Chapter 294: Violent Battering
Translator: BeetleBarker Editor: Tennesh
Online, netizens across the world were paying attention to this revolutionary film project "Founding Era." Any news regarding those important roles would give rise to heated discussions. People with the means of obtaining reliable information got ahold of this information before the general public.
Famed entertainment reporters and paparazzi from other continents released the news in succession, confirming that Fang Zhao had come out on top in the Committee of 100’s vote.
Although there were many entertainment reporters reporting on this news, the one that was most well received was still Wang Tie.
Why?
Because he had exclusive information!
He knew how Fang Zhao had gotten the role!
There were many people with wild ambitions who had yet to squeeze into the cast of "Founding Era" and were unable to sit still.
Wasn’t it because a few important roles in this series had not been set in stone? If these people were able to learn from Fang Zhao’s experiences and imitate him, perhaps they might be just like Fang Zhao and manage to snag a satisfactory role?
Not only the more important roles, even a character that could just survive one season was more than satisfactory.
One season was still too difficult? Never mind, seven or eight episodes wouldn’t be too little. Two or three episodes was fine too! If they did not try their hardest, there wouldn’t even be a chance for a minor role!
Thus, they were willing to spend more money to purchase this information! Maybe there really was a secret shortcut?
Many newcomers in the showbiz circles got restless.
If this situation had not occurred, they would not have thought much about it, but now, Fang Zhao—an industry outsider—had managed to get such an important role. How many people were watching him with covetous eyes? These people had foundations in acting or came from families with distinguished showbiz backgrounds. How could they have lost to Fang Zhao?
They refused to concede!
They would strive and fight for it! Who could say that newcomers had to stand aside now?
Not everyone was a first-rate or top-notch film star, and not everyone had connections or a background, but the emergence of Fang Zhao’s news showed that even a person without reputation or background had a chance!
This was what Wang Tie had been playing for!
At the moment, Wang Tie was hidden in his own secret base, lying on the sofa, shaking his legs while on the phone. From the moment he had published that information, his phone had been ringing nonstop and the inbox of his social platform was almost full.
This time around, Wang Tie’s attitude was high and mighty. Exclusive information! Want to know how Fang Zhao managed to get the role? Come on, show me the money! If you don’t fork out a high price, you won’t get it!
On the same day, after the news of the Fang Zhao role being set broke, the voting outcomes for the other two important roles, Wu Yan and Akalina, were revealed, but they were unable to overwrite the entire entertainment circle’s shock at the news about Fang Zhao.
The actress who had gotten the role of Akalina was from Azhou and had achieved numerous awards. She was renowned worldwide.
Although there had been some controversy online regarding her obtaining the role, there wasn’t much.
For Wu Yan, as this series would begin when Wu Yan was young, ultimately, three actors had been chosen. A child actor that was popular currently would act as the young Wu Yan. A famous star from Yanzhou from the Wu family, Wu Yun, would act as the grown-up version of Wu Yan.
Wu Yun’s acting skills, when compared to some precursors, might not be sufficient enough, and his global acclaim could not be considered too high, but he was a member of the Wu family and had many fans in Yanzhou. With such high support and backing, there was nothing much to dispute.
As for the Wu Yan in his middle and later years, the role would be played by Yanzhou’s top-rate actor He Lisi. Wu Yun was unable to act as Wu Yan in his later stages, so he wouldn’t disgrace himself and vie for this spot.
This was also something He Lisi had discussed with the Wu family, and he had received their backing. Wang Tie also had some information about He Lisi coming into contact with the Wu family.
The situation with He Lisi was not a rare case. When competing in the entertainment circles, everyone relied on their ability, and exchanging resources was commonplace. It wasn’t a big deal.
The role of Wu Yan in the series was more important than that of Fang Zhao. To be able to act as Wu Yan in his later years, it would have been something for He Lisi flaunt—if the matter with Fang Zhao had not occurred.
Now, the limelight had all been stolen by Fang Zhao. He wasn’t in as many headlines as Fang Zhao. He Lisi’s team was left with no choice—they privately spent some money to purchase a number of push-notification headlines for entertainment news in various continents.
Five hours later, Roman informed Fang Zhao that he had to head to the designated location within a day for a medical examination. If there were no problems, the contract would be negotiated.
Fang Zhao had already made preparations. He set out when he received Roman’s official notification.
Naturally, there were no problems with his medical examination. Silver Wing had already arranged for a team of professionals to go along with Fang Zhao to negotiate the contract. There was no need for Fang Zhao to worry about anything.
As of now, Silver Wing had classified Fang Zhao as a focus for development. During this time’s competition for roles in "Founding Era," other than He Lisi managing to snatch a lead role, all the other film stars that had high hopes placed on them had been utterly defeated. On the contrary, Fang Zhao had given them all a large surprise, and diverting resources to him now was something that the company ought to do.
