Saturday, October 12, 2019

"A Chinese Drama Is Digitally Erasing Its Scandal-Plagued Actors"

SixthOne:
Two scandal-struck megastars in the long-delayed costume drama “Win the World” are being digitally scrubbed from the show, according to its producers.

In a statement Tuesday, Talent Television and Film Co. Ltd. said it had enlisted Tmall Technology, a company under e-commerce giant Alibaba, to replace Gao Yunxiang and Fan Bingbing with as-yet-unnamed “top-tier actors” by means of “scene refilming, technological tools, audio re-recording, etc.” The studio also assured potential viewers that the estimated 60 million yuan ($8.4 million) in changes, slated to be completed by the end of this year, would not adversely affect the quality or integrity of the show.
Straits Times:
Filming for the show ended in September 2017, but it first ran into trouble in January last year when two Qin history lovers accused the show of historical inaccuracies and using Japanese instead of Qin costumes.

Ba Qing was later cleared by the authorities and scheduled to air in April last year, but in March last year, Gao was arrested in Australia after a woman accused him of sexual assault. He has been released on bail, but remains on trial in Australia.

In May last year, Fan was accused of tax evasion and disappeared from public view for more than four months before she was ordered to pay more than 800 million yuan in overdue taxes and fines.