Chapter 826: Episode 8: Chen Pinhe Overdid It

#Episode 8: Chen Pinhe Overdid It#

When this entry first appeared, Zhang Yuezhen initially thought Chen Ziyan had struck again.

After all, for so many years, Zhang Yuezhen had never actually seen Chen Pinhe receive negative criticism regarding his acting.

Clicking in, it really didn't look like water army bots or trolls intentionally attacking.

Several of the IDs were familiar to Zhang Yuezhen.

They were all people who usually praised Chen Pinhe a lot online.

They couldn't be called fans, but they certainly counted as admirers of Chen Pinhe.

As a result, they were all saying that Chen Pinhe in Episode 8 had an emotional outburst and overdid it.

Zhang Yuezhen hurriedly went to watch Episode 8 of "Seventeen Layers: Reboot".

After the clip that sparked widespread online discussion appeared, Zhang Yuezhen watched it carefully twice and knew where the problem lay.

It wasn't that Chen Pinhe's performance was overdone; it was that the director, during post-production editing, cut two different "emphases" from Chen Pinhe's actual performance process into the final episode.

When Chen Pinhe actually performed, the first take used a method of suppressing before exalting, while the second take used a method of exalting before suppressing; this was a common habit of Chen Pinhe during his usual performances, offering several options for the director to choose from. As a result, this director actually cut the two "exaltations" together, naturally making it look "overdone".

Zhang Yuezhen was furious.

She instinctively wanted to call the director and scold him for how he edited it.

She barely held back.

Zhang Yuezhen contacted Jiang Lan.

"Re-edit Episode 8?"

"This director is too unprofessional," Zhang Yuezhen said. "How could he edit it like that? Does he even understand acting? Now look, he's made Pinhe into an actor who overdoes his acting. Pinhe has acted for so many years, and this situation has never occurred."

Jiang Lan sighed, feeling very troubled.

"Yuezhen, look, let me go check exactly what happened first, okay?" Jiang Lan said. "Although there are some slightly negative voices online, overall, everyone is giving positive reviews, especially regarding Chen Laoshi's performance, which is being praised without end."

"Until Episode 8 appeared," Zhang Yuezhen emphasized. "With such unprofessional editing, how can we cooperate in the future? Do you think Pinhe's feathers, protected for so many years, can be so easily tarnished?"

"Chen Laoshi, I really must give you a call about this matter."

The director of "Seventeen Layers: Reboot", Wen Zichong, said to Chen Pinhe over the phone.

"Regarding post-production editing, I have no authority. I edited a rough cut myself, but Jingtai didn't adopt it; the final editing was handled by Jingtai," Wen Zichong said. "It's not that I'm shirking responsibility and passing the buck to you at the first opportunity. It is my responsibility, and I will definitely bear it, but I am not such an unprofessional director."

Chen Pinhe said, "Director, I understand your meaning. Thank you."

Wen Zichong said, "Perhaps Jingtai intentionally wants to use this as a reason to remove me from this series."

He smiled somewhat dispiritedly.

Chen Pinhe frowned slightly.

"Why is that?"

"With such good results, and since I'm not Jingtai's director, naturally there are internal personnel who want to steal the credit," Wen Zichong sighed. "Back then, I was able to serve as the director of 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot' thanks to Lian Bei's recommendation, but now Lian Bei has also been marginalized by them."

Lian Bei was the director of the "Seventeen Layers" trilogy.

He was also the source of the story concept for this IP and the Screenwriter.

Chen Pinhe said, "I will go negotiate with Jingtai about this."

As for what exactly he would negotiate, he did not explain in detail, and Wen Zichong did not ask.

"Have you seen the controversy regarding Episode 8 of 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot'?"

During the promotional itinerary for "The Boat", Liu Manbo asked Li Zhibai.

"I haven't paid attention. What's up?" Li Zhibai yawned somewhat wearily.

Liu Manbo said, "Chen Pinhe had a major scene where he overdid it, and he's being criticized by many people."

? ￠〇

"Huh? He overdid it?" Li Zhibai's eyes suddenly lit up. "There's actually a day when his acting gets scolded?"

After speaking, he felt something was wrong, immediately realized it, spat "Pah!", and said, "Getting scolded is what he deserves."

Liu Manbo looked at him strangely, not quite understanding why Li Zhibai had such strong opinions against Chen Pinhe, then thought it was probably because the competition between these two dramas had been quite intense recently.

Liu Manbo said, "Right now, some fans of 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot' have gone to our drama group's official Weibo account, saying these voices were bought by us as trolls, accusing us of using underhanded tricks. I'm thinking, should we respond to avoid getting ourselves into trouble later?"

"Responding at this moment is what would really get you into trouble," Li Zhibai said. "As long as their official account doesn't step in, we can't step in either. Just pretend we know nothing about anything."

