Chapter 132 Malice [VIP]

Chapter Summary: This is a case of running out of tricks; they've exhausted all their options.

In early September, the patriotic film "Role Model of the Times" held a press conference in Beicheng to announce its release date, officially announcing that it will be released nationwide on the 30th of this month.

Director Huang Shulan, along with four other directors, two heavyweight actors, and the real-life protagonist of one of the story chapters, attended the press conference announcing the release date.

On that day, Mu Zhi was scheduled to attend a brand event that had been arranged long ago. With five well-known directors, two big-name celebrities, and the real-life figures who served as role models of the times in attendance, the promotional lineup was already quite impressive, so she did not attend.

After the brand event ended, Mu Zhi went online to watch the trailer posted by the official Weibo account of "Role Models of the Times". It was a general trailer, which was 2 minutes and 30 seconds long.

On average, each story segment is about 30 seconds long.

Therefore, this version of the trailer actually reveals very little about the story.

Minmin: "Sister Zhizhi, fans and netizens who watched the trailer all said that your appearance was a breath of fresh air..."

This refreshing style is different from his previous works.

It wasn't Mu Zhi's beauty that immediately caught the audience's attention.

Mu Zhi, with short hair and bangs that reveal her eyebrows, has a high-altitude blush and makeup that makes her skin look rough in some fleeting shots. She is wearing heavy clothes that obscure her figure.

She stood on the simple podium, teaching with a warm and beautiful smile.

Completely stripped of her "pretty girl" aura, the Mu Zhi in the trailer is hard to reconcile with the elegant, glamorous, and dazzling superstar Mu Zhi.

Fans are praising:

"Zhibao is amazing!! Before, when there were rumors that she would be playing Teacher Zhou Rong, some haters mindlessly said that Zhibao was too beautiful and definitely couldn't play the role. Now they've proven them wrong. I was stunned the moment she appeared in the trailer."

"Previously, people mocked her based on blurry leaked photos of her with short hair, but now that the trailer is out, Mu Zhi is clearly very beautiful, with a simple and unpretentious beauty. She smiles at the students below the stage, and her smile is so pure and warm."

"I was too narrow-minded. Before, I thought it was a pity that Mu Zhi cut off her beautiful long hair for a small role in a tribute film, and that she was a bit silly. But after watching the trailer, I think the sacrifice was worth it. Although she doesn't look like Teacher Zhou Rong, she really reminds me of her."

"She can convincingly portray any role. I believe this character will allow many viewers to rediscover Mu Zhi. She can let go of everything and become the character; she's a great actress."

"Looking forward to the release of 'Role Models of the Times,' and to Mu Zhi's heartfelt portrayal of 'Zhou Rong' [heart emoji]"

......

If Mu Zhi hadn't had such a small role in "Role Model of the Times," Minmin, who accompanied Mu Zhi throughout the entire filming process, felt that Mu Zhi would have had a chance to be nominated for an award for this film.

Mid-September.

Muzhi has finally paid off its "promotional debt" to the brand.

After filming wrapped on "Escape from the Game," she hasn't been able to stop and rest properly.

With eight days left before the roadshow, I took a week off for myself and my team, and stayed home to work on figuring out my role in the next film.

During her time in seclusion at home, Mu Zhi learned from her agent that Xia Xinyan had submitted her personal information to apply to a music academy abroad earlier this year and had later participated in an interview.

The admission information was released in September, and Xia Xinyan has been admitted. She will start school next January.

It will be officially announced online in a couple of days.

Two days later, Mu Zhi came across the news that Xia Xinyan had been accepted into a foreign music academy while surfing the internet as usual.

I took a look at the comments from Xia Xinyan's fans in the comment section.

Most of them supported their idol going to music school, happily congratulated her on her admission, and expressed that they would always support Xia Xinyan.

At the same time, I also saw the news that Qin Luefeng had been admitted to the same music academy.

Mu Zhi recalled the gossip that Minmin had told her: Qin Luefeng and Xia Xinyan had appeared on the same stage in several programs and had even been regular guests on the same music program. It seemed that Qin Luefeng had been pursuing Xia Xinyan for the past few years.