Despite being extremely busy, Roman still found some time to speak with Fang Zhao. The more important a role, the more pressure the actor playing the role had to bear, and it would certainly be exhausting with those important scenes. Roman felt that Fang Zhao was still too young. It was Fang Zhao’s first performance, and he was already acting in such an important role for a large-scale project. Roman needed to say a few words to Fang Zhao to feel reassured.
"Perform well. My face and reputation are being represented by you! If you don’t perform well, that is unpardonable."
These words were not aimed at Fang Zhao alone. Roman had the same demands for all the other actors and actresses in this serial. If you are not able to keep up with the pace of filming and you drag everyone else down, then you better scram immediately!
After Fang Zhao officially signed the contract, "Founding Era" officially announced that they had finalized the actors for three roles and pointed out that Fang Zhao would be playing the role of Fang Zhao.
This news was like a shockwave, battering the entertainment circles.
"Official seal of approval!"
"It’s been confirmed!"
"It is actually him!"
This made many people who had doubted the news land in a state of self-doubt. Was it them who were unable to catch up with the times, or had the industry rules quietly changed?
Fang Zhao? Who was he in the showbiz circles? How had he gotten this role just like that? How the hell had he done so?!
Were newcomers now so impressive?
Media outlets that had adopted a wait and see approach started to move too. They wanted to interview this dark horse Fang Zhao, yet despite searching high and low, nobody was able to find him.
Since interviews were not going to work, they would stir stuff up.
Many media outlets went to interview people in the showbiz circles and listen to what professionals had to say regarding this.
Unfortunately, those with even a tiny bit of brains would not say too much. This had been decided by the Committee of 100, not them. They dared not question the Committee of 100’s decision.
Whatever inner thoughts people might have had, the outcome had already been decided. They could not smack the faces of the 20-plus voters in the Committee of 100. They couldn’t afford to offend the Committee of 100, nor were they willing to do so. Whether they approved it or not, they wouldn’t express a different view.
Roman also publicly praised Fang Zhao during an interview he accepted. "That’s right, Fang Zhao was recommended by me, but him getting the role was the Committee of 100’s decision through voting. All I can say is that he is the most suitable, and the Committee of 100’s decision is the right one."
Of course, there was no lack of people who took advantage of the opportunity to make their presence felt by calling into question the Committee of 100’s decision during interviews.
Very quickly, a member of the Committee of 100 who had a fiery temper blasted others in an interview and directly replied to these people. "Call into question? Accept? What a joke? It’s our decision—why do we need them to accept it? Are they more professional than me? Or perhaps they know more about acting than me?"
Regardless of how industry professionals and reviewers stirred up arguments in the media, this incident with Fang Zhao had thoroughly shocked the entertainment circles and shaken up the original notions of some people.
Many people blew their tops, but they could only clench their teeth and swallow it as they regretted not fighting for a few roles themselves.
A role that could only be fought over by globally acclaimed first-rate actors had actually been stolen by an industry outsider. How could they not rage?
They were p*ssed that they hadn’t been staunch enough, and they hated those people that had swayed their opinions. And they were even more envious of this dark horse Fang Zhao.
At a certain bar.
A certain intoxicated actor was having a foul-mouthed tirade. "Fang Zhao might have some reputation in the music circles, but in the film circles, he is just a..." As he cursed, he stuck out his pinky finger and then, pushing his thumb against the upper joint of his pinky finger, pointed out with only the tip of his pinky, the rest of his fingers curled in.
A server who walked by inwardly ridiculed, Tsk, if it was me, I would have picked Fang Zhao over you. Not only do you have no ability, but you are so petty. You have high ambitions, but you aren’t able to pay the price. You are still a long way off.
In Jinzhou.
Ruan Sheng, who looked exactly like the Fang Zhao of the Period of Destruction, stared at the news with his mouth agape.
Yesterday, he had still been hanging onto a little hope when he had seen the news that Wang Tie and other entertainment reporters were spreading. Perhaps the news is fake? Maybe it’s fake news, or perhaps this is just stirring up news?
But now...
When he recalled the words he had said to Fang Zhao back on Teasandsea’s cruise, he felt a stinging pain on his cheeks, as though he had been slapped.
It turned out that person had simply not taken his words too hard. When he recalled those events... Reality had given him a punch!
Now, Fang Zhao had already signed a contract to play the role of Fang Zhao, and Ruan Sheng hadn’t even managed to get the role of a body double.
Leizhou.
Zaro tugged on his bed hair that looked like a bird’s nest. His eyes were bulging so much they were on the verge of dropping. His face looked as if he had seen a ghost when he saw the headlines of this news notification.
"What the f*ck!"
He had just woken up from a nap when he was violently battered by this headline.
