Has Wu Jinyan Fallen Out of Favor?
Chinese actress Wu Jinyan (吴谨言) struck overnight fame following her starring performing in 2018’s Story of Yanxi Palace <延禧攻略>, which brought not only her, but also costars Xu Kai (许凯), Qin Lan (秦岚), and Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) to unprecedented popularity in mainland China.
But unlike her costars, it’s become a struggle for Wu Jinyan to maintain her leading actress status. After a year of underwhelming results, the 29-year-old is said to be going through a small glide in popularity. Rumor has it that Jinyan is near the end of her management contract with producer Yu Zheng (于正), Jinyan’s benefactor and the force behind Story of Yanxi Palace. Another rumor is pointing fingers at rising actress Bai Lu (白鹿), Yu Zheng’s newly signed artiste, as the main reason. Bai Lu was the leading actress in many of Yu Zheng’s newer productions, such as Lucky’s First Love <世界欠我一个初恋> and Arsenal Military Academy <烈火军校>, which also starred Xu Kai.
Yu Zheng, however, was quick to deny these rumors and speculations. In a Weibo statement, he stressed that he treats all of his artistes equally, like his own children: “Contract is up? Losing favor? Are you guys the worms living in my stomach? You can read my mind? I love all of my artistes, and I do not easily sign in new people either. When I sign someone, I will treat that person like family. I treat everyone equally.”
But even so, Yu Zheng said that it is important to take extra care of newer artistes. He said, “But if you want to talk about favoritism, it is true that I tend to favor newer artistes. The entertainment industry is like a long winter. Celebrities have the power to choose [their work], but that’s much harder to do for rookies. When all of my artistes were still newer, I also once favored them!”
Source: On.cc
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Nancy Wu is not Wu Jinyan. Lol
After watching The Untamed, when the last cdrama I watched was the excellent Story of Minglan which retrospect was 20 episodes too long and almost most of Joy of Life (but before Xiao Zhan actually appeared), I have decided I am not gonna watch any rubbish from Yu Zheng anymore that will insult my deep respect, affection, appreciation and awed reverence to Cdramas-xianxia series thanks to the most unexpected best TV series I have ever seen of all time (JTTW doesn’t count) and I still feel deeply thankful the casting directors found actors and not stars or people they want to promote because everyone in The Untamed acted amazingly well most shocking was the casts are on average 25 with Wang Yibo being 20 that shocked me the most. So Yu Zheng may release set pictures, costumes, etc which looks pretty but is empty and devoid of any soul because at the end of the day costumes, hair and sets compliment the story and performances, not the other way around. I am also avoiding female centric cdrama ancient series which is the same old thing unless it is something different, something new and definitely not by Yu Zheng. Because Yu Zheng will never have the depth to do a series like The Untamed which the material itself could have sink the series but instead what the director, writer, producer and actor all did was to make something that frankly, I never thought I would ever agree. Also the ONLY 50 episode Cdrama that I am watching for 2nd time ep per ep immediately after the 1st and realise I really did not notice a lot of things and one which I will gladly declare as a masterpiece and classic. So I don’t care much who he favours unless they can act like Zanilia Zhao but even I will avoid her series until I see something good.
@funnlim It is laughable to say Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo or any of the cast of The Untamed is a better actor than Nie Yuan, Qin Lan and Chermaine Sheh. I stopped watching The Untamed the moment I saw the first episode, Xiao Zhan’s acting is downright cringey as someone trying to be “happy go lucky but goofy but serious but have a dark past at the same time”. The surrounding scene with him trying to be witty hiding the bird and the whole scene of reaction surrounding which I guess supposed to be funny, downright cringey. He couldn’t even connect his acting well between one scene to another. Don’t let me start on Wang Yibo, that kind of acting you put beside Nie Yuan, God embarassing. In fact the whole cast of The Untamed if put beside the cast of Yanxi Palace I would cover my face. The drama is merely a BL fangirl fantasy come true, and fangirl come in full force. If your essay is putting it against say drama like Legend of Awakening, I won’t bother to reply but Story of Yanxi Palace? Dude miles apart.
@maezine That person has no taste. When Untamed first aired from ep1-30, if you follow the drama EVERYBODY said XZ acting sucks and he tried too hard. The only reason why they like him is bc after ep30 the bromance finally kicked in, they like him for those short silly moments only. The acting overall isn’t great. XZ has great personality, that contributed to his likeableness and popularity.
“unless they can act like Zanilia Zhao” is another hilarious thing, she copied YM’s face and acting style, diss YM online, then married her ex bf. After so many years of acting she is not even as good as newbie WJY. Minglan is one of the worse drama ever, Dumb Mary Sue knows how to use bow and arrow, has the strength to push down men riding on horses, but she does not protect herself in the time of dangers. She waits for her hero save her coincidentally the right time more than 3-5 times. He saves her but she still believe she has more power than him to go meet the king herself…what a dumb and embarrassing girl. A famous screen writer is currently questioning her water army. They know what a good storyline is, they know what good acting is. Her acting and projects are all only mediocre. But her fans helping her online is such a misconduct. On MDL you can see somebody creating fake accounts to give her 1 like per day, this just make her unfavorable.
@maezine I initially had the same thoughts for the beginning of Untamed but I found out their time at the training retreat happens when they are meant to be around 15/16 and then it becomes understandable why the behaviour is so juvenile. After that part he becomes notably more mature, and during the darker parts he portrays it well. Yibo is also more wooden at the beginning but softens alot as the story progresses.
@maezine
Sorry but I do not find Charmaine’s acting good. It has always been from bad to average at best…
Don’t really know who this actress is but I watched Bai Lu on Arsenal Military Academy and Lucky’s First Love and like her character portrayal in both dramas.