news

Text/Aliang

On August 4, the list of nominees for the 37th Popular Film Hundred Flowers Awards was announced. Zhao Liying won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Hao Xiuping in the movie Article 20, with a lead of 2 votes over Gao Ye.

As one of the "85 Flowers", Zhao Liying has starred in many hit dramas before, but she has not had many works of weight in the film industry. Her performance in the film "Article 20" is subversive.

Hao Xiuping is a hearing-impaired person. She has no lines in the whole film, so Zhao Liying can only rely on micro-expressions and body movements to perform. In order to fit the role, Zhao Liying not only appeared without makeup, but also lived with a hearing-impaired family before filming, just to get closer to the character.

Facts have proved that this effort was not in vain. Zhao Liying used her strength to bring a vivid Hao Xiuping to netizens.

[I] The open and covert struggle between Yang Mi and Zhao Liying

After the award was announced, Zhao Liying immediately became a hot topic. Clicking on it, the comments were almost unanimous, saying that she deserved the honor.

But from another perspective, some netizens said that the value of this award does not seem to be very high. Because Baby has won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Hundred Flowers Awards before, this award is not that authoritative now.

But it is worth noting that when Baby won the award, there was a lot of controversy and doubt, while there was almost no objection to Zhao Liying's award.

So even if there are such voices, it does not affect Zhao Liying's mood of celebration at all. She posted on Weibo, "The audience's love and support for me is the biggest traffic."

I have to say that Zhao Liying's speech is really smart. The word "traffic" has always been a derogatory term for actors.

Now, Zhao Liying has linked the word "audience" with the word "traffic", and the meaning is instantly different. She wants to tell the audience that she is using her strength and works to create more traffic.

Previously, she won the Best Actress Award at the Golden Eagle Awards for TV dramas, and now she has won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Hundred Flowers Awards for movies, becoming the only actress among the 85 Flowers to win mainstream awards in both TV and film. Her strength and status should not be underestimated.

Such Zhao Liying is really admirable. Many comments also said that Zhao Liying's strength now surpasses Yang Mi.

As we all know, Yang Mi has been the leader of the 85 flowers for many years since her debut. Now with Zhao Liying winning another award, the gap between the two is getting bigger and bigger.

In 2008, when Yang Mi became famous all over the country with "The Chinese Paladin", Zhao Liying was still playing the role of a maid.

In 2010, Yang Mi and Zhao Liying co-starred in the New Dream of Red Mansions for the first time, but their status was not the same. Yang Mi played the articulate Qingwen, while Zhao Liying only got a small role as Xing Xiuyan.

In 2011, Yang Mi became an internet sensation with the time-travel drama "Palace", and Zhao Liying also gained fame in "New My Fair Princess".

It was also in this year that Zhao Liying and Yang Mi had their first off-screen competition. Zhao Liying posted a post on a social media platform, expressing dissatisfaction with Yang Mi's fans who regarded her as their idol, and said that not everyone with big eyes, a middle part, and who starred in palace fighting dramas is Yang Mi.

Now 13 years have passed, Zhao Liying has stood in a position to compete with Yang Mi with her own efforts. The two also ushered in their second collaboration, playing a supporting role for Zhang Ziyi in the movie "Jiang Yuan Lane" directed by Chen Kexin. The performance in this movie may also become the most positive "competition" between the two.

In the past 10 years, Zhao Liying's development is undoubtedly the fastest among the 85 flowers.

Starting from the ancient idol dramas "Legend of Lu Zhen" and "Princess Agents", to the transformation to the serious dramas "The Story of Minglan", "Wind Blows in Midsummer" and "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes", and then to breaking into the film industry, starring in "The Breakup Guru" directed by Han Han, "Journey to the West: The Women Kingdom" directed by Soi Cheang, and "Article 20" directed by Zhang Yimou.

Later, there are Chen Kexin's "Jiang Yuan Lane", Wu Bai's "Tiger Wolf Road", Zhao Deyin's "Qiao Yan's Heart", Feng Xiaogang's "Sunflower", whether it is the investment share, the cast, or the behind-the-scenes production team, they are all top-notch. Every step Zhao Liying takes is effective.

Let's look at Yang Mi. In the early years, she was known as a "hit drama maker". The dramas she starred in, "Chinese Paladin III", "Palace" and "Eternal Love", were all popular all over the country. She was very good at playing ancient idol dramas, and her popularity and status were far ahead among the 85 flowers.

