Kevin Cheng Withdraws from "Startling by Each Step 2" Loses 14million

Lately, Kevin Cheng has been attending several functions in Mainland, his rapid rise in popularity was all due to his performance as the "Eighth Prince" in popular Mainland costume drama Startling by Each Step. Yesterday Kevin had some time to shoot a commercial back in HK, he reveals he'll be starting a new Mainland drama in February, but it is not Starling by Each Step's sequel, "The sequel was initially set to start in December 2012, but then there were changes made to the script and the start date was pushed back to early March 2013. However, I already accepted another Mainland drama, which starts in February. There is a schedule conflict, and I can't help that. It is such a pity! To my understanding, Nicky Wu and Cecilia Liu are confirmed to take part in the sequel and with their support, the TV rating and results won't be a problem at all. If there is a fun character, I may guest star." According to the source, Kevin's per-episode salary went from 100,000 RMB to 350,000 RMB. Starling by Each Step is 40 episodes, so this time Kevin loses about 14 million RMB and disappointed the "Eighth Prince" fans.

Kevin's latest Mainland drama, the Ip Man TV series is scheduled to release in March. It was rumored Kevin is going to get 500,000 RMB per episode to shoot the sequel? He said: "Actually Ip Man 2 is not confirmed yet. I hope to wait until March when the series premieres and see the audience's reaction. Even if there is a sequel, it can't happen until the summer. Nothing is confirmed yet." A recent report compared Kevin's Ip Man performance to Anthony Wong and Tony Leung's versions. The article described Kevin as someone who "only has the looks, but can't fight". Kevin said: "The drama hasn't even broadcast yet. I just hope everyone will finish watching the drama first before commenting. I've been very busy lately, always flying around, so I haven't had time to see Tony Leung's The Grandmaster. I hope to have the opportunity to see this grand production." Also, Kevin reveals: "2013 is a significant year for me because it's my 20th anniversary in the industry. I want to release a new album to celebrate."

Later this month, Kevin will be flying to Korea to participate in a Lunar New Year show hosted by TVB and a Korean TV station. Facing the Kpop groups like SS501 and Sistar, Kevin laughed and said he won't try to dance, he'll just sing. When asked if he'll do PSY's Gangnam Style horse-riding dance? Kevin said: "I don't know how to do that dance, I'll just do the singing!"

Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU Forum