Bai Lu Fans Upset with Her New Drama Strange Tales of Tang Palace After Learning the Script is Male Lead Centric and the Drama is Orchestrated to Cement Wang Xing Yue’s Status as Top Male Lead
The upcoming C-drama Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty (唐宫奇案之青雾风鸣) has now confirmed both the female lead Bai Lu and a day later male lead Wang Xing Yue. Filming will start soon and more info is coming out and a big industry chatter is on the plot. Apparently the drama plot is male lead centric (so-called Big Male Lead) type of story and the drama is intended as a vehicle for Wang Xing Yue over Bai Lu in order to cement his breakout from The Double into making him firmly a top male lead. Bai Lu’s fan are furious learning this on top of them not happy she’s doing another period drama to begin with since she’s pigeonholed for awhile now in the genre. She still has another year left on her contract with Yu Zheng and I hope she leaves him so she has the freedom to accept/reject her own projects.
I think it’s good to sometimes do non-female centric roles. Some actresses have pulled off becoming fan favorite characters after doing great cameos or minor roles.
Why is it a problem. I was tired of double which felt like a video game. The all powerful female lead just kept crossing all of the hurdles. Good to have a change. And I do want to see wang Xing Yue in a lead role. Bai Lu has done so many where she is the female lead too
Yes! I love The Double and I love both Bai Lu and Wang Xingyue, but a male centric drama isn’t bad at all if the drama and script is good. BL is still top billed and their chemistry would for sure be great. And who says that it really is male centric only wherein FL is nowhere to be seen. A drama is not black and white like that and shouldn’t be so long as you have interesting characters and story. So excited for this!
A mi me gustó mucho el papel que él hizo en el drama The Double, me parece un excelente actor al igual que ella. Rico verlos trabajar juntos. Espero con ansias el drama.
Yeah and people didn’t believe me when I said she was being railroaded by Yu Zheng over this one.
Wang Xing Yue is a pathetic little nobody that is trying to use her to push himself up. He is in for a rude awakening if he and YZ both think people are stupid.
I feel so sorry for her, her career is practically over because she is being used as a mule for these nobodies. Even if she manages to leave, arguably it is going to be so difficult to try and get anywhere seriously.
Not to mention YZ is trash and he isn’t going to just let her go. Look at Song Weilong who only managed to get away after he got a powerful backer that could push YZ back.
Bai Lu’s acting is stale anyway so it will be good to let Wang Xingyue have more spotlight. But I doubt its true. From the Baidu synopsis it sounds like the two have equal importance to the storyline. BL fans prob unhappy its not totally female-centric like they expected it to. They “warned” Yu Zheng on his weibo that it’d better not focus on too much romance and Yu Zheng was like: “then you better not watch” … LOL.
Yeah they’re all just panicking because Yu Zheng said there was a lot of romance and because Youku posted his poster everywhere for a day just like they did hers (are they not supposed to promote the male lead at all? lol) Anyway, Yu Zheng also once said that The Double had 50-50 screentime for the leads and it turned out to be more like 50-5 so why do they still believe everything he says.
Yeah I’ll never get Chinese entertainment culture where all the fans wanna erase the existence of the other lead like their fave is the only one starring in the drama. Maybe they expect Sun Li/Hu Ge/Zhang Ruoyun level of treatment – but those are the very few exception.
Anyway Yu Zheng is full of lies but I doubt he’s lying when he said there will be romance. Most costume dramas have romance nowadays – its essential to attracting cp fans which help boost popularity significantly.
@lol I’m sure there is romance, it’s him saying that it’s majority of the script that I doubt. but I guess we’ll never know until we see the show or unless someone actually leaks the script first. If it is a lie, then this overreaction is so embarrassing for the fans.
Are you for real – Bai Lu’s acting stale😱 She is undoubtedly one of the best Chinese female actress at the moment. Not a soppy baby voiced idiot like Esther Yu, who plays the same part in every drama. Bai Lu in Arsenal Military Academy, Love is sweet etc was outstanding with unbelievable chemistry with her MLs
Well there is nothing wrong with doing non female lead centric drama but getting used to lift another actor to ML image who is on top of that wood actor who cant act ,this looks like a big waste of her time, I am sure Yu Zheng already knows she will not sign a new contract and he is milking her to get some buzz for his next big actor ,he did say that he has nothing to do with but I don’t believe him.
That’s exactly what this is, he knows she is out and is trying to use her to lift his fave.
WXY is far from a wooden actor. Part of his current appeal is his talent and potential
She is a stale and boring actress. Its a good thing for her to use her popularity to boost up and coming actors who are more talented.
@Penny
If he was more talented he wouldn’t need to be boosted by her.
You gege fans are so disgusting. If he can’t handle his own stuff then tough luck, sacrificing other people for him is vile.
too bad your fave gotta have fun being his slave then LOL. and stop using different usernames: lol, nope, nah wtvr. You look like a dimwit lmao
Goodness, like Yu Zheng will listen to her fans….🙄🙄
Yeah, really don’t understand these extreme fans. The most important thing is the act and good strong storyline that matters. Who cares about who is the lead in the story. Sometimes support roles can also attract audiences.
Wow! So much drama in C-entertainment.
Why get mad? Bai Lu must have read the script and is ok with it. She just needs to act her part well.
Which is what actors do…get script, agree to job then do the work. These fans makes me laugh sometimes.
