Yu Zheng Invites Angelababy to Play “Little Dragon Girl”

After the success of previous works like Palace <宫>and the Beauty <美人係列> series, Yu Zheng (于正) experienced an enormous increase in popularity. Recently he announced that he planned to film a new version of Return of the Condor Heroes <神鵰俠侶>, inciting much discussion among netizens regarding the script and the cast. Yu Zheng shared that he hoped to cast Hong Kong model/actress Angelababy (楊穎) as the female lead, Little Dragon Girl.

Yu Zheng’s first adaptation of a work by wuxia novelist Jin Yong (金庸) was Swordman <笑傲江湖>, which recently finished airing and sparked much controversy due to the modifications made to several of the characters, particularly the antagonist Dongfang Bubai. Netizens familiar with Yu Zheng’s penchant for inserting subversive changes are curious to see how he will handle Return of the Condor Heroes, another of Jin Yong’s well-known novels.

Despite skeptical and sarcastic remarks from netizens, Yu Zheng insists that his adaptation will be faithful to the original work. He also plans to increase the number of scenes that show the main character, Yang Guo, when he is growing up. Some previous adaptations of Return of the Condor Heroes removed these scenes entirely, which Yu Zheng finds strange because doing so would cut out the explanation as to why Zhen Zhibing, one of the senior students of the Quanzhen Sect, falls in love with Little Dragon Girl.

Nevertheless, Yu Zheng’s claim that this adaptation will remain true to the novel may not be entirely reliable, as he also shared that his version of Yang Guo is an evil man, whereas Little Dragon Girl has turned into a hot female teacher, and Huang Rong has become more like she was in the prequel novel, Legend of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄傳).

When asked about his ideal cast, Yu Zheng shared that he would like Guo Jing to be played by Hong Kong actor Dicky Cheung (張衛健), and Huang Rong to be played by Taiwanese actress Alyssa Chia (賈靜雯), who is guest starring in his currently filming drama Lian Cheng <連城>. As for the coveted role of the Little Dragon Girl, Yu Zheng said, “Of course, I still hope that it’s Angelababy, but we have to see what her filming schedule is.”

Currently the only confirmed cast member is mainland Chinese actor Chen Xiao (陳曉), who will be playing Yang Guo. It was previously rumored that Yuan Shanshan (袁姗姗), who acted as the female lead in Swordman, would be cast as Guo Fu, Guo Jing and Huang Rong’s oldest child. However, Yu Zheng denied this, saying that if Yuan Shanshan were in the cast, she would definitely play the part of Little Dragon Girl.

Source: Hunantv.com

This article is written by Joanna for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

  1. That’s Angelababy?!! hmmm…

    Poor Jin Yong’s Little Dragon Girl…

    1. come to think of it, this is quite interesting, her bf, HXM, played YangGuo in the 2006 adaptation with LYF; now Angelababy is XLN in the upcoming one. Hmm…

  2. What an @#@hole.

    But the bigger idiots are the people who continue to watch his shows and contribute to ratings figures.

  3. Yu mama is really making the media heat his upcoming Condor up! From Zhang Meng to 033 to Angelababy. Hehe, among 3, maybe the most suitable one is Zhang Meng because at least she looks a bit cool and angelic (although plain at best). But I won’t feel any surprise if Yu mama ends up with another girl as main lead instead of Xiao Long Nui. Hmm… how about Guo Fu as super good, super pretty, supper love to Yang Guo?

    But Di-cky as Guo Jing? Hmm…

    Di-cky’s name is so =.=, always makes posts to be moderated.

    1. I suppose Dicky will portray a super sharp Guo Jing who grew wise due to maturity.

      1. Sds,
        I can accept Guo Jing shrunk due to age, but be prepared for a 180 degree change in personality. This Guo Jing will be sharp and not a trusting person.

      2. @ Jayne

        Being smart and not trusting is the job of Huang Rong. What will HR do if GJ took over her job? She has no role to play liao. 😛

      3. I suppose Guo Jing will be a funny guy in the beginning, turn serious in the end and of course, will do a lot of facial expressions.

        In short, Guo Jing has switched the spirit with Zhu Ba Tong :P.

