Singaporean actress Eleanor Lee ‘stressed’ over ‘A Chinese Ghost Story’ remake, director says – as was he – but neither has reason to fret

Remaking a popular cinema classic is always going to be risky. What if it is not as good as the original and is banished to celluloid hell for ruining or disrespecting a classic?

That possibility crossed the mind of Chinese director Lin Zhenzhao, whose film The Enchanting Phantom is the latest remake of Tony Ching Siu-tung’s A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). It was also considered by 20-year-old Singaporean actress Eleanor Lee, who takes up the female lead role that propelled Taiwanese actress Joey Wong Choi-yin to mega stardom in the late 1980s.

“Remaking a classic movie is stressful for both the director and actors,” Lin says. “While doing so brings a lot of publicity, [we worry that] it’s very difficult to surpass the classic and fans might make bad comments.

“Eleanor lives in Singapore. She doesn’t know much about classic Chinese culture. So she felt stressed at the start of filming over having to play such a classic Chinese female role. But she is a smart girl and eventually got the hang of it.”

Fortunately, neither has cause to fret. Since its release on May 1 exclusively on Tencent Video, the supernatural romantic comedy has been winning legions of fans in China, particularly as cinemas were still closed across the country when it was released as part of government measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

With more than 170 million views, The Enchanting Phantom has already earned its producers more than 35 million yuan (US$5 million) after splitting profits with the video platform, off a production budget of 23 million yuan. The most successful online movie in China is the recently released remake of The Thousand Faces of Dunjia, which has earned over 50 million yuan via iQiyi and Tencent Video.