Sometimes I wonder what Yu Zheng is thinking because he seems to just needs attention and creates new topics of discussion. Last week he caused backlash on actress Li Meng who he cast as the antagonist princess in his drama The Double with a very long and overly wordy spiel about her pros and cons. She was not the first actress cast for the role of Princess Wanning but when the original actress has a scheduling conflict and he happened to be dining with Li Meng, he offered her the role. He said she behaved weirdly on set at times – insisted on looking for missing items until she caused everyone to be late, didn’t like period costumes and complained about all the accessories, no boundaries with other actors and just drank their water, sometimes didn’t memorize her lines and needed to be hounded by the director to do so. He basically called her for acting like a child, but then said he like that when she was called out she would take the criticism and change. She also delivered an amazing acting performance so Yu Zheng was overall happy to have worked with her. Talk about a backhanded compliment through his entire grand speech lol.
Wow what a way to be a double edged sword for her. Like what the heck. If the actress or anyone did the same for him I bet he’d flip out. Whoever works with him must fear for their lives at least their careers. I literally mean actors and crew alike. It’s Like working for Jekyll and Hyde lol
If what he said is true I think it was a way for her to get into the character. Everything he described was what Wanning would have done.
Pingback: Producer Yu Zheng Writes Long Post Criticizing Actress Li Meng's Behavior on The Double Set But Praising Her for Admitting Mistakes and Delivering a Great Performance | Parlour News Korea
This is his M. O. He throws every single actor he works with, under the bus. Would it kill him to keep these things in-house? I don’t understand why he does this. Anyone who works with him must be prepared to be cannon fodder for whenever he has his mood swings. Smh.
I think it’s a power trip. He likes to remind actors his influence over them.
True.
I can see why Yu Zheng said what he said. There are many top artiste that are worse then Li Meng. One never knows what goes on behind a smiling face. Li Meng has talent and I can see Yu Zheng working with her in more projects. She may not likely be lead actress as I doubt she can pull many good investments. But who knows.
Li Meng is infamous for her diva behaviour for a long time, I am quite surprised she knows that but still behaves so on The Double set. Part of me thinks she feels as long as she can delivery a good role in the drama and Yu Zheng still wants her, why should she please everyone. Definitely a Diva. Maybe she does have a strong backer that allows her to behave as such…
One thing for certain, we will see more of her working with Yu Zheng. Hope she temper her nature and learn, Good teamwork makes Good working environment. She does not live on her own in life…there will be always people around her. She need not annoy everyone. Every human are equal, no one is better then another.
Makes sense to me. She might have financially worry-free background for her to somehow behave at whim (from some ppl’s perspectives) on set. Perhaps she just doesn’t care or has no financial stress to worry about whether she has more or less work to do. It seems she only minded how satisfying her working conditions would be and how well she could perform on set. That didn’t look like what a person in a desperate need to land more jobs for bread would behave. It appeared to me she just didn’t care, and consistently does not care at all. But all these are purely my speculations.
I’m taking YZ’s comments about her as positive compliments rather than exposure of her weakness to the public. I’m taking that as defense of her to keep it open for future work with her.
Li Meng’s Princess Royal was a pivotal antagonist in The Double and her acting was equally mesmerizing like the ML WXY. TD was a huge success from the perspectives of production costs and expectation. I can see more not fewer opportunities for YZ to collaborate with LM in the future. This is my take, different from other comments here.
Yes, I too think her behaviour does not sound like someone who is worried about her rice bowl. People under stress can sometimes behave out of normal…but based on previous year, reports of her not being a good team player have to floating around. One would expect she would change for better but she still carried such bbad habits on The Double set.
But it is quite my speculation too. We will know if she ever get cast in future Yu Zheng’s projects.
sometimes i think this is how yu zheng controlled or gaslight his actors, being hot and cold with them, remember zhao qing and yu zheng criticism about her weight? he only praised them if they bring him the return benefit. did yu zheng ever apologized about his plagiarism? cant remember.
He paid a big fine and have apologised to Qiong Yao…
Yu zheng loves to gaslight his actors, criticising then paraising them. Remember his comments about Zhao Qing’s weight? Probably that’s how we controlled them. Yu Zheng also love all kinds of publicity probably, good or bad as long is it brings hype.Did he ever apologized about his plagiarism? Last i heard he seemed to be ignoring it.
Yes supposedly Yu Zheng mentioned all these while he was addressing criticisms hurled against her being a diva and all that. But one wonders why he revealed all these things that happened on set. My guess is that he was frustrated too and at the same time he still value her talents.
