Well this is what happens when a person in the boat rocks it so hard it flips. Filming was supposed to start next week in early March 2024 for the C-drama Love on the Turquoise Land with Dilraba Dilmurat and Chen Zhe Yuan and now the filming is delayed and the male lead may be different. This months fandom fighting over whether Dilraba gets top billing or both leads share equal billing has led to some investors backing out of the project. So the production can’t start filming next week as scheduled and needs to find new investors to plug the budget hole. With that happening, reportedly Chen Zhe Yuan may back out as his schedule is now open and the production is in talks with Chen Xing Xu as the male lead should that happen. Stay tuned peeps, I do hope when the drama finally arrives it’s half as entertaining as the behind the scenes politics.
I hate all this billing fights. That said, I’m also very disappointed by the sexsisem and misogynistic ways the entertainment world is functioning. Males get more recognition for less talent and / or work compared to females not least because of all the crazy fan girls. Never understood why females are so judgemental and over the top critical to other females instead of supporting them and so forgiving to their oppas. Very simplified that all leads to more investment in males (due to ROI) and cement the overall unfair structure. With Dilraba there is a female in a strong position just to be overrun by his management and crazy fandom demanding he be first billing and for what? That the project is for now falling apart while he moves on to the next project and most likely getting his way unscathed on the back of another female like last time. While it will get harder for Dilraba. Sigh… In the end this will only encourage further discrimination against females.
BTW, even though I love Reply 1997 the sasaeng part was alien to me. By watching this I got a glimpse into the die hard mentality of such fans. It can’t be healthy
I’m starting to get bad vibes from Chen Zheng yuan. He is an ok actor but at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if his slight arrogance or his agency’s arrogance will shoot his career in the foot. For real though one semi okay drama should not make one a king. Makes me not like him so much now. The drama Our Secret from 2021 was his best performance. Lately his drama choices seem flat and not as best. It may be mean to say but he got lucky with Hidden Love cause of the fandom and hype of female lead. He should chill out with the billing stuff.
While i personally feel like if the story is equally distributed between the two leads, they both should share billing… I feel like this billing fight is a pity. Chen Zhe-yuan is one of the pretty boy actors who can actually act and has great comedic timing. Who is his agency to be pushing for this at this early stage in his career? There are more seasoned and popular actors that him who have had to settle for second billing – so this probably won’t be endearing him to the rest of the industry.
Agreed 100%. And at this point he is not some special talent or top level visual either. There’s actually quite a list of actors of his age and acting abilities that could replace him. Chen Xing Xu is absolutely an upgrade and a better fit with Dilraba visually.
Love CXX!! CXX is way way way better than CZY. Both in talent and looks.
I would not want Chen Xing Xu to touch this drama with a ten foot pole, it only for Deliraba. I can sincerely say I don’t get her appeal. But this director did such an amazing job with Tientsin Mystic( the show that made me a Li Xian fan) that I want CXX to be part of that team and hope the director brings his A game. Fingers crossed. Chen Xing Xu’s talent only deserves the best. I hope this is the beginning of something bigger for him, but that being China his talent has nothing to do with the jobs he gets or will get. I hope the gods bless him with a project with Zhao Lying or Liu Yifei and they can have a stare off. 😄
It’s always funny to me that people who call Dilraba a bad actress bring up either Zhao Liying or Liu Yifei as a better option, while ignoring the fact that they are not any better. Just admit that it’s a subjective opinion and not an opinion based facts. You prefer watching Zhao Liying or Liu Yifei and other people prefer Dilraba. All three aren’t amazing actresses.
This is so funny. LOL. CZY is leaving with a very bad taste in my mouth now… I do not know CXX, but he looks very handsome. I am not worried about Reba, she stands her ground and will be popular in varieties even not in many dramas anymore. She has been working nonstop so it is nice to relax for a bit if she wants.
Actually, equal billing is not an impossible thing in C-ent. But it is generally only acceptable if the industry status of both the actor and actress is not too far apart, like Yang Yang and Dilraba during You Are My Glory. Chen Zheyuan just isn’t there yet, he can try doing that after he has a breakout drama, but by then I bet his side would only want 1st billing.
No wonder if is so hard to get good productions. Investors have so much say and control over each projects. Producers are no longer allowed to pick the right casting for each roles… And scriptwriters have to keep changing script to please investors.
And investors all wants to take care of their interests, the drama is just a marketing campaign to promote further business direction. It becomes to each its own.
So many cooks stirring this pot of soup, no wonder the standard of idol dramas in China is just sliding and messy.
it is just getting strange…my comments are appearing in random slots. Sorry @Lilith, I comment is clearly out of place…
No worries, the Comments box here had been wonky to me before too. But yeah I totally agree with what you said. One of the main reasons for the big mess in C-dramas is the investors having too much control over the casting and scripts. Most directors and scriptwriters are reduced to regular employees which in turn diminished their motivation to put in much effort.
