Shao Yichen opened the article titled "Those Behind the Films" and began to skim through it.
Rumor had it that Cat Mint was a graduate student from the Chinese departnt of a top university. Whether this information was true or not, judging from this young lady's interview content, the rumors weren't unfounded.
Her interview style was completely different from her film reviews—in simple terms, it was more literary.
The article was smooth and flowing. Unlike her film reviews that sought to capture attention with explosive points, the text even conveyed a sense of detached observation. She didn't begin with an introduction to Li Xingyu himself, but rather eased into it: "On the night I t Li Xingyu, starlight cut through my south window..."
If Shao Yichen hadn't known that Cat Mint had been paid to collaborate with Morning Star dia, she wouldn't have believed this was a sponsored post.
What happened to you, Cat Mint?! Where was the passion and humor from your film review posts?
However, this style unexpectedly matched Li Xingyu well. Before diving into the content, Shao Yichen first looked through the comnts and found that even without promotion, many of Li Xingyu's fans had already voluntarily checked in with comnts. Since Li Xingyu barely managed his fan base, there wasn't yet any awkward fan circle situation involving collective comnt control.
She was surprised that despite his six-month absence from the public eye, fans still hadn't abandoned him.
What Shao Yichen didn't know was that fans had been eagerly awaiting news about Li Xingyu for a long ti—after all, actor Li Xingyu currently carried an air of mystery. His Weibo account had shown no activity since the night he supported Shao Yichen, leaving only a group of persistent fans checking in through comnts. After making a splash on one variety show episode, he had remained completely silent for several months. Fans had thought he was making a cao in Director Shao's new film, but after its release, they discovered he had no screen ti at all. While fans worried about him, detractors believed he had been abandoned by Shao Yichen. So even spread rumors that he was actually a rich heir just playing around in the entertainnt industry. Rumors flew in all directions, but the central figure remained unseen.
Now, with a post finally erging out of nowhere, Li Xingyu's remaining fans naturally flocked to it.
If it had just been fans, Shao Yichen wouldn't have thought much of it. But as she scrolled down through the comnts, she sohow saw her own na.
"So the interview title actually contained this hidden aning."
"Thanks to Li Xingyu for letting understand the truth behind the films."
"I never imagined Shao Yichen had once faced such difficulties..."
Hmm? What did Li Xingyu's literary interview have to do with ?
Shao Yichen quickly changed direction and went back to read the interview content.
As she read, she began to feel sothing was off. The interview content seed unrelated to her, but why did her shadow keep appearing throughout it?
For instance, when Cat Mint asked Li Xingyu "whether he had encountered any bottlenecks while filming," his answer was "when playing a ghost, there were tis when I found it difficult to grasp the character's psychology, but after a single pointer from the director, I found the right direction";
When Cat Mint asked "whether there were any particularly morable experiences during filming," Li Xingyu answered "when shooting the first film, the crew only had two people, and after wrapping, the director and I spent an afternoon cleaning the room";
If these weren't enough, Cat Mint and Li Xingyu had jointly presented a final killing blow, truly striking at her heart—"Since we've ntioned Director Shao Yichen so many tis in our interview, what are your thoughts on her latest work, 'Journey to the West on Film'?"
"I didn't participate in this work because I had previously expressed to Director Shao that my image was showing signs of typecasting, and I wanted to take a break. However, I continued to follow the film's progress through various ans such as friend circles, Weibo, phone calls, and so on. Because I know the behind-the-scenes story of this film, my feelings might differ from those of ordinary viewers. I think this film expresses a different core than the previous two films."
"Different? In what ways specifically?"
"If the previous two films were Director Shao wanting to tell a story through film, then 'Journey to the West on Film' is more like Director Shao's autobiography, a form of self-mockery."
"Autobiography? You an Director Shao Yichen projected her own experiences onto the protagonist of this work?"
"That's what I believe. I don't know if anyone has paid attention to the plagiarism controversy Director Shao experienced before. If it weren't for that exposé, I would never have imagined that Director Shao Yichen had endured such slander. The script for this film was completed before filming began, when there was no sign of the whistleblower online, yet we can still find similarities between Old Tang's experiences and Director Shao Yichen's."
"So even before the controversy, Director Shao Yichen had already decided to project her past experiences into her work."
"I think she certainly didn't anticipate that this matter would regain attention, or that she would be able to escape the original slander. She just wanted to speak for her forr self through this kind of story. Actually, beyond the protagonist, don't the other four main actors—the four disciples in the film—also have real-life prototypes?"
"Do the other main actors also carry so of Director Shao's shadow?"
