Ever want to see a 1980s romance novel as a drama?

[dangermousie]

Well, I believe the upcoming cdrama Sealed with a Kiss just may be your chance. The plot involves a rich and ruthless businessman who is seeking to avenge his father's death by blackmailing the daughter of the man who caused the death. Basically he tells her that her uncle is going to jail due to embezzlement unless she becomes his mistress. And then he treats her like dirt. Yup, hero of this blackmails his OTP into sex and 'relationship' (I fail to see how this is revenge but I am not sure I want to enter into his headspace).

Ummmm. WHUT.

Since this is pretty much a 1980s romance in disguise, of course he falls in love with her and angst ensues. Did I mention he is married?

What a Prince Charming!

Personally, after reading the synopsis/watching the trailer, I hope most of the cast kills each other and mistress gets together with her first love. I mean, I love Hawick Lau (who doesn't?) but there are limits.

Trailer:

I am so there - trainwreck!!!!

Also, in happy news, according to my cdrama guru mookiehyun, Peter Ho got cast in 楚汉传奇 (haven't seen it romanized anywhere) as Xiang Yu. alexandral, come squee with me! Chen Dao Ming is Liu Bang. Did they cast the ladies yet? I think I have my most anticipated drama! It probably won't air until 2013 or something, but I don't care! EEEEE!

This is from presscon, I think:



I wonder if the lady on the right is in the cast. Hmmm. I am especially dying to see who will be Lu Zhi.

Comments

[stillingfleet.livejournal.com]

楚汉传奇 = chu han chuan qi, which literally means the legend/miracle in chu han/of chu han (my dad says it means chu country, han dynasty) =)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[mookiehyun.livejournal.com]

Lu Zhi is not casted yet, I'm also dying dying to see! and lady in the rt (Angel/Yoyo Liu) will be LB's fav concubine/wifey. You've seen her before in Mulan, playing the Rouran princess

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I guess she is not long for this world then :P

[mookiehyun.livejournal.com]

Smart cookie you! I'm cringing at her guaranteed horrible death, a given on wrong side of Lu Zhi.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Is she the one who Lu Zhi chopped the limbs of and threw in a pigpen?

[mookiehyun.livejournal.com]

Yes, poorPOOR lady! limbs chopped off, stuffed into a, eyeballs gorged out, ears deafened with mercury, mute after strong poison forced down throat and reduced to living like a pig in a pigsty, her son killed off...

[village.livejournal.com]

That first drama is pure Harlequin romance. Total trainwreck which normally I'm all about but I can't with that male protagonist. Asshole city.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I've survived Defendant of Love, I can survive anything :)

And to tie to earlier discussion of coercion and rape, THAT is what I would call coercion (though nope, sorry radical feminists, still not rape). However, it is utterly unconscionable and to root for the otp in this case would be insane.

[village.livejournal.com]

It totally reminds me of that Thai lakorn you posted about sometime ago - was that "Defendant of Love"? I can't watch shows where I hate (or I'm not at least compelled by) the OTP and the secondary characters. I am sorta curious - because again trainwreck! - but I think I'll just read your posts about it if you watch it. ;)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Probably. :_)

[village.livejournal.com]

And I meant and/or the secondary characters. Because I can totally watch dramas that I'm not interested at all in the secondary characters. See: Heartstrings.

[gurlygirl10.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of a thai lakorn- and revenge themed Harlequins- I love when the antiheroes fall helplessly in love so I'm all over it!! Thanks mousie- that trailer really is a trainwreck!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

If it was lakorn, there'd be rape not just blackmail. :)

[gurlygirl10.livejournal.com]

I just looked and I can't find any info on Sealed with a Kiss- do you know when it is airing?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They are still filming so it's not set for air date yet.

jumping on the trainwrech as well

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the heads up about Sealed With a Kiss, mousie!^^

Not proud of myself but I'm a sucker for this type of plot where the arrogant, filthy rich hero unwillingly falls in love with his enemy's daughter so I'm jumping on this trainwreck too. And besides, it's Hawick!! squeee~. Not sure about her acting, but I like the look of the main actress. She's not a conventional beauty, but she gives off an aura of vulnerability but also strength too.

Apparently this drama is adapted from a novel by Fei Wo Si Cun so the plot should be solid. Two of her novels have already been made into dramas: 1) Too Late To Say I Love You with Wallace Chung & Li Xiao Ran http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PpvBZJhHpM and 2) The Girl in Blue with Joe Chen, Roy Qiu & FSF.

-lidge-

Re: jumping on the trainwrech as well

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am a little shocked to see Hawick in this type of role - he usually plays such sweet paragons. But I am so there!

