Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Maybe it really is that I’m worn out from the past while, Zhou Yun feels a sense of comfort and joy from the inside out during these days of filming.

Chen Zhuo hasn’t returned from school.

He’s in the ninth grade, about to face the high school entrance exams, his studies are very intense, usually he only comes back during monthly holidays—sometimes not even then.

This time Chen Zhuo came back, coincidentally catching them during filming.

Xiuxiu occasionally appears in the scenes.

She has no lines, just sits in Zhou Yun’s home, sometimes eating with Zhou Yun, sometimes sitting alone doing homework besides her.

Wen Bing believes this makes many scenes in the movie look more warm and cozy.

Zhou Yun herself also likes the little girl Xiuxiu very much; having her around also gives her many opportunities to improvise, like frying a meatball and directly feeding it to Xiuxiu, asking if it tastes good.

In front of the camera, Xiuxiu is much braver than her brother, she doesn’t take it seriously at all; if it tastes good, she nods and says it’s good, if not, she immediately furrows her brow and shakes her head, very straightforward and without tension or fear, and she doesn’t keep staring at the camera lens.

In one word, she’s particularly natural.

Zhou Yun even privately mentioned to Wen Bing: "Xiuxiu has a great sense for the camera."

Wen Bing laughed and said, "She has more talent than her brother."

Zhou Yun nodded.

Wen Bing: "Her brother thinks too much, while she doesn’t think about anything, she’s carefree."

"Carefree people live happily," Zhou Yun chuckled.

Wen Bing nodded: "Right."

In the blink of an eye, the filming is already halfway through.

"What do you think of Yu Zhiyang?" Zhou Yun asked with a smile.

Wen Bing nodded.

"He’s really good."

"Some people are born to act, he’s never actually studied acting."

"I heard Song Chi took him under his wing for almost half a year?"

"That was this year, after he signed with us, he had nothing to do, so he followed Song Chi every day, observing how Song Chi acts."

"He speaks little but is smart."

"How do you observe him so meticulously?" Zhou Yun asked.

Wen Bing said: "I’ve long told you, it’s very hard nowadays to find a young actor with both celebrity charm and not shining too gaudily, he has such qualities."

"Really? Such high praise?"

"Yes, don’t you think so? He speaks so little, yet there’s no decrease in people’s attention on him, no one forgets him—even if he doesn’t say a word in an entire day."

Zhou Yun nodded.

Wen Bing: "Maybe it’s from following Song Chi for half a year, his acting style resembles Song Chi."

"Really?"

"Yes." Wen Bing nodded, "Few male actors would use a restrained style to act, and using such a style is very challenging, it’s hard to really do well."

Zhou Yun said: "They... I didn’t feel their acting styles were very similar, but from what you said, it indeed seems so; actually, from this perspective, Yin Zhou also fits this type, but his impact isn’t as strong as Song Chi’s, his rhythm is too good, his lines are great, my lines aren’t nearly as good as Song Chi’s, which I always find regrettable."

"Your acting experience isn’t as rich as his, and he’s been working on acting for how long, and you for how long?" Wen Bing said, "Though an actor’s skills are better the more they know, it’s not that more perfect skills are necessarily better—some actors don’t have professionally trained diction, not very nuanced, but their sensitivity and expressive strength are so powerful, that’s compelling; no hexagonal warrior can compare to such actors."

Zhou Yun: "So others all say that acting is a gift from above."

"Yes, hard work alone is indeed useless in this matter," Wen Bing said, "like me, I speak of these things with proficiency, but when I have to act myself, ha, I’m utterly clueless, it’s just not happening."

"Yes, there’s no way around it, if you can act, you can, if you can’t, no matter what you can’t."

"There are some who suddenly get the hang of it halfway through."

"Yes."

...

In November, distributors for "Behind the Scenes" in Europe contacted Zhou Lan, hoping Zhou Yun and Wang Jing could promote the film in several countries like France, Germany, and Italy.

"Behind the Scenes" will be released in these countries.

Zhou Lan truthfully informed them that Zhou Yun was currently shooting a new film and couldn’t make it.

After some discussion, Zhou Lan agreed to have Zhou Yun participate in the film’s promotional activities remotely.

You Jiang and Wang Jing would attend the events locally.

As for Zeng Lili... she still hasn’t appeared in activities.

Besides this, a new round of awards season has started in the United States.

Last year, Zhou Yun was nominated for quite a few with "Behind the Scenes," but this year there’s no continuing work.

Neither "Four Killers" nor "Two Tigers" has made much of a splash in Europe and America.

However, Paimon revealed that Zhou Yun might receive some series nominations with "Deep Sea."

Because "Deep Sea" has received positive feedback among critics.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Lan immediately got involved, trying to find more about this matter.

Don’t think that films need PR for awards season and series don’t.

Zhou Yun hasn’t really been active over there, so Zhou Lan truly doesn’t know if Zhou Yun can snag a nomination.

She’s not hopeful for a win, since the series’ influence is limited and hasn’t received wide acclaim.

Actually, Zhou Lan was quite disappointed previously with this series.

Since the series was broadcast as a web drama domestically without TV broadcast, even though its reputation is good and it became the king of series on Yuehai Network this year, it couldn’t be nominated for several authoritative TV awards domestically.

Several authoritative domestic TV awards mainly focus on TV broadcast works.

Nowadays Zhou Yun has won two Best Actress awards from mainstream domestic film accolades, but hasn’t received the Best Actress award for TV yet.

Zhou Lan believes that if she could win a Best Actress award in the TV field, Zhou Yun would truly blossom in both film and television.

Holding onto this hope, Zhou Lan still contacted the company that helped with Zhou Yun’s PR last year.

But they wouldn’t take it on, as they don’t see a chance for Zhou Yun to gain anything from "Deep Sea."

Moreover, they believe there’s absolutely no hope; pressing forward with PR would be a waste.

Upon hearing their feedback, Zhou Lan only felt dismayed: "..."

She really was dreaming during the day.

Right at this time, Zhou Yun’s overseas management agency Mo Weisen contacted them, saying that the Golden Globes wanted to invite Zhou Yun to be a presenter at this year’s event, handing out the Best Supporting Actor award in Comedy/Musical TV Series categories.

This year’s Golden Globes will be held on January 9th of the next year.

By then, Zhou Yun will be filming "Killing Song."

Zhou Lan’s first reaction was to request leave from the crew.

An event like the Golden Globes, Zhou Yun cannot miss.