Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Xiao Chen answered the phone, listening carefully to the person on the other end before replying: ”Okay, I’ll tell Brother Xiao right away.”

He immediately turned his head and handed the phone to Xiao He: ”Brother Xiao, it’s Sister Liu.”

Xiao He opened his eyes and obediently took the phone from Xiao Chen’s hand.

”Hello.”

Even after a busy evening, his voice remained calm and even, unaffected and showing no sign of fatigue.

In contrast, Liu Rulan’s voice on the other end carried a hint of hoarseness and weariness: ”You just finished up?”

”Yes. How are things on your end, Sister Liu?”

”Pretty good. But there’s a script now that might require your urgent consideration.”

Xiao He raised an eyebrow: ”What? It’s not one to repay a favor, is it?”

”Bingo, you guessed it.”

”The second male lead in a project by Old Zhong’s student. He fractured his leg from a fall while filming some time ago. I asked around, and they haven’t found a replacement yet,” Liu Rulan said. ”The script is okay. Old Zhong helped us out so much this time. Want to go repay the favor?”

Both Old Xu and Old Zhong were judges Xiao He had privately visited before. The former was Liu Rulan’s connection, the latter was introduced by Ning Jiaqi. Both were significant figures within the judging panel. Both had expressed affirmation of Xiao He’s acting skills and promised to fully support Xiao He in securing the award later.

So they were considered Xiao He’s biggest reliance in his bid for the Golden Flower Award-Winning Actor title.

Now that a production team connected to Old Zhong’s student had run into trouble, it was only natural for them to step in and cover, repaying the favor.

”Alright,” Xiao He nodded in agreement, but then his tone shifted. ”But there must be some complications, right?”

Judging by Liu Rulan’s tone, it felt like repaying this favor was somewhat reluctant and hesitant...

”There are indeed a few,” Liu Rulan sighed. ”I won’t hide it from you. This production team has two major problems. The first is that the script is adapted from a South Korean one, so their production is a remake. The original version next door already exists and is considered a classic. You know the rule about domestic entertainment remakes almost always being terrible.”

A classic is a classic. Sometimes, it truly is insurmountable.

For the actors in the remake, this is an arduous challenge. If their performance doesn’t measure up to the classic original, getting criticized is a given.

”Mhm, that’s acceptable.”

Xiao He remained calm. ”What’s the second problem?”

”This project is meant to promote someone, so... you could easily become a foil.”

Xiao He was silent for a moment, then voiced a questioning retort: ”It’s already the second male lead. Becoming a foil seems pretty normal, doesn’t it?”

He’s already a supporting character. He can’t exactly outshine the protagonist, can he?

Liu Rulan: ”...You know that’s not what I mean.”

This ”foil” doesn’t refer to a simple character level.

It means this production team has a clear hierarchy, and the internal atmosphere is definitely not good. Even if Xiao He goes to save the day, the final amount of screen time he keeps and the state of his performance won’t be decided by him, nor even by the director, but by the ’royal’ favorite.

Xiao He would have no say or decision-making power!

The most famous example is a certain actor in the industry who kindly went to save a production, only to have all the scenes he rushed to film over half a month completely cut in the final edit.

Yet the actor couldn’t say anything about it. After all, the paycheck was collected, and the editing was done. Besides fans crying injustice, no one else would care about that effort.

So this was what Liu Rulan was most worried about.

Production teams purely meant to promote someone are the most annoying!

She was afraid Xiao He would go and get treated poorly.