C23–Casting Controversy

Zhou Yuhe’s first reaction upon seeing this contract was.
Why?
Why did he give him the role of Shen Yan?

That was right, give. If Xie Yifeng hadn’t taken the initiative, with his current status as an eighteenth tier artist, even if Yang Yu was capable of it, he wouldn’t be able to pull teeth from the tiger’s mouth, knowing that Xie Yifeng was the iron male lead that director Cai Rongxi and screenwriter Fang Lin had both handpicked, and with the personality of the two of them, the actor that they saw fit to take the lead role, they would keep, even if the capital was too big to move.

But now it was obviously not a good time to dwell on this, looking at Yang Yu’s appearance, it was necessary to get an approval letter from him and give his promise before he would explain the source of all this to him.

So, could he play Shen Yan?

The answer was, yes!
He was able to!

All personal emotions aside, in terms of character malleability alone, Shen Yan was more difficult and more brilliant than Xu Chang.

If it was Rejuvenation that created Xu Chang and Ceng Ang, then Xie Yifeng, and Shen Yan, played by Xie Yifeng-.
He was the making of “Rejuvenation”.

A total of seven domestic and international film star trophies, pushing Xie Yifeng to a crazy high. At the same time, it also brought the youth film “Rejuvenation”, a niche subject, to create one myth after another.
The most delightful thing was the unbreakable national image of Xie Yifeng in the past twenty years.

The nation’s first love, Shen Yan.

In the five years since the airing of “Rejuvenation”, when the word “boyfriend” was mentioned, the first thing that came to mind was Shen Yan.
Countless girls used Shen Yan’s standards to ask for their boyfriends, while countless boys gnashed their teeth at this guy and wished to pull him out of the screen and beat him up.

If Xu Chang was a phenomenal hit.
Then Shen Yan was a hall of fame perpetual movie history!
  
  He had countless words to say, but when they came to his lips, he couldn’t speak.

Unspeakable emotions filled Zhou Yuhe’s chest.
He stared at Yang Yu intently.
Yang Yu also looked at him with a smile, but his rolling Adam’s apple betrayed his “calmness”.

Under such a gaze…
Zhou Yuhe took the pen from the table and cleanly signed his name.

The moment he signed, he could feel both of them breathing a sigh of relief at the same time.

“Now can you tell me why?” Zhou Yuhe asked.
Yang Yu pulled out an English newspaper from the drawer and threw it in front of him.

Golden Age, the most authoritative film and television news in Europe and America, was sold out as soon as every issue of Golden Age went on sale, showing its leading position in the industry. Not only did it contain the hottest and most compelling news of the European and American film industry, but also many film critics who gave advice on movies, TV dramas, stage plays, etc. Their humor or sharp language always aroused great interest.

In this issue of Golden Age, the main section was about the Barfi Awards, which would take place in four months’ time, and it was almost entirely about the awards, from attendance to predictions.

With a history of over a hundred years, the Barfi Awards were undoubtedly one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies in Europe, and were extremely xenophobic, it had been over twenty years since the last time a Chinese team won the Barfi Awards. At that time, that team created a national sensation, and all the directors, cinematographers, and leading actors and actresses who won the Barfi were sealed off as gods in China, and were still admired in the directing and acting industry to this day.

The Barfi.
Was it almost here already….

With his long index and middle fingers together, Yang Yu tapped the most inconspicuous corner of the newspaper and said, “Now, in February 2014, Xie Yifeng can only be obscurely brushed aside ‘here’…”


Zhou Yuhe returned to his senses.

  Looking down in the direction of his finger, the small report said that the Barfi Award judges said that this time the Barfi Awards might have Team East burst out, and its male lead actor was the most promising young actor in China in the past twenty years….

Yang Yu’s hand continued to paddle.
This time, he expanded the layout to the first page of Golden Age.
The entire page, the most prominent page.

“But in June, his name will be all over the best page!” Yang Yu’s expression was restrained, but his eyes revealed a bit of fervor, and once any media person realized that they were witnessing history, the excitement, the surge was uncontrollable.


“Although the results of the major international awards are unpredictable, Emperor Xuan Tong, as the nominated team, will more or less get a bit of insider information…”

“Xie Yifeng… oh, Xie Yifeng… “Yang Yu chewed on these three words repeatedly, as if Xie Yifeng had given him some sort of demotion.

As an agent, his expression became infinitely sighing and… jealous when he thought of what might happen in the year afterwards, “Xu Feng, that scrappy old thing, is really too lucky…”


He seemed to realize that he had gotten off topic, so he immediately returned to his senses and looked at Zhou Yuhe.

“This is the east wind in Xie Yifeng’s life, and yours too! Because it’s not just the Barfi Awards, but for the next year Xie Yifeng will be traveling to all the awards events and he’ll get very, very busy.”

When Xie Yifeng first took on the male lead role of Rejuvenation, he didn’t expect Puyi and Emperor XuanTong to be a big hit.


Zhou Yuhe remembered that because he had already taken on the role of Shen Yan, Xie Yifeng, in his previous life, attended so few events during the suddenly extended promotional period of Emperor Xuan Tong, that the creative team of Emperor Xuan Tong had complained more than once about his dead-heartedness and lack of priorities.


But Xie Yifeng said, “No matter what role I play, if I’m there and the director shouts ‘Action’, I’ll do my best, which is not only a sign of respect for me, the role, but also for the creative team. I don’t think life is all about profit at any moment.”