But in the past two years, her performance has been quite bad. 2024 was supposed to be her harvest year, with three works, "Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Moon Red", "Harbin 1944" and "Nothing Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot", but unfortunately all of them failed. Not only did netizens become aesthetically fatigued, but her performance style became more and more greasy.

His acting skills were questioned in "Harbin 1944". Even so, he had to invite an acting teacher to help him achieve the desired effect. He liked to purse his lips when speaking his lines, and had too many small movements, which was criticized as being too distracting.

Her appearance in Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Moon Red was questioned. I originally thought that ancient idol dramas were her comfort zone, but in this drama, her acting was not agile and she often looked tired.

"There's Nothing That Can't Be Solved by a Hotpot" showed Yang Mi's "embarrassment" to the fullest. Not only did the box office fail to hold up, but it was also temporarily withdrawn from the schedule and the blame was put on netizens who did not appreciate it.

In summary, Yang Mi did not seem to perform better than expected after leaving her old company "Jaywalk Media". After many years of debut, she still has the acting skills of a rookie.

But Yang Mi still has a chance to turn things around. After Zhao Liying won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Supporting Actress, her new drama "Life and Everything" was also completed. It's true that the 85 flowers always have such a tacit understanding. The eagerness of the crew of "Life and Everything" can be felt across the screen.

As far as I can remember, Yang Mi's drama had just started filming not long ago, and netizens had just seen Yang Mi's country woman look. I didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, the wrap-up special came out.

It can be seen from the special that Yang Mi is heading towards a rural drama this time, which is compared with Zhao Liying's "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes".

Judging from the styling, it is similar to what was previously leaked. It can be seen that the crew is working hard to make Yang Mi wear down-to-earth clothes. However, this peasant woman styling, which is both in line with the plot and in consideration of the image, always seems a bit out of place on Yang Mi. She doesn't look like the "richest daughter" set in the plot, nor does she look like a down-to-earth working woman.

In addition, a crying scene of Yang Mi was also exposed in the wrap-up special.

Just talking about this close-up of "red eyes, looking back and crying", Yang Mi is very skilled in this scene.

However, netizens focused on her double eyelids, saying that they looked unnatural. They wondered if it was because her eyelids were too loose, but Yang Mi looked a little old. In addition, the reflective marks of the double eyelid tape were not in line with the times, and the makeup was exposed.

But Yang Mi's biggest problem is her acting skills. Li Shaohong said in her early years that she grew up in a film crew and her acting was too routine. When she was happy, she would just laugh, and when she was sad, she would just wow. Yang Mi also knew her problem, but she was too old and too in the mood to change it.

Therefore, if Yang Mi still can't change her bad acting skills after the broadcast of "Life and Everything", then she will really be overshadowed by Zhao Liying from now on.

[II] The dilemma and transformation of the 85 girls

Zhao Liying thinks that this is a good start for the Best Supporting Actress award at the Hundred Flowers Awards. This good start is not only for her personally, but also means that the pattern of the "85 Flowers" will be rewritten from now on.

Zhao Liying is known as the "Orphan of Zhao" among the 85 flowers. In many of the Vanity Fairs where the 85 flowers gather, Zhao Liying is rarely seen. She either sits alone or does not participate in those open competitions, such as the Weibo Night where the 85 flowers gather.

It is obvious that although Zhao Liying has a large amount of traffic since she became popular with "The Journey of Flower", she is more focused on her work rather than traffic, which can be seen from her filming route.

As they grow older, Yang Mi, Tang Yan, Liu Shishi, Liu Yifei and other 85 flowers have been seeking transformation in recent years, but there seems to be no major breakthrough.

Tang Yan's number of works in recent years has dropped sharply, partly because of her responsibility to take care of her children after marriage and partly because of the failure of "Yan Yun Tai". Fortunately, she lived up to the three years of hard work of "Fang Hua", which also helped her to be nominated for the Magnolia Award for Best Actress.

Up to now, in the minds of many netizens, "Miss Wang" has surpassed "Zi Xuan".

Next, there will be a movie version of "Fang Hua", which may be an important opportunity for Tang Yan to enter the film industry. After all, the director is still Wong Kar-wai.

In addition, she has two big projects in the TV drama field. One is "The Beginning of Man" with Zhang Ruoyun and Wang Jingchun, directed by Li Lu, who has directed the hit dramas "In the Name of People" and "The World". The other is "Single Woman" adapted by Yi Shu and co-starred with Zhao Youting.