[kainee.livejournal.com]

OMFG, I'm a Peter Ho fan!! Xiang Yu is like the ultimate "ba dao" character and Peter Ho has played a few roles like that. I think he would do a good job.

楚汉传奇 = 楚漢傳奇 = Chu Han Chuan Qi = Legend of the Chu and the Han

Chuan Qi is just a generic term used to describe an epic kind of like monogatari in Japanese. Chu refers to the Chu Dynasty Xiang Yu establishes and Han the one that Liu Bang establishes.

Hope this info helps!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation!

I am so psyched for this!

I really want Ady An to play his OTP, for no reason I can name, but I just want it.

[kainee.livejournal.com]

LOL, also I just realized when I described Xiang Yu as the ultimate "ba dao" character that it was redundant since Xiang Yu's nickname was Chu Ba Wang which is basically translates to Hegemon of Chu and the ba in Chu Ba Wang is the same as in "ba dao."

Also, a weird connection that happens with prolific actors, FSF who's playing Xiang Yu opposite Liu Yifei first came to my attention when he played Liu Zhang in Mei Ren Xin Ji, the grandson of Liu Bang. I dunno, I just find it kinda surreal to realize that.

[vert-gazon.livejournal.com]

Omg this is like Summer's Desire but x100 in dysfunction.

I mean you have a lead male falling in love with the heroine even though he pushed her into the relationship while being self-hating because he's the one who's treating her like this. And then you have a heroine who falls in love with the lead male most likely in a 'captive falls for the captor' situation.

I am so there though. The drama looks interesting. And it doesn't look like they're pushing the 'see he's a good guy after all!' angle. Instead it's pretty dark.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, at least from the trailer it looks like they are fully aware this is not a functional situation.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Peter Ho?? YESSSSSSSSS! What is this drama about??

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

He is one of the two main characters, as the drama is about Han-Chu contention. Short version - Xiang Yu was a legendary general who overthrew the Qin Dynasty. Eventually, he and his ally Liu Bang fell out over who was supposed to rule China and had a huge civil war. Xiang Yu lost eventually. He is famous for three things, basically (1) legendary strength and combat ability (2) ending the Qin and (3) tragic love affair with his beautiful concubine, Lady Yu (you know the movie Farewell My Concubine? The title is taken from Chinese opera about them). She basically rode to all his battles with him and at the last battle, when they were trapped and outnumbered, she killed herself during a sword dance so he wouldn't be distracted by his feelings and worry for her, concentrate on battle and win (didn't work and he killed himself a couple of days later).

So pretty much this drama is designed with me in mind!

They are also making a movie on the same topic, with Crystal Liu, who is surely the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, playing Lady Yu.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

This sounds great, I will be all over it when it airs. Thank you!!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am so very excited for this - it's by the same people who made Three Kingdoms, and is supposed to be super-lavish.

[lady-wu.livejournal.com]

It seems to say "Legend of Chu and Han" in the background.

Chen Daoming! Peter Ho! Directed by Gao Xixi!

There's a preliminary cast list on Baidu: http://baike.baidu.com/view/5889958.htm . It lists Hu Dong as Ying Bu, Sun Haiying as Fan Zeng, Yang Lixin as Xiaohe, Liu Yuxin as Lady Qi, and Qin Lan as Lu Zhi. Ruby Lin is listed as "tentative" for Lady Yu. However, some other articles I found say that Lu Zhi is up in the air too.

Baidu also says this baby will be 80 episodes long... @_@

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

That cast sounds great. I adore Ruby btw, so if that 'tentative' becomes definite, I will be one happy fangirl.

80 ?!?! Whoa. I was thinking 40-50. Not that I am going to complain if it is 1/5 as good as 3 Kingdoms.

[lady-wu.livejournal.com]

Tangent: Not sure if you heard, but Three Kingdoms won the Grand Prize at the Seoul International Drama Awards. Linky: http://www.korea.net/news.do?mode=detail&guid=57783 . Chen Jianbin won Best Actor. I think I'm going to dig up all those Cao Cao episodes again while waiting for the other thing to download.

I guess Gao Xixi is going to do nothing but giant epics from now on. Like I think the per-episode budget for this one exceeds even that of TK.

Was reading an article that quoted GXX saying that they'll try to rehabilitate Liu Bang, and make him less of a scheming bastard and more of an emperor of humble origins. Seeing how good a job he did with remaking Cao Cao (who in popular consciousness was an evil bastard traitor), I can't wait to see what he and Chen Daoming do with Liu Bang.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I am glad for 3K and CJB.

The approach to Liu Bang sounds interesting and certainly unusual. I don't think it's controversial that he was an effective ruler but I have yet to come across anything that portrays him as a decent person. So it will be an interesting change.