Wallace Huo to Star Alongside Zhou Xun in “The Legend of Ruyi”
Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace <后宫·如懿传>, also know as The Legend of Ruyi, has announced that it has cast Wallace Huo (霍建华) in the role of the Qianlong Emperor. He will star alongside Zhou Xun (周迅), who plays the titular character.
The Legend of Ruyi is the sequel to the 2011 smash hit The Legend of Zhen Huan <后宫·甄嬛传>, which starred Sun Li (孙俪) as Zhen Huan, Ada Choi (蔡少芬) as the Empress Consort, and Chen Jianbin (陈建斌) as the Yongzheng Emperor. Both series are adapted from historical fiction novels written by Liu Lianzi (流瀲紫).
Ruyi takes place after the death of Yongzheng and the accession of Qianlong, the adopted son of Zhen Huan. It follows Ruyi, Qianlong’s most beloved wife, who becomes a pawn in a power struggle among members of the royal harem and court. She eventually overcomes the struggle and becomes the Empress Consort, but is met with a tragic fate. The original novel was published in 2012 and spanned six volumes.
The Legend of Ruyi begins production in August 2016. It is produced by New Classics Media and directed by Wang Jun (汪俊).
Source: Sina
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
The production for this drama won’t start until 8/2016 and this is a long drama (90 episodes?). If Wallace shaves his head, it means he won’t get marry for a while then. Finally we are going to have a new drama to watch from Wallace. 🙂
@dramas4me he can always use wig
@gray Yes. He can always wear a wig, but I don’t think he will do that on such an important occasion.
@dramas4me To be honest, I prefer him use wig rather than postpone his marriage. I mean Ruby Lin is not younger anymore. Hope 2017 marriage plans is true
@gray Well! I think his hair will grow back after about three months. The filming will start this coming August. I’m wondering how long does it take to film 90 episodes? May be he will have enough time to grow his hair back and get marry in 2017. What do you think?
@dramas4me Yes it could be. I just really hope that he can marry in 2017.
I don’t like zhou xun. Why her? I wished wallace could be reunited with sin li. Anyway I feel wallace is a miscast as qian long. I love that man but he ain’t qian long. Wished he was in the other movie or series abt three,lifetimes.
@funnlim Me too. I don’t like her either. I think he is too cute for her. Why do you think this is not the right role for him? Are you talking about this drama: “Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms”? Yang Mi & Mark Chao are starring in this drama.
@dramas4me
Zhou Xun is a great actress and is damn CUTE!
@msxie0714 I know she is a great actress. I knew I would get in trouble with that remark, but I don’t think she is that cute. It’s just my opinion.
@msxie0714 Zhou Xun was pretty cute in Red Sorghum.
@dramas4me Because he is ethereal but not kingly. AAlso miscast as Qianlong. Not formidable enough. I am told he will be a bully in here? I am afraid Wallace may crom across as petty rather than scary. Somehow this to me is a financial decision rather than casting decision.
Zhou Xun is to some a goddess and great actress. To me she is mediocre. Never liked her. I am sure her voice will be used which I also dislike. Wallace most definitely will be dubbed.
I was hoping for Wallace-Sun Li reunion. Alas.
@funnlim Thank you for the information. Let’s hope he will pull it off. It makes sense that it’s a financial decision to cast him for this role because he is so popular right now.
@funnlim i think this qianlong will be like the kid we saw the rnd if ZHZ, grateful to zhen huan yet not trusting her. The sequel expands on his insecurities towards the people around him, and he gradually learns how to play the game with the court and the imperial harem. but he becomes more like his dad as he gets older. There is also some more story relating to Ada’s deposed empress, who is also Ruyi’s aunt so people in the palace dislike her. Basically, qian long and ruyi find love and support from each other in the time of need, yet reality and distrust tears them apart.
Is this based on a book? I know ZHZ was based on a book. So ZHZ has a sequel in terms of book?
Pity Sun Li not as Zhen Huan. Anyway ZHZ was rubbish in the end mainly or really because the producers chose to set the time at YongZheng time. Hated it.
@funnlim yes it is based a book. Both zhz and ryz are written by the same author. Imo, the events in ryz are repetitive to what happens in zhz, but with a different result.
@elizabeth Oh no!! Is this gonna be Durian City the sequel? With the constant anger, screaming, sulking, pushing, etc?
@funnlim I don’t think the producer choose him just based on his popularity alone. They have cooperated before in Imperial Doctress. She (Huang Lan) must see something in him to choose him for this important project.
