APRIL 2016 NEWS UPDATE

It’s been a busy month for Wallace. He has been accepting projects left and right it seems and doing press back-to-back. As a result, this month marked a record-breaking blog posts for us with 13 posts (including this one, patting Haha and myself on the back).

Public Appearances:

Wallace’s last public appearance was back in January holding a press conference to announce his concert tour locations plan. So far no set dates have been announced for Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Wuhan yet. To make up for his lack of appearance these few months, Wallace went all out and attended the following events (Won: It nearly killed me…j/k….but he could have toned it down a little bit…hahaha)

The 6th Top Chinese Music Award

Click here for our earlier post on the event.

“Bounty Hunters” Press

Click here for our earlier post on the event.

“Three” Press

Click here for our earlier post on the event.

Wallace @ BIFF

Click here for our earlier post on the event.

“Tik Tok” Press

Click here for our earlier post on the event.

Another Modern Drama on the Way:

Chewy & Haha: Wallace is confirmed as the lead for the upcoming C-drama Yi Lu Fan Hua Xiang Song which is literally translated as “All Along the Way, Blooming Flowers Shall See Us Off ( 一路繁花相送 ).” This will mark Wallace’s 4^th TV drama adapted from popular Internet novels (in addition to Too Late to Say I Love You, Best Time, and My Sunshine). It has the same theme as My Sunshine where the separated leads reunite years later. Peanuts wrote a description of the novel on ShushengBar. The year of 2016 also witnesses Wallace’s participation in three other projects based on Internet novels: A Lonesome Flower Awaits Appreciation aka Gu Fang Bu Zi Shang (孤芳不自賞),  As Long As You Love Me (爱情的开关), and Sandglass (沙漏).

Haha: Honestly, all those TV drama titles are hard to translate.  孤芳不自賞 A Lonesome Flower Awaits Appreciation twisted the Chinese idiom 孤芳自賞 “A solitary flower in love with its fragrance” by adding the word 不 “no.” So, literally, the title is translated as “a lonesome flower is not self-admiring”, which sounds awkward in English, so maybe A Lonesome Flower Awaits Appreciation is a little better.  We offered above the literal translation of 一路繁花相送 as “All Along the Way, Blooming Flowers Shall See Us Off”, but quoting the screenwriter from a recent Weibo article—

So, albeit blossoms along the way, the loneliest part is, you were not with me.
So, blossoms are along the way, and the fortuitous part is, I encountered you again. 

—I guess the blooming flowers are a symbol of youth. And luckily, as youth gradually leaves the main characters, they reunite after years of estrangement.

Chinese actresses, Sandra Ma (Love Me, If You Dare) and Xiao Chen Wang are rumored to join the project. Also, news media have reported that production is expected in June.

The TV drama title could also be translated as “The Road to Bid Farewell is Filled with Flowers” per Kappy.

So what do you all think about this piece of news? Personally, I wish he would scrap this and  As Long As You Love Me all together. Due to his playing LLJ and YC, people already complained that he has played the same type of roles all the time. Now, I can officially say that he has joined Hawick Lau in that rank…heck… he might even beat him now.  ;p

“Three” Released New Scenes of Wallace

“The first 2 still kind of scares me “

‘General and I’ Updates:

Here are the latest backstage pictures from the official weibo page in preparation for production reportedly to start filming this May.

The director working hard scouting and prepping locations

Interesting head piece

Hair ornaments for the ladies

The makeup artists are all set. Wallace was scheduled to take character photos in late April, but the photos haven’t been released yet.

Interview with the Author

Interviewer: Which part of “Gu Fang” do you think appealed to readers, compared to relatively similar novels?
 
Feng Nong: Apart from characters, I reckon that attitude is important. I don’t particularly like those novels where the women take the initiative to participate in war. If it was a female general, that would be understandable, but if it’s the wife of some Duke, or a maid, actively participating in the war doesn’t sit well with their identity. Bai Pingting participates in the war, though she doesn’t have to. I wrote this character as a woman without ambition and gave her a relatively passive position. Chu Beijie was a person who is willing to listen to other opinions, even though he has a thorough understanding of the situation of the four countries. At the end of the novel, he and Bai Pingting establish a new country. What I want to express here is that no matter how many amazing things you do, including establishing new countries or world domination, they were all done on a basic foundation of human feelings.


