Nicky Wu’s “To Advance Toward the Victory” to Air amid Audience Skepticism
Television drama To Advance Toward the Victory <向著勝利前進> will begin airing on August 31, starring Nicky Wu (吳奇隆) as a hunter who becomes involved in the Second Sino-Japanese War. However, both this series and its companion drama, To Advance Toward Gunfire <向著炮火前進>, which aired in 2012, have come under fire for unrealistic scenes and stylistic inaccuracies.
In To Advance Toward the Victory, Nicky portrays a rugged and intelligent hunter named Zhan Lang (literally, “War Wolf”). He is particularly skilled at using cold weapons and also possesses the brains to plan conspiracies. However, he has one fatal weak point: in his forehead lie the remains of a Japanese bullet.
Zhan Lang’s appearance befits that of a hunter who often deals with wild animals in the jungle: he has long braids, wears leather clothing, and looks muscular but filthy. Nevertheless, netizens have claimed that this appearance does not match the style of the time, a criticism they also leveled against To Advance Toward Gunfire. In response, Nicky said that he hopes his appearance will reveal Zhan Lang’s wild quality and added, “Every age has a similar style. The directors have researched it.”
According to director Lin Jianzhong (林建中), the drama’s original concept was to combine stylish actors like Nicky and female lead Gan Tingting (甘婷婷) with realistic packaging. “The storyline and scenes are extremely realistic, even a little cruel,” Lin remarked. “We hope that this way, it will stand out from other war dramas.”
To Advance Toward Gunfire received criticism for one scene in particular: when Nicky’s character bursts out with a submachine gun and walks away completely uninjured. Netizens called the scene unrealistic, to which Nicky replied, “It’s okay to add a bit more entertainment and theatricality to a limited extent. The actors go through much trouble to film it, yet the viewers are concerned only with what’s realistic and what isn’t. That’s not fair to the hardworking actors. What’s more, what Hollywood lead doesn’t run freely amid a hail of bullets? They even use missiles, aliens, and robots. To me, as long as the details aren’t too preposterous, it’s okay.”
In To Advance Toward the Victory, Nicky collaborated with Gan Tingting for the second time. The two clearly got along well on set, and Nicky was very considerate, especially when they had to film a diving scene. Since Tingting cannot swim, she was extremely frightened about diving into a four-meter-deep section of water. To assuage her nerves, Nicky made funny faces at her and told her, “Don’t be afraid. I’m a diving instructor. Jump with me, don’t worry.” After they finished filming that day, he made sure to send her a comforting message on WeChat.
Since it was recently rumored that Nicky is going out with his Bu Bu Jing Xin <步步驚心> costar Cecilia Liu (劉詩詩), reporters rushed to ask him who his “true love” is: Cecilia, Gan Tingting, or his The Bride with White Hair <新白髮魔女傳> costar Ma Su (馬蘇)? Nicky successfully dodged the question by responding, “All of them are able to bear hardships and are very brave and outstanding actresses who are dedicated to their work.”
“To Advance Toward the Victory” Extended Trailer
[vsw id=”ZQGXS_b6-uA” source=”youtube” width=”500″ height=”375″ autoplay=”no”]
Source: QQ.com
This article is written by Joanna for JayneStars.com.
Nicky Wu is an amazing actor
I agree with that! :’)
nicky wu is awesome
entertainment reports of HK/China and Taiwan habituallty ask the most unprofessional and stupid questions.
I like Nicky Wu but the storyline looks too silly. Not interesting at all even though Nicky Wu in it.
Netizens need to shut up about reality in these fictional dramas tbh. If they want reality they need to go watch a documentary or something non-fictional. I loved Nicky’s character Feng Zhi Lei in “To Advance Toward Gunfire” and even though the trailer to this upcoming drama seems to include a little more cruel scenes, I still can’t wait to watch him as Zhan Lang. And it seems that the roles are reversed as GTT is chasing him so that will be super interesting. Liked this trio’s chemistry and anticipating this drama!
I’m sorry, if it weren’t for Bu Bu Jing Xing making him famous, Nicky Wu would still amount to nothing. Just think about it, which one of his series after BBJX is a hit? Just because he gained more fans and became extremely popular after BBJX and BBJX ALONE does not make him a good actor!
You can say the same thing for Kevin Cheng. If it wasn’t for BBJX and Ghetto Justice, he wouldn’t be where he is now.
I would say the same for Kevin Cheng in regards with BBJX, however, he was successful with Ghetto Justice and he was great in that series. I can’t say the same for Nicky for his series pre-BBJX or after.
“I can’t say the same for Nicky for his series pre-BBJX or after.”
^ Well, I haven’t watched his dramas that he produced or his older drama series. But we still have Bu Bu Jing Xin 2 to air and hopefully it will be as good as the original one!
@Bubblez
I doubt it will be good as the original. The production company is just trying to milk in the money and capitalizing on Nicky’s popularity. As you can see, many of the original princes’ didn’t care for it, and Nicky was just doing it out of gratitude.
I watched the trailer and it seems to be pretty good.
And yeah, I know that most of the princes didn’t film this but wasn’t it because of schedule clashes for some of the actors? And as for 14th prince, it’s just sad that he didn’t decide to film it.
For the most part, indeed filming schedule..but I remembered Kevin giving an interview that he will starting filming BBJQ soon, then suddenly the script was still not ready so he decided to take on another project. It’s part due to the fault of the production company. It took over a year to write the script, but yet they were writing while filming at the same time.
14th prince didn’t want to be in it at all, he even want to make an agreement with the company that, if he filmed the series for them, they would let him off the company’s contract. The company wouldn’t agree to that, so he’s not in BBJQ and he’s still with the company (despite his disapproval of being there).
And 13th prince NEVER got invited back.
I kindly disagree. I’ve always felt Nicky was a good actor. He’s not the best nor is he an excellent actor, but good enough to win my admiration. Yeah his popularity may’ve boosted after the success of BBJX, but which entertainer’s popularity doesn’t after a successful motion pic? Everyone makes a name for themselves one way or another. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t be good actors. Don’t forget Nicky already made a name for himself after his portrayal of Leung Shan Pak in Tsui Hark’s “The Lovers.” Even without BBJX I consider Nicky to be a good actor.
Forgot to add, I am looking forward to this series because I love me some macho Nicky.