Seven years after the original, the xianxia classic The Journey of Flower 花千骨 is getting itself a movie remake helmed by Chen Duling as Hua Qiangu and Li Chengbin (Toby Lee) as the immortal Bai Zihua. The original series starring Wallace Huo and Zhao Liying in a tragic love story between master and disciple set a big record when it first hit screens in 2015. It became the first drama series to garner more than a whopping 20 billion views. No wonder then producers chose what has now quickly become a modern day classic to turn into a film.
Unsuitable?
The trailer to the remake is finally out this week showing the eventual transformation of Hua Qiangu from good to bad. The cast reveal understandably drew much discussion from Chen Duling and questions about whether she matched the role and has the acting chops for it down to the whole cast.
But more than that, what became such a hotly discussed topic online was the apparent “unsuitability” of Taiwanese actor Li Chengbin as Bai Zihua. Like his series predecessor in the TV version, Li Chengbin wore snow white robes in the trailer. However, the general consensus amongst naysayers is that his features are just not suited for costumed dramas and would shine better in modern ones.
“Doesn’t give off very immortal vibes, more earthy and human like” commented a Netizen. Others just couldn’t help comparing it with Wallace Huo’s version of Bai Zihua and saying how much better he looked. Like most remakes, comparison is the inevitable pitfall of redoing a classic. In this case, many are of the opinion that Wallace better embodied the role of the cold-hearted immortal with a secret soft spot for those under his protection. Funnily though, didn’t lots of people bash Wallace for being too unemotional and po-faced when the series came out?
On to the Supporting Cast
Whatever the case, the film certainly drew attention on social media on the day of the trailer’s release. Any publicity is still publicity right? Nevertheless, I do hope audiences are still willing to give the film a chance when it comes out.
Meanwhile, Mao Zijun with his long hair is the new Sha Jiejie who in the original series is the beloved “baddie” played by Ma Ke. Like her predecessor An Yuexi, Lai Meiyun brings on cutesy vibes to play Tang Bao. Zhang Zining appears as princess Ni Mantian. Both Lai Meiyun and Zhang Zining debuted together in 2018 as members of Chinese idol girl group Rocket Girls. The Journey of Flower marks their very first movie.
Source: 1
Mardi
I never watched the drama before. In my opinion Mao Zijun looks more suitable to be the male lead.
Juls
Agree! Wish to see more of him! He is handsome and I think his acting is good too.
Juls
I really didn’t like this story. I thought ZLY was super cute here, just didn’t like the story, plus the drama had many draggy parts. I would have to agree, and I hate to compare but the Bai ZiHua doesn’t look the part. I didn’t like this character as well, even though I think Wallace did a good job playing him. It’s hard for a movie to remake a drama since the dramas are longer and we get more of the character and story. Also I the trailer didn’t wow me. There is a new Movie out there based on the Young Flying fox, that trailer looks pretty bada$$,
Annoyed
That’s how I felt too. ZLY looks cute, but I didn’t like the personality of HQG, it’s cringey and annoying like those of Feng Jiu. It can get disgusting, a grown up woman squeaking like a mouse trying to act cute. They’re already cute looking, they can simply act normal and will look cute naturally without having to overact, it feels super weird. I find CDL pretty but not sure if she’s cute and she needs to act immature so, I’m not optimistic. WL is a very good actor but I also hate the personality of BZH, I don’t even get why it becomes a trend ever since he played it, man dress in white robe and never show a single emotion. Overmore, the shifu relationship thing is annoying as hell, maybe girls these days have no respect for their teachers and daydream about dating him during class but in ancient times a teacher is like your own father or uncle. This storyline is one of the cheapest and childish ever that happen and made lots of money, it opened the door to everyone else copying the same emotionless ML who wouldn’t even need acting skills as long as he can stand like a rock. And the FL will always successfully be likeable no matter how annoying she is because all the other women act so unbelievably evil there’s no way to like them, leaving the FL to be the only thing left to root for. Easy and cheap, but it’s good money that’s why it’s being rinsed and repeat.
KT
Yes. The mousy squeaky vocie is cringey.
zhgg
Admins can you consider using Disqus for your comment section. That might decrease the number of commenters starting fanwars in the comment section.
Roll
Do they even care? The comments have been a mess for a long while now. Just the most recent examples that are especially egregious: https://dramapanda.com/2022/07/company-owned-by-crystal-yuan-bingyan-fined-978000-for-tax-evasion.html and https://dramapanda.com/2022/07/yang-mi-was-injured-during-filming-for-great-escape.html. Fandom is hella crazy.