  4. NOOOoooooOOOO shttt noo plz do you have to ruin and debase everything yu f—king zheng???? damnn

  5. You must be kidding me but Angelababy as Xiao Long nu??? Oh gosh… I don’t even want to imagine it. But this is YU Zheng here so I sense another crappy adaption/series coming up.

  6. NO!!! she’s cute & all but she’s definitely NO little dragon girl!!! please stop the madness.

    1. agree. she is cute and charming. but I don’t think she can portray the XLN we know. Unless YZ has a total different version of YZ, then it may work. But will the drama series still work for us, the audience. That would be the big question.

  7. Angela Baby ugh, this gonna be another miscast of uneven aging. I swear I could not shake off the feeling that in the previous adaptation Yang Guo was a decade older than his master. I don’t understand why, but isn’t Xiaolongnu supposedly older? I didn’t read the novel so did I missed something important? Like she being immortal or something? She never seemed to age.

    1. Well if you read the novel you would’ve known that XLN is the inventor of plastics so it makes sense to cast AngelaB, hahaha

      1. HAHAHAS! Good one!!
        She really looks so PLASTIC in the above picture >.<||||

  8. also, her chin looks slightly of out of shape +altered to the right.

    GROSS. she prob. had more plastic surgery over the weekends

    1. Yea, her face looks so crooked in the above photo…

    2. yeah she was prettier before. Why made herself look worse? No idea.

  9. “Despite skeptical and sarcastic remarks from netizens, Yu Zheng insists that his adaptation will be faithful to the original work. “

    He also insist the same thing when filming ‘Swordman’.

    Anyway, I’m looking forward to this adaptation. Unlike XAJH, ROCH is a love centric series, which is right in YZ’s forte. I’m curious how he would expand the romance.

    I also don’t mind the chose of Angelababy has XLN. I think she’s beautiful and she can act.

    1. It can be all love centric but the problem with yu zheng is he can’t even make a good love story. He just messes and make shock element and that’s it. You can’t watch his series twice. It isn’t fresh or even interesting and you see flaws. YZ should just make detective stories where there can be shock shock shock.

    2. The love centric in ROCH is the reason why I always think of YG as a lucky peac0ck.

  10. XLN will fall in love and end up with that dirty priest, LOL

    Mr. JY where are u? Only u have the power to stop this madness!

  11. Another crappy adaption will be created by Yu mama. This time, XLN will die in the end and YG ends up with Guo Fu.

  12. if readers from jaynestars.com got to choose who will play the “little dragon girl” they would most likely pick nancy wu or another long time actress that hasn’t gotten a lead role ya know?

  13. A hypothetical question. If TVB were to film a ROCH adaptation again, who do you guys think can play Xiao Long Nv and Yang Guo?

    1. After a careful analysis of your hypo. question my answer would be:

      1.Eric Tsang & Liza Wang
      2.Wong Cho Lam & GF
      3.TY & Him
      4.Kenneth & Myolie

      HAHAHA, seriously I can’t see anyone besides it’s so much to the story than just XLN & YG

      1. 1.Eric Tsang & Liza Wang
        2.Wong Cho Lam & GF
        3.TY & Him
        4.Kenneth & Myolie

        I can’t help myself after reading this. Mental images come out.

        1.Eric Tsang & Liza Wang – Old version.
        2.Wong Cho Lam & GF – Wong Cho Lam is XLN? Handelababy got casted instead of Angelababy.
        3.TY & Him – Ages are suitable, but looks and temperament are not.
        4.Kenneth & Myolie – Exaggerated comedy version.

      2. XLN? Errr young right? Errr what’s the name of that girl who is Charmaine in When Heaven Burns? She is pretty. Need to work on her speech and accent though.

        Yangguo is more difficult since not many young-ish actors…. errrr….errrr…I don’t know, if Yangguo takes off his shirt a lot, I suppose… no no not Him Law but Vincent?

      3. “1.Eric Tsang & Liza Wang – Old version.
        2.Wong Cho Lam & GF – Wong Cho Lam is XLN? Handelababy got casted instead of Angelababy.”

        You mean XLN is taller than YG in those two version?

        Do you know who is the best XLN for this version: Yu Mama =))

      4. @ Funn

        She’s ok pretty, but, I don’t find her beautiful enough to be XLN. Her problem is her mouth. He speech problem is also sometime she need to work on like you said.

