Liu Yi Fei (刘亦菲) #2#

[ChineseChik525]

If FSF does star with LYF, she's going to make him look even worse than he normally does!

LOL, oh dragon....

[mango_cake]

LOL poor guy. i mean, i'm sure he's a nice guy and all, just looks wise...eh. not the worst, i guess but haha, the whole working with a bunch of beautiful girls thing doesnt seem to be working out for him, huh?

Nah, it's working out well enough for him... After all it's only certain fans on the actresses' side who hate him, and there will be haters for everyone. There are plenty of FSF and FengMi fans who adore him, plus people in the industry (directors/producers etc) speak highly of him, and his beautiful female costars themselves give him lots of praise (especially LYF who probably paid him the highest compliments of all; Ady is one of his very good friends; YM was the only one who started off hating him but look at how completely he's managed to turn that around! )

[xiaolong]

If FSF does star with LYF, she's going to make him look even worse than he normally does!

OK mango_cake, I'm gonna hate to say this as I've come to love FSF all bcos of FengMi.

But I'm now on an ultra-high again after hearing that Peter Ho is going to play Xiang Yu in the Legend of Chu and Han directed by the awesome Gao Xi Xi! I'm going to much MUCH prefer Peter Ho's Xiang Yu to FSF's Xiang Yu.

[mango_cake]

OK mango_cake, I'm gonna hate to say this as I've come to love FSF all bcos of FengMi.

But I'm now on an ultra-high again after hearing that Peter Ho is going to play Xiang Yu in the Legend of Chu and Han directed by the awesome Gao Xi Xi! I'm going to much MUCH prefer Peter Ho's Xiang Yu to FSF's Xiang Yu.

What there's yet another movie about Xiang Yu/Liu Bang?? This makes 4 in like 1 year!! Well I am still waiting to see FSF in action as Xiang Yu so no comment on that yet...

[xiaolong]

Also just wanted to say, when I said she came off as "snobby" in HG's thread I definitely don't mean in a "mean" way (like the typical "snobby" girls you think of). Actually she is probably the most polite and sweet actress around, always very careful to be kind to everyone and not offend anyone, and never put a toe out of line/say anything wrong. She kind of reminds me of those noblemen's daughters in ancient series, you know those high-status "xiao jie"...like Zi Wei in HZGG--very sweet, quiet, beautiful, proper, polite, nice to everyone, etc., but also rather "sheltered" has a bit of a slight "air" due to her family background/upbringing (which I called "snobby" but is probably not the best term).

LOL, yeah, she does come across as sweet, polite, demure with good upbringing. Sorry if I sounded a bit harsh on her. I think it's to do with the PR - whoever is her publicist should advise her not to over-promise. E.g. when she claimed she speaks perfect English, I was really expecting perfect English during her Forbidden Kingdom interviews, but when the "English" interviews came out *MAJOR FACE PALM* Hu Ge's English is like 10000X more fluent than hers and he never even said he could speak English well!! Then the claim that her performance in New Chinese Ghost Story surpassed Joey Wong Jo Yin's - now, such a claim is tantamount to sacrilege as Joey Wong in the original Chinese Ghost Story is an absolute classic cinematic icon of Chinese cinema.

Anyway, I do wish she will come back to TV one day...although hopes for that is probably zero as she may see it as a "step down".

[mango_cake]

LOL, yeah, she does come across as sweet, polite, demure with good upbringing. Sorry if I sounded a bit harsh on her. I think it's to do with the PR - whoever is her publicist should advise her not to over-promise. E.g. when she claimed she speaks perfect English, I was really expecting perfect English during her Forbidden Kingdom interviews, but when the "English" interviews came out *MAJOR FACE PALM* Hu Ge's English is like 10000X more fluent than hers and he never even said he could speak English well!! Then the claim that her performance in New Chinese Ghost Story surpassed Joey Wong Jo Yin's - now, such a claim is tantamount to sacrilege as Joey Wong in the original Chinese Ghost Story is an absolute classic cinematic icon of Chinese cinema.

Anyway, I do wish she will come back to TV one day...although hopes for that is probably zero as she may see it as a "step down".

You, harsh? I thought I was being too harsh on her...I think your comments are very fair (of course, since I'm not exactly a LYF fan I wouldn't be offended by your comments...I myself have to exercise restraint sometimes and stop myself from ranting about certain aspects).

Yeah, I don't think LYF will return to TV anytime soon, unless it is truly a magnificent project. (But based on the quality of Asian TV series lately, which have been severely disappointing me, I somehow doubt it.)

[kinchowong]

It's Liu Yi Fei's 24th birthday today! - 25 August. Well, she may have the blandest and snobbiest off-screen personality around, but she certainly is drop-dead gorgeous.

wow happy birthday to her. and omg shes only 24. still so young.... since i have watch CP1 about 6 years ago.
i remember i use to love lyf alot after watching cp1. so exciting when i found out she doing XLN in ROCH06. but actually she disappoint me in ROCH06 and then xiao guo xiang took her place in my heart lol.. but yeah LYF still look like the same as before..gorgeous looking forward for "Hong Men Yan".. hope she doing good in there.

