Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 556 The Same Old Trick Again

The Sino-French co-production "The Night Peacock" ultimately ended up in Jiang Yiyan's hands.

Before the film's release, some short-lived leaker claimed that the original choice for the female lead was Liu Yifei, but Liu Yifei hadn't finished filming "Mojin: The Lost Legend" yet, so the role fell to Jiang Yiyan.

This kind of thing is actually very common in the industry. If you don't have time, the production team will find someone else. It's no big deal.

The problem lies in the spread of misinformation. The paparazzi even claimed that Liu Yifei really liked this kind of arthouse film and wanted to act in it. The production team was in a dilemma at the time. On the one hand, they were willing to delay the start of filming to accommodate Liu Yifei, but it was difficult to coordinate the schedules of the other actors.

"Just when the production team was undecided, Jiang Yiyan suddenly appeared and snatched the film away from Liu Yifei. No one knows what methods she used, but she managed to get 'The Night Peacock' out of Liu Yifei's hands."

Ultimately, due to time and cost constraints, the production team couldn't wait for Liu Yifei's availability.

"Have you noticed that Jiang Yiyan and Liu Yifei haven't been in contact for a long time? The two parted ways last year because of 'The Night Peacock'."

The entire revelation is false, except for the fact that "Jiang Yiyan and Liu Yifei haven't been in contact for a long time."
But that little bit is really enough.

Jiang Yiyan is one of Liu Yifei's few childhood friends. The two were best friends in college. Now that they are both working and have their own love lives—Liu Yifei is married, and Jiang Yiyan is even less so—they have less contact with each other. But fans don't really believe that the two have broken up.

#Liu Yifei Jiang Yiyan# quickly became a trending topic.

"The Sino-French co-production romance film 'The Night Peacock,' starring Jiang Yiyan, Liu Ye, and Li Ming, is about to be released. However, according to insiders, the film's original choice for the female lead was Liu Yifei. Jiang Yiyan allegedly stole the role from her best friend, causing the two to cease all contact. In fact, the two have not interacted on Weibo for a long time, and Liu Yifei did not invite Jiang Yiyan to her wedding last year."

After trending on social media, netizens engaged in heated discussions, with a clear focus: accusing Jiang Yiyan of stealing her best friend's boyfriend.

“She was never honest before, always causing trouble everywhere. Now that people are saying she stole her best friend’s role, I’m not surprised at all.”

"What's so great about stealing a role? If you're so capable, why don't you steal her husband instead?"

As for why her close friends weren't invited to the wedding, netizens kindly speculated that it was because their schedules didn't match.

When Yang Mi got married, only Tang Yan was her bridesmaid; the other friends were also there because of scheduling conflicts.

However, all of Liu Yifei's bridesmaids made sure to clear their schedules for those days six months in advance.

It's hard to tell what's true and what's false.

Then, the day before the release of "The Night Peacock", #JiangYiyan'sActingSkills# became a trending topic.

"The Sino-French co-production romance film 'The Night Peacock' will officially hit theaters tomorrow. Viewers who saw the preview screening said that Jiang Yiyan's acting performance in the film is textbook-worthy, and she deserves a Best Actress award."

Therefore, it can be concluded that the trending topics in the past few days were all marketing by the production team.

First, they use negative marketing to lure Jiang Yiyan into a role, then they praise her acting skills to clear her name. It's a tense and exciting back-and-forth between black and white.

Didn't they say art-house film crews are broke? They're quite generous when it comes to buying trending topics.

"The Night Peacock" earned over 1000 million yuan at the box office on its opening Friday. They really did their best. It's an art film, so we can't expect too much.

Of course, the Oscar-worthy acting performance marketed the day before was shattered on the premiere day.

Jiang Yiyan's acting skills are not bad; among her peers, her acting skills are definitely among the best. However, to say that she is at the level of an award-winning actress would be a bit of an exaggeration.

"I can only say the performance was excellent, but it's still a ways off from being a Best Actress winner." "The actress's performance was actually fine, but this story is too French, and France doesn't make stories like this anymore."

"The story is terrible."

"The Heavenly King has really gotten old. After losing the collagen in his face, it looks strangely awkward for him to date young girls."

Following the usual marketing tactics, after clearing Jiang Yiyan's name, it's time to smear Liu Yifei.

Sure enough, after "The Night Peacock" only grossed over 2000 million yuan in its opening weekend, some media outlets revealed the reason why the "Night Peacock" production team "abandoned" Liu Yifei and chose Jiang Yiyan instead.

"Liu Yifei is too difficult to please. She wanted to act in 'The Night Peacock' but didn't have the time, so the entire crew of 'The Night Peacock' had to wait for her. However, she didn't accept seamlessly joining the crew. She demanded that 'The Night Peacock' start filming in April because she needed to rest for 3 months after finishing filming 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' in December."

"Moreover, she complained that the treatment given to her by 'The Night Peacock' was too low. She demanded that the hotel and nanny car be upgraded to a higher level, and that her treatment be better than that of Liu Ye and Li Ming, because she is an international superstar."

Liu Yifei is well-known in the industry; she never responds to these discussions, let alone now that she's filming on set and probably hasn't even seen these news reports.

But her fans couldn't stand it.

"Liu Yifei has never publicly complained about anything, and she rarely responds proactively. She's the kind of person who swallows her anger. If she gets angry, her fans will follow suit, but please don't spread rumors."

"How could someone as dedicated as Liu Yifei be falsely accused of being unprofessional? She was filming on set during the Chinese New Year."

"It takes only a mouth to spread rumors, but they'll cower when they see a lawyer's letter. I really hope that those who dare to spread rumors will stand up. What's the point of hiding in the gutter?"

The tactics are clumsy. Anyone familiar with fan circles can tell that this is the work of "Night Peacock," and most likely Jiang Yiyan herself.

However, this tactic had a negligible impact on box office revenue, especially considering it was an art film.

Currently, Jia Zhangke is the leading figure in mainland Chinese art films. Nobody watches his films anymore. Last year's "Mountains May Depart" was not bad, but it only grossed around 3000 million yuan.

It's not that no one watches art films, it's that nobody watches them!
Many people can't understand why this tactic would be used in the marketing of an art film; it seems like a very low-value proposition.

However, Liu Yifei eventually found out. She finished work early that day, and after dinner, instead of going out, she stayed in her room playing Candy Crush. She'd recently become obsessed with the game and was determined to become the Candy Crush queen of her social circle.

I saw my own news while browsing Weibo after finishing the game.

She didn't want to respond; she was used to this kind of thing. But when she saw the marketing account say, "They wouldn't dare make such a request on a Hollywood film set, but they act all high and mighty in China," she immediately became emotional and quickly edited a Weibo post:
"Can't we just finish filming properly? Haha, I really want to finish filming properly!"

It was posted by her without any punctuation.

Things got interesting as soon as Liu Yifei posted on Weibo.

First, Liu Ye, who has worked with Liu Yifei twice and is also the male lead in "The Night Peacock," finally found an opportunity to speak out. He commented under Liu Yifei's Weibo post: "Yifei is a very serious and dedicated actress who is full of hard work. She never complains about being tired or overworked, and she is neither delicate nor pretentious. I heard that Yifei is currently filming in Suzhou. The weather is getting hot. I'll visit you on set sometime and treat you to ice cream."

The male lead has come out to support her, so this matter can be put to rest, right?

Innocent!

(End of this chapter)