I like Chen Xingxu a lot and he’s honestly the stronger actor of the two. I feel like Chen Xingxu has a more mature masculine vibe and will match more with Dilraba. I think Chen Zheyuan has potential as an actor. I don’t think he deserves the blame for all this billing nonsense since we don’t know how much say he has in all this. I definitely think his agency is being a little too aggressive lately though.
Two public publicity fights in a row. And now he might not be in an S-tier drama because of it. He might not have a say in what is happening, but it’s hurting his reputation. It might hurt his chances in the future to work with the bigger named actresses because who wants to risk losing investors for their dramas?
I’m totally just guessing here but is it possible Chen Zheyuan has some strong financial backers that invested in this project that are pulling out now that the rumors are they replaced him with CXX? Not starting any rumors here purely just my guess. He seems to see himself in a position of power to negotiate with a much bigger star so I wonder where this comes from.
If he has strong investors, his agency wouldn’t need to fight for the top billing, he should be an automatic top. I guess his backing is pretty weak and the investors don’t like him so they pulled out. This shows he is not worth their investment!!
Or the story so terrible this is just an excuse to cover for something amiss? Why can’t she just let them all equal billing but her name is places first or slightly higher?
Chen Zheyuan didn’t give equal billing to Shen Yue and Liang Jie either despite their industry status being somewhat on the same level.
I would agree he is similar level as LiangJe as well but he seems to see himself differently lol
She does not have much of a say… Ultimately, it is those investor behind her that are in control.
Even Chen Zheyuan does not have a say… he is a fan of Dilraba as he said previously…I bet he love to work with her but he is not involve in the business and negotiation. But this is just going to reflect badly on him.
It’s very amusing seing people praise Dilraba for being a good actress when she is a terrible actress. She do not have acting skills at all. She have powerful backers and a giant, rabid and insane fandom.
BTW, the big majority of Dilraba’s projects were produced or co-produced or financed by her agency.
People love to throw accusations towards CZY while being ignorant of the truth. CZY’s background is well known. His agency is one the many agencies of actors which are subsidiaries of IQIYI and there are actors in each agency besides CZY. Nothing wrong with that.
If Chen Xing Xu takes this project, it’s because he got a strong team capable to handle and play the game well to deal with the hate and rumors that come side by side with working with Dilraba and her team who play dirty.
You’re fighting imaginary comments tho because literally no one in this blog is calling Dilraba a good actress, quite the contrary actually, everyone is saying she’s not a good actress. However, we can’t deny that she’s already a top actress at this point with immense star power, and thus, definitely deserves top billing, regardless of how we all think about her acting skills
What? How does dilraba’s team play dirty? I haven’t heard anything about her being problematic. Not sure where this even comes from.
Acting skills, agency or background don’t determined billing order. Commercial value is the one dictated the billing order. Between Reba and CZY the commercial value is like heaven and hell. All of us know Reba won’t win Oscar maybe for her life time but no one can dispute her power in bringing in investors and viewers, her loyal fanbase is one of the biggest in C-Ent.
Here you go again making up situations in your head. Every agency has an investment in their artists and they also invest in other artists outside their agency. It’s called INVESTMENT for a reason because you might or might not make that money back. But that’s the calculative risk agencies must take in order to boost their star and capital. You make it sound like a bad thing when this is literally how business works! Stop trying to defame Dilraba for your own bias against her. Between the two of them, she was always going to be the biggest drawcard for investors, not him regardless whether you think she can act. She is an A-lister and she is currently the most bankable actress on the block!! You sound like no different from the people mentioned in the first comment.
These rumours surrounding CZY was around way before he was rumoured to be involved in this drama. Unfortunately, for him its not going to work out and that’s okay. He can bounce back but his team need to be restructured because all these issues being made public leaves a bad impression on investors, the public, producers, and industry heads. They need to protect him better and get a better PR team because this isn’t giving especially when he’s so young and has a long way to go.
It’s funny that his agency is so demanding, especially if you take a look at these pictures, where it is obvious that no, their actor is way far from top visuals (the comparison with CXX is pretty much detrimental!!).
I have only seen CZY in Hidden Love and I thought that the drama was filmed like that (we see the ML through the FL’s smitten eyes) thar any good-enough looking young male actor with basic acting skills would have done the job. I really don’t get the hype about him. Especially if you think that his dramas thar aired after that was the ridiculous wolf show and the sword and fairy flop. If his agency doesn’t get off their high horses and get him into a solid drama next, he’s going to be out of the picture for good.
