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The Confidant

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The Confidant
GenreHistorical fiction
Created byCatherine Tsang
Marco Law
Written byKwan Chung-ling
StarringWayne Lai
Michelle Yim
Maggie Shiu
Raymond Wong
Country of originHong Kong
Original languageCantonese
No. of episodes30
Production
Executive producerMarco Law
Production locationsHong Kong
Hengdian World Studios[1]
Camera setupMulti camera
Production companyTVB
Original release
NetworkJade
HD Jade
The Confidant
Traditional Chinese大太監
Simplified Chinese大太监
Literal meaning"great eunuch"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDà Tàijiàn
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationDaai6 Taai3 Gaam3
JyutpingDaai6 Taai3 Gaam3

The Confidant is an upcoming Hong Kong biographical-fiction television drama produced by TVB under executive producer Marco Law. The drama is about the life of Li Lianying, one of the most powerful imperial eunuchs during the latter years of the Qing Dynasty.

Production and casting

Catherine Tsang, one of the deputy chief directors of TVB's drama department, initially created the idea of producing a drama based on Li Lianying.[2] A pre-production trailer was filmed in late 2010 for TVB's 2011 Sales Production Presentation, and it was the last and longest trailer to broadcast at the ceremony. At the time, the temporary cast featured in the trailer consisted of Wayne Lai as Li, Michelle Yim as Empress Dowager Cixi, Bosco Wong as the Guangxu Emperor, Tavia Yeung as Consort Zhen, Susanna Kwan as Li's mother, and John Chiang, Elliot Ngok, and Chung King-fai as prominent government officials. When production for The Confidant was announced, only Lai was confirmed to star. The drama was originally slated to begin production in March 2011, but it was pushed back to end of the year due to production difficulties.[3]

In October 2011, TVB confirmed that the drama will begin filming in December 2011 and will continue its filming in Hengdian World Studios in March 2012.[1] To compete with the three new free broadcasting television stations in Hong Kong, TVB invested an additional 40 percent to the production budget.[1] Maggie Cheung Ho-yee, Maggie Shiu, Ruco Chan, and Raymond Wong were officially announced to join the cast in October 2011. A few weeks later, Chan was pulled out of the cast and signed to film another TVB drama instead.[4] In November 2011, Nancy Wu, Edwin Siu and Aimee Chan were announced to join the cast through their radio interviews and official weibo fansites.[5][6] Helen Ma announced that she and Elliot Ngok, an original cast member from the sales presentation trailer) will join the cast through a post on her weibo,[7] and Oscar Chan uploaded a picture of his casting call on his weibo.[8] Natalie Tong, Power Chan, Raymond Cho and Chung King-fai (also an original cast member) are confirmed to join later on.[9]

The official press conference and costume fitting for The Confidant was originally to be held on November 24 at TVB City, but due to costume problems, the presscon was cancelled.[10] A few days before filming began, Maggie Cheung, withdrew from production due to scheduling conflicts. Her role, Cixi, was replaced by Michelle Yim, who originally portrayed Cixi in the drama's sales presentation trailer.[11] Filming officially began on December 16.[12] Production was planned to be moved to Hengdian World Studios on March 12, however, it was postponed to a week later due to the date of Hong Kong International Film & TV Market.[13] The filming in Hong Kong ended on March 10, followed by a supper at night.[14] At March 22 19:30pm, the trailer shown in FILMART is broadcast on Jade and HD Jade with a line "aired in 2012 eye-catchingly".

On March 19, the cast went to Handian at night and a pray was held on the next day. Filming ended on April 9 and the main cast flied back to Hong Kong on April 12.

Confirmed cast and characters

Character names are in Cantonese romanisation.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Wayne Lai takes responsibility, becomes a eunuch to enhance morale". Oriental Daily (in Chinese). 2011-10-15. p. 1. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
  2. ^ TVB Weekly Magazine Vol. 759 (in Chinese). {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ "Wayne Lai to shave head in March for "The Great Eunuch Li Lianying"". IHKTV (in Chinese). p. 1. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
  4. ^ "Helen Ma's Weibo" (in Chinese). 2011-12-17. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  5. ^ a b "Edwin Siu's Official Fansite Weibo" (in Chinese). 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  6. ^ a b "KuangaiTVB's Weibo" (in Chinese). 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  7. ^ a b "Helen Ma's Weibo" (in Chinese). 2011-11-13. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  8. ^ a b "Oscar Chan's Weibo" (in Chinese). 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  9. ^ a b "kuangaitvb's weibo" (in Chinese). 2011-11-22.
  10. ^ "Helen Ma's Weibo" (in Chinese). Retrieved 2011-11-26.
  11. ^ "Michelle Replaces Maggie Cheung to Play Cixi" (in Chinese). Retrieved 2011-12-16.
  12. ^ "Aimee Chan's Weibo" (in Chinese). Retrieved 2011-12-16.
  13. ^ "祥仔跪石春路 搏盡打硬仗". Sing Tao Daily (in Chinese). 2012-02-22.
  14. ^ "Wayne Lai breaks with tradition to act a masculine eunuch". on.cc instant news (in Chinese). 2012-03-11.
  15. ^ "Raymond Cho's Weibo" (in Chinese). Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  16. ^ "Nancy Wu's Weibo" (in Chinese). Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  17. ^ "Oscar Leung's Weibo" (in Chinese). Retrieved 2011-12-10.
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