Anyway he has been known to attack actors like Deng Wei, Zhao Lu Si…. Is it because they are not keen to join his agency?
Not a fan of C-dramas, but I did watch Love Like a Galaxy with all that hype when it aired. This dude Yu Zheng sounds like a real douche constantly on power trip.
I too would hate to work with a seemingly “diva”, low level crazy, or narcissist…no matter the level of acting. There are always people who have both talent and a cordial pleasant personality to work with.
Yu Zheng likes all the attention on his in house actors, he is probably bitter she is getting more acting praise than Wu JInyan. Someone should remind him of the rumors on WJY behavior so he can shut up. We know everyone is awful only his artists are well behaved /s.
It’s not a lie that Li Meng has better acting skills than Wu Jinyan. LOL.
AGREE.
Li Meng is known for being difficult to work with. She exasperated the director of Bad Kids with her behavior, and got called out on TV for it. She’s admitted her reputation is preventing her from getting work.
Yu Zheng might actually help her out here by acknowledging the truth to the gossip his peers are hearing, and saying her acting skills make up for her behavior.
If I was her, I’d never want to work for him ever again. Jeez.
Imagine bringing out this out into the open. The guy is a nightmare but unfortunately there is no one to stop him. Total trash.
So much drama outside the drama. LOL.
I am not trying to defend him but He wasn’t trying to hurt her, she had a bad rep for having bad work etiquette so he was praising/criticizing her.
Don’t simp for trash like Yu Zheng.
If he feels there are some problems, he can handle that in private. This is a power trip and his way of saying he has all the control in his hands. He is trash that has done this numerous times before.
Simp???? seriously
He didnt say that out of the blue, she was getting so much hate on Weibo and ppl were attacking her after the drama ended for being a Diva.
Chill “lol” with ur always smug comments
@Lol “In private?” Yet you like to share stupid rumors that are part of actors’ private lifes. Hahaha, your double standard is quite amusing. Yu Zheng is trash like you. But at least he has shared a truth about Li Meng. You, that always are aware of all kinds of rumors and alegations, should know it better. Haha.
@Merry She likes to expose her low IQ. But we can make fun of her anyways. Lol.
@Lol “In private?” Yet you like to share stupid rumors that are part of actors’ private lifes. Hahaha, your double standard is quite amusing. Yu Zheng is trash like you. But at least he has shared a truth about Li Meng. You, that always are aware of all kinds of rumors and alegations, should know it better. Haha.
@Merry She likes to expose her low IQ. But we can make fun of her anyways. Lol.
how many money do u get by hating on this producer? i hope the pay is high bc u are trying hella hard like it’s even funny.
@Merry, I do not think he is tryig to hurt her…he was stating facts then praised as he see deserved, which is her acting skills.
Your comment on Tang Yan and fashion house was interesting for me.
I can’t with Yu Zheng. If somebody would write a drama script about all his antics all producers would reject the drama cause it’s to unrealistic and to hilarious in bad ways. If you think nobody would behave like this in real life, he goes ahead and does something more stupid than before. Sometimes I wonder what he does behind closed doors, since he seems to have no shame to wash any dirty laundry in public. Who ever told him bad publicity is good publicity should be hold accountable, too
LOL. He also has his long history of strange and annoying behavior. But it’s evident that two people of the same type can’t stand each other in the same room. LOL.
Isnt this gaslighting? Do yu zheng always do this?
he’s always been stirring shit. i avoid whatever he produces because the discourse around them is so exhausting
LOL. It’s just that she has a track record that points to her as a person who has no work ethic. LOL.
In 2009, Li Meng, who had just turned 18, was selected to play the role of Bai Ling in the movie “White Deer Plain” for her outstanding acting talent. It is rumored that during the filming process, Li Meng clashed with the director, which eventually led to her being replaced.
https://i.inf.news/p/FzbyY1T0U3dL12NRNUcJBTZwd2NSJzQHZ2YIZnTsV3XThTLf5UbMdWUV1kQORlNVlXVRNFa0tmWBpFUiF3U0ATUClTdix2Uzh1Ts10M3sUTQBDT4l1ZYdURuJzd
The rumor kick off again when Li Meng participated in a variety show and Zhang Jizhong criticized her on the spot, saying, “This person is difficult to deal with. No matter how good her acting skills are, I will not use her.” LOL.
https://i.inf.news/p/FTUzsGWMNVdmBDVINEd4MkMCF0SZxEO2FnNuxURyVjTVd2UygVat80YFhVbnVEU2hkVn5WYF9lb5gVWlFjUpFlNHZXLxNjN0EXeYt2YRdGUGd3SJdDMfVjcK52d
I remember there were more events but I have not been able to find links. LOL.