 
Bai Pingting and Chu Beijie have one thing in common, which is that they don’t take the rescue of the world and its people as their own responsibility, which is what “saviours” are like. They struggled, fought because their loved ones had suffered pain and others were in the same situation. They felt uncomfortable, but it was a very universal sentiment. During his confrontation with He Xia, Chu Beijie didn’t have a thought of “It’s finally my turn to shine”, but was for his love, as Pingting wanted to have a stable life. At the same time, he also told his soldiers to fight for their loved ones. It wasn’t some pointless goal, but a very real reason to protect people as they fought. That makes a difference between volition and involuntary participation in the war.

Interviewer: What are your opinions on the current production team of “Gu Fang”?
 
Feng Nong: They exceeded my expectations. I am very grateful as to how carefully they treat “Gu Fang.” Pai Le [Send Joy Media] spent a long time working on the script. Everyone knows Director Kuk Kowk Leung. He has directed a lot of TV dramas, so I am confident about the quality of "Gu Fang." Wallace Chung and baby [referring to Angelababy] are both very consistent with my expectations.
 
Interviewer: Bai Pingting was described as having a plain appearance, so isn’t baby too pretty?
 
Feng Nong: The point where baby matches Bai Pingting the most is that she isn’t aggressive at all, and she makes people feel very comfortable.
 
Interviewer: What about Wallace Chung?
 
 Feng Nong: I have seen some previous character photos of his [for other projects], very hot (lol), but he also looks very sharp and has a commanding presence, which is very consistent with Chu Beijie’s image.
                     Credits: Xah, Haha 

Read the full translation at CKmscans 

Lee Min Ho’s Sina interview:

LMH recently sat down with Sina for an interview. Since his purpose was to promote Bounty Hunter, I’ve decided to include it in this month’s recap. He talked a lot about working with both Wallace and Tang Yan.

Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have another hot actor in here right?

Q [1:39]：Compared with your previous works, does this film have most action scenes ? Did you get injured? 

A：There were fierce action scenes, so our bodies were a little tired. The five roles in this film have different personalities and responsibilities. [My character] Li Shan is responsible for fighting with his body and uses a three-section cudgel [as his weapon]. Physically, it is a little exhausting , but other than that there weren't many difficulties. We had good protection on the set. I didn’t get injured.
 
Q [2:22]：Are there lots of fighting scenes betwen you and Tang Yan (Tiffany Tang)? How’s your tacit understanding ?

A：I feel Tang Yan’s personality is very vigorous, optimistic, and positive, which kind of resembles my own personality. Both of us communicated with each other often. We got along very well on the set.
 
Q [2:48]：At the press conference, you mentioned that Tang Yan and you were supposed to do rehearsals of the fighting scenes, but both of you were naughty and joking with each other instead of doing rehearsals seriously ?

A：There was a fighting scene the first time we met. And we had done some practice at a dancing school before but not enough, so we spent a little more time practicing before shooting on the set, but we ended up joking through the rehearsals.

 
Q [3:17]：Is there a romantic storyline between Tang Yan and you?

A：This movie doesn't emphasize romantic relationships among characters. Just a little mutual attraction.
 
Q [3:53]：You worked with Wallace Chung this time, what kind of person you think he is ? Do you know his nicknames?
A：He has more acting experiences and worked longer in the field than I do. He is older than me and someone to look up to. He showed his professionalism everywhere. For example, the director is form Korea and there are language barriers between them, but Wallace handled it quite well. And it is worth learning how he prepared for every scene throughout the shooting proecess. He is someone I can learn from, a role model.
 
Q [4:43]：Wallace and you are the representative of "male god" [Chinese Internet slang term for heartthrobs ] in China and Korea, have you ever PK-ed [competed] to see which one is more handsome ?

A：Wallace is more handsome than me.
 
Q [4:56]：Have you talked about how to maintain your looks on the set?

A：Actually we didn’t talk much about that; mostly we talked about work stuff. I was still not familiar with the Chinese filming environment, so we had more communications about this point, I told him how we shoot in Korea, and he told me the ways in China.

