Chapter 73 Official announcement of Dark War
Editor: Jodi
The filming of ‘Dark War’ had been done in secret without even a press conference at the start, and all the actors had signed confidentiality agreements.
This was the habit of the director of ‘Dark War’. He didn’t like his works being overly exposed to the public during filming, hence the details, including the cast, were only announced after the completion of filming.
Originally, the director had been planning to announce the news the next day, however Huang Wenkai’s unexpected move had forced the cancellation of the wrap-up party that had been scheduled for the next day, and so the information about ‘Dark War’ had to keep being under wraps.
Finding a replacement for the second male lead was another issue, however fortunately, the director already had a preferred choice in mind, a preferred choice that he’d had to compromise on due to financial reasons.
The next day, the director called the agent of the actor he had originally wanted to ask if he could step in, and his agent, realizing the opportunity, agreed immediately.
This was the role of the second male lead of a major production by a renowned director. It was no less significant than being the lead in other movies.
After the call with the director, the agent immediately canceled other engagements for his artist who, after hearing that he was going to star in ‘Dark War’, immersed himself in the script, putting aside all other matters.
However just after the director ended the call on his side, his assistant came to tell him that ‘Dark War’ had appeared on the hot search!
The director’s heart thumped. How could it be on the hot search? No one from their side had leaked the news right?
Then after thinking about it for a while he immediately guessed the source of the leak– Huang Wenkai!
And sure enough, when they tapped on the hot search topic online, the name attached to the words ‘Dark War’ was Huang Wenkai.
Clicking on the hot search topic, there were press releases from marketing accounts along with leaked pictures of Huang Wenkai filming ‘Dark War’. There were also pictures with the director, others with Lin Qin and Meng Chao and even images from the opening ceremony. The post even included a screenshot of the registration form submitted to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television before the filming of ‘Dark War’.
All of which were a substantial presentation of evidence before the public that confirmed Huang Wenkai had really participated in the filming of ‘Dark War’.
And the comments under the marketing accounts’ posts had already reached tens of thousands, with the number of shares exceeding a hundred thousand.
Huang Wenkai was already one of the most popular young actors in terms of fan base, and his fans were particularly aggressive in defending him, and regardless of who he collaborated with, they would find a reason to create a stir.
Then constantly praise him for his ‘epochal beauty’ and ‘unparalleled acting skills’.
At this time, a large portion of the comments section had been dominated by his fans.
[My husband is actually working with Director Xiang? Director Xiang, please take good care of my husband!]
[A big director has finally noticed my husband? Hahaha, my husband is definitely the male lead. If he’s not the male lead then we’re not interested.]
Then under the speculation that Huang Wenkai was the male lead, all his fans started affirming it, praising his excellent acting skills and hot looks, asserting that he was definitely the male lead.
Then, a bystander who couldn’t stand it anymore rebutted: “Let’s not talk about Huang Wenkai’s acting skills first. Didn’t you see the leaked pictures? Meng Chao and Lin Qin, one an Oscar-nominated Movie Emperor and Venice Film Festival Movie Emperor, and the other a Cannes Film Festival Film Emperor, would they play second fiddle to Huang Wenkai? Aren’t the faces of a certain someone’s fans a little too big?”
This was a very objective comment which instantly received a lot of likes and replies from the melon eating crowd, causing it to go to the hot comments.
However Huang Wenkai’s fans disagreed, and teaming up, they sent private messages full of abuse to the user who had made the comment, filling their screen with genitals and highly disgusting and revolting content.
Then for some reason, they started to tear into Lin Qin.
Yes, tear into Lin Qin. They didn’t dare tear into Meng Chao. Meng Chao’s status in the industry had long been established firmly for several years, with a strong fan base as well as a high level of popularity, hence they themselves knew that they definitely wouldn’t be able to tear into him.
But Lin Qin wasn’t the same. He had only become popular in the last half year and was relatively obscure in the industry before despite holding several prestigious awards.
Hence in the eyes of Huang Wenkai’s fans, he didn’t have many supporters, and so they thought he would be easy to target.
[Isn’t Lin Qin just a nobody who relies on his family background? Without it, he is nothing. Don’t know where he got the courage to compete with our Wenkai.]
Such comments were just the beginning.
However much worse were the explicit comments that targeted Lin Qin’s social anxiety disorder, saying directly that he was a psychopath, and that he should go to the mental hospital earlier for treatment.
Some extremists even tagged Chu Tian Entertainment, using it as a medium to insult Lin Qin’s father.
Lin Qin’s fans were usually quite peaceful, because as the saying went ‘fans mirrored their idol’s nature’. Lin Qin himself was a very low-profile person, and so his fans were also very low-profile, except for when [We Are Together] was airing that they were very active and happy as they cooperated with the CP fans as well as Meng Chao’s fans. However as [We Are Together] wrapped up and Lin Qin went off to film, his fans also quieted down.
And aside from the occasional asking for updates on Lin Qin and his studio’s Weibo, they were more focused on their own lives.
And so when they clicked on Weibo and saw that Huang Wenkai’s fans were actually massacring his page as well as his impression section and hurling insults as well as extremely abusive comments at his family, each of them were like firecrackers that had been lit up, exploding directly.
My cub is just filming quietly, why should he endure such baseless insults?
One shouldn’t look at the fact that Lin Qin’s fans were like peaceful buddhas. Their combat power was formidable and they each had a very clear cut division of labor. Those who could use connotations to mock subtly did so, those who could curse without using dirty words cursed back directly, those who could write rainbow flattery to cleanse the feed did so directly…..
When the director of ‘Dark War’ came across this as he scrolled, his entire being was suffused with joy as he praised Lin Qin’s fans in his heart for being talents again and again.
He knew in his heart who had bought the hot search for ‘Dark War’ and Huang Wenkai. It wasn’t just to hype Huang Wenkai, but also to use public opinion to force the crew of ‘Dark War’ into not replacing Huang Wenkai since the public was now already aware of his participation in the movie.
And why did this fire spread to Lin Qin? It was most likely not just fan behavior, but professional fans stirring things up in the background.
However the director just couldn’t understand. Lin Qin had been filming diligently in the crew, staying well-behaved outside of filming and polite to everyone, so just how did he manage to offend Huang Wenkai to such an extent that his team would resort to such vicious methods to disgust Lin Qin?
Putting his phone down, he called his assistant and instructed him to post a promotional post for ‘Dark War’ on his Weibo and to specifically mention all the main creators, including the actor who had just been brought in to replace Huang Wenkai.
And immediately understanding the director’s intentions, the assistant quickly made a post.
Xiang Dong Peng v: ‘Dark War’ is coming, thankful to have you all. @Meng Chao @Lin Qin @Zhang Yue @Han Zhi….
This post tagged a long list of names, even including Han Zhi who had made a cameo, but noticeably omitted Huang Wenkai whose fans claimed was the male lead.
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