Violently gulping down a glass of ice water, Zaro muttered, "Surely my posture when I opened up the news wasn’t right."
As he said that, he made a bunch of calls to his agent.
For the sake of getting a satisfactory role in "Founding Era," he had put in a lot of effort, spent a lot of money, and even been beaten by his father a few times! With great difficulty, he had managed to snatch a role. Yesterday, he was just being ridiculed by that idiot Barbara, and today he had received a battering from the news about Fang Zhao!
Zaro fumed. "It isn’t fair! Why does Fang Zhao get to play such an important role? Which people didn’t have eyes and selected him? Their dog eyes must be totally blind!"
Zaro’s agent hurried in and, with a stony face, warned Zaro to watch his words. "Old Master sat in Committee of 100’s first row. I have heard he voted for Fang Zhao."
Zaro seethed. "...Surely he was misled by someone! Great Grandfather is so wise and farsighted... In any case, it’s all your fault! I didn’t get a satisfactory role because you are too useless!"
Without any expression, Zaro’s agent replied, "Yes, it is all my fault."
Zaro "Hypocritical Dog" Renault was someone who wouldn’t find fault with himself. His agent would always be a scapegoat.
However, his agent understood that Zaro had a trashy mouth. He would just treat these as farts. Zaro did not fire his agent, either; he had genuinely received a huge shock and needed to vent. It just so happened that Old Master Renault had voted for Fang Zhao, so Zaro did not dare to continue scolding and just went crazy mumbling to himself.
Zaro paced up and down in his house, feeling unresigned. "That fella really managed to steal the role. What methods did he employ? Surely he found some connections to pull some strings! Pooh! I despise this sort of person the most!"
With that, he turned around and gave his grandfather, the governor, a call. He would hug the governor’s thigh and get the governor to help him get a role.
Zaro’s agent cursed silently. Pooh! Hypocritical Dog! Setting standards for others but giving oneself special standards! What sort of morality is this where you can’t even identify your own shortcomings? ...However, if the Leizhou governor can really help Zaro obtain a role, that would save me a lot of work, Zaro’s agent thought to himself.
On the internet.
The focus of netizens always changed very quickly. A while ago, netizens had been discussing exactly how well Fang Zhao would be able to act and whether or not he would be able to perform in the role of an old martyr. Now, they were digging up Fang Zhao’s family background.
"Comparing the images of Fang Zhao alongside the Fang Zhao from history, then thinking about news from the last two days, I suddenly had a thought: perhaps they are related by blood!"
"Take a look at Wu Yun. He was able to obtain the role of Wu Yan because his family name is Wu!"
"I just heard that Leizhou’s Zaro managed to get a decent role. Guess it can’t be helped—his family name is Renault, so he enjoys special privileges."
"In any case, we still have to take a look at backgrounds! And their family names!"
"Fang Zhao is also a Fang, and he looks 70% like Fang Zhao. An industry outsider without inside information managing to snatch the role of Fang Zhao, if someone says there are no secret things going on behind the scenes, I definitely won’t believe it!"
"Does anyone remember the time when Fang Zhao’s grandfather was revealed as a high-ranking military officer?"
"It’s his great-grandfather. He’s retired."
"He still has influence even though he is retired. Can anyone dig up the backgrounds of others in Fang Zhao’s family?"
"Given my acute sense of smell honed from watching hundreds of detective flicks, the Fang family is definitely not as simple as they seem!"
There were quite a lot of capable people online, and nobody knew where they dug out this "evidence" from, but it was all gathered together and it was rather scary.
Yanbei retirement facility. When Great-Grandfather Fang saw these discussions online, he specifically went to check the household register and the family lineage files.
"If I don’t check the household register, I might really believe the nonsense that this bunch is making up. Whatever they make up seems so real."
The family lineage files were like the family trees of ancient times. These were much more detailed, and as he went up generation by generation, there was not a single one that had any relation to Martyr Fang Zhao!
If there was any relation, it was just Fang Zhao, for his parent’s had named him after a great person.
Actually, there were many people in the world who had the exact same names as martyrs. In so many years, none of them had created ripples, but internet users were excited now that they had encountered a Fang Zhao.
After looking through the family lineage files, Great-Grandfather Fang was certain that the Fang family did not have any bit of connection to Martyr Fang Zhao. Although he was a little disappointed, when he thought about it from a different angle, it meant that Fang Zhao had really relied on his own ability and not his ancestor’s shadow to win the role!
After confirming this, Great-Grandfather Fang tidied his clothing and prepared to head out to brag!
Before heading out, Great-Grandfather Fang logged onto his social platform and uploaded a new status: "Our family has absolutely no relationship with Martyr Fang Zhao whatsoever!"
Fang Zhao, who had just seen this status: "..." Actually, there is...