Period Politics and Romance C-drama Spring of the Blade with Xu Kai and Zhou Ye Faces Netizen Criticism on Billing Order, Male Lead Scenes, and Characterization
No matter how much changes in C-drama production many things remain the same. Recently the upcoming period C-drama Spring of the Blade (一瓯春 Yi Ou Chun) finished filming last year and is on deck for release in the second half of this year. Starring Xu Kai and Zhou Ye, the drama recently got its maybe dirty laundry aired by upset Xu Kai fans. Due to the billing order rules, the first name on any poster is the lead with the fewest strokes in the name and his fans are upset because when he signed on to do the drama he was promised top billed. Sorry dude, when rules change midway you just gotta roll with the punches. The bigger problem is his fans revealing that the script was changed during filming with many of his scenes cut, and that has led to his character randomly showing up and disappearing without the requisite continuity. And an industry insider who reportedly saw an early cut of the drama has claimed that other than Zhou Ye’s character (who has all the good scenes) all other characters from male lead to supporting roles are all poorly written and one-dimensional. Oof this is not looking good.
Zhou Ye is cute but she just cannot act. Is she still her agency blue eyed girl or has she been replaced by Xu Ruohan?
Zhou ye can’t act at all. Even after relying heaviky on great script, plots in drama like time travel she acts as zhouye but not the character , her recent time travel drama was so boring,LOFG was simply basic not great as it is hailed she didn’t even look convincing as a male general with her petite dolled up look, overall the drama is overrated because of big promotion. Her only portfolio as acting that is always praised blindly by her fans was of her minor character of bully in the movie better days but somehow she got all nominations and awards just for that.
Her face is praised in china as beauty and often used to ridicule another actress zhang jingyi by comparing. Idk who else are her secret backers except her loving boss li bingbing considering the fact that she is getting female centric roles and movies, variety shows, national channel exposure in festivals.
She is legit soooo bad. Like the only thing I thougjt was kinda decent in was scent in time and even then she only sis well in the beginning n ending scenes. Wxy who appeared way less had way more gravitas. The so called talents in her agency besides her – xu ruohan n neo hou stay getting roles with mediocre acting cos of their backers.
Xu kai used to have potential maybe like 10 years ago.. but he is completely stagnant n seems to not be interested in improving. He phones it in for every role smdh
She can’t act worth a damn but she has a massive backer behind her so yeah. That’s how China works. You will get trampled.
Whenever I see mediocre actors keep getting lead roles I can’t help but thinking the possibilities of them having backers. I wonder why did these backers choose to invest in untalented actors. Not mention their dramas don’t perform well too.
@Sissi
I think they will probably try to get her into movies because of the rapidly cooling drama market. Even investors are balking at supporting people like her these days, while just a year ago they could still easily find some.
Movies are more corrupt and way more capital orientated in China so probably why she is already transferring.
I really don’t understand either. When you’ve already invested maybe, it’s difficult to back out. Some people aren’t good, but they have incredible charisma or presence. She has none charm. Just my personal opinion.
Someone like her doesn’t just have weak acting skills but no acting skills should consider sharing screen for watcher better experience. Sometimes n you watch dramas you can feel personal editing. Actually deceiving actor into appearing is c-ent practice for more money poured in dramas. Screenwriters have little power over looses pages. Producers which aren’t willing to make good story deserve his outcome. I believe she cannot break big time after so long. Her WB fans are still 1 single digits. Backing can’t pay illusion…
Her backer is really huge. Her highest view count is 20 million i think. She already has film resources so fast even more established actresses don’t get. The worst is her acting always criticize irkk.
Ressources cinema*
Someone leaked this news meaning someone on xu Kai’s team besides fan base? Do they not get in trouble for leaking stuff like this? Like telling on themselves. Neither are the best of acting though. Is the story female centric? If so then it would explain more her than him. Guess we wait and see whether it is good or bad? So weird that they leak stuff like this before the drama airs like do they want us to watch it or not? 🤷🏻♀️
@rero
You are right. Most of the novels are having female protagonists..I read part of the story. It’s a lot of stuff on the female character so it’s quite understandable that the adapted drama may be rather female-centric.
And maybe perhaps Xu Kai was involved in the scandal so the production team may reduce his screen time? Just wondering.
As for Zhou Ye, she may not be the most talented actress around… but she is popular and visually looks good on screen….
That scandal has already passed, he has a recent drama airing just fine.
I was just reading on another site about iQiyi’s head talking about how the drama industry isn’t making much money now because they’re losing viewers. With the above kind of plot hacking and mismanagement of storylines, OF COURSE viewers won’t watch. C-ent’s industry isn’t focused anymore on making stories the public want to watch (or if they’ve made any the CCP censors are chopping/removing the interest out of the stories). The CEOs are too busy pandering to power/greed and the stories and acting are the sacrifices. The only reason viewers watch remade identical shows with different actors/actresses now is fan support. If iQiyi switches to AI shows as the iQiyi CEO wants the fans will drop out immediately because what they’ll be watching is fake and watching will not be supporting the person(s) they’re watching for. Isn’t that why so many discussions on this website are about an actor’s/actress’s talent or fanbase and not on the stories/plots? All these plots are so alike they bore. IMO C-ent has two major problems plaguing it: 1- ridiculous power plays damaging stories from fanbases/backers/egomaniacs and 2- terrible hack editing from censors rightfully afraid of triggering CCP/fanbases/backers. If the stories were engaging/great then C-ent wouldn’t have a problem with leaving viewers. Present dramas/comedies/films people want to watch and they’ll watch it. YOLO was a great example of massive turnout; the public supports what engages.
Well said! The most valid points made in this thread.
I don’t want to watch. Xu Kai acting is not top notch, but Zhou Ye’s acting is really cringe. She’s good at ruining big/great IP. I always skip dramas no matter what. I don’t want to try especially she has a lot of scenes.
I’ve always had a big soft spot for Xu Kai—especially in Arsenal Military Academy. I’m happy to report too that he’s good in the recently aired Eight Hundred (not an idol drama).
Zhou Ye was more than okay in Scent of Time (the drama itself, I find quite memorable).
But both definitely need to be more discerning in the projects they pick to level-up.
This girl has had professional acting training yet her performance still fall short, but she keeps landing roles in big budget dramas despite projects after projects with underwhelming results. Then her fans always complain that she’s not getting enough resources. Just give this girl’s resources to those deserving!
I think performance of a show depends largely on its plot. In the case of Zhou Ye, a mediocre actor, isn’t it good that her shows keep performing poorly? With that kind of performance maybe one day her backers will withdraw their support and she will stop getting roles.
I dropped Legend of female general despite waiting for so long after finishing the novel. She was not a convincing general. There was no chemistry btw the leads (more so off screen), the plot was butchered and every time she said DUDU I wanted to break my computer screen.
Xu Kai’s acting is bad as well. He acted like a piece of woodblock in Moonlit Reunion. Moreover didn’t he have the scandal? Maybe thats why he lost his top billing status.
I wouldn’t say Xu Kai’s acting is bad, he is passable, and I had enjoyed a few of his dramas including Moonlit Reunion. The thing with Xu Kai is that his acting depends largely on his chemistry with his female lead. I haven’t watch his recent drama Eight Hundred yet, hopefully I’ll be able to start this weekend.