Why is it that everyone’s mother loves Sun Honglei? The man’s not ancient and his charm transcends the generations. Despite his being typecast as a villain for much his career, it was the subtle humor that he seamlessly injected into those roles that made me a fan. It remains to be seen if he can do it for a full movie, such as with the upcoming romantic comedy, My Fair Gentleman (Previously called Dirt Rich in Shanghai). It has a Pygmalion-like plot where he plays the Eliza Doolittle to Kelly Lin‘s Higgins. I’ve grown to really like Kelly Lin and I think she’d play really well off of Sun Honglei, so I’ve been looking forward to this movie. However, the script really has to be much better than what’s been revealed in the trailer.
Frankly, there hasn’t been much released for this movie in the way of stills so I haven’t had much opportunity to debazzle you guys with pretty pictures like I want to, but apparently this actually has a much higher budget than Sophie’s Revenge (which actually didn’t cost much), even if not as many promos. It’s also produced by John Woo, who is said to take a special interest in this movie, and is overseeing it quietly in the background. I’m not sure how much he’s actually doing, or if he’s just trying to get his name out there to attract audiences. But since he usually doesn’t deal with romantic comedies I hope he’s doing only what he can handle. I think always- typecast-as-villain Sun Honglei with a gun in both hands in his romantic comedy debut may confuse people. Although I wouldn’t mind some doves.
Instead I’ll settle for this adorableness:
If this does well the producers have said they would consider making a sequel.
If romantic comedy’s not your thing, you can always check out Kelly Lin in Gasp, a very experimental film also starring Ge You and Wilson Chen Bo-lin. It didn’t get stellar reviews, but Ge You being Ge You, it still raked in a large amount.
Or check out trailers for movies I really don’t care about:
I used to be curious about this biopic of Confucius once upon a time, when I thought it would be representative of China’s reemerging interest in Confucianism, but nothing has excited me about it so far, and it seems like a film at least half geared toward foreign audiences.
Just not my thing. I think there’s some fighting in there.
The Jay Chou-Lin Zhiling movie I talked about a long time ago. No one had high expectations for it considering Jay rehired the director that did Kungfu Dunk for it, and those expectations remain low, but of this list, it’s actually the one I hold most interest in. Even if you turn out crap Jay, I like how you explore new things. Plus Lin Zhiling is adorable trying to act fierce.
There’s more movies coming out and I just can’t keep track anymore. Hopefully “My Fair Gentleman” can make a profit despite the competition. I would hate for the romantic-comedy to be overshadowed by the made-for-the-west biopic, warrior fantasy, or action-adventure genres.
Tags: Confucius, Dirt Rich in Shanghai, Gasp, Jay Chou, John Woo, Kelly Lin, Storm Warriors, Sun Honglei, Treasure Hunter
September 19, 2009 at 4:54 pm
haha. sun honglei. its true.
before reading this post, i recognized the dude in the middle, and i was already thinking about posting a comment about how my mom loves this actor.
September 20, 2009 at 12:01 am
He seems more well liked around my age group in China though; my cousin thought he was the hottest thing ever in high school, and I bought XFXWYXY in China (took forever to find) and showed the box set to a colleague over there, and she, ignoring the main two male characters played by Chen Kun and Lu Yi, and more prominent on the cover, pointed to Sun Honglei, and exclaimed how much she loved him.
Of course, that’s an unfair comparison because nobody in my age range actually knows who the hell he is in the States. They’re missing out.
September 20, 2009 at 10:36 pm
[...] Cfensi Your source for Chinese Entertainment News « “My Fair Gentleman” and Other Movie Trailers [...]
October 3, 2009 at 1:22 am
He’s just a natural “shi nai sha shou.” I’m telling you. Well, actually, in the case of mothers, maybe it’d be more fitting to put “shi mu sha shou.” Ahahaha.
Hey, I love him too. But seriously, everybody’s mother loves him. I mean, you don’t have to be ancient to gain the love of the mother generation. Like, my mom is like freaking obsessed with Jang Donggeun and Lee Byunghoon, both of whom are not that old either. It’s just something charisma-wise that speaks to the mothers, I must say.
October 7, 2009 at 3:22 pm
[...] not only by Jian Guo Da Ye (The Founding of a Republic) and Feng Sheng (The Message), but also by My Fair Gentleman, which is getting very positive reviews for both the movie and the acting from Sun Honglei and [...]
November 18, 2009 at 1:16 am
[...] itself last year in China, with Call for Love 2 and other films becoming hits with little effort. My Fair Gentlemen with Sun Honglei and Kelly Lin did verywell over the National Holiday week, 3rd only to the [...]