Filming for A Journey to Love has barely started and yet trouble has already come a-knocking. Fans of the drama’s female and male leads, Liu Shishi and Liu Yuning seem to be at loggerheads after Shishi’s fans expressed their dissatisfaction that her position as the drama’s main headliner remains unclear. As you know, whoever gets top billing is no simple matter as fan wars have exploded in the past over it especially when a production puts together two uber popular actors to star in a series. Earlier this week, the actress’ various fan groups announced they’re temporarily halting activities to protest.
As a veteran A-lister in the industry, fans say that production should’ve made Liu Shishi’s position as the main headliner very clear right from the get-go. Unfortunately, this week’s casting announcement and the drama’s official poster completely fell short of expectations as even her image on the poster didn’t emphasise this. Despite being smack in the centre, fans say an enlarged image of Liu Shishi could’ve made a bigger impact than the one production put out.
Liu Shishi’s Team Promises to Protect Her
After all, Netizens pointed out that Liu Shishi’s inclusion in the series was what catapulted it from a standard drama to a top tier one (S+ class). Compared to Liu Shishi, Liu Yuning is a relative newcomer who’s only just begun building his acting career after transitioning from an internet celeb and singer.
Meanwhile, in a short statement, the actress’ team said that Shishi’s roles and her works are their number one priority and that they will prudently use this as their guiding principle to make decisions. Moreover they promised to safeguard the actress’ interest and will take everyone’s reasonable suggestions into consideration when taking action towards the development of her career.
However, to prevent the escalation of hostilities between fans of the two actors, the studio encouraged everyone to speak rationally and to maintain a healthy environment on social media.
Source: 1
Ha
Doesn’t help that the production team buried all ShiShi’s fan posts. Last I checked first 39 was all about the web star. They were not too subtle about promoting him. Used her name for marketing and then bury her. This would be the third time they pulled this stunt. Let’s hope history will not repeat itself and she will have more than two to three minutes of scenes per episode.
wowo
If production is using LSS to promote LYN then that’s poor play. LSS is a veteran A-lister cdrama, and fans voicing their opinions to promote LSS is some good fans :).
Una
I think it’s a storm in a teacup. This is another thing the authorities should ban. The use of fan clubs to promote activities. A lot of the big fan clubs are rather shady in what they do. Not just an innocent group of fans. They engage in and promote fan wars, espionage, spreading of disinformation and extortion. And of course, form the water army.
wowo
well said as well, there are good but bad fans too.
BigSigh
One way to deactivate the hullabaloo around who has first billing, is for advertisers to offer the same kind of opportunities to any role who connects well with the audience. I’ve seen it done in both Korean and Western productions, so why not here? Sometimes you have scene stealers who the audience are more invested in than the leads, smart advertisers can hone in them by following media trends and invest in such actors. That will take the pressure away from whoever is in top billing role and what not.
Applefish
Considering LYN say acting is all about have the charisma, not actual acting, aka he’s not even that famous yet, yet acting pretty arrogant, promoting him is just harming him tbqh. And I agree LSS is the veteran, she should have top bill. Also isn’t the story centred around her anyway???
Applefish
Not *charisma, rather just looking good is what acting is about
ET
Now that you bring that up, yes, I remember him saying that on his many live webcasts. It railed up many people. He said, specifically, that costume drama does not need acting. Seeing that all his projects are costume dramas, that says a lot about his acting effort or attitude toward the profession. I have a hunch there are people propping him up. Just look at the co-leads or leads of the projects he’s in. An sufferable fool like him backed up by capital is what makes Chinese entertainment stinks.
Wowo
I didn’t know he was so arrogant. I just learned he was an internet celebrity as well. I dunno why LSS pairs up with LYN; maybe they have a connection to start in a drama. LYN is not very handsome and he cannot act; I just don’t like his acting. He doesn’t wow me as an actor.
LSS should have been paired with an older or similar-age actor, not LYN. He doesn’t have ML vibe.
