A new C-drama has kicked off filming called Light in the Night (Confessions in the Dark) with veteran Pan Yue Ming and younger actor Dylan Wang. It’s the classic formula of grizzled cop with fresh eager newbie in an investigative series. The two male leads apparently have equal billing but Pan Yue Ming’s name is first in last name alphabetical order but reportedly it’s to give respect to the veteran because there is already backlash from C-netizens that Dylan got equal billing. I’m just glad whatever the decision was made it was made before filming started and of both stars are fine with it then just let it be.
Lol I didn’t hear of this so-called backlash on weibo at all, if anything, it’s probably just a few jealous fans from other fandoms making noise because this means Wang Hedi is rising up the ranks. Pan Yueming is a veteran actor and doesn’t go the liuliang route. He is obviously okay with the equal billing seeing as there wasn’t any noise before the drama’s official announcement, the drama also posted the billings openly, meaning they have nothing to hide.
Lol of course people are unhappy, I have been reading about this for days, imagine this mess.
PYM is there to actually carry the incompetent WHD, classic cent set up and then he has to settle for equal billing because the resource guy has too much money behind him, needs credits that he can’t get himself and this is becoming the only way to get work and decent pay – carry the talentless hacks on your back.
As cnetz say there isn’t even a point in boycotting these dramas because the production doesn’t care. Once filmed, they will buy a ton of water, make it look successful and done.
I love Douban’s conclusion – audience not necessary! At least PYM will get decent money for this and WHD will be able to brag about his quality drama after he got destroyed by critics several times in a row. The master of this set up is WYB, WHD just following his path. No wonder real people are watching cdramas less and less.
WYB is not the first one. Older liuliangs like the famously untalented Kris Wu and Li Yifeng have been doing it since they were the first generation liuliangs. WYB and Dylan will definitely fade away like these two did (albeit in a less dramatic and legal way) unless they managed to improve their acting skills (which I doubt so).
At first glance I thought the younger actor looks like Li Xian. But it’s Dylan with short hair.
Xu Zhengxi is quitting acting. Why? Well because of things like this.
Someone ten times more talented than Dylan Wang can even hope to be can’t get roles because of the likes of Dylan Wang. It’s always money and resources before any kind of skill or talent.
It’s going to continue this way.
He quit mainly because his manager keeps forcing him to take on roles in tacky costume dramas alongside untalented actresses Yang Chaoyue and Ouyang Nana. He offered $ to get out of the contract but was refused.
Well, I bet Dylan is bringing the money/publicity/buzz so this kind of looks like a fair deal – if that is what it was, I mean if this was agrees upon by both sides and noone was forced.
It would be interesting to find out their respective salaries too.
I’m not sure where the backlash is because I haven’t really seen any. This series was registered back in 2022 but got delayed because there was lack of investments. After Dylan chose this script the investments poured in and movie production crews (Wanda Pictures and Ruyi Film Co) got involved in filming this series. They spent 6+ months building the set in Yunnan so this is a big budget production.
Of course WHD is going to get equal billing if he is the one that is carrying the investments and helping get the project greenlit. I’m sure he has equal screentime with Pan Yue Ming as this a double ML drama. Like people said above, this was agreed upon by both sides so I don’t see the problem?
Seems like a sensible arrangement. The younger popular actor brings in the investment to get the project going and the veteran gets paid to act and bring gravitas to the show.Otherwise the older talented actors stop getting work. Wasn’t there a post about older Korean actors not getting any offers?
I am not a fan of Dylan. Saw a bit of MG to pay my respect as an Asian to the Chinese version – the Japanese version remains my fav tho I really liked the Thai version- I also watched him in TRL and that made me think he’s got it in him if he works hard and he proved it in LBFD. He seems to have a great attitude and a good team. Also seems to be focused about where he wants to go. Kind of reminds me of Jackson Wang. Have a vision, hire a good team, work hard and have a positive attitude. You don’t have to be most talented guy. I don’t even find DW very attractive. It’s his attitude that is appealing. His NBA stunt was very endearing. He was like a kid in a candy store. He deserves his success.
Lol yes I am sure Dylan’s fans saw nothing. It suits them to keep their eyes closed.
Tale as old as time in cent. Guy with no talent but major money backing him gets the talented person to drag the train.
Nothing new in cent. Money rules, actual acting skills aren’t relevant. Dylan Wang is just one of money using this corruption.
he is literally from countryside who makes a living by selling skewers.
his small agent is established in 2016. the investors are game developers who has no connection in c-ent. he signed in 2017 because he AUDITIONED and won to act in Meteor Garden the casts are all freshmeat in c-ent.
Despite after getting popular in Meteor Garden. He was asked to saved a dying project [Ever Night 2] that a nepobaby(cfy) abandoned and Dylan got a lot of hate bcs cfy isnt the one acting in it.
He was not getting a job and AUDITIONED AGAIN in Youth In The Flames of War.
All his projects in 2020 & 2021 were all LOW BUDGET.
In 2022, he couldn’t filmed for 10 months and 2 projects failed bcs of various reasons. But he got popular again thanks to LBFAD in which director recommended him to LBFAD’s producer since chen xingxu rejected lbfad.
The reason he could get good projects and top billing now bcs he is popular & can attract investments to the drama in which pan yueming needs. NOT bcs he has a money backing, which is literally non existant.
both sides are okay with the billing.
Also, no one was complaining about the billing except his antis
Why so much hate on Dylan? if you dont like him, then dont watch him. People, get some life.
If you think the man cannot act, look at all other chinese actors, those are not even good looking, you need to put make up to make them look handsome, same with chinese actress.
You cannot compare a veteran actor to a young actors. Old actors have so much experience, why Dylan just started out. Give him a chance, if you dont like him, why spread the hate? So much jealousy going around