As for the upcoming ancient idol drama "Nian Wushuang", I personally am not very optimistic about it and feel it is a bit unpredictable.

Liu Shishi has been quite popular recently and has been "met by chance" at the Olympic Games many times.

Speaking of her most popular works, besides "Chinese Paladin III", it is "Startling by Each Step". But after marrying Wu Qilong and having a child, she has been in a semi-retired state. It was not until the past few years that she slowly returned to work, but unfortunately there are not many works.

In 2020, the Golden Years, adapted from Yi Shu, received mediocre response. In 2023, the data of One Thought on the Mountain, which he collaborated with Liu Yuning, was quite good. Currently waiting to be broadcast are Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Bamboo Industry and Palm, both of which are costume dramas.

As for movies, apart from The Detective in 2013 and Blades of the Assassin in 2014, there have been no good scripts reported. It can be seen that Liu Shishi is really not interested in movies.

Let's talk about Liu Yifei. She started her career with TV dramas. With the help of her "godfather" Chen Jinfei, she successively produced several high-quality dramas with good reputation and high ratings, such as "The Story of a Noble Family", "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" and "The Return of the Condor Heroes".

After that, Liu Yifei turned to the film industry. Unfortunately, she never had a chance to become famous. All the scripts she participated in were directed by big directors, famous actors, and had big investments, but she never made any splash.

For example, "The Forbidden Kingdom" co-starring with Jackie Chan and Jet Li, "Eternal Love" co-starring with Yang Yang, "The Third Way of Love" co-starring with her ex-boyfriend Song Seung-heon, "The Legend of the Hongmen Feast" directed by Li Rengang, and the world-famous IP "Mulan", all of them have returns less than the investment.

You know, behind Liu Yifei is the world's largest agency.

You may not believe it, but strictly speaking, Liu Yifei and Zheng Qinwen, who just won the women's tennis Olympic championship, are colleagues.

The company Zheng Qinwen signed with is IMG, and when Liu Yifei was filming "Mulan" in Hollywood a few years ago, she signed with WME.

WHE mainly deals with actor management, while IMG mainly deals with athlete management. Then the two companies merged and were called ENDEAVOR.

How powerful is this company? It has a history of over a hundred years. In the past, they signed Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley, and Monroe. Now, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and "Iron Man" Robert Downey are all superstars.

In the sports world, athletes like Li Na, Gu Ailing, James, Djokovic, Su Yiming, and the late Kobe are all signed by the company.

This comparison shows how good the resources behind Liu Yifei are. However, although Liu Yifei is doing well in the fashion industry, she has not made any splash in the film industry.

Fortunately, Liu Yifei "found her way back" and after returning to the TV drama circle, she successively produced three excellent works, "Dream of Red Mansions", "Where the Wind Is" and "The Story of Rose", which either had good reputation or high ratings, which were several times better than the performance of the movies.

From this, we can see that the road for 85 flowers in the film industry is indeed not easy. If there is a special case, it should be Zhang Xiaofei.

Thanks to the movie "Hello, Li Huanying", not only did her popularity increase greatly, earning her the title of the new "national mother", but she also won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress.

Afterwards, the movie "Swapping Lives" in which she co-starred with Lei Jiayin won a box office of 393 million yuan; the movie "Saving Suspect" starring her and Li Hongqi had a cumulative box office of over 570 million yuan; the movie "Hot" in which she participated had a total box office of 3.46 billion yuan, making it the box office champion of the 2024 Spring Festival.

She has also achieved gratifying results in TV dramas. The TV series "Good Things Come in Pairs" co-starring with Huang Xiaoming and Li Zefeng not only had high ratings, but also created a high level of popularity for the road to female awakening.

The key point is that Zhang Xiaofei cut off her own traffic route at the beginning of her popularity. In 2021, she disbanded the national fan support club and the official fan club to focus on her career.

From this perspective, Zhang Xiaofei and Zhao Liying are definitely competitors who benefit each other.

Although the current 85 flowers have not yet completely transformed, it is obvious that everyone is adjusting their own routes. And Zhao Liying's ambition is written on her face.

Take a closer look at her lines in "Wind Blows in Midsummer", "I was originally competing with everyone on the same track, but suddenly I became a behemoth and crushed them easily."

Times have changed, open your eyes and see.