This director is vindictive.

Chapter 412 This draft is a high-level competition!

As Chen Mo had predicted, things turned out exactly as he had imagined.

Upon receiving the invitation call personally from Chen Mo, Zhang Yi, Wang Qianyuan, Duan Yihong, Zhou Bo, and others all agreed immediately.

Even if Chen Mo asked them to interact with netizens and campaign for votes for him.

They all agreed without much hesitation, and Chen Mo didn't even mention the compensation for not being selected.

However, upon closer reflection, it's understandable. Chen Mo underestimated the appeal of the male lead in his film, as well as his own influence.

In fact, despite their quick agreement, they were all actually quite puzzled.

After all, none of them came from a talent show.

It seems a bit strange to suddenly ask them, at their age, to go online to campaign for votes.

But they all agreed immediately.

There's no other reason than that Chen Mo himself didn't feel anything, nor was it that he was so easily offended, but they were thinking that if Chen Mo could just smash Feng Dagang without hesitation, what chance would he have against them?

Refusing is tantamount to disrespecting Chen Mo. In the Chinese film industry, disrespecting Chen Mo is equivalent to offending Chen Mo, Shengshi Pictures, and the interests behind Shengshi Pictures.

That's why they all agreed so readily.

However, it wasn't really a bad thing. It was just that they weren't familiar with the business. After accepting the invitation, they started racking their brains to figure out how to have fun.

According to Chen Mo, you can play however you want.

After securing the actors, Chen Mo immediately had the company initiate a voting process.

At the same time, we will contact platforms such as Douyin, Tencent, and Weibo. The voting process will then share data with several leading platforms.

Chen Mo finally posted on Weibo.

[#YouChooseTheActorsForTheTangDynastyNorthernDeserts# The First-Ever "Celebrity Audition" Launched!]

The wait is over! "The Last Transfer in the Northern Desert of the Tang Dynasty" officially launches the "Creation by All" plan - the cast will be decided by your vote!
Role Candidate Pool: We have invited several talented actors to participate (see Figure 1 for the list), such as the veteran role candidates: @Wang Qianyuan, @Zhang Yi, @Duan Yihong, and @Zhou Bo. Each actor will record an audition video or release a campaign video!
The voting power is yours: From now until [Date], log in to the Douyin/Weibo/Tencent special page to vote for your "best match".

Interactive bonus: Actors will personally campaign for votes (for example, @ZhangYi might livestream a scene of a veteran crying?), and the actor with the most votes will directly win the role!

After this Weibo post was published, several platforms immediately launched voting program pages.

Online, netizens were pleasantly surprised.

"Holy crap, is this for real? Chen Mo's move is amazing! Getting award-winning actors to campaign for votes is like a 'Veteran Actors Limited Edition' of the Chinese entertainment industry's 'Produce 101'! I'm torn between Wang Qianyuan's tough guy vibe and Duan Yihong's weathered look, can I choose them both?"

"However, choosing these four is really difficult! Honestly, is there any inside story? Could it be just a publicity stunt with the final decision made beforehand?"

"The original version's filter feels amazing! Zhou Bo's performance in the original was already outstanding, but the other three seem like they were just there to make up the numbers?"

"That's fair! Zhou Bo's acting is great, but his popularity is at the bottom. Zhang Yi's fans have already started flooding the super topic. It's a real vote by the whole people, so who's afraid of who?"

Soon, the four candidate actors also began to take action.

Although they felt somewhat uncomfortable with this method of campaigning, they still attached great importance to the character and the film "Chen Mo".

Wang Qianyuan kicked off this unique campaign to garner votes.

Wang Qianyuan directly posted a short video of the #ImmersiveVeteranChallenge#:

He put on a suit of "armor" and recreated the scene of dragging money from the original short film. Finally, he licked his dry lips, grinned at the camera, and said, "When I was filming 'The Eight Hundred,' I was soaking in mud and water for three months. If I get selected this time, what's a little desert sunburn?"

This video instantly went viral on Douyin, with military enthusiasts sharing it one after another: "This is what you call method acting!"

Not to be outdone, Zhang Yi chose to connect with Ding Yuchen, the director of the original version of "The Great Tang Dynasty in the Northern Desert," in the live broadcast room. The two watched original clips and analyzed the acting skills together.

When the scene depicting the veteran's final moments was played, he suddenly improvised and reenacted the scene. He choked up at a certain point, then stopped, his eyes reddening, and said to the camera, "I'm sorry, every time I act in this kind of scene, it reminds me of my grandfather who served in the army."

After clips of the live stream were taken, the hashtag #ZhangYiBreaksDownForVotes# trended on Weibo, with middle-aged female viewers collectively breaking down in tears: "This kid is so honest, here's your vote!"

Duan Yihong unleashed his trump card—uploading three audition videos in different styles:

Longxi accent version (original setting)

The entire performance is filled with expressive eyes without any dialogue!
An impromptu monologue by a veteran reminiscing about his youth. Caption: "Twenty years ago, I conducted research in a real frontier military unit. When it comes to veterans of the desert, all of you here..."

This Versailles-themed Weibo post caused a stir in the industry, with director Gao Qunshu reposting it and jokingly commenting, "Did Lao Duan bring his Oscar judging lectures here?"

These veteran actors, seasoned performers, and award-winning actors, each with their own unique talents, instantly stirred up the enthusiasm of netizens.