He actually followed her all the way to a music academy abroad? That's quite devoted.

Zhou Jingzhu and Liu Cai were not surprised by this. Xia Xinyan had mentioned her idea of ​​studying at a music academy on the program "Their Stars and Seas". At the time, everyone thought she was just mentioning it casually, but they did not expect her to actually take action.

Xia Xinyan is the only member of the Five Flowers girl group who has persevered and continued to focus on her music career. Everyone else who saw the news online sent their blessings to Xia Xinyan.

Mu Zhi congratulated Xia Xin on her research and development on WeChat, wishing her good luck and a bright future.

On September 24th, a month later, the Muzhi team flew from the north to Shanghai for a roadshow, where they met with the main creative team of "Models of the Times," including the general director Huang Shulan and director Hong Yan, and began a 6-day roadshow promotion trip.

The film producers usually choose the largest cinema in the area as their first point of contact.

I visited 5 cinemas in one day.

Three of them were companies that Muzhi had visited when promoting "Countdown".

The box office performance of "Countdown" was good, making money for the cinemas. Knowing that Mu Zhi was coming, two cinemas even prepared a luxurious fruit platter and snacks for her.

Huang Shulan and Hong Yan joked, "Thanks to Teacher Mu, we have fruit and snacks to eat."

Running around for promotional events is quite physically demanding. Sometimes, lunch and dinner can't be eaten on time, or they just grab a quick bite in the car while rushing. Male and female actors are afraid of looking fat on camera and need to lose weight.

Directors don't have to worry about image management; most of what they produce ends up in their stomachs.

As the film's release date draws ever closer...

The production company released separate trailers for the five story chapters, each trailer lasting 1 minute and 30 seconds, and also found relevant points for promotion.

For example, Mu Zhi's role was promoted primarily through two points: her short haircut and her sacrifice in filming a scene in sub-zero temperatures to save a child.

During the promotional tour, Mu Zhi was asked these two questions multiple times.

Her answers were always pretty much the same.

"Zhizhi, you cut off your long hair, which you've had since your debut, to play the role of Teacher Zhou Rong. Don't you feel it's a pity? Actually, some netizens think you could have just worn a wig."

Mu Zhi: "Teacher Zhou Rong is a heroine worthy of our respect and a role model of our times. I feel very honored to be able to play this prototype character, but at the same time I feel quite pressured."

I want to do my best to portray the character well. So after communicating with the director, I decided to cut my hair short and use my own short hair to achieve the best effect on the big screen.

I won't feel bad about it; my hair can grow long again in the back.

The second question concerns the filming of scenes in sub-zero temperatures underwater.

"Teacher Zhou Rong sacrificed herself while saving someone in winter, when the temperature was below zero. I feel like there was some kind of preordained arrangement at play. Actually, there was another young actor who was filming the water scene with me. He was much more capable and very brave than me."

This is all part of the actors' work. Safety measures were in place on the shore. The entire crew was very professional and protective of the actors. Everyone worked together to overcome the weather challenges and successfully film this scene.

They didn't dare to play the victim at all.

Director Hong Yan, standing nearby, couldn't help but speak up for Mu Zhi, praising her for being dedicated and hardworking. He noted that she had done a lot of research for the role before filming began and continued to diligently study the character during filming...

Despite Mu Zhi's low-key and cautious approach, she still couldn't avoid being maliciously targeted and smeared.

I don't know if they came for the movie or for her.

The movie is set to be released in three days, and they've already given her a negative trending topic.

#Is Mu Zhi suitable to play Teacher Zhou Rong?# Suddenly appeared at number 9 on the trending searches.

Once you click in, all you see are posts from marketing accounts, with similar copywriting.

They claim that Mu Zhi plays the role of Zhou Rong, a role model of our times. Isn't it natural for an actress to cut her hair short for the role? They also mentioned that a child actor went into the water in sub-zero temperatures in the dead of winter. How can Mu Zhi, as an adult, have the audacity to release press releases and play the victim?

