The Chinese stars of this Cannes Film Festival are quite a bit of "ice and fire".
"Gong Huang" Gong Li, who has attended the Cannes Film Festival as many as 19 times, is already Cannes' "own daughter".
Although she wore an all-black dress, she attracted all the spotlight as soon as she came on.
There is quite the domineering domineering of Cannes officials in 2016 to "clear" her for 3 minutes.
Gong Huang has a strong aura, is not angry and self-threatening, and slightly beckons to the media, as if he is reviewing his "troops", confident and calm.
In contrast, another Chinese male star who appeared on the red carpet looked a little lonely.
He is Zhu Yilong.
Zhu Yilong's new film "Mistake by the River" was shortlisted for the "A Kind of Attention" unit at Cannes.
Compared with four years ago, relying on the brand's invitation to "rub" the red carpet, Zhu Yilong came to Cannes this time, and his name is justified.
Although he has a high popularity in China, on the Cannes red carpet, Zhu Yilong fell into the dilemma that no one knew or even ignored.
In the fixed photo booth of the star, Zhu Yilong awkwardly waved to the media on the sidelines.
But almost all reporters focused their cameras on the foreign actresses behind him.
Cannes officials did not release even a photo of Zhu Yilong.
Later, there were even female staff on the red carpet who stepped forward to "persuade" Zhu Yilong, hoping that he would quickly walk away and make room for other stars.
Although Zhu Yilong is still calm, such a situation is also quite unspeakable bitterness for a popular star.
In fact, the predicament of the Cannes red carpet is quite similar to Zhu Yilong's entire career.
Every time he reaches a peak, Zhu Yilong always encounters a trough.
While the cause has walked out of the "W" curve, the melon-eating masses have also been sweating for Zhu Yilong's cause.
He seems to have always been the man stuck between "floating" and "not floating".
Just like he, as a star, has always been stuck between "acting" and "flowing".
01、
Zhu Yilong's red goes back to 2018.
That year, the concept of "traffic star" was at its peak:
Cai Xukun defined "C position debut", Yang Chao was not clear, and Fan Chengcheng interpreted "strong sister has no weak brother".
And Zhu Yilong also relied on a "Soul Town" to become the "new favorite" that fans shouted about.
At first glance, Zhu Yilong's "red" is an accident.
Because among this group of traffic stars, he is the one with the lowest starting point.
Others in their early 20s on variety shows, signed large factories, and resource assistance, can be described as all-round escort.
Zhu Yilong was 30 years old when he caught fire.
Before that, he worked for a film and television company called "Oriental Feiyun".
This is a piece of history that is not very visible in Zhu Yilong's personal profile.
In the beginning, he followed the company, shooting low-budget digital movies every year for broadcast on TV stations.
At his peak, he made a full 8 digital movies a year.
Speaking of male number one, in fact, it is a major worker on the assembly line.
Later, Dongfang Feiyun became bigger and began to shoot TV series.
Zhu Yilong followed up and acted in several TV series.
Basically, as the male number two, he assists first-line stars (such as Yu Wenle, Yan Yikuan, He Rundong), and is familiar with mixed faces by the way.
Later, the agent also began to give him resources outside the company's project.
2018's "Soul Town" is one of them.
In the play, Zhu Yilong plays three roles: Shen Wei, the black-robed envoy, and the mysterious man.
With the blessing of the original IP, the platform pushed down, and Zhu Yilong was completely fired.
There's another episode here.
Just 9 days after the broadcast of "Soul Town", Dongfang Feiyun issued an announcement, announcing the departure of Zhu Yilong's brokerage team, and all business was taken over by the vice president of the company.
Under the announcement, Zhu Yilong was also singled out, as if it were a "special notice".
Zhu Yilong's response was much calmer, and the words "do not leave and do not give up" are very conspicuous.
Later, this matter did not make a big deal, Zhu Yilong came forward to reconcile, and the brokerage team returned.
At this time, Zhu Yilong has been "completely new".
"Soul Town" brings top-notch traffic and business value.
Under the sudden heat and fame impact, Zhu Yilong began the first round of "harvesting" of his career.
In the months after the online drama was broadcast, Zhu Yilong officially endorsed 19 brands.
From mineral water, to first-line video platforms;
From a mobile phone brand to cosmetics Schwarzkopf;
From yogurt flavor, to ReFe beauty devices, from L'Oréal Paris, to KFC...
Zhu Yilong's endorsements one after another, on the road to generating income, are gone forever.
According to statistics, Zhu Yilong that year brought nearly 30% performance growth to the brokerage company.
The economic income brought by him alone in half a year accounted for 23.8% of the company's total revenue, as high as 45.35 million yuan.
This money may not be a big money for traffic stars.
But for Zhu Yilong, who has just become popular, it is already the peak of income.
At that time, everyone had mixed feelings towards Zhu Yilong.
On the one hand, he is happy for Zhu Yilong.
A little-known supporting role who has been crawling from the bottom for 3 years has become a "fragrant glutton" sought after by the brand in one fell swoop.
Zhu Yilong seems to have the luck of the male protagonist in Shuangwen to change his life against the sky.
On the other hand, I also feel a faint regret.
He is not bad looking, and his acting skills are among the traffic stars, which can be regarded as the best.
