Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre 2017

[Don Yu]

Definitely. Can't say the same for Whitewashed LOCH 2017 (at least 2 chars w blond(e) hair in that one, ew!). This thread also seems much clearer-minded unspoilt by blind fan-boyism unto the degree of blowing wind/hot air...

That's because there aren't any news for it right now!

[hirobo2]

Hmm, I just did a bit of digging on Yu Zheng's past performances:

Wikipedia on Swordsman 2013:

"During and following its broadcast, the series received mixed and largely polarised reviews. The series was both praised and criticised for its unfaithfulness to the novel, although producer Yu Zheng asserted that it is one of the 'most faithful' adaptations of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. Nevertheless, the series maintained high ratings throughout its run."


So apparently, YZ shows could receive really good ratings. I'm pretty sure ROCH 2014 wasn't as well received b/c of the miscast of XLN. Anyhow, that does not appear to be the case for HSDS 2017. Might have to sit out though if the first few episodes show lack crowd magnetism. Usually a viewership population of over a billion ppl isn't wrong...

[suetkei]

Honestly out of the candidate pool I would love to see YY cast as ZWJ just because he has a dance background and always does his own stunts. he's also has a youthful face and can go from looking playful to very cold and stern.

[Riverlake]

Opinions:

Zhang Zhe Han as ZWJ: honestly, looks too serious and strict. The actor looks like he could be a soldier; ZWJ is the opposite of a soldier.
Jia Qing as Zhao Min: acting skill has always been more important than looks alone for Zhao Min; will have to see how she handles it, as Zhao Min isn't an easy character to get right
Yuan Shan Shan as ZZR: will probably work, especially considering HSDS 2009's ZZR looked so out of place among the actresses, so people should see her as an improvement
Zhao Han Ying Zi as Yin Li: continuing the recent tradition of Yin Li being a top beauty, should work; but I would like to see more actual contrast between her ugly face and her pretty face; it's impossible to take the story serious otherwise
Li Xin Ai as Xiao Zhao: getting an actress with an actual percent of European - in this case, Russian - to play Xiao Zhao is probably not a bad idea; should work

Yang Mi as Ji Xiao Fu: I have to bring this up. It's pretty standard for this director to fill his cast with beautiful actresses, but ... Yang Mi as Ji Xiao Fu? One of the problems with ROCH 2014 was the minor characters' actresses being more well known and beautiful than the main characters' actresses. He's making the same mistake here. Ji Xiao Fu's role is way too small, and will leave people wondering why Yang Mi was used. Director needs to stop doing this to his main cast.

[Verdiani]

Opinions:

Zhang Zhe Han as ZWJ: honestly, looks too serious and strict. The actor looks like he could be a soldier; ZWJ is the opposite of a soldier.
Jia Qing as Zhao Min: acting skill has always been more important than looks alone for Zhao Min; will have to see how she handles it, as Zhao Min isn't an easy character to get right
Yuan Shan Shan as ZZR: will probably work, especially considering HSDS 2009's ZZR looked so out of place among the actresses, so people should see her as an improvement
Zhao Han Ying Zi as Yin Li: continuing the recent tradition of Yin Li being a top beauty, should work; but I would like to see more actual contrast between her ugly face and her pretty face; it's impossible to take the story serious otherwise
Li Xin Ai as Xiao Zhao: getting an actress with an actual percent of European - in this case, Russian - to play Xiao Zhao is probably not a bad idea; should work

Yang Mi as Ji Xiao Fu: I have to bring this up. It's pretty standard for this director to fill his cast with beautiful actresses, but ... Yang Mi as Ji Xiao Fu? One of the problems with ROCH 2014 was the minor characters' actresses being more well known and beautiful than the main characters' actresses. He's making the same mistake here. Ji Xiao Fu's role is way too small, and will leave people wondering why Yang Mi was used. Director needs to stop doing this to his main cast.

Didn't know YM is also going to be in there too, I thought her relation fell off with yuzheng? But if it is going to be like a Ji Xiao Fu like 1993 with Coco Sun Xing, well, that one was so interesting bc Sun Xing was so hot in there, I did liked them and their little story way more than all the main characters. They should have turned into a mini movie. 2001 wasn't too bad either. I was so disappointed in both Yang Xiao and xiao fu 2009 the most. I don't mind seeing big stars doing small roles, whether big or small roles, it's still something. Like the meaning of looking at the whole picture but not just focusing on one item of the picture.

