Moses Chan and Sheren Tang Share Kiss in “Beauty at War”

After eight years, TVB’s trend setting palace drama War and Beauty <金枝慾孽> is finally green-lighted for a sequel! Production for the sequel began in March 2012 in Hong Kong, before moving to film on location at Hengdian World Studios in June 2012. The cast and crew will will stay there for an entire month. On Tuesday night, Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯) and Moses Chan (陳豪) filmed a light, bittersweet kissing scene under the rain. Embarrassed, Sheren laughed, “It has been awhile since I last came upon such scenarios in both real life and acting, so when we were filming I couldn’t control my laughter.” Moses also did not forget to report to his girlfriend, Aimee Chan (陳茵媺), about the scene!

Renamed Beauty at War <金枝慾孽 (貳)>, the War and Beauty sequel is produced by TVB’s golden duo, producer Jonathan Chik (戚其義) and scriptwriter Chow Yuk Ming (周旭明). Although their recent productions were met with poor ratings, War and Beauty swept the 2004 TVB Anniversary Awards in major awards categories. It was arguably the duo’s most successful collaboration. Not only was it a critically acclaimed ratings hit, it also set a trend for palace scheming television dramas.

Unlike its predecessor’s palace scheming theme, Beauty at War will focus on the theme of love. Moses’ character will be emotionally involved with the characters played by Sheren, Ada Choi (蔡少芬) and Christine Ng (伍詠薇), and he will also having kissing scenes with both Sheren and Ada. Sheren, who did not share any scenes with Moses while filming in Hong Kong, was surprised that she had to kiss Moses once they arrived in Hengdian, “I thought Jonathan was joking when he said that I will have to film a kissing scene. There is kissing in period dramas? It turns out there really is!”

On the night of the kissing scene, both Moses and Sheren appeared nervous, but they completed the shot in one take. Sheren, who rarely film kissing scenes, said, “Jonathan gives a lot of freedom for his actors. He never says cut. We did not know when to stop kissing, so Moses and I could not stop laughing!” Would the currently single Sheren wish to start looking for a relationship because of this scene? She joked, “No, but if Moses was not dating someone, I will!”

Moses said, “I also rarely film kissing scenes so I was a little nervous, but it was okay. Sheren is very professional, and Ada is a great crier. After becoming a mother, Ada’s emotions became more abundant, so filming has been really smooth.” Asked whether he reported to Aimee Chan, Moses said, “I did. This is a form of respect. I believe it is necessary, and when she films similar scenes, she will also let me know.” Asked whether he spoke with Aimee on the phone everyday, Moses said, “My iPhone broke so I cannot go online. I can only call her.”

Moses Chan Feels Ada Choi’s Happiness

In this sequel, almost all of the major female characters would fall in love with Moses Chan’s character. Moses praised Ada’s professionalism, and remarked that Ada became a much happier person after having her daughter. “On our road trip to the Shanghai Television Festival, Ada could not stop talking about her family. Even I could feel her warmth and happiness.”

Asked when Moses will marry and have children, Moses laughed and said, “I am still working hard. I will take things slowly; there is no need to worry.”

Ada Choi, who recently shot to stardom in mainland China due to the success of Qing Dynasty palace drama Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan <后宮·甄嬛傳>, also brought her daughter Zoe with her to Hengdian. Although a nanny was present to help out, Ada would take care of Zoe once she was released from work. “It is really tiring, but I am so happy when I see my daughter. She is my driving force!”

Ada expressed that her husband, Max Zhang (張晉), also plans to visit them at Hengdian if his schedule allows. “There was once a time when Zoe did not respond to my husband after he was away for a whole month. It gets him really nervous.”

Sheren Tang Demands Too Much?

Despite being one of TVB’s most highly anticipated and expensive productions to date, loyal viewers of the franchise criticized Beauty at War for its weak cast. With the absence of powerhouse actresses Gigi Lai (黎姿), Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼), and Maggie Cheung (張可頤), will Beauty at War suffer poorer results due to the lack of star power? Ada said, “It’s enough! It is not based on quantity. The most important things are good story, good acting, and good cast. The three of us female leads are having a great time together.”

However, rumors say that Sheren Tang’s great demands caused great stress for the cast members. Christine Ng, who shared the most scenes with Sheren, admitted, “It is a lot of pressure. I was really nervous on the first two days of filming. When we practice our scenes, I would almost forget my lines when she looks at me. She is intimidating, but not as harsh as people make her seem. She treats everyone really well and cares for all of us.”

Beauty at War is expected to wrap up filming by mid July 2012.

Source: Ming Pao Weekly # 2277 via ihktv.com

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Responses

  1. how on earth is the cast weak when they have
    sheren, ada, moses and also patrick that gonna be guest star and ada right a series needs good acting and a good story like..

    1. i think the male side of the cast is a bit weak. just moses, who doesn’t really have much pulling power on his own. i personally don’t like kenny (as an actor), and he’s only recently been promoted to 2nd lead.

    2. I agree with you that the female cast is not weak. But, the male lead only has Moses. I like Eddie Kwan myself and I know he played lead roles in the 80s and 90s. But, he’s not as famous now. In Ghetto Justice, he’s the only one of the 4 Shum Shui Po gang who does not have his own proper subplot.

      anonink didn’t even think of him when he/she list the male leads.

      1. Agree. “War & Beauty 2” needs at least one more strong lead actor. Eddie Kwan is a bit too old to be the 2nd lead artiste. He is also too tall to act the role of a female Chinese opera singer in the drama series.

      2. Even the actors are old. Eddie Kwan still looks young and he can act. If just put in a younger actor doesn’t balance well with the much older actresses. Why is it in such abundance in China production and yet none in TVB?