"That's not what I an. The other four disciples seem more like friends Director Shao encountered during the filmmaking process. For example, the character Xiao Sun, with his quick temper and family background, is actually very similar to the first lead actor in 'The Web,' Nan Rongyu. Viewers who have watched his variety shows should have so understanding. The character Xiao Zhu, who loves money and once had a failed entrepreneurial experience, is sowhat similar to the art director of our film back then, who has now been promoted to executive director, Qin Lu. As for Xiao Sha, I don't know if you've noticed the cinematographer of 'The Web,' who is also the first assistant director of this film, Jiang Miaomiao. Apart from their different genders, their personalities are practically mirror images of each other."
"I never imagined it was like this."
"It's just my personal opinion. I hope Directors Qin and Jiang don't have a chance to see the content of this interview, especially the part where I said Director Qin loves money, haha."
Shao Yichen stared blankly at the screen as she read Li Xingyu's interview content.
The first half of his speculation was understandable, since although the projected content was different, she did intentionally incorporate so of her own experiences and elents into Old Tang.
But the second half of his speculation—especially the part about the four disciples mirroring several mbers of the creative team—was truly an unheard-of creative interpretation!
Li Xingyu, who would have thought that you, with your honest-looking face, were actually one of those legendary over-interpreters!
What was more terrifying was that after so reflection, Shao Yichen was almost convinced by this theory.
If she hadn't known that she hadn't based the script on any prototypes when writing it, she herself would have believed that the images of these disciples were her hint at the core creative team mbers.
She even began to doubt herself—perhaps the months of filmmaking had influenced her so deeply that she had unconsciously created characters based on the creative team?
She dazedly exited the interview, noticing before she left that the read count had quickly risen to over 100,000. This number was comparable even to the readership of Cat Mint's top column posts.
This sponsored content was far too successful!
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Clearly, Shao Yichen wasn't the only one who noticed this character interview.
Barely two hours later, when Shao Yichen checked her friend circle again, she found it flooded with shares of Li Xingyu's interview.
Not only had mbers of the core creative team shared it—such as Nan Rongyu openly stating "though Xiao Sun's image is sowhat similar but not as handso as ," Qin Lu sharing with a mysterious smile and remarking "Li Xingyu, I've already seen you saying I love money," and Jiang Miaomiao sharing with an encouraging emoji—but even the main actors from "Journey to the West on Film" had shared it!
The most eye-catching share was from the actor who played Xiao Bai.
He had shared it almost imdiately after the interview was published, with a brief but exciting caption: "OTP!! I'm shipping it!!!"
Shao Yichen: ?
You troublemaker, what are you shipping?
Did you forget to hide your post from certain people again—like the CP subjects themselves?
She promptly took a screenshot and sent it to Xiao Bai privately. Thirty seconds later, when she refreshed the page, that friend circle post had mysteriously disappeared.
Shao Yichen: ...
Don't think that setting your friend circle post to private ans nothing happened!
I've already taken a screenshot!
She contemplated whether to sign this unfortunate child to her company as well and assign him a reliable agent to prevent him from posting recklessly in his friend circle, or at least to rember to hide posts from the subjects, rather than openly fanboying.
Manage the child, save the CP.
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Although Shao Yichen saw the widespread sharing in her friend circle, she didn't realize that outside of it, the public opinion brought by this interview was fernting simultaneously.
After all, before this post, no one had pointed out the similarities between Shao Yichen and the film's protagonist, and the audience hadn't thought in that direction at all.
Now that Li Xingyu had pointed it out, looking back at the entire film, the audience had a sudden realization—so that's how it was!
No wonder this film differed from Director Shao Yichen's previous works and lacked the usual plot twists—because the film described a reflection of reality!
As for those voices questioning the film's unrealistic content, they now had an answer—what? You say the film content is unrealistic? That a low-budget film couldn't possibly beco an overnight success?
But this is reality!
Director Shao proved with her personal experience that it was entirely possible!
So viewers, after reading this post, specifically investigated Shao Yichen and Li Xingyu's experience filming their first low-budget horror film "The Web" and were shocked by the poverty of the crew at that ti.
The crew had only two people! The filming budget didn't exceed 100,000 yuan! Even the actors had to be played by the director herself!
Yet despite this, the work still achieved impressive results!
All at once, the reputation of "Journey to the West on Film" improved dramatically, and the originally opposing voices collapsed on their own.
By the ti Shao Yichen noticed, the upward montum of "Journey to the West on Film" had beco unstoppable.
Author's Note: Today's first update!
Thanks to the little angels who gave Overlord Tickets or Nutrition Solution between 2020-09-19 21:39:15 and 2020-09-20 11:55:12~
Thanks to the little angels who gave Nutrition Solution: Zhuang Sheng 50 bottles; Make a little heart 6 bottles; Amnesia 5 bottles; Xiao Jing 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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