Big Red Riding Hood

Plot

Wu Zhang Mei (Cheryl Yang) is a woman who grew up with a strong sense of justice. One day, her childhood friend and classmate An De Feng (Yao Yuan Hao) returns to their hometown after leaving suddenly when they were young. As An De Feng has come back with revenge in mind because of a misunderstanding, both meet up again to clear things up and patch their friendship.

Cast

The cast of Big Red Riding Hood includes the following:

Production

In 2013, Yao Yuan Hao postponed his birthday on April 19, as both the shooting schedule and his upcoming marathon were scheduled during that week. For the first part of the week, Yao was asked to swim in a lake on a cold day, describing the activity as: "...really cold, colder than washing with cold water in winter" He also mentioned that he made use of his time running during film shootings as practice for his participation on a 21-kilometer marathon scheduled the day after his birthday.

Cheryl Yang was also soaked in cold water for a scene, wearing a very light Hawaiian dress. In the later scenes, she attempted climbing a wall herself, insisting she not have a stunt double to personally show bruises on her hands. Yang was also the one to propose that her face should be smeared with a lipstick for a particular scene. She was supposed to only have wine poured onto her for a scene wherein character Wu Zhang Mei acted as the mistress for the sake of An De Feng, but she suggested to the director that she would look more miserable if her face was painted with a lipstick. In addition, there was a scene wherein Cheryl Yang had to put food onto the dog's mouth for it to open its mouth to make it look like character Wu Zhang Mei was bitten by a vicious dog, because the dog was too friendly and calm originally.

During the supposed wedding day of characters Wu Zhang Mei and An De Feng, De Feng made use of bread and pastries that Zhang Mei liked for the proposal. Before it was shot, however, the team put more thought into interpreting the proposal so that it would be both romantic and creative enough. Yao Yuan Hao suggested to make use of a block of ice and put the ring inside it. Cheryl Yang added that it would be more romantic to be able to melt the ice in her mouth. In the end, the team decided to make a large heart-shaped pastries for the event.

Casting

After finishing Rookies' Diary in 2011, Big Red Riding Hood was Yao Yuan Hao's comeback role as a male lead. Since the character is supposed to be funny and cute, Yao was initially anxious as it would be his first attempt to combine a comedic and romantic role. According to the screenwriter Su Limei (蘇麗媚), however, she believes that he is both handsome and has a humorous personality. He was even originally asked to participate in 2008 series Fated to Love You, but he could not fit into his schedule. Nevertheless, he was cast in Big Red Riding Hood for the same reason. Su, then, asked him to cut his hair similar to her favorite character in Musashi no Ken Japanese manga to make him look more humorous.

On the other hand, Cheryl Yang had to play a shy woman for the series. When asked how she was able to portray the character, she stated that she uses life experiences because real-life work experiences are very useful. She last acted in 2012 series Once Upon a Love with Sunny Wang and Matt Wu. Because it was their first time to act together, Yao Yuan Hao and Cheryl Yang usually meet together to sing at karaoke bars or have dinner. During the four months of shooting the series, both were able to establish a friendly relationship and became more comfortable with each other.

The director randomly cast actor Chris Wang for a cameo as a physician seen on Episode 3. The hospital wherein Wang acted was the same hospital seen on Love Me or Leave Me, the series preceding Big Red Riding Hood and Wang was the male lead.

Soundtrack

The Big Red Riding Hood OST EP (大紅帽與小野狼 偶像劇音樂選輯 (EP)) CD was released on May 24, 2013 by various artists under Forward Music Taiwan. It contains four songs. The opening theme song, "Fantasy Paradise" by A-fu was not included in the OST, while the ending theme song, "Me&U" by A-fu was the first track of the EP.

Insert Songs

The following lists the songs that were inserted into the drama, but not included in the original soundtrack. It includes the opening song "Fantasy Paradise" by A-fu.

Episode ratings

The viewers' survey was conducted by AGB Nielsen.