In 2008, Van Ness Wu was playing second fiddle to his headlining fellow F4 castmates in ther eally long Taiwan tourist commercial masquerading as a Taiwanese idol drama “Wish to See You Again”, while Ady An was missing in action in the Taiwanese entertainment industry as she was playing ancient fantasy heroine off in mainland China.
Fast forward to the end of 2009, and you have even the harshest of critics ranking Van Ness Wu and Ady An’s pairing in surprise hit drama“Autumn’s Concerto (Next Stop, Happiness)” up there with Joe Cheng andAriel Lin’s casting in 2005’s “It Started with a Kiss” and Mike He andRainie Yang’s casting in 2005 “Devil Beside You”. No one could have predicted such a turn of events, unless of course you’re the pair inq uestion or the SETTV executive that risked giving the go-ahead over to cast these two actors.
It probably didn’t help that both VanNess and Ady were not even originally considered for their phenomenal pairing, as the intense roles of Guang Xi and Mu Cheng were originally offered to the safer choices that were idol drama prince Ming Dao and Korean success story Yoo Hana. With talks falling through with the 200X“Prince Turned Frog” actor, and with the fresh-faced “My Lucky Star”actress choosing to bolt back to Korea to do dramas in her native country, SETTV executives must have decided that they had nothing to lose by casting Van Ness and Ady.
It’s incredible how a drama which received little hype can become a nationwide sensation like what “Autumn’s Concerto” was able to pull off after only several episodes. Viewers of the drama were able to witnessVan Ness’ coming-out party as a legitimate actor that fellow F4 VicChou experienced in his role in 2004’s “Mars”, while they fell in love with the acting prowess of Ady like they did with Ariel in her breakout role in 2005’s “It Started with a Kiss”. That’s no small feat for the now bankable celebrities that can command any role of their choosing.
As the drama wraps up its epic storyline by winter's end in February ofthe new year, viewers can only ask how Taiwan’s idol darlings can top their soon-to-be-classic performance. And with Ming Dao trying tor ecapture the magic of his legendary idol drama hits in mainland Chinese productions and Hana’s career in Taiwanese dramas in limbo and pretty much over after contract issues, the question now is what MingDao and Hana were thinking in not taking the roles originally meant forthem in “Autumn’s Concerto”.
VanNess and Ady roundly proved everyone wrong by becoming idol drama successes on their own accord. For the many satisfied viewers of“Autumn’s Concerto”, that’s something they’d proudly be wrong about again any time of the week.