I totally agree with you about ZM character not needing to be all that beautiful, I don't find Cecilia yip that pretty but her ZM was great despite her being a big cry baby. But I think ZZR is just like a shy girl that does require to be pretty like XLN, Gao Yuanyuan pretty much set that standard of beauty to me so I don't really want to see YSS in the role.

[yanfeng]

Alas, no new news, but I did reread the summary of the story on baike.baidu, and it really focuses on Zhiruo's character.

click to show/hide spoilers

(Her schemes, her relationship with Wuji, and Zhaomin seems to be the throwaway victim that Wuji ends up with... )

I wonder, given Yu Mama's love for YSS as an actress if this Yitian will be focused on Zhiruo rather than Zhaomin? I'm definitely open to trying new things, but IF (very much speculation!) this is true, then that's an extra minus for this (in addition to Yu Mama's sometimes dubious script changes and YSS being a rather bland actress in my view). I'm giving this a chance for sure since I'm a huge fan of Zhaomin and the 'major' minor characters of the story (e.g. the Wudang heroes, the Ming Sect members), but definitely makes me a little suspicious.

Interesting- I haven't seen the news of Yangmi being in the production either (she's not yet listed on Baike.baidu).

Who is listed and looking good is 李铭顺/Christopher Lee (Malaysian/Singaporean actor) as Xie Xun (Golden-maned Lion King/ZWJ's godfather)
Screenshot 2017-01-31 10.17.37.jpg

[wkeej]

Who is listed and looking good is 李铭顺/Christopher Lee (Malaysian actor) as Xie Sun (Golden-maned Lion King/ZWJ's godfather)
Screenshot 2017-01-31 10.17.37.jpg

Christopher Lee is also an actor from Singapore.

[yanfeng]

Christopher Lee is also an actor from Singapore.

He's listed on wikipedia as a Malaysian actor who lives in Singapore? Apologies if I misread!

But in general I'm pretty psyched by the actors/actress background/national diversity in productions these days coming out of China. E.g., Bryan Wong (Singapore) was in the first Chinese Paladin (one of my go-to TV dramas even if half of it was awful... I loved the chemistry between He Ge and Ady An- Taiwan.)

I'm just wondering if they'd ever cast what I thin of as some of the planet's best actors into one movie (e.g., Tony Leung Chiuwai and Anthony Hopkins)

Getting back on-topic: On HSDS 2017 casting, Yang Xiao looks awfully young.... but I tend to believe that good scripting and acting can overcome physical unusualness (e.g. if they cast people of different races in different roles, I'm game so long as the acting is credible and the character comes across)

[wkeej]

He's listed on wikipedia as a Malaysian actor who lives in Singapore? Apologies if I misread!

No, both of us are technically correct. Christopher is a Malaysian. So he is a Malaysian actor. But he acts mainly in Singapore. So he is an actor from Singapore too.

[yanfeng]

Done! Updated to be Malaysian/Singaporean actor.

On the ZM actress requirements: For me mostly that
1) she project a certain gravitas/cool'ness and
2) she have a good range of expressions (mischievous, ambitious, possessive, arrogant, humble, despairing, stubborn etc.).

Pretty is a nice-to-have for me, but to be honest, there's so much pressure & competition to be beautiful as an actress there's almost no way to make it to a lead role if one wasn't pretty!

[krabs]

No, both of us are technically correct. Christopher is a Malaysian. So he is a Malaysian actor. But he acts mainly in Singapore. So he is an actor from Singapore too.

li ming shun
huang wenyong
huang jiong yao

they all remained malaysian citizenship despite being on SG mediacorp for 20years

liu zhi xun
chen hongyu are malaysian
chen hanwei , currently unknown but from malaysia

[Riverlake]

Didn't know YM is also going to be in there too, I thought her relation fell off with yuzheng? But if it is going to be like a Ji Xiao Fu like 1993 with Coco Sun Xing, well, that one was so interesting bc Sun Xing was so hot in there, I did liked them and their little story way more than all the main characters. They should have turned into a mini movie. 2001 wasn't too bad either. I was so disappointed in both Yang Xiao and xiao fu 2009 the most. I don't mind seeing big stars doing small roles, whether big or small roles, it's still something. Like the meaning of looking at the whole picture but not just focusing on one item of the picture.