Liu Manbo: "So many people are slandering us, and you can actually endure it?"

"Arguing with a bunch of fools will only ever make you angry, unless you're willing to go all out and be even stupider than them," Li Zhibai said. "More shameless, more stubborn, more unreasonable, but then your own image is ruined too. It's a double-edged sword. Sometimes it's fine for me to scold a bit; after all, that's my persona. But try replacing me with Yan Liang; just putting on a bad face would be seen as acting like a diva. You're a director, so it's even more so; you can be easily attacked."

Liu Manbo hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping.

"It's fine. As long as the evaluation and reputation of 'The Boat' can continue on this current momentum, there will be great scholars to debate the scriptures for us," Li Zhibai winked at Liu Manbo. "Why should we get ourselves into this trouble? Right now, our 'The Boat' is comprehensively crushing their 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot'. They have such a huge IP, and we are holding it tightly so they can't shake us off. This is already our greatest victory."

Liu Manbo: "I really didn't expect you to directly make 'The Boat' go head-to-head with 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot'."

"With this kind of heat, you shouldn't let it go to waste. 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot' has an all-star cast and is a top-tier major IP. Our 'The Boat' did the most awesome job, but our basic fanbase can't compare to theirs. At a time like this, naturally, we must lower our guard and firmly ride on their heat. Every time we argue, 'The Boat' gets promoted once. How great is that? How much of our promotional budget does it save?" Li Zhibai smiled triumphantly. "Especially overseas, 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot' comes with its own traffic. We started from scratch. Now, playing the card of 'intense competition in China during the same broadcast period' has, more or less, gained some attention for 'The Boat'—who doesn't love watching people fight?"

Liu Manbo nodded.

"I have witnessed this."

The current data for "The Boat" is going toe-to-toe with "Seventeen Layers: Reboot" in all aspects.

And in terms of online data and derivative revenue, "The Boat" is directly crushing "Seventeen Layers: Reboot".

Judging by the investment and cast of the two dramas, "The Boat" won very thoroughly.

On this day, there was no filming for Lu Yan He.

He was in Wang County accepting an interview from a media outlet.

Chen Ziyan said she owed someone a favor, had no choice, and could only take this job.

So, during the filming of "The Boat", she specifically found this time, and they came specially.

They also unsurprisingly asked about the drama "Seventeen Layers: Reboot".

After all, it has something to do with him.

Lu Yan He smiled and shook his head, saying: "Sorry, I've been fully focused on filming the movie 'The Boat' lately, so I haven't had time to watch 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot'. Of course, I've heard of this drama. As a spinoff of 'Seventeen Layers', I certainly... um, hope it can comprehensively surpass our trilogy. After all, we all hope that the pupil will surpass the master."

Two "of course"s.

And that one line, "the pupil will surpass the master."

The reporter always felt something was off, but couldn't quite put a finger on it.

It's not like just because Chen Pinhe's seniority is greater than Lu Yan He's, Lu Yan He can't use "the pupil will surpass the master" regarding the 'Seventeen Layers' IP, right?

For this IP, Lu Yan He is the "senior" — saying so isn't wrong either.

Of course, it's hard to say whether this was intentional on Lu Yan He's part.

The conflict between Lu Yan He and Chen Pinhe — not to say it's common knowledge, but it's no secret either.

"We've heard that 'Seventeen Layers' will be made into a movie — will you be returning?"

Lu Yan He smiled and countered: "Do you hope I'll return?"

"Of course I hope so. I believe many fans hope so too."

Lu Yan He said: "That requires the right time, place, and harmony among people. Right now I can't answer that either."

"You mean, it's possible you'll return, right?" The reporter's eyes lit up.

"I don't know." Lu Yan He shook his head. "I haven't answered anything. That's just your speculation."

Yet the reporter nodded excitedly, as if having received some tacit approval.

"Does this mean that the big world of 'Seventeen Layers' might reunite in the movie version?"

"Reunite?" Lu Yan He frowned with a strange expression. "That word is a bit oddly used."

"Ah? Isn't it?"

"There's no such thing as reuniting." Lu Yan He shrugged. "For me, 'Seventeen Layers' only has reencountering, no reuniting."

People who were never together in the first place have no need to be together again in this lifetime.

"So you're telling me that the problem with Episode 8 was that someone inside Jingtai wanted to push Wen Zi out and deliberately sabotaged him?"

Zhang Yuezhen stared wide-eyed at Jiang Lan, finding it hard to believe.

"The final cut rights were used by you guys for internal fighting? Just to get your Jingtai director the director's seat in Season Two?"

At this moment, Zhang Yuezhen didn't merely feel her vision go dark — she felt it was absurd. No, it was preposterous.

At this moment, Jiang Lan didn't know how to explain this matter to Zhang Yuezhen either.

The incident happened under her subordinates, but she herself was completely unaware.

