Casting off the past

When director Diao Yi'nan chose Hu Ge to star in his latest crime thriller, the suave Shanghai native took the opportunity to shed his pop-idol image once and for all, Xu Fan reports.

When director Diao Yi'nan stumbled upon a photo of the actor Hu Ge in a magazine, he suddenly realized he had found the ideal lead for his new movie, The Wild Goose Lake.

From the image, Diao could recognize that Hu－then widely regarded as a pop idol whose major screen roles were usually handsome heroes－had the potential to play a rebellious yet struggling soul, who is shadowed by a complex past.

So, for the first time in an acting career spanning 14 years, Hu stepped out of his comfort zone to play a gangster, a character far removed from the charmed life led by the suave Shanghai native born in 1982. The film also marks the first time for Hu－who shot to stardom through hit TV series like Nirvana in Fire－to play the lead role in a silver-screen feature.