Hey guys, it’s Anton.
We’re going to over the backstories for Xiao Zhan, Darren Wang, and Li Qin today on
how they were selected to be casted in “The Wolf”.
So the lead director for “The Wolf” recently spoke with Tencent about her drama, which
finally premiered after three long years of being shelved.
She is a Taiwanese director who was also responsible for the high school romance movie “Our Times”,
which featured Darren Wang as main male lead and had catapulted him into the spotlight
back in 2015.
This is news to me, I liked “Our Times” quite a bit and it was also where I first
noticed Darren, so no wonder why I found the flow of “The Wolf” to be so familiar.
It all makes sense now.
The interesting thing is that Frankie Chen, the lead director for “The Wolf”, didn’t
actually know it was airing until it finally did.
She reported that even though she was lead director, she had only learned that the series
was finally airing just thirty minutes prior to it actually airing.
That’s actually a little funny that she was left in the dark just like the rest of
us.
We had been waiting for “The Wolf” for three years, and during that time there was
literally no updates from the production team.
I remember earlier this year when Xiao Zhan had an interview he mentioned that “The
Wolf” would premiere later in the year and everyone assumed he meant in the summer 2019.
But when August passed, we all thought that something had happened and “The Wolf”
was going to be shelved again.
Then here we are in November, just one month before the end of the year, and we get the
best surprise pre-Christmas present ever.
The premiere of “The Wolf” was so surprising that even its own director was surprised.
Anyways, like the rest of us, Frankie Chen, the director, thought the decision to release
every single episode of “The Wolf” all at once was a little weird and was concerned
that doing that might affect it gaining views.
Luckily, she didn’t have much to worry about, and the series to date has been one of the
most popular and successful C-Dramas this year.
It’s definitely on my top list for Chinese dramas this year, and the three main actors,
Li Qin, Darren Wang, and Xiao Zhan are all major favorites because of it.
I just love them all so much.
Let’s talk about their stories, which were discussed by the lead director, because I
feel it tells us so much more about them and their dedication to acting.
I’ll talk about all three, but let’s start with Li Qin.
When “The Wolf” started production, Li Qin had been in a lot of dramas already.
I knew her most from “Princess Agents” alongside Zhao Li Ying, but she had been in
so many more dramas before that.
Apparently at the time, Li Qin had told the director that she wanted a different role
than what she normally played.
She took filming the series very seriously and would spend a considerable amount of time
discussing the scenes and her character development.
There was one scene they were filming where Li Qin was crying and she got into character
so much that her voice got hoarse.
She put her heart and soul into that scene, and you know what happened.
The series was dubbed, and so her voice was dubbed over and nobody was able to witness
it.
Li Qin had even asked the director if she could dub her own voice but was told no.
That’s kind of heartbreaking when you think about it, I hope one day maybe they can release
a special version where all the actors can dub their own voice.
I didn’t really care too much for Li Qin’s dubbed voice here, if you hear her in real
life her voice is beautiful.
It’s a shame they had to dub her over, especially over that kind of impactful scene.
I’m sure it was spectacular.
Okay, next is Xiao Zhan.
But before I let’s move on and talk about him, I want to quickly remind everyone to
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Anyways, onto Xiao Zhan.
Apparently, when Frankie Chen, the director, was asked why she chose Xiao Zhan to be in
“The Wolf”, she replied that she had actually auditioned every member of X-NINE.
X-NINE is a Chinese boy band, which includes Xiao Zhan, that was formed from an idol TV
show called X-Fire.
The director told every member to sing and dance for her because she wanted to see which
members had charm.
She felt especially drawn to Xiao Zhan because out of the entire group, he left the deepest
impression on her compared to the other members.
She said that he demonstrated the most ambition and willingness to work hard.
Xiao Zhan’s performance as Ji Chong eventually became one of the best of all time, with netizens
labeling his role as “the strongest second male lead in history”.
I think that’s very true.
I loved Xiao Zhan in “The Wolf”, his character is so perfect that sometimes you just wonder
what Li Qin was thinking.
But getting Xiao Zhan into the character of Ji Chong apparently took some steps according
to the director.
She said that Ji Chong’s character in the drama was actually very different from Xiao
Zhan’s personality in real life.
Xiao Zhan is more reserved in real life, as compared to Ji Chong who roams around everywhere
and treats every place like his home.