U guys r just funny, commenting that he doesn’t have solid dramas coming up which he has. If his agency is willing to back down with all the negativity thrown at them, I want to believe they know what they r doing, we really don’t know what is at stake bts anyway. At the end of the day, I think CZY will be fine, sometimes all this turns out for the better, DD fandom didn’t like his casting from the beginning anyways because they felt he didn’t fit the role lookwise , so with this billing issus and he is off from the project with the exchange of male lead they prefer, they should be glad this happened imo.
He isn’t “backing down”.
He hit a wall because this is Dilraba who is an actual force and he can’t bully her the way he could jjy. That’s not backing down.
That’s Dilraba’s team putting him in his place. Hopefully more actors will show him the door when he starts throwing his weight around as if he has done anything special in his career. The only “special” thing about him is iQiyi trying to push him.
I hope Reba & Zheyuan both leave their respective agency. Their agency using them for profit.Chen Zheyuan agency literally trash, they’re now using him by investing some dramas when he will get older,they will use him like Reba’s agency use him to promote junior actor/actress in his agency just like Reba’s agency. I hope they both leave those trash agencies.
I hope both Reba and CZY leave their respective agency.
hahaha… this is the funniest comment here! Leave the agency, with zero earnings, and go ride on the Merry Go Round….
berharap deramanya jd dibintangi dilireba.sama chen zheyen atau che xinzu berjalan lancar ya
I was checking MyDramaList earlier and the last paragraph in his bio says he started his own agency in partnership with his previous agency. Does anyone know if it’s accurate? If true, then all the comments about the need for him to leave his agency is moot.
All well known actor/actress has their own agency even Leo Wu and Chen Xingxu has own agency. So, what’s the problem with CZY? Investors will invest for him but he independently can choose script for him. His agency only creating controversy with billing issues and misusing him for billing. As far as i know a lot of people was surprised how he got top billing position in Handsome siblings and from that he made haters for billing issue. Sometimes staying low-key is better than getting top billing position.
he’s really owning Handsome Siblings coz good acting & screen time..CZY having Jimmy Lin role means for me that he’s a top fresh pretty boy
There are honestly so many promising upcoming actors right now (good looking ones too), why waste time with all the billing nonsense. Just pair a top star with a promising upcoming actor. Any lead worth their salt should be able to carry a drama on their own without being paired with another top star. I could see these two sharing the billing if they had equal star power, but this is not the case. If she was promised top billing, then she should not back down on that. It’ll just open up the door for it to happen again on future projects. And not just for her but for other actors as well. Billing should be based on success coupled with seniority. If the drama revolves around a certain character, than the actor playing the character should have their name appear first.
My sentiments exactly. He is really not difficult to replace. So many up and comers with equal if not better acting and visuals that would love an S+ tier project to give them their big break!
i think of this whole billing thing as ridiculous, but I’m more used to kdrama ethics/customs after a decade of drama watching that it just seems silly to me to fight over who gets first billing when it’s obvious it should be the most senior actor. I mean, even in western productions they make a distinction towards older/more experienced actors.
also i enjoyed Hidden Love a lot and thought CZH was charming af but this whole delay thing was because of him and I can’t help but see him in a new light now, a very bad one. He seems difficult to work with and this whole issue is going to give him the rep of a diva (ironic, given that’s what a lot of people believe about Dilraba). I say good riddance, we all know how awful it is to work with someone entitled.
What a mess! Both the said information in the post and the comment threads! LOL. I’m glad my fave isn’t involved.
Honestly, I hope they change to CXX. I only seen CZY in a variety show because of Shen Yue. First, I already got bad first impression of him from the variety show. Second, who is him to request equal/top billing!?!? It like I played 5 good-average basketball game for Lakers and then go to the owners asking to be equal/top billing same as LBJ. LBJ (top 10 goat) has multiple awards, titles, sponsors .. etc. I only have 5 average to good game. If the owners stupidly accept, I fracture the whole team and environment because other players or staffs who plays there does not feel treated fairly and also want similar billing as others!!! If somehow, I get equal/top billing, what will I do next?? I might request change the support actor or guest actor because I believe I am equal/top billing. CZY is going to get dropped really soon for being difficult to be deal with by delaying and creating unhealthy jealousy working condition.
I enjoyed CZY and CXX in some of their other works. Visually CXX is a better fit with Dilireba. He exudes a more mature vibe. So if they get him, it actually might do well. CZY’s team and company is kind of shooting his feet. The amount of negative press this laat few months isnt good for CZY. Really a pity
So CYZ lost the role? Looks like karma hit him fast after that stunt he pulled off in Sword and Fairy 4.
I didn’t even knew him in 2022..
Thanks to Ju Jingyi and Shen Yue because of them i know Chen Zheyuan.