This kind of backstabbing, framing, and stealing credit within Jingtai was actually never rare.

But for it to appear so brazenly on a work like 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot', Jiang Lan didn't even have the energy to curse "stupid."

"I will handle this matter. Episode 8 will be re-edited and re-uploaded. As for the person scheming behind the scenes, I will also make him leave Jingtai and pay the price he deserves." Jiang Lan said.

Zhang Yuezhen: "Director Jiang, I hope Jingtai can issue a statement apologizing to Pinhe for the editing incident in Episode 8."

Jiang Lan looked at Zhang Yuezhen for a long while, then smiled.

"You know that's impossible."

"There's no way I'm going to film the movie version of 'Seventeen Layers' together with Chen Pinhe. What are you thinking?"

Lu Yan He said helplessly to Yan Liang over the phone.

Yan Liang: "But in that 'Movie Weekly' interview article, your response was ambiguous — it's very easy to give people that kind of misunderstanding."

Lu Yan He said: "That's all that reporter's interpretation. But I'm happy to play along, because Linghe really will be producing three 'Seventeen Layers' spinoff movies."

"Huh?" Yan Liang was stunned.

Lu Yan He said: "Building a spinoff movie for each of the three characters played by Jiang Jun, Chen Bige, and Li Yuefeng. My character might make a cameo."

Yan Liang: "Cool, I get it. You're going to compete with him head-on, right?"

Lu Yan He: "What would I compete with him head-on for? It's pointless."

"Keep pretending." Yan Liang laughed. "This time, 'Flying on Grass' has made it so his 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot' can't shine. Everyone's talking about 'Flying on Grass' — the critics discuss its cinematography, its artistic value; the artsy crowd discusses its Wu Xia spirit, its character relationships; the business world discusses its commercial derivative industry chain; Li Zhibai's fans are discussing how handsome Li Zhibai is... 'Seventeen Layers: Reboot' right now is only holding up its numbers through its plot and this IP's core audience base."

Lu Yan He: "I didn't expect Li Zhibai's 'Flying on Grass' to be this strong either."

"He really put Liu Manbo in the right place — letting Liu Manbo direct, but not giving him editing rights." Yan Liang laughed. "He got the industry's top editor to do post-production. The quality of this drama really is high."

"Liu Manbo was stripped of editing rights — doesn't he have any objections himself?"

"He could have objections, but the question is, besides Li Zhibai, who else would hire him to direct?" Yan Liang said. "Previously, 'Nineteen Years' had such bad reviews but good numbers — that was propped up by Li Zhibai's fan base. As for the quality of that drama, everyone thought the director's skill wasn't up to par."

"Now that 'Flying on Grass' is doing so well, Liu Manbo should have a lot of people fighting over him."

In the industry, good directors are extremely scarce.

Much scarcer than good actors.

Yan Liang: "Yes, but next Liu Manbo plans to do 'Flying on Grass' Part Two. Yuehu TV is very satisfied with 'Flying on Grass''s results and communicated with Li Zhibai about Part Two early on. Li Zhibai himself won't act in it, but Liu Manbo is still quite interested in this story. He plans to set it twenty years after the ending of 'Flying on Grass''s story, creating a sequel with entirely new characters in the same worldview."

"That's still alright, I suppose." Lu Yan He said. "If Li Zhibai isn't acting in it, has the cast been decided?"

"How could it be that early? The script doesn't even have a first stroke yet — Liu Manbo hasn't even started writing."

Lu Yan He: "Alright then."

"But didn't HP say before that they were also preparing to invest? If Li Zhibai doesn't continue acting, will HP agree to that?"

"I didn't ask about that. The one interfacing with HP seems to be Linghe. It's your own company — why are you asking me?"

Lu Yan He suddenly understood.

After hanging up the phone, he went to ask Chen Yin about the situation with 'Flying on Grass' Part Two.

Chen Yin said: "Several possibilities have been proposed now, but it's still in the research stage. HP and Yuehu TV are still hoping Li Zhibai will return as lead, but he himself isn't very willing. So they're also discussing other possibilities with Liu Manbo."

So that's how it was.

Lu Yan He said: "I heard TVN also bought the rights and wants to make a spinoff drama?"

"Yes."

Lu Yan He said, "So the 'Grass-Running' series will have two sequels back-to-back."

Yan Liang asked, "Is there a problem with that?"

"Not really, but for a stylized show like 'Grass-Running', I'm not optimistic about sequels, especially since Li Zhibai won't be starring." Lu Yan He said, "TVN will definitely follow their own K-drama formula, completely detaching from the original style, and as for Liu Manbo's sequel, you know his issues."

"He lacks a holistic grasp of the entire work."

"Right." Lu Yan He said, "Never mind, it has nothing to do with us. Maybe they'll do a good job."

(End of this chapter)