Director Zhang Jizhong is planning to bring The TV series "Journey to the West", to new heights. The small-screen adaptation is based on the Chinese novel written by Luo Guanzhong hundreds of years ago. Recently the production team of Zhang's version of the drama has been filming in East China's Fujian Province.

Most of the outdoor scenes are to be filmed at the Yuhua Cave, one of famous tourist spots in Fujian. The cave stones, unorthodox in shapes, add an uncanny sense to the scenarios.

According to the production team, major scenes from ten episodes will be shot inside the cave, including Marrying the Mouse Pixy, one of the hilarious chapters in the original novel.

The Monkey King, one of the four loyal disciples of Monk Tang, is played by Wu Yue. He says he's spent a lot of time in the Beijing Zoo, studying the behavior of monkeys and taking notes.

It takes around two hours for Wu Yue to get his make-up on for his role. Although the skin mask was custom-made in the US with a lighter weight compared to the predecessor in the original drama, according to Wu, it makes him feel rather uncomfortable after a hard day's filming which usually lasts at least a dozen hours.

Wu Yue, Actor, said, "I've had series of break outs due to allergy, and also a high fever, and shingles while filming. I've been working more than 15 hours everyday for the past 170 some days. So I'd say it's not that easy to play the Monkey King well."

Whatever it takes, Wu says he wants to convince the TV audience with his polished performances, not the ostentatious costumes.

So far two thirds of scenes for the 60-episode TV drama "Journey to the West" have finished filming.