      3. Come to think of it Ada played her own age in Empresses in the palace.

      4. The actresses are old but since the younger actresses can’t carry this series as good as Ada and Sheren, why bother with the younger ones?

        Do you all want to watch Myolie or TY bulging their eyes again? They’re not young either and won’t do a good job like Sheren in acting

      5. Meanwhile other than bulging eye Myolie and TY, Fala has low charisma and Linda look like a lost modern world crybaby. Kate will look like a crazy villain from the future.

        There TVB has no one good enough for a heavy series like this LOL

      6. they should make Ada and Sheren act their age as elder concubines. The young fresh concubines should just be small characters that can be played by younger new actress in early 20s

    1. I’m not sure if I’ll be impressed with this series’ performance but I simply have a thought that this series is full of gannies and those old uncle stuff….. yucks…!

      1. Tony:

        You must be fairly young and are only interested in those idol artistes who cannot act. “War & Beauty” was a classic drama series, and its sequel needs to be done by the same good artistes. If you care about good acting, you will not worry about the age of an artiste.

  2. “War and Beauty won Best Drama at the 2004 TVB Anniversary Awards”

    In 2004, TVB didn’t have best Series Award. so that “War and Beauty” never gets this award.

      1. Never believe in Wikimedia. TVB gave the “Best Series” awards from 1997 to 1998 and this title was out from 1999 to 2004. In 2005, TVB once again created this award again and “War Of In-Laws” got it and it’s still up to now.

        Once more thing, “Dai Cheung Kam” was broadcasted in 2005, in the year of “War Of In-Laws” and “Life Made Simple” not in 2004.

    1. As per Wikipedia, here are the TVB Anniversary awards in 2004:

      Best Drama 最佳劇集
      War and Beauty 《金枝慾孽》

      My Favourite Actor in a Leading Role 本年度我最喜愛的男主角
      Bowie Lam 林保怡 (War and Beauty 《金枝慾孽》)

      My Favourite Actress in a Leading Role 本年度我最喜愛的女主角
      Gigi Lai 黎姿 (War and Beauty 《金枝慾孽》)

      My Favourite Powerhouse Actor 本年度我最喜愛的實力非凡男藝員
      Chan Hung Lit 陳鴻烈 (War and Beauty 《金枝慾孽》)

      My Favourite Powerhouse Actress 本年度我最喜愛的實力非凡女藝員
      Sheren Tang 鄧萃雯 (War and Beauty 《金枝慾孽》)

      My Favourite Vastly Improved Actor 本年度我最喜愛的飛躍進步男藝員
      Ron Ng 吳卓羲 (Twin of Brothers 《大唐雙龍傳》)

      My Favourite Vastly Improved Actress 本年度我最喜愛的飛躍進步女藝員
      Shirley Yeung 楊思琦 (Angels of Mission 《無名天使3D》)

      1. Also, I think “War & Beauty” had a very high viewership rating in Hong Kong (almost beat the Korean drama series – Dai Cheung Kam”)

      2. Never believe in Wikimedia. TVB gave the “Best Series” awards from 1997 to 1998 and this title was out from 1999 to 2004. In 2005, TVB once again created this award again and “War Of In-Laws” got it and it’s still up to now.

        In 2004, the highest rating series is “To catch the uncatchable” not “War and Beauty”.

        Once more thing, “Dai Cheung Kam” was broadcasted in 2005, in the year of “War Of In-Laws” and “Life Made Simple” not in 2004.

  3. So what happened to Sheren and Ada’s sharing of a kiss?

    And War & Beauty, now Beauty At War, third series is Beauty War?

    1. The problem with TVB at such series is there is a serious lack of younger actresses to play young concubines realistically. So they had to depend on the older much experienced actresses so I hope this series begins with everyone already in the palace as concubines for a number of years. Probably would have been better to call it “Cold Palace”.

    2. i want to see that scene too. i guess it’s not gonna happen because it’s inappropriate.

  4. Nah Ada, Sheren and Christine are all top line actresses, it’s just that there’s not enough top line actresses in this series.

  5. Seriously…they only have Moses as the male lead?
    Bad move! They need more good looking guys, to balance up the great female cast!

  6. Maybe tvb should have tried harder to get bowie to return to film this series

    1. Definitely!!!!
      With Bowie it’ll be much better!

  7. Perhaps TVB should have move the era to a different dynasty instead of the over used Qing. I mean Ada was in Empresses In The Palace where the role suited her and that is Qing. Everybody is like Qing dynasty these days. Why not Sung? Ming? Han? Qin?!

  8. like the first one… the 2nd doesnt sound too interestng.. wthout bowie n charmaine character

  9. I really hoped that Beauty at War turns out good! I think Moses need it since his previous series like When Heaven Burns, 4 in Love and Master of Play didn’t really turned out that good. Oh, I havn’t seen Ada acting for a quite long time so this will be interesting! 🙂

    1. I find both ‘When Heaven Burns’ and ‘4 In Love’ to be good series especially WHB. Can comment about MOP yet because I have not finish watching it.

    2. TVB was over using Moses, they just lash him into really bad series with lousy scripts!!!

      Ada looks great in the pic above. Very youthful!

      1. check your points. Moses is in all these series because CKY and CYM duo loves him and want to give him good roles. Geez.

  10. This series has strong cast with the 3 beauty Ada, Christine and Sheren. Really looking forward to the series and hope the story will not disappointed any fans as the 1st one was really good.

  11. I still don’t like Moses and his acting. I think Steven Ma would have been a good addition to the cast as well but too bad he has already left TVB.

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