I have mixed feelings about this drama and this pairing. Zhao Li Ying‘s next project after she completes filming for The Rise of A Tomboy is a spy drama, which I initially thought would be (and should be) serious and ass-kicking but it turns out to be more romance-centered, playing out from a young girl’s perceptive (she’s our heroine.) Tentatively titled The Rouge, various reports have stated that our leading man is Lu Yi (Grow Up). They have worked together before in Love Yun Ge from the Desert and The Palace. Who knows, they might look better in motion.
Roughly translated by moi, I skipped the agents and names since they are complicated. Lol.
The Rouge features Zhao Li Ying as a girl who lives in the past (~1930s) but carries characteristics of a young modern woman. Her father is the owner of a banker in Shanghai so naturally she grows up arrogant, vain, competitive, and reckless. She fantasizes many things about love before she meets the male lead. Through an accident, she obtains a secret letter from the Japanese army and gets misunderstood by her crush – an officer in the Chinese army. To prove that she’s innocent, she becomes a spy in her best friend’s household and discovers that her father is a traitor (Mister Traitor). She wants to report this to her crush but in comes an obstacle – her best friend’s boyfriend.
Lu Yi plays a dashing young officer in charge of advising and monitoring a Japanese spy, but when he mysteriously died, he takes up the spy’s identity and tries to get close to Mister Traitor. His attempts to dig deeper are always thwarted by the heroine until they settle their differences and learn that they have a common goal. They succeed in bringing him down but the heroine’s best friend suffers emotionally and turns against her, blaming the heroine for the breakdown of her family. It’s understandable and I would like to see this angle play out. Give me some sisterhood!
I actually wanted to see Li Ying play a dark character, someone bitter and challenging, someone like Vicki Zhao’s Lu Yi Ping from Romance In the Rain. I think it was last year that I wished Chen Xiao and Li Ying would do a remake of RITR, you know, minus all the draggy plots. I would fangirl so BAD! Rumors float around that Chen Xiao was the first contention for The Rouge, but the scheduling didn’t work out… oy….my heart…
Produced by New Classics Media (Tiger Mom, Hot Mom, Servant Of Two Masters) and directed by Xu Ji Zhou (Under One Roof, The Battle of Thunder) The Rouge begins filming in late June/early July and is scheduled for 30 episodes.
Source: 01
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
I think there is still some uncertainty as to what the love element is. I don’t think it’s clear that there is any sort of CP in this. I think more likely they are the main leads, but they may not actually be romantically involved. I think the love element just sets up the story — like, a crush (not even sure if he’s the subject of the crush) leads her into the traitor/war world, and then stuff happens. But the plot descriptions have not been super clear, I agree!
I’m happy that she’s working with Lu Yi though, definite chops as an actor so she should be able to hone her craft more. I mean, no offense to Chen Xiao and Zhang Han and Harwick and so on…but in my opinion they’re idols first, actors second. They might have the chops too but just haven’t been given the material to shine, but so far, you can tell they’re fighting to try and get more roles that are NOT just idol packages (well, except for Harwick, I feel like he’s accepted his fate as an idol and is just going to bank that forever…). I think Zhan Chang Sha was Wallace Huo’s attempt to break free of that a little, and it was a good step in that direction, for sure, but there was still too much love element there for him to really shed the idol sheen.
Just my thoughts!
Can we speculate a bit about what ZLY has planned for the second half of June? I don’t think she’ll be filming Tomboy for more than another week or two, tops — and if Rouge isn’t starting filming until sometime in July, can we assume that she’s FINALLY taking a rest? Or do we think she’s going to try and fit another guest star movie or something like that in between? All these rumors about ZLY and Yang Yang collaborating in film — Eastern Palace…do we think those rumors could be true? Or, in true ZLY/CX CP YY fashion, can we speculate that she’s got a secret romantic getaway with CX planned? 🙂
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
Let’s hope they lighten the love element or maybe change it to one’s love for one’s country kinda thing.
It’s been a long time since I have seen a Lu Yi’s drama so my feeling is somewhat neutral at this point. LOL@ Hawick accepting his fate. There is really no where to go now. He’s not that young anymore and will have to take on uncle/father roles soon. Might as well bank on that path a little longer. XD It’s tough getting old…for everyone!
I have been stalking that rumor about Eastern Palace too. I would love to see Yang Yang-Li Ying pairing! But then I heard from my fellow novel fans that the male lead is somewhat unlikable. *sigh*
A secret getaway with CX? I’m in. Where do I sign up to stalk them? =D A break is always welcome!
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
Can’t comment about the others, but Lu Yi is definitely a solid actor (based on what I’ve seen of him) and on another level from Wallace and Chen Xiao and Zhang Han. I love Wallace and like Chen Xiao and Zhang Han, but as pointed out, they’re idols first and actors second (nothing wrong with that, though!)
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
I hear she’s going to take the time in between to participate in a celebrity reality show “偶像来了”。some say it’s a talent search show with celebrity judges, others are saying it’s a “celebrities try normal jobs” type thing like secret boss maybe. Unclear. Xie Na from happy camp is one of the other identified stars.
I’d be interested in seeing more of her in a realty show! They say the first stop might be airline stewardess, which fits since that’s what LY was studying before she joined the Sohu star search and got her big break.
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
Interesting! Reality shows are hard to follow for me cause they speak super fast. Lol. But maybe this is her chance to open up a little and tweak her image a bit. 🙂
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
I’m a bit bummed by the story plot too as just like you, I want to see ZLY as a kickass character, especially with that baby face of hers, hehehe.
I thought CX mentioned he won’t be working side by side ZLY for a while, typically as a CP so I’m not surprised he ain’t in this drama.
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
But it’s been two years! Almost 3 since they last worked together. I blame Yumama for making me crazy about this pairing! =(
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
If there’s going to be a RITR remake, Qiong Yao will probably take part in it. This alone makes me not want to see any of her remakes, considering the atrocities she added to HZGG. -_______-
9 thoughts on “Zhao Li Ying’s next leading man is Lu Yi for The Rouge”
Oh boy….I forgot about that. LOL.
I take that back…I take it back…