#leipeng

[tianyus]

crying i miss them so much god they're truly meant for one another

[rinbylin]

oh is this still an interview oh ok ok sorry for interrupting

[grimbravado]

Revenged Love fascinates me. Not the show itself (I still haven’t finished it, though I’ve watched most of the BTS lol), but everything around it. Two little known straight male actors from mainland China suddenly blew up after starring in a BL drama that was released everywhere except mainland China. You could easily fill an academic paper or an industry report whichever angle you take lol

Whenever a romance drama becomes a surprise hit, it attracts several fan groups: the “CP” fans (those who ship Chi Cheng x Wu Suowei), the “RPS/真人CP” fans (those who ship Tian Xuning x Zi Yu), and the solo/career fans for each actor. These groups might overlap but they also fight constantly and as I’ve recently observed, those fights can get ugly fast… CP fans are fickle and will disappear the moment the fantasy breaks. What’s the best career move to make as the two actors themselves and their agents? I’d imagine they’d have to strategize on things like which base to focus on and for how long to serve the cp fans? Both of them could develop genuine career fans if they play it smart. Zi Yu’s made for the stage. I wouldn’t even count myself as a casual fan but I’d probably be happy to pay to see him perform. When he was on stage, he was just so radiant, graceful, and authentic? And Tian Xuning can actually act, which already sets him apart from most idol-type leads.

There’s also a big difference between blowing up from a danmei adaptation (like 2.0-4.0 did) and becoming famous through something like Revenged Love. The first can at least try to distance itself from its source material. The second leaves you with what the fans call a real 出身问题/“tainted origin of fame problem.” People in the circle might look down on them while secretly envying their new found success. And I’ve seen comments speculating that they’ll need a two year cool down period before any serious acting roles would find them(?) Once you reach that level of fame, you even have to think about how the state apparatus sees you and learn to read censorship trends and move carefully when the wind changes.

And then there’s that age old question that haunted Wu Suowei and now it haunts me too. If two straight men play lovers that convincingly, do they actually turn gay? And if they do, can they turn back? (Not that I want them to… just curious)

[orianabanana]

Finally figured out what zy/txn’s dynamic reminds me of:

I mean like

[maenecoon]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

wrote more tianziyu rpf! mind the tags <33

[tianyus]

tian xuning & ziyu - reluctant 'BL' actors AU

tian xuning and ziyu are actors that belong to the same company but because of a (silly) misunderstanding in the past, they can't stand each other. unfortunately, their company, seeing how bromance and bl dramas are all the rage in the market, decide to take their top two actors and make some more money by putting them to work along side each other in a new bromance drama that's bordering on BL.

tian xuning is a well-established actor in the company, while ziyu is their up and coming new star. their 'feud' started when ziyu was still a trainee/nobody in the company and he'd overheard some shady conversation between more established actors amongst whom tian xuning was present. through a misunderstanding of the conversation, ziyu thinks that tian xuning is a pompous jerk that looks down on newbie actors, so he acts rude and cold to him, despite tian xuning being his senior. seeing that kind of attitude from a mere newbie, tian xuning also finds him rude and conceited -- and thus begins their constant clashing.

pressured by their company, the two reluctantly agree to act along side each other in the new bromance. despite their clashing, the two have surprisingly insane chemistry on set, which causes the director and scriptwriter to start making changes to the script - adding more fanservice-y situations for their characters and dangerously getting closer and closer to changing the genre to fully-BL.

forced to be around each other day and night for filming, the two of them start noticing that the other might not be what they actually thought. tian xuning notices the way ziyu is so humble and kind to all the staff, always coming in early and bringing everyone drinks or snacks - all paid with his own money despite still being a newbie. he sees how much effort he puts into memorizing the script, staying up late into the night, and making sure to get his character and everything right. so tian xuning decides to erase his previous assumptions of ziyu and start treating him a bit more nicely, much to ziyu's shock. once tian xuning's gentle and doting side starts making an appearance, it gradually has ziyu questioning his own assumptions of tian xuning and making him wonder if he'd gotten the guy wrong all along...?

[rinbylin]

够了你们...

[rinbylin]

zheng peng when his work boyfriend has a scene with another coworker without him and his work boyfriend is genuinely confused about why he seems to be upset:

corporate wants you to find the difference