Chapter 1446 - 746: Control_4
"Lew Qingqing is the one who took the wrong route herself. She insisted on tossing her image toward the negative. In this society, you’re a woman, and a single mother at that, with all that melodramatic breaking up and making up with your boyfriend—who wants to watch that?" Molan said. "But look at Zhou Yun. Just taking a group photo with a bunch of high schoolers can get her on the hot search. At first I thought it was a bought hot search, but when I clicked in I realized it was because that photo hit an emotional nerve for everyone. Lots of people feel we Celebrity artists are too unreal, all these fake images. People want to see something more genuine. Why don’t you put some effort into that area?"
Su Yan fell into thought.
Molan’s suggestion gave Su Yan a bit of inspiration.
Su Yan didn’t want to do that kind of "kill a thousand enemies, lose eight hundred yourself" heat marketing like Lew Qingqing, but of course she also wished she could have as much of the kind of buzz Zhou Yun had as possible.
Su Yan hesitated.
Molan added, "Of course, there’s an even more convenient way—start a relationship. As long as you’re dating someone, it’s basically impossible for your buzz to drop."
Su Yan shook her head.
"I don’t want to do that. Keeping up buzz is always only temporary. I just need to get through this period; once I have a project airing, it’ll be fine," Su Yan said. "Besides, what matters most for me right now is to transform. If I could get a substantial award, that would be best."
"But gunning for awards is really hard, isn’t it? And to go for awards you basically have to shoot realistic, social-issue type projects. Doing those means you have to put in a huge amount of time, and the broadcast results may not even be good. Each year there are only two or three realistic projects that actually spark discussion."
"I still have to transform," Su Yan said. "I can’t spend my whole life as just a traffic actor."
Hearing Su Yan say this, Molan didn’t continue.
The circumstances different people face were never the same to begin with.
Molan had been acting for some years too, but she had never been popular. She had always just been an ordinary actor, someone hardly anyone knew.
She longed to be popular.
More than winning awards, she longed to be popular.
Because she also knew that winning awards was basically out of reach for her.
For an actor, it’s not like you can win awards just by not taking the traffic route. It doesn’t work that way at all.
Every time Molan walked into a new production, a question would pop up in her mind: Will this role make me popular?
Compared to Molan, Su Yan was clearly much luckier.
Su Yan became popular early and gained a level of fame many actors never get in a lifetime.
But being popular early also meant that, having reached the peak too soon, Su Yan had to face the problem of going downhill.
Every currently popular actor is afraid of going downhill. Once you’ve seen the scenery at the summit, who can still accept the mediocrity at the foot of the mountain?
If Su Yan wanted to stay on the peak, she had to secure a long-term, stable position.
Either a born, utterly captivating star aura, or a standing in the worldly society built up through seniority and word of mouth.
"Tell me, how is it that Zhou Yun can act in such an effortlessly heart-stirring way?" After drinking, half drunk, Su Yan had once asked Molan this question.
Molan said, "Actors, at their core, are supposed to move the audience. Some actors only need to look into the camera to move people. Some don’t have that kind of natural advantage, so they can only rely on The Day After Tomorrow’s effort."
Propping up her chin, Su Yan said, "Then what kind of actor am I? One who relies on innate conditions, or one who relies on The Day After Tomorrow’s hard work?"
Molan wanted to say, actually you rely a bit on both, but neither side is complete. But what she said out loud was, "Of course you’ve got both. The fact that you got popular early means the audience buys what you’re selling. And the fact that you’ve stayed popular this long and had so many breakout hits means you’re working hard, still filming seriously even after you got popular."
Even drunk, Su Yan knew Molan was saying nice things just to make her happy.
Still, Su Yan was willing to hear those words.
They made her happy.
...
Wen Xi went abroad to attend fashion week.
Gu Huaichun was shooting on set.
Yuk Chu had already returned to work and, under Zhou Lan’s arrangements, entered set one after another without a break.
Yin Zhou signed with Song Chi’s company, but for now he hadn’t signed on for any lead roles. Basically he was only taking supporting roles, with only around ten days of shooting time per project. That was his own request: he could spend more time with Yuk Chu and the child, and could also go home to be with his parents.
Wang Jing didn’t land Conspicuous and Trouble, so under Zhou Lan’s arrangements he went to be a guest on a Variety show to boost his exposure.