  
 

 – These words were not spoken by Xie Yifeng to the media, but were voluntarily revealed to the hosts by the creative team of “Emperor Xuan Tong” when they were on the variety show, and they said that although they were not happy with the actor’s absence from the event, he had earned the respect of all of them with these words.


Life wasn’t always about the word profit at any moment-.
Such a simple statement was something that most people in the industry could not do.

For the mercurial Xie Yifeng, keeping his promise to Director Cai was more important than making his career skyrocket in a short period of time, and character was more important than profit.
But that didn’t mean that interests weren’t important.
Since there was a way to preserve both his interests and character, and incidentally fulfill others, why couldn’t he do so? After confirming that Zhou Yuhe was up to the role of Shen Yan and that he himself could attend the event properly, why not do it?

“Having you play the role of Shen Yan and him stepping back to play Xu Chang, who has relatively few scenes, is the best result of our compromise. Not only is this the most beneficial to his current situation, but it’s also the first crucial turning point in your acting career-

“Tell me, Zhou Yuhe, do you understand?”
Do you understand what this opportunity means to you, to me, to us?

Zhou Yuhe saw the exhilarating ambition on Yang Yu’s face-…
The gold agent, relegated to the actor’s department, couldn’t wait to grab his driftwood.

He sighed, incredibly solemnly.
“I understand.”

I understand how many detours a missed opportunity equals.
I understand that the wheels of history are about to turn as they should.

**********.
Coming out of the company building, Zhou Yuhe’s mood was still somewhat unsettled.

Also playing the role of Xu Chang, Ceng Ang from his previous life did not have such luck.
Firstly, Ceng Ang and Zhou Yuhe’s acting skills were so different that he couldn’t handle the role of Shen Yan.


Secondly, Yang Yu who put his focus on Yan Yingyi may not have worked so hard to fight for him.

  Lastly, Xie Yifeng would not have let it.

If it wasn’t for the extremely strong performance he showed at the audition scene of Re-Youth and on the set of Intelligence 2; if it wasn’t for the fact that his PR skills had won Yang Yu’s eyes and made him willing to give him more leverage; if it wasn’t for the coincidence of having some friendship with… Xie Yifeng….


Zhou Yuhe sighed softly.
If any of the above links were missing, this kind of heavenly good thing would definitely not be his turn.

Since there was such an opportunity, it must be grasped.

Zhou Yuhe knew far less about the role of Shen Yan than Xu Chang.


He went back and carefully read all the parts about Shen Yan in the script, and spent the next three days locked up in his home studying the script, a whole thick script with all the dense markings on it.

  In addition, Zhou Yuhe also looked up director Cai Rongxi’s previous works and studied them once again to understand the director’s camera, picture style, in order to better cooperate with him after entering the group.

Even Su Su couldn’t help but cry out in distress at the sight of him, urging him not to have so much pressure, as director Cai knew he was a newcomer anyway.
However, Zhou Yuhe did not approve of this negative approach.
Not to mention a newcomer, even the most experienced actor, when faced with the script, the character must have put in a lot of effort to dig deeper into the complexity of the character in order to present the best results.
  

  In his impression.
Shen Yan’s character fulfilled almost every girl’s fantasy of first love-.
White shirt, long posture, sunshine, gentle, smart, strong, never hiding his feelings, beyond the maturity of his peers, as if all the problems in his hands would be solved…….

Xie Yifeng’s interpretation made the word ” male god” seem to come out of paper, and made the audience realize for the first time what the real campus male god was like.

 But at that time he was only 24 years old, the understanding of the role, as well as acting experience and maturity, compared to the “Xie Yingdian”, was slightly inadequate.

Even at the age of 24, Xie Yifeng had been able to beat many veteran actors who had been on screen for 30 or 40 years, but this definitely did not include Zhou Yuhe.

Zhou Yuhe, who was past his prime, compared to the 24-year-old Xie Yifeng –
Better able to refine and interpret the layers of character.

******
Rejuvenation script readings.

Before a production officially began filming, there was often at least one script reading to confirm many of the details of the shoot, with an understanding of the plot and characters at the heart of the script reading.


Not only did the principal actors attend the readings, but the director, writer, producer and other creative team members sat on either side of the rehearsal room to review and helped the actors with their line readings and character development.

Ms. Fang Lin, the screenwriter, was a bit sullen from the moment she entered the rehearsal hall.


She had gotten the news of Shen Yan’s replacement earlier and was so angry that she didn’t speak to Director Cai for three or four days.

Director Cai and her were old partners, and when he saw her cold face holding a thermos of water now, he immediately knew what she was angry about, and couldn’t help but soothe her with a good voice, “You saw Xiao Zhou’s audition, he’s fine too.”
  
  ”I know, I didn’t say he was bad,” Fang Lin said nonchalantly.


Although Zhou Yuhe had done well in the audition, it was Xu Chang he was trying then, not Shen Yan!


In her heart, the best Shen Yan is Xie Yifeng.

No one could change that.

  If it wasn’t for the other agent’s repeated pleas that Xie Yifeng’s schedule really couldn’t support the intensity of the shoot, and her heart ached for that child, she would never have agreed to replace him.

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4 Replies to “C23–Casting Controversy”

  1. Waiting Yuhe to amaze and shock the crew!

  2. What a great opportunity for Zhou Yuhe! He must take it and show everyone around him What a great actor he can be.

    Could it be Xie Yifeng recommended him for the part?! Hmm.

    Thanks for the chapter!

  3. Woah it’s like everything’s falling into place like magic (✩w✩ ) xD

  4. Xie Yifeng’s familiarity with Zhou Yuhe makes you think he was reborn too.

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