@dramas4me @funnlim honestly, i do not like the casting choices at all.
For Wallace, while he pulled off his character in the drama “The Great Protector” alongside Jia Qing, he just seems like a complete miscast to play Qianlong. I agree with funnlim that Wallace does not have this “emperorly” feel to him. Don’t get me wrong, i love Wallace as an actor but feel this role is quite out of his league (i’ll wait for the trailer to convince me otherwise or not).
As for Zhou Xun, not sure how well she’s going to pull off that “empressly” aura. Never was a fan of Zhou Xun. i only watched Painted Skin 1 & 2 for Chen Kun and Vicki Zhao and never found Zhou Xun that pretty. Her acting is fine but i would not call it the best either.
Does anyone know why director Zheng Xiao Long did not take upon this sequel since he did the prequel? Also, i am curious to know who will play the villains as well as Zhen Huan in here. For now, my first impression after finding out about this pairing is that they seem a strange pairing. I am not too interested in it now but will wait for the trailer and decide then. Rumours have it that new starlet Zhang Tian Ai may take on an important role. I will be happy if she does take part she does have potential.
People, plus point. Since he is playing an emperor, he needs to put on weight. So be gone skinny Wallace! I want him to be well fed looking like he was in… what was the other qing series he made? Protector?
As much as I don’t like bald Wallace, we should give Wallace a chance to pull it off. He could be the greatest actor to play emperor QianLong. Let’s give him benefit of doubt. He is great actor after all and he always give 100% commitments.
Besides if he choose to play in this drama, it means he likes to cooperate with the production team. It would be great experience for Wallace. I am looking forward for this TV series.
Hope he can play in Star Drift Ding Mo too
@gray I agree with you. We should wait and see how he will pull it off. We need to give him a chance.
I guess I can understand why Wallace would jump on this offer despite the elongated filming period and the likelihood of being over-shadowed by Zhou Xun, the Meryl Streep of Chinese cinema.
They had originally offered the role to Tony Leung as his TV drama comeback after some 27 years. He was to be paired with Zhou Xun (who also would be making her own drama comeback after some 16 years) to helm this mega stellar cast. After Leung had turned it down (he loves his semi-retirement too much), they offered it to Wallace instead who probably did not think twice in accepting it as a replacement to the great Tony Leung.
@aiya Tony Leung would have been a terrible choice. Why not make a movie ver? Maybe Tony will say yes. I don’t think semi retirement is a factor. He just doesn’t want to be on TV.
@funnlim It is hard to render any premature judgement on the cast because we do not know where the maker of this drama is going with this. Also, highly skilled actors generally have wide acting range and can fit themselves into any role. Conversely, less skilled actors are hopelessly type-cast forever: e.g. idol drama actors.
As far as the whys about Leung’s rejection of this role, it is anyone’s guess.
@aiya This drama’s shooting time frame is 8 months. It also require the men to shave their hair. Based on feedback, the story focuses on the development of Ruyi and Qian Long’s relationship from when they are young to (possibly) the passing of Ruyi in her forties.
I do not think Tony will be interested to return to tv dramas ever let alone a drama which will require him to shave his locks and live in Hengdian for eight months!
@mangotango I am sure these were some of the plausible factors behind his refusal of the project. At his age, he surely would not want to go through the hell that he had gone through with Wong Kar Wai’s 3-year filming process of the Grand Master.
But then, I wonder why would Zhou Xun agree to do this?
@aiya Although the filming process of the Grandmaster took 3 years, Tony was not required to stay on site for 3 years. He will have stay in Hengdian for 8 months if he has accepted this offer. He left tv drama for a long time.
Zhou Xun returned to drama in 2014 to lead in Red Sorghum. So perhaps not surprising that she was convinced to accept the role of Ruyi. I think she is paid very well for the forthcoming drama. It is a big budget drama. There were rumours that it was sold for 1.9million remnibi per episode.
@mangotango It was rumored that Zhou Xun was paid 15 million dollars for this drama. Take it with grain salt.
@gray Hopping on to the same rumor mill bandwagon, I read somewhere that Tony Leung was offered US$23 million but he still would not bit.
I highly doubt they offer the same amount to Wallace Huo. But if they did, that would be the reason why he had signed on in a huff. ChaChing! Ruby can wait. LOL!
@aiya Wallace was rumored to be paid around 72 million yuan (800 ribu yuan per episode). One media said it was around 90 million yuan. Once again takes it with grain salt.
@gray Yes, take the figures with a grain of salt. It was officially announced that Fox has bought telecast rights in the USA.