I enjoyed her performance in The Double, and I’m even interested in her future projects. I can separate her persona from her work no problem because even my favorites might have their skeletons in the closet safely tucked away. LOL.
There are more than 10 incidents related to her bad character but we don’t know if they are true or not. The ones you have pointed out are the ones that are confirmed but I will take the rest as rumors.
That’s a pity if she did have some work ethics issues as reported. I’ll be interested in her new projects as a FL too. The premise is scripts and directing have to be good enough to let her talent shine. C dramas are still weak in general. The Double is just unique. After watching that, I continued to check out The Princess Royal but can’t stand the weak plot; I don’t like Zhao Jinmai’s modern interpretation of her character either. LOL. But I found Blossom in Adversity interesting. BiA isn’t as addictive as TD. Nonetheless the story was well written and an easy watch. I even binged BiA to almost finish 40 eps now. That’s rare for me regarding C dramas. LOL.
@Somebody Blossom in Adversity is on my watchlist, I like Zhang Jing Yi enough to check her projects regardless I like or not her co-stars. Lol. But right now I’m binging underrated and non-liuliangs (?) C-dramas and I am pleased with the quality overall, this side of Chinese entertainment is promising because the production values are stronger. Now I have a legit question: Why bad C-dramas are the overexposed ones?
@Somebody non-overexposed liuliangs*. LOL. As I recall, there are “serious” actors who have solid but one-dimentional acting skills like Sun Li. She uses the same expressions.
Who are those non-overexposed liuliangs you’re exploring? I have never watched Sun Li’s dramas and therefore no comments on her.
I finished BiA yesterday. Like The Double, there were illogical plot holes here and there. It’s not perfect. But overall the series told a story that made me feel good – women power and girls reign! LOL. If you like a slice of impossible life fantasy for female-centric utopia, then BiA is the one for you. hahaha. I appreciate ZJY’s acting although her character was in a sense very straightforward, not that multi-layered. The writing and the directing were solid without many fillers. The drama also did a decent job in character development in key characters including quite a few supporting roles, having very balanced writing and colorful storylines not merely focused on the OTP that might have bored you to the heck. LOL. It just feels so good to see women successfully fight gender discrimination, defy low social and family status, tenacity reign hardship, and good overcome evil. The weakness of this drama is the wooden acting of the ML, Hu Yitian. Nonetheless, I don’t dislike his visuals though as many C netizens whined about. I found him tall and handsome in costume. He also looked pretty cool and badass in the fighting scenes for which many C flower boys just appear to be weakling jokes compared to him. That being said, his expressionless face tested my patience sometimes. LOL.
There has been too much negativity and too many unsatisfactory endings in C costume dramas, highlighting the worst of humanity and the most heart-wrenching relationships. BiA, however, delivered rare positive energy to viewers. I’m happy I could find another decent C drama to watch after The Double. C costume dramas improved this year, doing better than 2023 IMO.
She’s a great actress. Far better than many liuliangs, both male and female. But I’m the only one who don’t find her good-looking? She has average features, plain like me😅
Nope! You’re not the only one. I second you. LOL. She isn’t pretty but her acting in the Double is impressive.
@Somebody I’m hoping to see Li Meng as female lead in She’s from Nowhere, an adaptation of one of my favorite thriller books! It’s not confirmed whether it will be a series or movie yet.
“It’s not confirmed…” Did you mean it’s gonna adapted on screen anyhow? I love thrillers but it’s not easy to adapt a thriller. I do think Li Meng has acting chops to handle a thriller.
@Somebody Yes, it is already confirmed. Her male lead will be
Song Ning. Coming from China, I haven’t seen any outstanding thriller yet. Lol. Regeneration with Jing Boran is decent (I watched all ten episodes in two days, thanks to the performances). It would have been good, the kind that keeps you on the edge of your seat, if they hadn’t blatantly censored the events and the writing of the characters.
I wrote a reply to your comment above three hours ago but it still doesn’t show up. LOL. I wonder if it’s because I made a couple of legit criticisms about Zhao Jin Mai in The Royal Princess? I have noticed that my comments about her that are not positive are missing. Lol. I will wait to see if it is approved.
@Lyss, LOL. Your suspicion isn’t illogical. Some of my comments criticizing Koala’s favor were also held back for longer time than others to be posted. But this is her blog. She has the right to decide what to post and what else not to see the daylight. LOL. She is relatively open minded compared with other forums discussing Asian entertainment. I have seen much worse on Reddit.