Choi Siwon headlines Chinese version of Heirs

by javabeans

I suppose that Heirs, despite being bereft of narrative movement and limp of content, did somehow manage to turn itself into a pop-culture phenomenon, and now there is apparently going to be a Chinese drama version (titled 億萬繼承, which basically means Heirs), and it will star Choi Siwon (King of Dramas). For whatever reason this remake/production/casting news makes perfect sense; now all they need to do is cast Ha Suk-jin to play the older brother role. (C’mon, with those faces, they have to play bros at some point!)

According to SM, Siwon’s management, he’ll be playing the hidden heir to a large cosmetics conglomerate who finds himself in a competition to claim an enormous inheritance. Also cast are actress Kan Qing Zi and Yu Xiao Tong, and if they’re following the Korean Heirs closely, probably half their entire generation of rising stars. Directing is Li Shao Hong, whose TV credits include 2012’s Hua Kai Ban Xia and 2010’s Hong Lou Meng. Co-directing will be Korean PD Oh Sang-won, who previously made the dramas Sad Sonata and Oh Pil Seung Bong Soon Young.

Ummm. Well, it seems inevitable that a hit as popular as Heirs was bound to spawn adaptations and offshoots. Heirs will always be one of those dramas whose appeal I fully understand yet don’t *get* personally, so I be equally unsurprised if this adaptation turned into a humongous hit for Chinese television or flopped big time. And hey, in this case the wafer-thin plot could actually be a boon, since there is little to get lost in translation. It’s mostly flirting and crying and longing looks, with a huge dash of overbearing parental interference and mean-spirited bullying. Put that way, who could resist?

The inexplicable draw of the show is also something you can’t chalk up to youth, because in an amusing reversal, Heirs is the drama where all of our parents here on the DB staff loved the drama with a surprising fervor, while we could only shrug in wonder. (Mama Beans: “Heirs is so cute!” Javabeans: “But… nothing happens and they just cry all the time.” Mama Beans: “I know nothing happens, but they cry so cute!” Javabeans: “But the characters are horrible.” Mama Beans: “Well yes, but they’re also so cute! This show is so fun!” Which is the point at which you have to just drop the subject and move on to how King’s Family is so stupid as to be hilarious, which is something on which we can agree wholeheartedly.)

Siwon will be off to China to begin filming shortly, after which he’ll have Super Junior activities to promote the group’s new album.

Via My Daily

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