After all, people used to see them mostly in movie promotions or on the big screen; this kind of campaigning is quite rare.

In particular, each one of them subtly conveyed the message: "Pick me, pick me!"

As for Zhou Bo, although he has acted in quite a few dramas, his fame and popularity are definitely not comparable to these others.

However, as the original actor, he also has his own advantages.

As the actor who played the veteran Guo Yuanzheng in the original "The Last Transfer in the Northern Desert of the Tang Dynasty," Zhou Bo was well aware that his advantage lay in the "nostalgia factor," but his disadvantage was that his star power and popularity were far inferior to the other three candidates. Therefore, he chose a combination of "retreating to advance" and "empathizing with the grassroots":
Zhou Bo uploaded a carefully edited short video to Douyin: on the left are his classic scenes from the original short drama (walking alone in the snow, trembling while holding the silver, and making his dying wish), and on the right is a blank screen with the caption: "If it were a movie version, what would you want this veteran to ______?" He also opened up the possibility for netizens to submit their own fan-made videos.

The result was quite good; after all, "The Last Transfer in the Northern Desert of the Tang Dynasty" was a huge hit back then, and many netizens watched it.

I have a vivid memory of his performance in it.

This move has caused many viewers of the original version to break down.

The hashtag #SaveTheOriginalVeteran# has generated a large number of fan-made videos, with some even photoshopping the past roles of the other three candidates into the original clips for comparison, sparking discussions about their acting skills.

Compared to the "high-class" campaigning methods of those others, Zhou Bo, although not a complete nobody and having acted in many films and television series, unfortunately has not achieved the same level of fame as them.

So he launched another campaign of "playing the victim" to garner votes.

Zhou Bo went straight to the film set in Hengdian where extras were packed, holding up his lunchbox and doing a live stream: "Brothers, I used to wait for my scenes here too! If I lose this time, I'll come back and get my lunchbox with you guys!"

He even performed a scene from the "daily life of an extra" on the spot—being scolded by the director, squatting in a corner eating cold steamed buns, and acting out a crying scene in front of thin air.

Finally, he uttered a memorable line: "I can't compete with traffic, but when it comes to the hardships of being a 'veteran,' I've endured ten years more than them!"

However, Zhou Bo didn't actually start out as an extra. Unlike the others, he was a rather unconventional professionally trained actor.

He's somewhat similar to Chen Mo, because he studied at the Central Academy of Drama, but majored in directing, and ended up becoming an actor.

However, in terms of his career development, he is indeed more like a grassroots figure. After all, he has not played leading roles like those other actors. Although he has worked with many big names, they are all roles that people can't remember.

This targeted campaign has been quite effective.

The sentiment resonated deeply with those working at the grassroots level, and the hashtag #HengdianBrothersSupportZhouBo# trended on social media. Extras spontaneously filmed down-to-earth campaign videos, saying, "Voting for Zhou Bo is like voting for ourselves!"

Of course, the method of appealing to sympathy for votes also has its drawbacks.

However, he quickly rectified the situation on his own.

He posted a long, self-deprecating post on Weibo: "Thanks to Director Chen for putting me on the list, but sharing the stage with Teacher Wang, Teacher Zhang, and Teacher Duan? I'm probably just a 'filler'... But!"—then changed the subject, attaching a screenshot from the movie "Shaolin Soccer" (Sauce Explosion says, "I, the pork butcher, also want to be a singer"), with the caption: "What if?"

The effect was quite good. While netizens laughed and scolded him for being "too scheming," they also showered him with votes for his "comeback story." Even his competitor, Wang Qianyuan, reposted and joked: "Brother, your strategic retreat was an Oscar-worthy performance!"

The actions of established celebrities in campaigning for votes, employing various ingenious tactics, provided netizens with plenty of entertainment.

One film critic joked: "Chen Mo has taken the 'democracy illusion' to the extreme! On the surface, netizens decide the casting, but in reality, the candidate list is full of powerful actors—but the brilliance lies in making these award-winning actors lower their standards and compete fiercely. Wang Qianyuan's muddy acting, Zhang Yi's grandfather-grandson empathy, Duan Yihong's triple audition, and even Zhou Bo's 'Hengdian nostalgia'—this isn't casting; it's a teaching demonstration of gods battling it out! #TangMobeiCasting101#"

"Latest battle report: Zhang Yizhong's elderly fans and Duan Yihong's fan club are arguing about 'who looks more weathered' on the trending topics, Zhang Yizhong's military fans are having a group activity to boost their rankings, and Zhou Bo's 'grassroots comeback' script has unexpectedly won over Generation Z. Now the pressure is on Chen Mo. If the vote difference is too small, will he dare to really decide the actors based on the results?"

"Don't worry, Chen Mo has already prepared a backup plan: there are no bad options on the candidate list, so you can vote for anyone without any problems!"

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if any of these four won, since they can all act!"

"Speaking of which, Chen Mo has already set an example for everyone, so why don't you hurry up and copy it?"

This wave of enthusiasm is unprecedented, with the number of voters exceeding ten million in just a few days.

Netizens had a blast and joked that others could copy this model.

However, industry insiders are well aware of the difficulty of imitating this wave.

"Other production teams can't possibly copy this 'talent show-style casting' approach—Chen Mo got award-winning actors to cooperate because of his 'amazing resources + personal prestige.' Try it with a minor director? The star teams would have flipped the table long ago!"

(End of this chapter)