JoleCole's Station

Today is Zhao Liying's 26th birthday and Yu Zheng celebrated with two new stills of her cameo role in his latest production. Luckily, my fear that Zhao Liying's Mu Nianci and Chen Zhao's Yang Kang not sharing any scenes together has evaporated with this pictorial release. It definitely more than I asked for. It also seems my favorite pairing is sharing a "intimate" scene together.

If you have been following my comments about Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying, you are probably firmly aware of my conviction that they have successfully translated their reel chemistry to real chemistry. Even before their spike in popularity during the broadcast of Legend of Lu Zhen, countless "insider" scoops about their supposedly dating relationship surfaced. These "insiders" alleged that Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying began dating shortly after the shooting wrap-up of Legend of the Lu Zhen (around spring 2012) and even news of their co-habitation in Beijing emerged.

We have good news followed by some potential bad news regarding the new Ying Xiao pairing in the new Return of the Condor Heroes. The good news has obviously already been revealed through the release photo above. And thank goodness Chen Xiao finally has one decent "normal" costume styling! I really dislike the new Yang Guo's hooligan and "I-belong-to the-Beggar-Sect" styling. Though his Yang Kang's costume is definitely not up to par with the majestic details of Yuan Hong's version in the 2009 Legend of the Condor Heroes adaptation, it is certainly several degrees better in magnitude than his Yang Guo's mess.

The cameo role of Yang Kang, the troubled father of male protagonist Yang Guo, was originally given to mainland Chinese actor Li Chen ( Beijing Love Story ) in Return of the Condor Heroes . Due to Li Chen's recent and bitter breakup with actress, Viann Zhang, who is playing Li Mochou, he supposedly resigned from the production to avoid further association with his ex-girlfriend. Consequently, the roles of both father and son have fallen on Chen Xiao's shoulders. Chen Xiao is absolutely PERFECT as Yang Kang. I feel he may do a better job playing Yang Kang than Yang Guo. Since we already know that Zhao Liying is slated to play Yang Guo's mother, Mu Nianci, can I scream "HECK YAY!"? Once again, I will get to see this beloved onscreen couples together and this time they get to play one of my favorite wuxia couplings!

The August 13th release date of The Palace movie is fast approaching and the cast is starting to ramp on the promotion. Even though Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying are not the OTP in this movie, I can't help but enjoy their off screen presence in interviews and public events. They are such good eye candies!

To all YingXiao (Chen Xiao+Zhao Liying) shippers, this post is dedicated to toi ! I think I'm totally obsessed with this pairing. So to my non-YingXiao readers, please have patience or just ignore this post. After the Shanghai Film Festival, the cast of The Palace attended the official press conference the following day. The actual conference was quite procedural and dry. Nothing special besides the fact we get to see more photos of the cast. The host and reporters shifted their attention mostly on Zhou Dongyu since she's considered the most "accomplished" in the movie industry. Chen Xiao looked like he was pissed at the world at the Shanghai Film Festival. Luckily, he brightened up a little for this event.

I have been hearing talks from Yu Zheng about the movie version of The Palace for the last two years. I actually never expected much from the guy except for fluff. Thanks to my growing interest in the Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying pairing, I started to pay attention this movie when I learned that they both have a part in it. This newly released official trailer unexpectedly blew me away with the visual quality and cinematography.  The overall atmosphere of the film is characterized by this dark heaviness. The actual film looks tenfold more impressive than any official stills publicized so far. Chen Xiao's real voice is also very character appropriate and sounds so much better in the movie than in interviews. I can already sense bitchiness of Zhao Liying's character smug. And lastly, I love Zhou Dongyu's innocence and melancholy. Her youth certainly adds to the natural innocence of her character. I do not feel any forcefulness.

Any Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying shippers? I have new photo goodies for you! To promote their upcoming summer movie The Palace , our lovely onscreen couple participated in the highly publicized red carpet event in Shanghai yesterday along with Producer Yu Zheng and their co-stars Zhou Dongyu and Zhu Zixiao. Being newbies in the film industry, Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying both looked a little tense under the intense media scrutiny.

Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying collaborates for a third time in this movie Can't get enough for this lovely and incredibly cute onscreen pairing after Legend of Lu Zhen? Fortunately, we will get to see more of them onscreen this summer! The exact date is August 13th. Chen Xiao will lead in the movie adaptation of Yu Zheng's Gong series as Emperor Kangxi's 13th Prince, Yinxiang. The story focuses on the theme of first love. Unfortunately, Zhao Liying is the female antagonist of the story and plays Yinxiang's evil first wife, Liu Li. Chen Xiao's true love in the movie is Zhou Dongyu's Chenxiang.