Ash
Why only Chinese entertainment? It’s the same in all the entertainment industries. It’s about making money. It’s all about supply and demand. If anything, blame it on the fans who only fantasize about handsome and pretty faces. They put them on the pedestal and when the star does something not aligned with their fantasies (for eg. the recent thing on AB caught smoking), they just as quickly dump them. Nope, they are not fans because of the acting skills (for which AB was acknowledged as poor.)
LYN may be undiplomatic, but he is telling the truth. Look at all the traffic stars. They pulled in the most money despite being freshies and mediocre acting skills. Most were not even trained actors to start with. But loving fans will say they are the greatest actors ever. And woe betide anyone who disagrees with them. Whilst the truly good actors are playing supporting roles and get paid far less. How do you think they feel when a freshie gets paid top dollar?
Much of the entertainment industry is all about backing the right horse and LYN is realistic about it. As to whether he personally wants to improve in acting, that’s up to him since he already is a successful singer and dancer and has his own big fan base. He at least had no illusion that he’s a great actor.
ET
So, you think it is commendable for him to be mediocre because he is realistic about the whole thing? What?! The reason why the C-ent is going downhill is because of the many tolerances you mentioned. I do not like many of the new face, no acting ability, I couldn’t even call them beauty (as their fans keep harping on) and many have no personality. I truly hope this culture of cultivating idols to godhood and celibacy comes to an end. It is an unhealthy environment. I agreed with you, let’s support those with talents, but LYN is NOT one of them. Why should I tolerate him? He is an exact replica of what you mentioned about the traffic stars. A person with no acting ability and from the sound of it has no desire to improve his acting, and at the same time being arrogant because there is someone/or company backing him up. As a previous avid C-drama viewer I can tell the talent pool from top down, producers to directors to actors, is sparse since half a decade ago or longer. Simply put many projects in the market right now, especially youth or costume dramas are funded by big company of these newcomers and the quality shows. Very shabbily done. I won’t complain if there’s a bit of acting talent but since in almost all cases there is none then, as a c-drama viewer, why can’t I criticize?
Applefish
Well said @ET! I shared the same sentiment. So what if it’s true that a lot of fresh meat is all about looks and not true acting, many fresh meats know their acting sucks, and said they want to improve their acting. It could be they just saying it but never do it, or they might try but geeze they are bad and could never improve, however, it’s the attitude thing. If you give up already, and just join the mediocre grp of traffic actors right off the bat, there’s no chance for you to improve at all….and it’s the worst type of attitude for ppl who has money…
wowo
Applaud applaud ET!!!! Took the words right out of my mouth. Just because some of these traffic stars are pretty face and with no talent; it’s not an excuse. LYN is the same as them. People are catching on, no pretty face is going to save it anymore.
yuyuyu
Surely he is one of the traffic actors now. He is a gifted singer but a mediocre actor. From the footage that I saw, he doesn’t bother with his current image as an actor. I mean, he seems to have given up on improving his acting ability. He may have the reason for it. Perhaps, he saw too many eye candy actors with mediocre acting skills getting lead roles. Whereas the skilful ones weren’t getting good roles due to their looks. Another reason, he is aware that he is not born to be an actor, and has not enough talent in acting like other actors. He just casually treats it as a regular job for making money in showbiz. His main job is singing. Can we blame him fully? Not really, I guess.
The moment I saw this article, I was just amazed at the C-drama actor fanbase. They were thinking too hard. It’s a common practice to exploit one popularity to promote another. The fact that LSS and the team accept the job, they must have been aware of this consequence. I think any actor has consideration when choosing their partner in a project.
Sepalika Foo
I am a fan of Shi Shi but I have also watched LYN in Heroes and he dubs his own lines. He is a good actor for sure. If he is not, the production will not risk it by putting him in the lead. He is also not an idol as he is 32 years of age. I do not find him that handsome but he has look that will not make him overpower the female lead.