This. What you said made me feel more relieved than worried or sad because last time when I showed my friend the picture Eddie Peng "fangirled" Brad Pitt she said he looked 30 something. Ouch. That actually hurted me lol. I agree with you, when I looked at his fan taken pictures in the General custome, he still looked like a kid to me. Maybe because I adore him too much that I refuse to acknowledge that he really is a mature man (I sound like his mom now!).
With what you said, we could add another name in the "never ending potential HQB" list: Wallace Huo, Hu Ge, Peter Ho, Huang Xiao Ming, Chen Khun, Wallace Chung... There is no HQB that is perfect or HQB that could please everyone. I believe HQB himself is different from HQB that Tong Hua describes and even more different from HQB in our imagination. We build the hero based on our own interpretation. And I think HQB isn't the first and won't be the last character that people have different thought about. Even though individual interpretation could be different, the spirit of the character should stay the same.
One of the infamous/famous examples is Boys over Flower manga (Hana yori dango). There are four official drama adaptions (Taiwan - 2 seasons, Japan - 2 seasons + 1 movie, Korea - 1 season and China - 2 seasons) + 1 "hardly anyone remember" movie + 1 ripped off "adaption" a.k.a Yu Zheng's Gong. The arrogant, violent and passionate Domyouji Tsukasa is no doubt the most awaited character. Before the Japanese adaption, the Taiwanese version was a huge hit. Jerry's Dao Ming Si was stiff and lacking but hey, that didn't stop him from being loved by women. He is tall, handsome, manly and his eyes know how to say "I love you", too. Then few years later, the Japanese version came along with Matsumoto Jun played Tsukasa. What a shocking news. Many fans couldn't stand the fact that this Tsukasa was too short (Jun is 1m73 while Domyouji is said to be 1m86 sth!) and ugly (Even now, fans still vote him for the worst Tsukasa based on appearance wise). Looking at his Domyouji pictures, you would never think this guy is anywhere good enough to play Domyouji. Even Matsumoto himself was hesistated to accept the role and said he wanted to play Rui (since the character was a bit similar with what he played before). The result is...in short, once you give yourself a chance to watch him, you can't help but falling in love with his potray. Actually it was so good that it becomes burden for him to get away from that image now lol. Beside Jerry and Jun, Zhang Han's and Lee Min Ho's potray of the character (oh, and Feng Shao Feng as 8th Prince) also received overwhelming love as well. I remembered when the BOF Chinese version's stills were out, people hated the uniform, called it cheap, hated the new F4, and seemed like they hated everything about it. It came as a shock as the series became a hit in China. I doubted it at first but then still decided to give it a try.Zhang Han's potray of Domyouji was actually enjoyable (and I love his cat-like eyes, so much sadness in it!!). It was different but the spirit was there. (Oh, another highlight about all these versions is the mad chemistry between the main couple!! a bit irrelevant)
We as fans, show love and supports toward the actors and actresses that we adore. As a result, we would want the best for them, hope that their careers would be smooth and what even better is that their acting got acknowledged by people. It is such contradict thought because there is no success gained without hardship and sacrifice. For actors and actresses that want to prove their diverse acting skills, initial doubtness is something they have to accept. I was surprised when hearing news that Peter Ho played Liang Shan Bo - a character that I would never imagine him to be. Kevin Cheng with his character in Ghetto Justice was totally opposite what he has played before, nobody would think that he could pull it off (and the truth is that he is brilliant in the drama!, one of his best roles to date)...Initially, it could be said miscasting, but once you give yourself a chance to watch and watch with open minded, you might find something new and interesting or you may even fall in love with it
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When I think about DMY, I think about what Hu Ge said at his interview where they asked him about being 30 soon. This project is like a youth departure project for both Eddie and Hu Ge. There is bright future ahead for both of them, but when there would be another chance to meet and work together again?