Which is the most excruciatingly painful miscast in TV adaption history?

[jadebunny9]

this Ah Zhu:

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I blame the make up and hair department back in those days.


Alec Su as ZWJ isn't that bad, but Alec Su as ZCS was horrific.


Lawrence Ng takes the cake for this one though. He was playing a 20 year old when he was around 40. That just somehow doesn't click aesthetics-wise.

[ChanceEncounter]

Alec Su as ZCS was an abomination.

[PJ]

at least, Alec "Tommy" Su hasn't played Qiao Feng... yet!

Or what if he had played Ren Woxing? *shudders*

[ChanceEncounter]

He could probably make a pretty good DFBB.

[PJ]

He could probably make a pretty good DFBB.

Oooh, I like that idea: a semi-hot DFBB.

[bellamia]

Hey, lay off my Alec. He made a damn fine ZWJ, thank you very much!

[the.raven]

He could probably make a pretty good DFBB.

or lin ping zhi

[Ken Cheng]

Certain castings in wuxia adaptations just make viewers go, "WTF?!" Sometimes an actor/actress, even a very talented one whose acting skills are not in question, simply doesn't fit the role that he/she is asked to play and the results are jarringly incongruous.

One infamous example is the casting of the then-late thirtysomething Lawrence Ng as the no-older-than-twenty-five Cheung Mo Gei in TVB's HSDS 2000. Ng's skills were adequate to carry the role, but his relatively advanced age left many viewers wondering why a younger actor wasn't cast as the obviously younger character.

As notorious as Ng's portrayal of Cheung Mo Gei was, I don't think it was even the most egregious miscast in adaptation history. In my own viewing experience, the worst miscast ever was the actress that TVB selected to play the role of Lee Chou Sui in DGSD '81. Lee Chou Sui was supposedly an exquisite beauty - one who greatly resembled her granddaughter Wong Yu Yin and whose beauty had not been diminished by age. So who did TVB select to portray Lee Chou Sui in DGSD '81? TVB chose one of its middle-aged actresses who, though a terrific actress who was fantastic at portraying a wide range of quirky characters, was also by NO STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION anything close to being a "beauty."

Truly...I was shocked years later when readers of the novel told me that Lee Chou Sui had been a great beauty because from the actress' portrayal of the character in DGSD '81, "beautiful woman" was the FARTHEST thing from my mind. Even though the dialogue of DGSD '81 indicated that Lee Chou Sui had indeed been a beautiful woman, I think my mind paved over that dialogue because it wasn't matching what my eyes were showing me on the screen!

[Ian Liew]

Li Qiushui was also fairly advanced in years in the 97 adaptation. The casting of Xie Yuxin in the CCTV 2003 adaptation really blew me away - first time I had ever seen a beautiful Li Qiushui. I think what they did was they cast her, but dubbed her voice with a much older lady, so it was obvious that she was older than she looked.

The main miscast for me was Emily Kwan as Mu Nianci in LOCH 94. I really really could not imagine that. Emily has acted in wuxia serials where she looked attractive before, but her portrayal of MNC in LOCH 94 was just so bland and unattractive. Nixon Pang was miscast as Chen Jialuo, but that was mainly because he was a really poor actor rather than any real objection to the way he looked.

[Melanie]

Richie Ren as Chu Liu Xiang/Chor Lau Heung.

[Ken Cheng]

Richie Ren as Chu Liu Xiang/Chor Lau Heung.

I'd say Richie Ren in *any* wuxia role. The man just doesn't look like a wuxia hero.

[Linda]

Oh totally agree. Richie Ren is not a wuxia hero, though I loved his dopey wuxia characters, but when's his playing a supposedly hansome wuxia hero...shunder.

Though Ken Zhu(?) who stared as Chu Liu Xiang was even more horrid.

Xiao Qiang as Shi Hong Ying from The Patiotic Knights 06 was so bad I cringed everytime she was on screen.

Dicky Cheung as Little Fish was just as bad.

Peter Ho as Liang Shan Bo in Butterfly Lovers 2007 was miscast even though he was great in the role.

I thought a lot of the cast in LOCH 08 was miscast, even though I enjoyed the series, but then I've never seen a Jin Yong series where I thought anyone fitted the character to the T.

Pang Yue Ming as Zhang Dan Fong in Xin Ping Zong Xia Ying 2011 was a miscast, he looked nothing like the character, though his portrayal was much better than the 2006 version.

Ivy Chen as Xiao Diep in Metro Sword etc 2010 was definite miscast, doesn't help that the girl didn't grasp the character as well.

Oh there's so many...