        Speech is very important. Leila Tong looks very angelic in ‘Twin of Brothers’, but the moment she speaks, she loses all the grace. I remember feeling very disappointed because I watch the series for her at the time. I found her acting very good in ‘Aqua Heroes’ and was looking forward to her performance in TOB.

    2. If I were to choose…
      XLN
      1990s – Kristy Yang
      2000s – Tavia
      Now – No one
      Yang Guo
      1990s – Louis Koo
      2000s – Bosco
      Now – No one

      Don’t know because the newbies haven’t acted much.

      1. Seems like you are biased only toward the TVB adaptations.

      2. I don’t watch that many China and Taiwan shows, so don’t really know the actors that well. Thus no comments.

        Moreover, China and Taiwan shows tend to be draggy and longwinded. Even if the actors are talented, they are often let down by the horrible pacing of the plots, horrible scripts, too much graphics like watching a cartoon and they don’t follow the novels like the recent swordsman drama.

        Korea wuxia dramas are not interesting to watch. Scripts are boring.

        TVB’s wuxia isn’t as good as in the past.
        Nobody will be biased if shows produced have good quality. Perhaps you yourself are biased towards the China and Taiwan productions, hence your remark.

      3. @kk

        I made my comment about your bias toward TVB adaptations by simply noting all the actors/actresses you pointed out on your list. Nothing more and nothing less.

        Therefore, I don’t see what else you could possibly read into my comment and completely fail to understand your charge of my being biased toward Chinese/ Taiwan dramas simply by my statement of observation.

        FYI, I rarely sit through and watch any TV dramas except the few classics like China’s HZGG, Taiwan’s Meteor Garden, and Korea’s Jewel in the Palace, all of which I must say have some captivating plots.

      4. @ Terminator

        To be fair, I did state ‘If TVB were to film a ROCH adaptation again’ in my question. So, it’s logical for KK to list TVB actors.

      5. @Kidd: Coincidentally, 3 Mag has just posted an article to say that Christine Kuo is chosen by netizens to act XLN.

  14. 033 mui mui vs Angelababy, who do you wanna see as XLN more?

    1. After exoidus mentioned Wong Cho Lam’s name, I got the images of Handelababy as XLN instead.

      1. Handelababy is XLN and Mr. Lin Bingzhi can cry out loud: “It was too dark and I can’t see anything! I was cheated!” Deep down inside, he moaned: “I thought (s)he is my baby Yang Guo…”

        Oh XLN that shotacon =.=

  15. I have just watched selected clips featuring Angelababy in her latest movie “Together” and she’s pretty.

    If Yu Zheng’s version of XLN only requires her to be pretty, she may fit the character.

  16. Worst casting choice ever with a generic looking leading lady.

  17. I haven’t read the whole article, but that person is crazy to ask Angelababy for this role. Little dragon girl has an inner beauty, is smart and has a decent temperament. This role cannot be acted by Angelababy, that’s for sure

  18. Little Dragon Girl…hmmm… she looks more like Little Snake Girl

  19. Hald-expecting Yu Zheng turning this wuxia series into a fanfiction just like how he did it in Swordsman.

  20. Wow, I did not know Angelababy can bring out such emotions (mostly negative) from potential audience of the drama.

    @dd, so much for your elevation of her as the brightest under-30 star in HK entertainment. LOL!!

  21. The only TVB actress that fit this role LOOKWISE (not talking about acting here) is Christine Kuo. Angel face. Acting – no comment. She just has to look stone faced anyway, how hard can that be?

    Yang Guo, no one from TVB, there is a rising Mainland actor by the name of Mao Zijun and he looks the role.

    1. His acting is also excellent as he won an award for his villain role. He has that good guy – bad guy vibe.

    2. I also thought of Christine Kuo when I scanned through TVB actresses in my mind to find a suitable candidate for XLN. She does have the angelic look.

      1. Oh I posted in wrong place.

        @Kidd: Coincidentally, 3 Mag has just posted an article to say that Christine Kuo is chosen by netizens to act XLN.

  22. Wow the “proposed” cast for ROCH has so much potential for fans to fire deviate.

  23. fresh news yu zheng was slapped by one of his toyboy actors in a cafe and now become police case. the actor cursed yu zheng ‘why did you do this to me, you’re a beast, you’re not a human, you’re a pervert!’. the guy also admitted on his weibo about slapping yu zheng.

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