She said that Xiao Zhan’s self-motivation was impressive and he was able to work hard
to adapt his acting in order to fit the personality of his character perfectly.
Another issue for Xiao Zhan that the director brought up was his appearance.
She imagined the Ji Chong persona to be very rugged, as someone who wanders the world,
and very strong.
At the time, Xiao Zhan was apparently more slender and thin than the director wanted.
Frankie Chen didn’t want the character to appear frail or weak.
So in order to fit his role, he started to eat more every single day, even forcing himself
on set to eat, and eventually gained the weight that we see on screen.
Back when she was first auditioning Xiao Zhan for the role, she had told him that she knew
he was already very handsome, but also needed someone who looks rugged as well, so she asked
him to grow some facial hair for the role.
She also gave him a greyer tone foundation to make him look grittier like he had sand
and dust on his face.
After all, Ji Chong was a world traveler, and I think that in the end, all these changes
proves that Xiao Zhan is an amazing worker and truly dedicated to doing what he loves
the best which is acting.
Apparently he would also spend lots of time with the director after filming each day in
order to understand his character and the plot more so he can an even better job.
I’m actually so impressed by how he was able to get into the character, and his willingness
to do whatever it takes to make sure fans have a good show.
It’s just a whole new level of respect for this man.
He was already one of my favorite actors before, but knowing this I think he just moved up
yet another notch.
He was so amazing in this one, give this video a big thumbs up if you agree.
Okay, let’s move on to Darren Wang.
Previous to “The Wolf”, Darren had already worked with the director on “Our Times”
and another movie called “Fall in Love at First Kiss”.
This was his very first costumed drama and so he wasn’t used to all the action sequences
which included fighting choreography.
On many occasions there were wire scenes where he had to be flipped upside down and his face
would turn bright red.
On location at a high mountain he would get breathless after running scenes because of
the high elevation.
When the director offered her oxygen tank to him he would always politely decline and
say “I’m alright, I can do it.”
Frankie Chen the director offered Darren Wang the role shortly after they finished filming
“Our Times” because she felt he had a very wild and manly aura that other actors
just didn’t have, perfect for the role of the Wolf.
At first he was reluctant to take the role because it seemed hard to portray, but Frankie
stated that Darren’s performance exceeded her expectations entirely.
She never told him during filming though because she didn’t want him to get complacent with
his acting before it was over.
He had a lot of lines to recite for the drama and was panicking quite a bit, which the director
noticed as he was still practicing even late at night at the hotel lobby.
In previous interviews during filming, he mentioned to interviewers that he felt like
he was in crisis mode, but despite the pressure that the director was applying to him, she
knew that he was very hard working and still felt very reassured Darren Wang as her Wolf.
All these leads seem like they were put through some incredible stuff during their filming
days, and I’m just glad that after such a long time that it finally got aired.
I wonder what it was like for all of them to see all their hard work finally on the main screen,
it must have been incredible, like a dream.
The last bit we have is whether or not there is any possibility at all that we would be
able to see a sequel to “The Wolf”.
The director replied that she doesn’t know if anyone would want to watch “The Wolf
Season 2”, but it could be an option.
She did tell herself though after the they wrapped up filming from the current season
that “The Wolf” should probably be her last costume drama because it was too hard
and too tiring to do.
I think that’s real disappointing to hear because I thoroughly enjoyed “The Wolf”,
even to the end, but I see that given how it did end it would be hard to do a second
season of this drama.
I just don’t think I can watch it in the state that it is in at the end unless some
weird plot miracle happens.
I just finished “The Wolf” today and I’m still digesting the end, it’s kind of a
tough pill to swallow.
I would love to see another collaboration between Li Qin, Darren Wang, and Xiao Zhan
though, these three have amazing talent and potential, and I am really glad they made
“The Wolf” despite all the difficulties that they ran into while filming it.
Yes, the storyline was not perfect and it had its moments, but overall I’m glad I
watched this drama and am ready to rewatch it again someday soon to properly organize
my thoughts.
It was quite a wild ride but I wouldn’t give it up for anything.
Thank you Darren, Xiao Zhan, Li Qin, and their production team for giving us this special moment
in time.
I’ll definitely remember this one.
Anyways, that’s all I have for you guys today.
If you are a new viewer then remember to subscribe to this channel to join us on this incredible
journey through dramas.
My name is Anton, thank you so much for joining me, I will see you guys in the next video.
Later!