public. The martial arts drama, which is set in 1960’s Bangkok Chinatown, underwent a quiet first day of work, with no costume fitting press conference nor any major public casting announcements.
Featuring the crew behind 2016’s award-winning A Fist Within Four Walls <城寨英雄>, Chinatown sees the return of A Fist Within Four Walls veterans Ruco Chan (陳展鵬), Grace Wong (王君馨), Philip Ng (伍允龍), Yuen Qiu (元秋), KK Cheung (張國強), and Carlo Ng (吳家樂). Chinatown also includes The Unholy Alliance <同盟> stars Joel Chan (陳山聰) and Elaine Yiu (姚子羚), with new cast member Tiffany Lau (劉穎璇). Natalie Tong (唐詩詠), formerly a guest star in A Fist Within Four Walls, also stars.
Set in the 1960’s, the action comedy centers on the martial artists living in Bangkok’s Chinatown. The cast will be flying to Bangkok, Thailand for some additional photography.
Ruco shared that he had to lose over 10 lbs for his role. Though he has always maintained his weight, having a pregnant wife at home had been a good excuse for him to eat more.
“I was never this heavy before,” said Ruco, who is married to Phoebe Sin (單文柔). “I was wondering why my face still looked so bloated after makeup. It wasn’t until I weighed myself when I realized! I managed to lose 10 lbs in a month.”
On why Ruco suddenly gained all of that weight, he smiled and said, “I’m sure the Lunar New Year holidays had something to do with it, but my wife now has to eat for two people. My wife loves eating western food, and I have to eat with her. I’m not trying to blame [the weight gain] on anyone, but western food is pretty fattening!” Ruco shared that Phoebe will be giving birth in March,
Ruco has many action scenes in the drama, including a major fight scene with Joel Chan on a lei tai (fighting arena). The Best Actor winner is not concerned about sustaining injuries, as both Yuen Qiu and Philip Ng are around to supervise and add support. “Fight scenes are actually the safest,” said Ruco. “Most of the injuries would come from doing wire stunts.”
Reuniting as an on-screen couple, close friends Joel Chan and Elaine Yiu play a pair of star-crossed lovers. Passionate kissing scenes are not a problem for the duo, and they have numerous intimate scenes. Ruco joked that his relationship with costar Natalie Tong will be much more subtle.
Chinatown has been a challenging drama for Elaine. Her story arc is packed with action events—after defeating one person, she has to defeat a group of 10. She has to do many wire stunts, including cliff jumps, sea dives, and one scene where she had to save Joel.
Joel doesn’t have it any easier. His character specializes in Wing Chun and Muay Thai. The lei tai scene took months to prepare, and his diet suffered as a result. While his male costars could only eat boiled eggs, chicken breasts, and brown rice, many of his female costars were able to entice them with chips and chocolate.
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
The only person to watch out for is Yuen Qiu….
@jimmyszeto I most looking forward to Grace, she’ll have a killler role
@jcc10
I have to admit I don’t like Grace but she is very good in cold calculating roles….
@jimmyszeto lol yes!!
Ah darn, I was hoping Ruco and Grace would be a couple. That would have been different at least. Yuen Qiu was so much fun in AFWFW. I do like most of the cast but am doubtful of the production and storyline.
@potatochip I was hoping they’d be a couple as well, I feel like they’d have good chemistry. It seems like it’s going to be hard for the plot to match up or surpass AFWFW, and it might not do as well at the awards, but we’ll have to see what Jazz Boon can do.
Im so not a fan of Grace Wong ……natalie on the other pairing with Ruco now that refreshing
wish 元华 was cast in this series havent seen him in a long time…. would be cute if he and 元秋, played as a bickering old couple