Watching "Teresa Teng" Biopic: Leaving Out Jackie Chan (And The Other Tragic Romances) And Creating The Fictional Zhou Taisheng

Hype

I decided to give Teresa Teng (2024) a shot, and it stars Michelle Chen. I decided to Google "Zhou Taisheng" and realized he was created as a placeholder for several characters. Sure, the real-life boyfriend Paul Quilicier was featured. However, Zhou Taisheng doesn't exist when I Googled him! The real deal of Teresa's rather messy love life had these men involved:

• Lin Zhengfa, who suddenly died just as they were about to get married, a prominent Chinese Malaysian
• Jackie Chan, before he met Joan Lin
• Beau Kuok, a Malaysian tycoon; she broke up with him when the family demanded she stopped singing
• Paul was the last one, who was a French photographer, featured in the film 

It made me think of the challenges of a biopic. Sure, Teresa's third older brother Deng Changfu (or Teng Ch'angfu) was involved. Some events that happened there were real. However, the biopic created Taisheng as a placeholder as Teresa's childhood sweetheart. It made me wonder how the brother could allow the creation of Taisheng as a placeholder instead. Was this a way to respect the relatives of Zhengfa, Beau, and well Jackie? Also, Paul was a French photography student whom Teresa had her final boyfriend after a series of tragedies.

However, it's Teresa's romance with Jackie that caught me the most. I think portraying Jackie would've not been easy. In fact, reading this one made me think why accurate biopics are easier said than done:

News outlets have reported that Jackie and Teresa had a loving relationship despite keeping it low-key. Although, Jackie admitted that his rough behaviour had caused a rift between him and the late singer. One incident noted in the book was when Teresa wanted to speak to Jackie privately before leaving Taiwan. However, Jackie said he ignored her and continued chatting to his friends to show his authority. The act angered Teresa, who scolded him, saying, “Jackie, I don’t think you need me. You can just stay here with your brothers!”.

After the fight, the two went their separate ways, but Teresa did confide in Jackie’s agent, months after the breakup. She harboured anger towards Jackie because she allegedly said, “I hate him (Jackie) to death.” Since then, every meeting the two had only ended in simple greetings or the two completely ignored one another. 

We need to consider the fact that Jackie is very much alive. There may be some HIGH RISK if Teresa's heartbreak with Jackie were ever portrayed. Portraying the breakup between Jackie and Teresa in a television drama has several risks. Creative liberties are seldom done to speed things up or to hide ugly truths. In fact, if Teresa's relationship with Jackie were added, it could easily create a rift between Jackie and the co-creators, Huashi Entertainment and Jiupin Zhima Film and Television. 

However, I still believe this Zhou Taisheng is a PSEUDONYM for a real person. Teresa probably had an overly young romance that her brother, Changfu, only revealed much later. However he was, he's probably out there enjoying life with grandchildren or may no longer in his world.

Basically, the quest for an incredibly accurate biopic is easier said than done.