It's been awhile since I've followed a drama from announcement stage, so kinda feeling excited for this drama. Don't know if I'll love it yet and blog about it consistently, but so far the promotional material that has dropped this week has been promising. I like the way Vivian and Marcus look together and there is that exciting Marcus picture that SETTV dropped on their instagram...
The early 15 second teaser is the bit meh though. I find those early teasers are rarely ever super exciting - I like to see glimpses into the first story episode or see some good chemistry before I feel more committed. The larger still is also interesting. It looks like a more serious drama with everyone in their drama poses. But I'm liking what I see from the actor's instagrams - Vivian's behind the scenes video where she kicks Marcus with her foot is silly and cute.
New SETTV Instagram Photos
Both Marcus and Vivian have also shared this image on their Instagram as a teaser for fans
I'm a full time Jasper fan, but I've been a rather casual blogger. Sometimes life gets in the way and you don't have extra time to be posting as much as you want. The silver lining with being advised to stay at home all day during this pandemic is that I have a lot of time to not only do posts for upcoming stuff, but also play catch up and post things I've been meaning to post for ages!
The most recent Jasper photo shoot I've come across is one for Esquire HK this month. It was a fun shoot with Jasper dealing out his cooking and cocktail making skills in Burberry. Though a little grainy, loving the neon night shots, especially since it's been so long since we've all been out right?
There's a related article on Esquire, which you can read where Jasper talks about his feelings in regards to the pandemic this year. It's quite reflective and meaningful. He says "The impermanence of life is an issue we all have to face. It has always been frightening. The rules of the game is that no one can escape from birth and death." He talks about family and how important that is to him, especially when he was able to take his parents to Italy for Fashion Week and spend time with them earlier in the year. "I feel that I should cherish everything around me, whether it is family or friends. It's the only thing I want to do now." He also says: "This year is a year full of unknowns. There is no way we can have too many ideas at present. We have arrived in April or May in a blink of an eye. I hope everyone can be safe. I continue to exercise, read, and always prepare for the next work. Keeping my mood stable, I want to cherish every minute and every second, and enjoy every moment!" You can read the read of the article on Esquire in the link below.
I think it's good that Taiwan and South Korea were among some of the first places to flatten the virus curve as it sounds like a number of dramas are still carefully going ahead. But I digress.
Marcus and Vivian's drama started shooting back in April and looks like it'll follow schedule with Epoch times releasing the first of a few select stills from the drama. Both actors have said that the drama will contain pretty much every romance convention available and there'll be some pretty grand, sweeping romance tropes included.
Just because I haven't been watching a lot of Taiwanese dramas lately, doesn't mean I don't constantly keep one eye out for Jasper projects (A Jasper update is needed!) or any good pair ups. This one is set to be interesting, both in the pairing and actually story line. New Sanlih drama, Lost Romance sees Marcus Chang and Vivian Sung star paired together for the first time. Both actors come from the same agency, Star Ritz (The same agency as Eugenie Liu and Megan Lai), so they know each other well and have worked on a number of projects together, most notably Cafe. Waiting. Love. However, this is the first time they've worked opposite each other in romantic lead roles.
Here's a selfie they took back in 2016 at the 18th Taipei Film Awards, when Marcus was starring in Back to 1989 and Vivian Sung had just found huge success with Our Times, both extremely good projects to check out if you haven't done so already.
Lost Romance is looking to be a fun drama - a romantic comedy that actually pokes fun at the big romance tropes and conventions often found in Asian dramas. Th story follows an overly romantic girl who wants to fall in love and have a romance with a CEO (the modern day equivalent of a prince in Asia). Somehow getting transported into a romantic novel setting, she meets the overbearing CEO of her dreams and uses her romance knowledge to make him fall for her. The plot twist is that she is apparently not the heroine of the story, but it turns out that she may not be the heroine, but the evil second female character in this story. So hijinks ensues! The literal translation of the Chinese title to English is 'Romantically losing to you' which also gives a hint to the story.
The drama had it's official opening ceremony and press conference recently with the drama set to be released for 7th June, 2020 after the current drama ends. Second leads are looking to be Simon Lian from Taiwanese boy band speXial and newcomer, Tsai Jui-hsueh, also known as social media personality, Snowbaby. It also looks like Deyn Li from Pleasantly Surprised and When I See You Again is back as a supporting character too.
A few funny things about the press ceremony: It's lucky that Taiwan seems to have had a good control over coronavirus, but this is definitely one of the first ceremonies where so many people are wearing face masks while they do the rituals to bless the new drama. The second funny thing is that the cast are all wearing white T-shirts with a picture of Marcus Chang on the back!
Marcus Chang and Vivian Sung both mention in the interviews that there are many romantic tropes in the drama - just about every one you expect in a romantic drama will be there. When asked about working as a pairing, Vivian said she was worried at first about doing romance scenes because they have been friends for so long that she thought it might be weird. but it turned out to be really easy as they have a good understanding of each other/ have good chemistry. Also they signed Marcus' t-shirt (on him) and Vivian said she signed at the spot where his heart is to give her love to him. Haha. They also joked about Marcus' body, with Vivian saying when she signed his shirt she could feel her writing getting bumpy because of the ridges of his body (meaning he is ripped), with Marcus saying she was exaggerating!
I'm always grateful when drama actors have good friendships and it's nice to see photos of them hanging out on their socials, outside of arranged photo shoots. These pictures are pretty frequent on Taiwanese celebrity insta feeds, but less so on Korean celebrity feeds due to a need to maintain carefully guarded images. It's pretty sad that some fans feel they can control and cyberbully their idols - especially in regards to who they are friends with or who they date.
That's why I cherish every photo that makes it out into the social world - it seems to show that some friendships are not just strictly work-related, but also indicates that fans are being supportive of these actors rather than making them feel afraid to post pictures with other celebrities.
Guessing by the date and the clothes they're wearing, these photos were posted by Chaeyeon when she met with Jisoo for their Marie Claire shoot last year in July. Though a little quiet on the Marie Claire interview, it's super nice to see they were happy to be reunited :) While the shoot looks kinda alternative and cool, I actually prefer these photos more, because they both look so much cuter here!
It's like 9 months late, but just wanted to add these cute pictures and video from a magazine shoot that Ji Soo and Chaeyeon did last year in promoting My First First Love with Marie Claire Korea. If anyone has missed these, hope you enjoy these photos as much as I did. Or, if you saw them when they came out, hope you enjoy their beauty again. There's also a video interview where they answer questions from the perspective of their characters.
The weird thing about leaving a world and then coming back to it is how quickly things change. When Netflix first started there wasn't that much Asian drama content - now it even backs a behind the scenes / fan content channel on Youtube.
The Swoon is absolutely swoon-worthy as it's helped to make behind the scenes content for Asian more accessible to English speaking audiences. Videos are readily translated, there's interviews and variety content with drama actors...there's even competitions to win drama merch. Netflix has really gotten it right with this one.
With my need to get through the last of my withdrawal symptoms for finishing My First First Love, I've posted all the Behind the Scenes videos here. Also included a few other BTS/ game videos - but unfortunately don't know Korean so can't translate, haha.
