Weibo Fever # 15 : Will Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯) be the next artist to join CTI?

** Hot off the press!!!** (well, not 'the press' in terms of Media, since the below Weibo post was from a few hours ago, so the reporters might not have picked it up yet)

I normally don't like to do short random posts like this, but in my efforts to 'catch up' on HK entertainment stuff the past few days (yes, I've been quite busy lately so haven't been updating as much as I'd like), I've been reading stuff like crazy. Well, during my Weibo 'stalking' today, I came across the below post that actress Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯) wrote and since she's definitely one of my favorites in terms of 80s TVB actresses, plus there has been alot of talk lately about which TVB artists have possibly joined CTI, I really felt the urge to share the below.

First off, here's the actual post copied from Sheren's Weibo (I didn't include the picture that she had uploaded with her post...will add it later) :

On 6/12 at 10:31, Sheren wrote:
一直覺得北京和紐約都是很有感覺的地方，舊+時尚+型+藝術氛圍！就像這樣有個性的工作室，超愛[good]！為北京而驕傲！也為劇組「棋逢對手」選景的品味而鼓掌[给力][太开心]！希望香港的時裝劇新勢力（全實景拍攝）@王維基 找拍攝塲地時也能給力點，花點錢！ 讓觀眾看戲之餘也能看到香港的魅力所在！

Translation:  All along, I've felt that Beijing [China] and New York are both places with alot of 'feel' -- old + modern + cool +artistic atmosphere!  A work studio with such personality as this, totally love it!  Proud of Beijing!   Also applaud the good taste of the "Qi Feng Dui Shou" [Mainland series] production team for choosing this location!  Hoping that [for] Hong Kong's modern series new influence (entirely real location filming), Ricky Wong can invest a little more effort and spend a little more money when looking for a filming location [so that] in addition to watching series, audiences can also see the charm of Hong Kong!

***************
My Comments:

Ok, so based on the above, does this mean that Sheren will be the next artist to film series for CTI? It certainly sounds like it – in fact, it sounds to me like Sheren has already completed discussions with Ricky Wong and already has a ‘project’ (new series) in the works! With Felix Wong’s (黃日華) and Maggie Cheung’s (張可頤) new series with CTI set to start filming in August, is it possible that Sheren’s series will also be part of that batch? Better yet, will she be in the same series as Felix? (Boy, I’d love to see an ‘80s reunion’ with those two! Haha!).

Personally, I wouldn’t be too surprised if this were true because based on past interviews with Sheren, she’s the consummate actress type who is very passionate about her craft as well as very ‘particular’ about the filming process. I remember in one of the interviews I translated last year (the one where she talks about filming in Mainland vs filming for TVB) she had indicated that when she and Wayne Lai (黎耀祥) were filming No Regrets (巾幗梟雄之義海豪情), there was one scene where they were supposed to be in war-torn Guangzhou but because of limited resources, the ‘Guangzhou’ set was pretty much a backdrop built inside the studio – at one point, some of the set was falling apart and it was difficult for her to ‘concentrate’ on her acting in that type of environment. That’s why she really liked filming in Hengdian (China) because the sets are more real (for the most part) and makes her feel like she was actually transported back to the real location back in ancient times -- this helped her get into her character easier and also allowed her to concentrate more fully on acting rather than worrying about resources. With one of Ricky Wong’s ‘guarantees’ being that every series of his will be ‘real location filming’, I have a feeling that if Sheren did decide to join CTI, this would be one of the major reasons why.

Sheren is currently filming the sequel to War and Beauty (金枝慾孽) [I thinking the working title is “Beauty at War”] for TVB right now, however all filming for the series in HK is already completed – the only filming left are all the scenes being done in Hengdian, China (the cast and crew left for Hengdian last week)…once the filming there wraps, then Sheren will be completely finished with the series. With the filming in Hengdian scheduled to last 1 month, that means that they would be done by mid July, which is ‘perfect timing’ for Sheren to start with Ricky Wong in August. Plus I remember reading somewhere that Sheren (who currently only has a ‘per series’ contract with TVB) does not have much left of her contract with TVB, so it’s very possible that after WAB2 (which will probably be at least 30 to 40 episodes), she will have fulfilled her contract obligations (again, not 100% sure about this…I’d have to go back and check previous news reports to find out for sure). Of course, since Sheren is technically a ‘free artist’ (she is NOT under management contract with TVB), in theory, she could still film for other TV stations if she chooses to even prior to her contract ending, but I highly doubt that she would do that (especially since she has an ‘amicable’ relationship with TVB for the most part).

In any case, I’m pretty sure that we will hear more about this in the next couple days / weeks, since it would definitely be a ‘big deal’ if a first-line fa dan such as Sheren were to join CTI (though it might be bad news for Maggie Cheung, since that means her ‘first-line fa dan’ position at CTI would be threatened…of course she might not even care though…). And it will also create yet another ‘awkward’ situation for TVB, since Sheren is the main lead in WAB2 – if it’s confirmed that Sheren will join CTI and might even be filming for them as early as August, how will this affect the airing of the series? Will it be ‘indefinitely’ delayed given the situation? Or will they decide to air WAB2 this year so as to get all the series with artists who have left out there as soon as possible (as they seem to have been doing with producers Lau Ka Ho and Mui Siu Ching’s series as well as those of Steven Ma, Ha Yu, etc.)?

This also means that all that talk about a possible 3rd installment to Rosy Business (both producer Lee Tim Sing as well as writer Yip Kwong Yim have stated that they are interested in doing RB3) with the original cast (Wayne and Sheren) will pretty much tank now -- because to be honest, who would want to watch another installment of RB without the "team" of Wayne + Sheren?

It will definitely be very interesting to see what direction this situation takes in the coming months!