It’s hilarious how we just had a topic about terrible, exploitative agencies and yet you two are pretending dumb as if she has a choice.
@Smh, whatever…
@SMH She’s the lead during a cold winter in television and entertainment. It is difficult to get a job for most people, getting a good script is even more rare. There are no small roles, just small actors. There are things beyond your control, do your part well.
@Guest
BL is consistently a first billed, lead actress.
Yes, there are small roles that are not fit for her but I am not surprised all you here are cheering for your ge ge.
Yu Zheng made sure he gets to be carried by her, why would you complain. Pity your ge ge is incompetent so can’t handle a real lead role because it would flop hard.
@lol The phrase “there are no small roles, just small actors” mean that a good actor will put their heart into every role, no matter how much screen time it has or how questionably written it is. Dramas are a team, and for fans to play “my fave is better than everyone else and should get preferential treatment” makes your fave look elitist.
I had to scroll up to remind myself which “ge ge” you think I have. I haven’t watched any drama of Wang Xing Yue’s. Yu Zheng is an ahole but he is a large part of Bai Lu’s career. Everything is a business here, again, do your part well. Wasting energy worrying about other things is draining and setting her up for failure.
I have better things to do than troll people online accusing them idol worship. Do you have a mirror in your house?
@Guest
Sure, sure and pigs fly. You are out here simping for your gege and cheering that his better gets to carry the sedan chair for him.
If there are no small roles, let him do small roles and build his career properly. Ah but that you don’t want, no his betters need to carry him just because they can be forced by their filthy agencies.
I hope your gege ends up reaping all the karma for his filthy ways.
There are no small roles when a person is acting in a high quality project, with their equals or betters.
It’s simply not the case here, this is not a ten minutes guest star role for Bai Lu. This is very common in China and it is entirely about carrying the person that the capital wants to push. She can’t say no because of her situation and here we are. If she were free to say no and she still chose it for some reason that’d be different.
Her career is going nowhere so adding even more projects like this is just going to make it that much more difficult for her to even try and course correct. Maybe it’s too late already.
@ LOL Your name really fits. Hahaha ha. Keep talking about my perceived gege. This is very entertaining. I have no dog in this fight since neither actors make me watch a drama unless the plot is good. I was just wondering why anyone thinks it’s worth getting upset over a job. But it’s cool, you keep elevating your blood pressure to argue that the actress who is always getting first billed in large production projects is being mistreated. 👋
@Rea She was not always 1st billed and actually may not always be in the future. Are those times when she is pushed by capital? No, I think it is silly to think one person is so much above another.
Good quality projects are extremely rare. She may not have that choice which actually means she isn’t at the level and needs to make the best of the options she has. But most times, no one can predict which project will do well. Did people expect the recent Esther Yu/Ding Yuxi one to be as popular as now? Nope. People bashed DYX when he was casted. They made fun of him for being 2nd billed. But he just ignored the noise did his best work.
@Guest
By their logic Bai Lu was also carried by Ren Jialun and Luo Yunxi when she was second billed. Is her performance any less because she had less fame at the time? I really don’t get this obsession with boasting about one person “carrying” a whole drama, as if traffic has been helping cdramas not flop all year.
In the meantime, her next rumored project under iQIYI is still with a “nobody” so maybe their rage is better directed at the c-ent system that’s keeping her stuck in these repetitive roles rather than the actors and creatives who are just doing their jobs.
Btw @smh, @lol and @nope are the same person
Thanks! This makes a lot of sense.
Here we go again
Good news! WXY deserves a male-centric drama. BL has been boring for a while anyway. It’s good for her to temporarily step aside from spotlight and attention.
Yu Zheng said it was Bai Lu’s decision to take up this project. Bai Lu was like a master and disciple relationship with WXY all along. I believed in her decision.
I like Wang Xingyue so i hope Bai lu’s fans would stop bashing him. He is handsome and has male lead potential.
interesting to see how the feelings shift on Wang Xing-yue.
Is this really going to be male-centric, or are the fans just upset it isn’t a female-centric one.
I wonder if it will be similar to Under the Power, which I liked, but it could have been improved if it had been made after the keep-to-40-episodes rule was launched.
I don’t know what single, double or triple becoz I only watch Bailu’s dramas… Heh.heh.
They knew from the start.
Please I already see him as a ML!!Chinese are not the only ones who watch Chinese movies there are a lot of International fans and a lot of us are not delusional or crazy or try to dictate how a movie or how actors lives are supposed to go. Get a grip people!!
I only watch Bailu, only her…
Me too. I think she is outstanding in all her roles. She has taken guest roles in films and to watch what a lovely, genuine person she is on Keep Running – she makes that show. I’m a loyal English fan and watch everything she is in. Waiting for Moonlight Mystique and Northward now.
Looking at this it’s pretty obvious why Yu Zheng was dissing all the male centric dramas that are going to come up next year.
He wants WCY to be that guy that can carry the drama but it isn’t working out so he has to force Bai Lu to carry it for him. It’s frustrating him so he is dumping all over people like WHD, XZ, YY, etc who have big projects set for next year too.
It’s still not going to do anything but alienate people but I guess he doesn’t care. My advice is to choose better faves next time.
Good for him. He’s a very talented young man. This takes nothing away from Bai Lu. She will always have her loyal fan base and she’s a good actress no matter the billing.