It was also pointed out that Mu Zhi had participated in 10 brand events in the past month, one every two or three days, while simultaneously cultivating an actress persona and desperately exploiting her fans like a traffic star.

I think it's unsuitable for someone as glamorous as Mu Zhi to play the role of "Teacher Zhou Rong," who remained unmarried for her life dedicated to rural education and sacrificed herself at a young age to save her students.

Mu Zhi's fans: ? ? ? They can't find any flaws in her work, this kind of forced criticism is really disgusting.

"During multiple promotional roadshows, Mu Zhi responded to the issues of cutting her hair short and filming water scenes in sub-zero temperatures in winter, without resorting to sob stories, stating that it was simply the actor's duty. The production company felt that the actor's professionalism was a selling point and used it for publicity, but it had nothing to do with the actor."

"During the four months of filming and half a month of promotional activities that Mu Zhi was in seclusion, she was unable to participate in brand events. So as soon as she came out of seclusion and had a free time, she quickly arranged it. So what? Fans can support her if they want to. It's none of your business."

"Other actors appear on multiple variety shows a year, becoming variety show stars, and do dozens of brand events annually. Some even do live-streaming sales from time to time. You don't go after them, but Mu Zhi attends a few brand events, and you're all green with envy, like a black person who can't stand seeing others get more endorsements (eye roll)."

"I'm also a viewer, and I think an actress like Mu Zhi, who is dedicated to her acting career, works diligently on set, does thorough research for her role before filming, and has strong moral values ​​and positive energy, is very suitable to play Teacher Zhou Rong. As for how well she performs, it'll be released in a few days, so buy a ticket and see it in the theater before you comment."

......

Ji Binghe saw the trending topic and sneered.

As fans have complained, arranging such a trending topic shows they've run out of ideas and have nothing left to criticize.

Marketing accounts are all accounts maintained by major companies. Some celebrities almost never appear on trending topics with negative comments, and even if they do, marketing accounts will help them defend them. It's not because they have good interpersonal relationships, but because either the marketing accounts are maintained by their companies or they have a deep cooperation with them.

Holding the marketing mouthpiece, they only promote positive news about celebrities, and immediately arrange for any negative news about their rivals to trend on social media.

As a company that has only been established for three or four years, Lanxing Media is relatively weak in this area of ​​marketing.

The production team originally planned to release the making-of featurette tomorrow, but because of this negative trending topic, Ji Binghe communicated with the production team and released it today due to the high level of discussion and popularity.

In the production special, the part about "The Most Beautiful Teacher" included Mu Zhi filming in the water at zero temperatures. It mentioned that the child actors only filmed a few scenes and didn't spend much time in the water, and that they filmed their scenes first before going to Mu Zhi's place.

Mu Zhi soaked in the water for half an hour before the director yelled "cut." Her legs were too stiff to walk, and she had to be carried out by the staff...

Don't play the victim, but don't let malicious misinterpretations and manipulation lead to a negative narrative.

Ji Binghe selected several marketing accounts that were written in an extremely offensive manner, directly criticizing and mocking Mu Zhi in their posts. This was not the first time such accounts had released malicious content against Mu Zhi, prompting Mu Zhi's studio to issue a lawyer's letter as a warning to others.

I used to think that Mu Zhi would go into seclusion once she started filming, and that she wouldn't participate in any activities other than work-related schedules.

For celebrities, this means significantly less exposure.

Throughout the year, it didn't generate much buzz or discussion online for most of the time.

Now I think it's pretty good this way.

Sometimes, cooling things down appropriately is a wise move.

On September 29th, the creative team of "Role Models of the Times" flew back to Beicheng for a promotional tour and held a preview screening in the evening. The five directors and more than ten actors, including Mu Zhi, who starred in the film, attended the red carpet event.

The movie will be released tomorrow, the 30th.

Because nine films were released on the same day during this year's National Day holiday, the road movie "Countdown," which had been showing for nearly two months, was squeezed out of its screenings by the new films and was taken off the screens. Its final box office was 1.59 billion yuan.

The production company is very satisfied with the results and plans to hold a celebration banquet.

As soon as Mu Zhi's previous film was released, another film was released right afterward.