[Dragon Heiress]

LOL, yeah, she does come across as sweet, polite, demure with good upbringing. Sorry if I sounded a bit harsh on her. I think it's to do with the PR - whoever is her publicist should advise her not to over-promise. E.g. when she claimed she speaks perfect English, I was really expecting perfect English during her Forbidden Kingdom interviews, but when the "English" interviews came out *MAJOR FACE PALM* Hu Ge's English is like 10000X more fluent than hers and he never even said he could speak English well!! Then the claim that her performance in New Chinese Ghost Story surpassed Joey Wong Jo Yin's - now, such a claim is tantamount to sacrilege as Joey Wong in the original Chinese Ghost Story is an absolute classic cinematic icon of Chinese cinema.

Anyway, I do wish she will come back to TV one day...although hopes for that is probably zero as she may see it as a "step down".

When did HG speak English? I've never heard him, do you have a video link?
To be fair, LYF's sounded better in interviews when she was younger. Maybe it got worse after spending a long time in China. But her publicist is probably part of that company set up just for her so they probably spoil her and let her say whatever makes her happy.

[xiaolong]

When did HG speak English? I've never heard him, do you have a video link?

In the series Till Death Do Us Part (别爱我) which starred Hu Ge and Vivan Hsu. I also heard from an interview that he studied in Australia for awhile.

Actually LYF's acting has improved significantly in New Chinese Ghost Story. I have no problem if she said her performance in New Chinese Ghost Story surpassed all her own past performances - this I'll with agree wholeheartedly. But Joey Wong in the original is an awesome classic - a canon of cinema history. That can't be touched.

[Dragon Heiress]

Okay, I'm going to search that up. But at any rate, I think everyone's English is better than HXM's.

[ChineseChik525]

But I'm now on an ultra-high again after hearing that Peter Ho is going to play Xiang Yu in the Legend of Chu and Han directed by the awesome Gao Xi Xi! I'm going to much MUCH prefer Peter Ho's Xiang Yu to FSF's Xiang Yu.

oh my god really?? darn it, if only it was peter paired up with LYF....lol (imagine though? it would be SO MUCH EYE CANDY )

[mango_cake]

I was just reading random stuff in the Chinese movie forums and I never knew that LYF's health suffered seriously from ROCH filming--apparently the scene where she had to dive into freezing cold water left her with bone spurs in her neck! O_o So that now, whenever it's too cold or if she pushes herself too much doing stuntwork, her neck will become so stiff she can't move it. That might be another reason why LYF doesn't do too much filming and is very selective about her projects...I have to say, even though she is not one of my favourite actresses, I feel really bad for her that she is left with this chronic problem at such a young age and respect her for her professionalism/hard work...

Overall, I feel like Chinese actors have to suffer so much more than Hollywood actors! It seems like Hollywood has a much greater focus on the safety and comfort of actors, whereas in China they have no problem making you work for long hours continuously under really harsh conditions.

[Dragon Heiress]

^LYF seems very driven and focused. I never knew that she had such a problem but I only know that she said in an interview that when her neck was giving her problems during filming for a Chinese Ghost Story. She was talking about the tougher side of filming and said that she deals with it by putting it out of her mind because, although she doesn't have medical proof, she finds that she can ignore all of it by ignoring it. Poor girl, I never knew it was something so big and I'm surprised she didn't really talk much about it.

I totally agree that Chinese actors suffer more. YH once said that actors generally feel an obligation to do certain things that other people might refuse to do (risky, uncomfortable, etc.) because that's just what their job is like and refusal to do something might seem like acting diva-ish. They also seem to get small injuries extremely often. I think the Chinese film industry has a much lower tolerance for diva-ish behaviour. FBB for one is considered a bit of a diva in the media, but on a fashion forum I'm on, people were commented that she seems grounded and humble.

Also, I think the types of scenes they film in Chinese movies, especially in wuxia and ancient stuff, requires more dangerous and harsh conditions (lots of water and rain scenes, fight scenes, flying around, dramatic injuries, etc).

[xiaolong]

O. M. G. She's drop dead gorgeous in this picture I took from FSF's weibo...
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[mango_cake]

It's weird, even though LYF is known as being a "guzhuang mei nu" (i.e. ancient drama beauty), I've actually always found her to look much more gorgeous in her modern-day looks! Maybe it's just due to the heavier makeup (since in a lot of her ancient series, e.g. ROCH and QNYH, her styling is very "natural" with minimal makeup). She still looks beautiful in her ancient dramas of course, but her modern looks are more striking to me. (Kind of opposite to YM, who I find just "normally" pretty in her modern-day looks but much lovelier in her dramas--well, when the styling is done well, that is. LSS is kinda in the middle...some of her modern day looks I find much prettier than her ancient drama looks, but then other times her drama styling is much nicer than some of her modern looks.)

[ChineseChik525]

^ i actually still think she was prettiest in LOCH with the minimal makeup and ancient styling. idk why, but she just looked soooooo gorgeous in there to me. totally ethereal and otherwordly. but i guess she is also really really pretty in modern looks, but i think she looks best with minimal makeup.

p.s. why was her pic on FSF's weibo anyway? are they still filming/promoting their movie together?