I totally agree with you about ZM character not needing to be all that beautiful, I don't find Cecilia yip that pretty but her ZM was great despite her being a big cry baby. But I think ZZR is just like a shy girl that does require to be pretty like XLN, Gao Yuanyuan pretty much set that standard of beauty to me so I don't really want to see YSS in the role.

I don't think it's completed decided yet since they haven't started to film. I got it from the source from the second page. Might have changed, I don't know.

As far as YSS goes, at least she's not supposed to be the main female lead this time. But the worry as always with this director is that he'll change the story, especially now that Jin Yong has made it so that ZWJ is less decided at the end. While I do think ZZR's story needs more focus, I don't quite trust YSS to act out a sympathetic ZZR. I agree that the 2003 version probably had the best ZZR. Most versions of this story make you question why ZWJ would even care about ZZR, since she doesn't do nearly as much for him as the other girls, yet she's considered his second choice.

Unfortunately, with YSS it's unlikely people will like ZZR any better in this show, especially since she's going up against JQ, who most people like. But to her benefit, 2003 was a long time ago, and the 2009 ZZR was almost certainly a worse cast, so she should be able to improve on that and go from there. I think YSS can play ZZR as ZZR is not a very complicated character and is pretty passive most of the time. Also you're supposed to hate her later, so maybe YSS will help with that.

My thinking is that they'll probably play up the romances, and make those interactions longer. That could be an approach that would work for the younger generation. But as I've said before, I consider the HSDS story to be more about ZWJ's relationship to his various paternal figures. It is a more plot driven narrative, where there is an obvious villain working behind the scenes, and I hope they don't lose that and make it ALL about the romances.

Still needs to see who they pick for the young ZWJ, as I consider him an important character unlike most other young characters in Jin Yong.

[krabs]

Well, it's MAR 2017 the expected schedule start of filming ... can anybody trawl the usual info sources ?

[Linda]

Came in to read thinking there will be a new version soon...

Loving the concept of ZZR having more importance but not loving her overshadow ZM to this degree.

If he is going to change it can't he just make the two girls fall in love and only ending up with ZWJ because they can't fight against society, their nations and sect. seriously those two girls have more standing in their way then anyone else.

GYY was a decent ZZR for me, the prettiest was the Taiwan 1994 version, Kathy Chow. She was divine.

[yanfeng]

Back from 2 weeks away and thanks Krab for the news!

http://www.hengdiantour.com/book/showword.asp?id=136

This was posted late last year (before the actors/actresses was announced) but it does say that filming starts in Mar and will continue for 5 months, so hopefully this means we'll get filming shots released soon, and maybe even a chance that this will air in 2017? (Post-filming editing and approval seems to take awhile though.)

Still no more news on a google search on this, so I'm recommending everyone not hold their breaths- one way to double check (if there's someone here that is good at searching baidu) is to see if the putative leads (ZZH, YSS and JQ) are scheduled for other productions in the next 6 months.

[Don Yu]

Here's another list of actors for the drama:
http://movie.mtime.com/234099/fullcredits.html

Here YSS/ZZR is listed 2nd (so more of the female lead than JQ/ZM) Ouch!

This page NEVER expanded.

[Don Yu]

Now that LOCH 2017 is over. Looking forward to this.

[yanfeng]

Hey Don Yu, the link you're asking about still works for me.

Meanwhile bad news: http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2017-03-2...w1024343.shtml

Yuzhen has put out a wei chat statement that he has not taken on filming a version of Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre and that the rumors to date, which were very detailed, including cast and expected year of release (2017) are incorrect.

The baike page is still up here for this, but I'm guessing that whoever started the rumor had a lot of people convinced and somehow no one rumored to be on the cast or director/producer roles bothered to contradict the rumors till now.

So amigos, I'll keep checking in case there's another director or something else comes up but for now, consider Yitiantulong 2017 a disproven rumor. (Although, compared to other types of fake news going around, this is probably the most harmless I've heard of in the last year.)

Some netizens are finding a silver-lining here, and a few of those (who were, I assume, disappointed in Yu Mama's other adaptations) sent him "thank you for not filming this!" posts after hearing the news ....

[Razorclaw]

Any idea whats the progress of this adaptation?

[yanfeng]

Any idea whats the progress of this adaptation?

Sadly this production was apparently just unfounded rumor, although enough people believed it for there to be several websites to post this and a Baidu page to be set up.

Apologies, but I haven't yet figured out how to take down this thread!