[PJ]

As previously discussed: Which is the most excruciatingly painful miscast in TV adaption history?

[jadebunny9]

Richie Ren isn't the greatest to play wuxia, but I certainly enjoy his wuxia-ey songs.

[ByTmE]

Richie Ren isn't the greatest to play wuxia, but I certainly enjoy his wuxia-ey songs.

LOL I must agree with you, bunny. I didn't care for Richie or Ken's Chu Liu Xiang. I hear there's another newer version with the mainland Ken and he looks pretty good.

I think Peter Ho is very attractive and looks great as a hero in ancient clothing....but only his body. Otherwise, the man needs to stick to modern series. He was not the appropriate XMCX to Yan Kuan's YGC in terms of suaveness.

[FalconPunch190]

Michelle Chen in ROCH2014.

For a major role of a female protagonist in a major Jin Yong adaptation, her level of "beauty" was incorrect/not suiting for the character. So much that even her body double looked much better than she did. The actresses who played HR, GF, LMC, LWS, GL and GX looked better than Michelle did.

In contrast, the actor who played YG, Chen Xiao, was very handsome and of course sufficed in providing eye-candy for the female audience to drool and fawn over all throughout the series. (as if they would dare to not provide this element for the female audience)

Whilst I understand that Xiao and Michelle are a couple in real life, ROCH2014 was a show where I got that feeling that the casting of Michelle Chen as XLN may perhaps be linked to all the persistent whining about the so-called "objectification/sexualization of women" and "male gaze" in entertainment media from the West, that has unfortunately spread globally.

It seems now that even the middle-aged women in China, Hong Kong, Korea, etc. who watch these TV dramas are making the same complaints and scream in jealousy and bitterness whenever an attractive woman in the dramas is depicted in a sexy/titillating manner. However, they have no problems with handsome male actors depicted in the same manners of course.

This post also balances out Richie Ren being hammered in this thread for not being handsome for his YG and LHC.

[Ian Liew]

Michelle Chen in ROCH2014.

For a major role of a female protagonist in a major Jin Yong adaptation, her level of "beauty" was incorrect/not suiting for the character. So much that even her body double looked much better than she did. The actresses who played HR, GF, LMC, LWS, GL and GX looked better than Michelle did.

In contrast, the actor who played YG, Chen Xiao, was very handsome and of course sufficed in providing eye-candy for the female audience to drool and fawn over all throughout the series. (as if they would dare to not provide this element for the female audience)

Whilst I understand that Xiao and Michelle are a couple in real life, ROCH2014 was a show where I got that feeling that the casting of Michelle Chen as XLN may perhaps be linked to all the persistent whining about the so-called "objectification/sexualization of women" and "male gaze" in entertainment media from the West, that has unfortunately spread globally.

It seems now that even the middle-aged women in China, Hong Kong, Korea, etc. who watch these TV dramas are making the same complaints and scream in jealousy and bitterness whenever an attractive woman in the dramas is depicted in a sexy/titillating manner. However, they have no problems with handsome male actors depicted in the same manners of course.

This post also balances out Richie Ren being hammered in this thread for not being handsome for his YG and LHC.

I find Michelle Chen adorable and beautiful, but I really struggled to see her as Xiao Longnu. That's actually a great example of a miscast, in that there's nothing inherently wrong with the actress, but she just did not suit the role at all.

[Ken Cheng]

I find Michelle Chen adorable and beautiful, but I really struggled to see her as Xiao Longnu. That's actually a great example of a miscast, in that there's nothing inherently wrong with the actress, but she just did not suit the role at all.

I think the wardrobe and makeup department failed her. She's an attractive young lady, but some of the wardrobe and hairstyling choices in this production were questionable.

[EdenResident]

Michelle Chen has the typical "girl-next-door" look: cute, even very attractive to some people but she doesn't have the face that launches a thousand ships like XLN was depicted.

I think Yu Zheng purposely miscast her as a PR move for his show.

[FalconPunch190]

I find Michelle Chen adorable and beautiful, but I really struggled to see her as Xiao Longnu. That's actually a great example of a miscast, in that there's nothing inherently wrong with the actress, but she just did not suit the role at all.

The hairstyle design of XLN in ROCH2014 didn't help Michelle Chen's case. The "two point" hairstyle was awful and really highlighted Michelle's wide face. She was also apparently slightly overweight as well when she did the role.

She doesn't have the look for Wuxia; instead her look is suited for modern series.

What made it obnoxious back then was when a lot of female Wuxia fans defended Michelle and saying that beauty standards were far too high for actresses; yet they are the same people who would never accept and hate on a male actor if he wasn't handsome enough to play a main character.