Q [6:04]：The shooting of "Bounty Hunters" took place in several countries. Which country gave you the most enjoyable shooting experience?

A：The most impressive ones are the final scenes in Thailand.
 

Q [6:24]：Have you thought about what "bonuses" to send to your fans if “Bounty Hunter” becomes a box-office blockbuster and garnered five hundred million or ten hundred million RMB?

A：I am not familiar with that [ritual], what's it like in China usually ?

Q：[Movie stars] usually like to promise swimming naked.

A：(Laughing) I will discuss that with Wallace.

Q：If really swimming naked, how about your tolerance?
 
A：(Laughing really hard) I don’t know.

                 Credits: GtLmh0622, Haha 

Read the full translated article on Soompi

Weibo Updates:

During the month of April, Wallace’s updated his Weibo twice. He did not write much, instead he posted two of the following images:

April 12:

Chewy: OMG! The image was very yellow, so I was editing this 2 images together and it was so uncomfortable. I have 2 huge monitors, and the whole time I felt he was looking straight at me. It was awkward and I had to go back a couple of times, because I kept getting the wrong image link. I think guys should never take selfies. Look at this image and tell me you do not feel the same way.

Haha: Wallace captioned these two images with “Roar!” I think that imposing posture suggests a few things: He posted the pictures before the press conferences of the aforementioned new films and his participation in the Top Chinese Music Awards and the Beijing International Film Festival, so he was indicating that he was ready for the public appearances. Also, the white particles resemble snow, which connects this new weibo with his previous weibo of shoveling snow. Last but not least, he might be promoting, though very very subtly, his upcoming movie “Bounty Hunters” as well as his new song “Hunters” which was included in the 2016 album Sing For Life, because the song started with this verse:
When the King of the Animals seizes the chance to zero in on the game,
[it] teases you for fun but then swiftly rushes out to attack.
Seen through the glass wall, it looks just like a kitty.
Albeit less dangerous, the lion still looks nobel and gorgeous.

So, I think Wallace was acting as a lion here in this weibo.

Regarding Chewy’s “Guys should never take selfies” comment, haha, I remember seeing a fan’s weibo comment. She said Wallace is a very sincere and accountable person. He doesn’t try those affected angles [like taking selfies slightly from above to make the face look smaller] and postures [purposefully showing off the abs or triceps] but he shows you the most natural state. After reading that comment, I feel the fan must love Wallace more than I do so that she feels happy about everything Wallace does! Well, I like the pictures though, because they look unique and show Wallace’s impeccable skin.

April 19: 

Won: I love the sneakers! I would totally buy them for myself.

Haha: Wallace’s caption for the above two images is “Q” meaning “Cute” as an Internet slang term. The adorable pandas are two versions of his “daughter” Hei Hua [Black Flower aka Hey Wow], with and without glasses. Oh, the fans are amped up to grab those kicks as soon as they come out!

Other Stuff Worth Mentioning

Wallace’s “guest appearance”

A heated topic on Sina Weibo is Wallace’s “guest appearance” on the currently airing all female lead C-drama Ode to Joy.

Haha: Besides Wallace’s popularity, one reason the connection between Ode to Joy and Wallace caused a buzz is that one of the female leads, Wang Ziwen (the woman leaning against Wallace Chung’s poster in the elevator photo below), worked with Wallace in the 2013 movie “Fall in Love” as his true love. Fans joked that they reunited in this TV drama.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Wallace Look-alike on “See Your Voice”

Wallace’s name was also mentioned during this season of the singing competition show “See Your Voice.” In the latest episode, a 20-year-old contestant, Wu Jian Fei, had his 15 minutes of fame for resembling Wallace. I don’t think he looks like Wallace during the segment of the show, but looking at his online pictures, I do see him resembling the young Yichen.

   

Do you all still remembered the other Wallace look-alike that stopped traffic on our earlier post?

Video available on Sina

---

Fan Art

Won: Whoever did this fan art on weibo did such a fantastic job!!!! I believe my world went blank for a few seconds!

---

Credit: 1, 2,