The Untamed Photobook Add-On Booklet Cast Interviews [5/9]
LiuHaiKuan
One month before we started training, I had always been diligently exercising. My body weight was 145 jin [1], I even had a trainer, and I felt that my condition was quite good. After we started training, I was disgusted by how my body shape was too broad and I was not skinny enough, I thought, “Let’s lose another 5 jin [2].” But when I saw Lan Wang Ji, I realised that I was too big-sized. Yi Bo and Xiao Zhan have very small faces. Xiao Zhan’s face is already narrow, and with his two tufts of hair, it looks even narrower.
I then decided to lose another 5 jin, and after that I got a little addicted and lost another 5 jin. Now, I weighed 130 jin [3], and ever since we had started I had lost a total of 15 jin. A few days ago when I measured my chest, it was 93 cm [4] while before we started it was 110 cm [5], and I was especially miserable.
When we started training, I realised that all the actors are especially good-looking. During our breaks in between filming, I asked Xiao Zhan, “Ah Zhan, how heavy are you?” He said, “I’m 130 jin.” I said, “Okay, then I’ll try losing weight to 130 jin…” I hope the audience can see that I really respect this role and diligently want to portray their ideal Lan Xi Chen. [6]
TN:
[1] Approximately 87 kg or 191 lb
[2] Approximately 3 kg or 6.6 lb
[3] Approximately 78 kg or 172 lb
[4] Approximately 36.6”
[5] Approximately 43”
[6] I’ve always known that the actors were specifically told that they had to be slim in order to look good in the guzhuang costumes, but the extent to which Liu Hai Kuan took this and how much he worried about it really pains me. And I know that despite everything that’s going on with #bodypositivity, it’s a part of the show biz, but he is already such a beautiful person the way he is and how unhappy he was with the way he looked is just a little depressing.
ZhuZanJin
The one I interact most with in the show is Lan Xi Chen. Hai Kuan Laoshi is also very much like Lan Xi Chen, that is, very elegant and refined, and he doesn’t like to talk much. My personality is actually more extroverted, and we are like fire and ice: he is ice, I am fire. For example when we joked privately, I would always go “HAHAHAHA”, laughing uncontrollably, but he would quietly and calmly go “en”. But in the end we eventually switched, when he told me a joke, I would go “hehe”. We would tease and joke with on another very often.
So I had written about WWX and his strong sense of 忠孝仁义 last week. While I was writing it, I kept on thinking about JGY and how he managed to violate all of these virtues. I wanted to go into this characterization of him because I find it so interesting how opposite he is to WWX in the decisions he made. (Warning: i’m not nice to JGY here so if you don’t want him dragged, don’t read?)
There’s a lot of conversation about Wei Wuxian and how he struck out on his path without a concern for the Jiangs; about how he’s reckless and not giving a sh*t about his role within his society; about how he had a family and siblings and threw it all away for his sense of right and wrong. But the way I read his actions is within the context of the virtues of 忠孝仁义 (and how the virtues, especially 义, is ingrained in him via the Jiang sect motto). WWX’s major decisions can all be read as him acting in accordance with one or more of these virtues. Even when WWX is being his most irreverent self (and yes he’s rude and bring about a lot of second hand shame) he still remembers the we-self (to borrow from baoshan-sanren’s post) context as the head disciple of the Jiang Sect. Even when he seems to abandon everything, he didn’t abandon his understanding of these virtues.
Rating: T | Pairing: Wangxian | Rating: T | Pairing: Wangxian
Alternate Universe - Modern Setting | Alternate Universe - Reality Show | Long Lost Family AU | Adoption | Family Reunions | Reunions | Lost Love | Getting Back Together | Family Feels | Found Family | Angst with a Happy Ending | Mild Angst | Happy Ending | Podfic Welcome
„I remember him as…sunny,” Sizhui tells her. “His whole personality radiated sunshine and warmth. He was always smiling, always cracking a joke. He loved playing and rough-housing with us kids, but he could also be very gentle if he wanted to. Looking back, he couldn’t have been older than twenty-five; he was probably even younger than that, now that I think about it. But despite the short time we’ve spent together while he was looking after the kids at the orphanage, he always felt like a father to me.”
In which Lan Sizhui goes on a TV show, to find the man he saw as a father figure while he was in the orphanage, and who disappeared one day.
…and who just so happens to be his adoptive father’s long-lost love.
Rating: T | Pairing: Wangxian | Rating: T | Pairing: Wangxian
Alternate Universe - Modern Setting | Alternate Universe - Reality Show | Long Lost Family AU | Adoption | Family Reunions | Reunions | Lost Love | Getting Back Together | Family Feels | Found Family | Angst with a Happy Ending | Mild Angst | Happy Ending | Podfic Welcome
„I remember him as…sunny,” Sizhui tells her. “His whole personality radiated sunshine and warmth. He was always smiling, always cracking a joke. He loved playing and rough-housing with us kids, but he could also be very gentle if he wanted to. Looking back, he couldn’t have been older than twenty-five; he was probably even younger than that, now that I think about it. But despite the short time we’ve spent together while he was looking after the kids at the orphanage, he always felt like a father to me.”
In which Lan Sizhui goes on a TV show, to find the man he saw as a father figure while he was in the orphanage, and who disappeared one day.
…and who just so happens to be his adoptive father’s long-lost love.
“As you can imagine, it’s not exactly easy to make a whole family disappear. The Wens needed help with getting out of here as quickly as possible, leaving no trace behind. The Wen siblings had met someone during their studies who had sensed the danger the family was in, and in an attempt to help them, had become a target too. So, he took it upon himself to leave his old life behind in order to help the Wens disappear, but also to protect those who were close to him back then. You know this man as…Xian-gege.”
Sizhui drops the two photographs he was still holding. “You are joking,” he says, incredulous.
In which the first steps to a reunion are being taken.
—–
Chapter 5 is out now! Total chapter count has been updated to seven. ♥
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