[mango_cake]

^ i actually still think she was prettiest in LOCH with the minimal makeup and ancient styling. idk why, but she just looked soooooo gorgeous in there to me. totally ethereal and otherwordly. but i guess she is also really really pretty in modern looks, but i think she looks best with minimal makeup.

p.s. why was her pic on FSF's weibo anyway? are they still filming/promoting their movie together?

I think she was loveliest in ROCH too but a big portion of that was due to the costuming, styling, filming technique, and general "feel/aura" of that series. Makeup-wise, it was excellent in half the scenes but in the other scenes made LYF look a bit too "childlike" (still beautiful but just too young, especially opposite HXM, so some of the romantic scenes were...kinda awkward). Also I admit I'm a total sucker for beautiful big eyes which is probably why I find her modern looks more striking (where she enhances her eyes with heavier makeup so they appear larger/livelier; meanwhile with the more minimal makeup her eyes can appear a bit more "boring"). Just a personal preference thing though!

As for the FSF/LYF weibo post, I mentioned it in YM's thread yesterday so you can check that out if interested (it's post #4589). It is related to their Hong Men Yan movie. I do hope FSF/LYF manage to have some chemistry in there because so far that's one of my major complaints with LYF's projects...lack of chemistry with her male leads which causes me to totally not be invested in the storyline (e.g. ROCH with HXM, QNYH with both male leads--considering the love story/love triangle in both are so crucial to the storyline, it was really key for them to have excellent chemistry, yet I ended up just getting bored with the romance which in turn made the storyline a bit forgettable despite everything else being generally great). Although, at least in HMY the focus is probably more on the battle between Liu Bang/Xiang Yu with the Xiang Yu/Yu Ji love story being secondary, so at least it shouldn't be that detrimental if the chemistry falls flat (but it'd really enhance the story if the chemistry is good).

[suliman420]

She is not horribly ugly, but if there is such a thing as perfect beauty, she just doesnt measure close to it.

[ailinon]

^ i actually still think she was prettiest in LOCH with the minimal makeup and ancient styling. idk why, but she just looked soooooo gorgeous in there to me. totally ethereal and otherwordly. but i guess she is also really really pretty in modern looks, but i think she looks best with minimal makeup.

The makeup in ROCH is heavy 裸妝 ("nude"-style) makeup, which (combined with the set lighting) is supposed to look natural onscreen.

There was a report from the Jinling Evening News around 2005 that quotes Wu Ling, the makeup artist for LYF on set. She uses four layers for the foundation on the skin and six colors for the eyes. The whole thing takes about an hour and a half to apply.

Source: http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/con.../1/36789.shtml

　　刘亦菲版的小龙女，脸上白白粉嫩，没有一丝瑕疵，好像白玉一般剔透。吴玲说，这张脸可是每 天花1个半小时画出来的。虽然刘亦菲因为年轻，本身的肤色肤质就比较好，但是要想打造出一个天仙般的美人，还是得 下功夫的。单是脸上的粉底就要打4层，眼影则要画6种颜色。
　　　　
　　脸——“先要在脸上打阴影，然后是提亮，这样脸上就有立体感了。接着就是上色彩，粉粉的，最后是打上和 她本色相近的粉。”
　　　　
　　嘴唇——刘亦菲的嘴形并不是特别好，特别是上嘴唇太厚，所以在描唇时，先要用粉把原来的唇线盖住，然后 用唇线笔从上嘴唇的中间部位开始画，这样就重新描出了一个樱桃小口。
　　　　
　　眼睛——眼睛是心灵的窗户，刘亦菲版的小龙女有一双灵动又含情的双眸，让人一看就难忘记。吴玲说，为了 这双眼睛，她可是用了6种颜色画出来的。在画眼线前，为了让眼睛更有透明感，吴玲先用黄色和粉色在眼部打底色，然后是画眼线，接着 ，再分别用灰色、深紫色、淡紫色，层层涂抹眼影。

Face: "First I create shadows on the skin and then highlights, to create 3-dimensionality on the face. Then I add the colors in a blush shade. Lastly I add foundation that's close to her own skin tone."

Lips: LYF has a very full upper lip, so before the shapes of the lips are drawn, Wu Ling first uses foundation to cover her original upper lip line, then use lip liner to redraw the shape from the middle of her upper lip, for the classical "cherry mouth" effect.

Eyes: Before putting on eyeliner, Wu Ling uses yellow and rose-colored foundations around the eyes, for a more transparent effect. Then she puts on eye liner, and then gray, dark purple, and light purple for layers of eye shadow.

(OT: Apparently they tried more than ten different stylings for Xiao Longnyu before settling on the right one. Her heel-length hair was wig of real human hair that took a craftsperson a week to create, and weighed at least 1 kg.)

The makeup under normal lighting:
lyf makeup.jpg

[ChineseChik525]

^ DAMN. well then i guess that's why she looked so amazing, lol. but honestly. i just love the makeup in ROCH! i kinda want to get that makeup artist to do it on me, haha