Roll
My comment didn’t get posted somehow. So I’ll just say I agree with you. Maybe it would help improve the quality of discussion.
unicorn
Why is Disqus better for comments? How does it filter out fan wars? Or any negative comments on any actors ?
Does it have a team to read and censor comments?
zhgg
Because its easier to make multiple dummy accounts via the current comment section than in disqus. You can prevent guests without accounts from commenting on disqus.
The hate commenters pretending to be multiple accounts are always present during fanwars. They’re one of the people fanning the flames. If the hate commenters want to pretend to be 50 different people conversing with each other, they will need time to create many accounts.
Another solution doesn’t involve disqus. The mods can consider blocking ips exhibiting bot like behavior.
unicorn
Ah, I see. Thanks for explaining. I never knew that.
roll
That is a very unflattering shot for the male lead in the hero image. Just unflattering shots for everyone in general, really.
No strong feelings about this as I didn’t watch JoF except “who asked for this”? I only recognise Chen Duling who got roasted for her bad acting before.
Anon
I don’t understand why anyone would want to remake this, It was really mediocre in all aspects. The acting was nothing classic, ZLY was very unnatural especially turning into a villain and WH was stiff and plain.
carmen
me gusto mas la original Wallace Huo y Zhao Liying
Applefish
I remember people were enchanted by CDL’s look when her stills from till the end of the moon come out. I agree she was pretty, however, just pretty has never been enough for me, especially in 1 set of photos. And the above picture and her previous drama prove that she has a plain face in a lot of these other makeup. Pretty, but not beautifully wowing, if you know what I mean. Also the 2 buns hairdo is such low level support cast look lol, scream low budget.
Li chengbin, I had to google because I swear I knew him from somewhere, turn out to be arsenal military school, and yup, he looks 1000% better there than in here. His face just looks wrong here
While I haven’t finished JoF, I have to agree the story wasn’t out of the box, the start was so cliche, and the FL was annoying that I didn’t bother keep going. Just like how they remake Louis Cha’s book series every 2-3yrs, they will redo this for cheap money
CDL need eyes
The hairdo is the same on Tina Tang in that movie version of Legend of Chusen that starred Xiao Zhan in it.
Agree CDL was BEAUTIFUL in those shots from end of the moon.
CDL has big eyes, and ZLY’s eyes used to be the same size too. But after doing some PS or gluing them up ZLY has the hugest eyes ever nobody else has. Hua Qiangu is supposed to be a kid and look cute. While CDL is beautiful, she’s not really cute. Also, with eyes tinier than ZLY now, all the comparisons will not favor CDL.
I think I can ignore all that but the stupidest thing is whoever is directing is making CDL copy EXACTLY THE SAME poses ZLY made. Really stupid. There are so many new ways to visualize a same story, and they make her copy everything the same. ZLY looks like a cartoon with huge eyes, really suitable to play cute. It makes CDL looks like a fool to copy something doesn’t even match her.
Anonymity
I agree she actually has a really plain face for an actress. She’s by no means ugly, but not exactly the prettiest or cutest out there. Maybe she’s a better actress than ZLY and will play the evil character better. There’s so many things that are stupid or just wrong with the Hua Qian Gu story, that I don’t really understand why they’d remake it.
CDL Need Eyes
Yes the cuteness part worked on ZLY when she played the stupid and naive parts. The evil part was hilarious, the crazy Halloween makeup is very funny. The fake evil laugh was also very bad acting.
I don’t know if CDL will be able to do any parts better. All the pictures and clips I seen are copies of the EXACT poses ZLY did. Although ZLY looked hilarious as hell when her humongous eyes turn evil purple, they made CDL copy the exact same pose and hers wasn’t any better. CDL eyes are just way too small compare with ZLY who used better eyes-enlarging effects and filters.
CDL acting is actually better than ZLY, but for a dumb character like HQG it’s not worth wasting time on it. Basically the writer made everyone beechy as helll so only the squeaky female lead will be likeable, then to make her pitiful as hell the writer basically killed each and every friend left and right without any reason and explanation. On top of that, lots of blaming dumb crimes on the female that make no sense at all. It’s just way too dumb.
Anony
The redos of Louis Cha were all really good up until the late 2010s the remakes start to get stupid as hell.
faith
one of few cdramas that i tend to fast forwarded. its like damn slow at times. the female lead are too cheerful and the male lead are too stoic almost lifeless.