C-actress Zhao Lu Si wrapped Tang dynasty period drama The Story of Pearl Girl (formerly known as The Legend of Jewelry) earlier this year and is reportedly intentionally not doing another project right away. She’s been taking the downtime to do more brand events and other activity but she does have another project lined up. She’s signed the intent letter for the Tencent produced period C-drama Green Cloud Platform (青云台 Qing Yun Tai) adapted from the same name novel. She’s top billed and will have her pick of male lead final decision. Initially the drama was in talks with Deng Wei and then moved on to Cheng Lei, and both passed to take on male lead top billed C-dramas as their next career move rather than play second fiddle to Zhao Lu Si. Now the project is courting Zhou Yi Ran as the male lead and other than When I Fly Towards You which was his breakout I think he’s still waiting for another big project and this could be it.
Zhao Lu Si’s previous drama took 8 months to get an ML after all those actors rejected the role. How many months is this one gonna take to get an ML?
Didn’t her side already deny it one month ago?
yes, I think. And honestly, she is at the stage where she can’t play second fiddle anymore. She brings investors, numbers and viewers to the table. So why would she expect any other billing, unless the ML has an equal or more power? she shouldn’t !
I think the article means she won’t play second fiddle? Since she will be top billed and gets to choose the male lead (but anyways comments are saying the news is false anyway). Zhao Lusi seems to be more ambitious and does not want to stick to idol dramas. She also reportedly reject a Gu Man novel adaptation according to Yang Xiaopei.
yeah, but how many ML other than Ning ge on equal or higher wants to work with her? Yeah she has fans, but have these fans brought her male costars any good? Not to mention LYN, even Wu Lei who’s higher status than her and a respected former child star had to go through her fans hate. It’s not like she’s a reputable actress, theres so many criticisms online. The only people that might benefit is lower status actors. She’s a hot potatoe.
Zhou Yi Ran would be good. He matches cute actresses. When I Fly to You was great, but I liked the other characters more than his.
Her agency already denied she is not involved in this project some months ago, I don’t know where is rumours is coming from.
I really liked him in When I Fly to You!
But all the billing thing is sad. Finding actors who correspond to your character, who can act, who will have chemistry together should be their priority in a production.
Did i miss out about Deng Wei and Cheng Lei’s breakout projects beside being the supporter actors in popular dramas such as Lost You Forever and My Journey To You? i didnt follow them but to reject a project with Zhao Lusi just bcuz they didnt want to be the 2nd billing is really amazing. She brings the sponsors tot he project tho. I mean, are they really popular? But i like Cheng Lei’s acting. Hope to see him shinning shimmering splendid as he deserves.
Lmao no. Actors have it very easy. They just need to look handsome and have one buzzy role to be elevated to male lead. At least Cheng Lei had a buzzy lead role in Xu Yan as well. I don’t think Cheng Lei minds being second billing to Zhao Lusi though. Afterall he is second billing to Zhou Ye and Song Yi, both whom I believe are equal or below Zhao Lusi in status. This rumor is sus. But Deng Wei is already first billed in his latest drama so I’m guessing he will only be second billing to the older and more established actresses like the 85 flowers and Yang Zi.
Right??
No offense to either guys, but neither are successful enough to get top billing unless their female lead is a completely unknown actress. ZLS is in no way one of my favorites, but she has a list of successes and has worked on her resume for years. She should be getting 1st billing. Plus many of her male leads have benefitted from working alongside her (ie: Liu Yu Ning, Ding Yu Xi, Chen Zhe Yuan)
This is similar to Dilraba and Chen Zhe Yuan. He was in no way in Dilraba’s league to be demanding top billing after one success while she’s been in the industry and on top for much longer than him.
It feels like these actors and their teams are getting cocky. It isn’t a good look for them.
as a mofan, I disagree. LYN got soooo much hate from her fans he even brought it up during her live. During the filming period, theres still so many shit from zls fan. Benefit? poi!
Deng Wei definitely has strong fans number, like check weibo super topic ranking. He’s up there. He definitely doesn’t need to lower himself. Someone of you international fans only see her large fanbase, but dont see the double edge sword. Her fans are TOXIC. Even Wu Lei had to deal with them after being curse “motherfucker (ma le ge bi, Lol)” at by her. Why should Deng Wei go through that
I would’ve liked to see her with Cheng Lei, maybe another project. These billing shenanigans seem out of hand.
Their leading man dramas just finished filming, but are not out yet so that why you’re probably not aware. Both have the potential to become a huge hits.
Deng Wei is ML in Love of the Divine Tree. Pretty sure he’s top billed.
Cheng Lei is ML in Legend of the Female General. He might be sharing or second billed to Zhou Ye, but I hear this is a very popular ip/novel, so I can see why he’d pick that over second billing to ZLS, especially given her crazy fan base.
But reportedly, it was ZLS who bowed out first when Deng Wei was in discussion, so Cheng Lei wasn’t in the picture yet, unless you have knowledge that he was first choice over Deng Wei.
It’s amazing how little control/faith the production have & continue to play to the top bill’s favorite (although I noticed that some got so sick of it & rather not do promote at all). We normal drama watchers don’t care for actors, we watch for the story line. No actor(s) should be bigger than the character itself.
We viewers hope for the best cast and surely don’t care about their pockets. But no brainer for actors’ teams to pick projects with more stakes on their sides. There once was a rookie in my office who jumped ship to a startup offering her higher pay and bonus. Why not? It’s all about making a living. LOL. No exception for showbiz.
Among all three potential ML mentioned, ZYR is the best IMO. CL is fine but ZYR has more proof in his acting. DW will be possibly just a fluke like Gong Jun.
I’ll check ZLS’ dramas in any case, dropping it if as bad as her last drama. No burden at all. She’s not my fave anyhow.
CMIIW, ZLS started to have problem finding a ML who are willing to be her second fiddle after Jing Boran backed out in the last minutes and replaced with WAY for The Last Immortal. JBR refused to be her second fiddle despite the initial promise of him being the top billed.
ZLS can be top billed with all 3 MLs mentioned above though because she does have higher commercial values than them. But I think ZYR is more willing compare to CL and DW.
In his interview, WAY said that he already had the role at the time LLtG aired (Jul-Aug) while the JBR rumor started in Oct/Nov. So definitely, melon account was seeking clout by spreading baseless rumors about her. And this one probably too.
Yes, I saw that interview too, that WAY had already signed on. We really only read all the rumors and never know the truth, right? Like this Deng Wei collaboration…those who just read Koala think this is what happened when Lu Si’s team already put out a big FAKE slashed over the “news” on Weibo months ago.
why is it always her, lady cant be happy with what she had