If you drown in the torrent of fame and fortune of cave-walking commercial performances and brand endorsements, a good actor is likely to be buried and disappear from everyone.
朱一龙这样的急功近利，显然有点不够优雅。
However, from Zhu Yilong's point of view, Pi Ge also understood his choice.
30 years old, and standing year, is a threshold for any actor.
Instead of facing the uncertainty of the future, it is better to seize the traffic and monetize it immediately, which is also not wrong.
But Pi Ge always felt that for Zhu Yilong, he should have a more long-term plan and consideration.
02、
In fact, Zhu Yilong is very similar to Zhang Songwen.
Zhang Songwen did not have any resources in his early years and worked alone at the bottom for decades.
He worked for 19 years and couldn't afford to buy a house, and all the scenes he received were hard work and never picked roles.
The rich life experience gave him the inspiration to shape the role, and the silent dormancy gave him an explosive acting skill.
The fire of Gao Qiqiang in "Crazy" is the result of thick and thin.
When every actor in "Crazy" began to overdraw their fame and popularity, making quick money in the market tide.
Only Zhang Songwen, modest and low-key, buried his head in the dust again.
He declined media interviews, pushed all endorsements, and the only time he appeared in public was as a guest at the Beijing Film Festival.
And if you are careful enough, you will find that the person standing next to Zhang Songwen for a group photo is Zhu Yilong.
The two have similar experiences, but Zhu Yilong is more fortunate than Zhang Songwen.
His red came earlier.
In the dark, Zhu Yilong seemed to keep that original intention, but he quickly fell into a kind of "strange circle".
In 2018, Zhu Yilong had the reputation of a "popular actor" on a certain platform, participated in the popular "Know No", and appeared at the Hunan Satellite TV's New Year's Eve party, playing and singing a song "Boy" on the piano.
After that, Zhu Yilong seemed to have a premonition of something, and throughout 2019, his career was "downhill".
Except for a supporting role in a tribute film, Zhu Yilong won nothing this year.
But outside of film and television works, he still silently won five heavyweight endorsements, including beverage giant Coca-Cola.
In the following three years, Zhu Yilong has also been in his comfort zone.
In the movie script, he connected two online dramas "Reboot of the Extreme Sea Listening Thunder".
The character Wu Xie he played in the play is not fundamentally different from the character in "Soul Town" in performance.
In terms of title, he still strives to rely on his "top" reputation to win meaningless awards for himself such as "the audience's favorite actor" and "Entertainer of the Year".
In addition to the improvement in advertising endorsements, Zhu Yilong at this time seems to have fallen into the pit that every top stream will step into.
This pit is just not suitable.
The turning point appeared in 2021, the year a movie called "Peak Explosion" was released.
The movie itself didn't stir up much discussion.
But the process of Zhu Yilong shooting the film allowed the audience to see the transformation of a traffic star.
Zhu Yilong in the movie has short hair, his skin is no longer fair, and his personality is no longer single.
Because of his character, Hong Yizhou, he is an engineer who saves others in geological disasters.
So during the filming process, Zhu Yilong often braved the wind and rain, rolled in the gravel, and frequently told the staff that he could.
Although this is the dedication that an actor should have, in those years, few "top streamers" could do this.
We can also have a hunch that between the two titles of "traffic star" and "acting school", Zhu Yilong's balance is deliberately tilted towards the latter.
Some people say that this is Zhu Yilong's self-preservation move after keenly aware of the "de-trafficization" of the entertainment industry.
But Pi Ge believes that this is the inevitable development of Zhu Yilong's acting career.
Compared with most traffic stars, Zhu Yilong has suffered from the bottom and has a better life experience and performance experience.
This determines that after he jumps out of the comfort zone of acting by his face, he can adapt to more roles and explore more dramas.
03、
When the "top streamers" either collapsed or overturned, this also forced actors like Zhu Yilong, who was originally positioned as "traffic", to develop in the direction of improving business capabilities.
Zhu Yilong, who stepped out of his comfort zone, reaped the rewards almost immediately.
At the end of 2021, with his blessing, "Embracing You Through the Winter" won 875 million box office, and the box office starring Zhu Yilong also broke the 5 billion mark.
In June 2022, in the funeral-themed movie "Life Events", Zhu Yilong played Mo Sanmei.
Hanger Langdang was full of gas in the city, completely buried the "fresh meat" Zhu Yilong, and ushered in the new life of "actor" Zhu Yilong.
With this movie, Zhu Yilong won the Golden Rooster actor.
But after applauding Zhu Yilong, Pi Ge still had some hidden worries in his heart.
Getting the actor represents that Zhu Yilong's acting skills are recognized, but almost all the media and capital flow also moved and set their eyes on the body of this new actor.
Sure enough, the impact of traffic came immediately.
First of all, after experiencing a high-trough-climax career, Zhu Yilong began to focus on advertising endorsements and brush KPIs.
In the six months after winning the Golden Rooster Award, Zhu Yilong officially announced at least 9 commercial endorsements and advertisements on his social media.
Among them is the fine jewelry brand Chopard;
There is TF perfume;
There are cosmetics brands L'Oréal;
There is also the luxury brand LV;
Zhu Yilong, who just got the actor, seems to have instantly returned to the era when he just entered the top in 2018.
Relying on the popularity of the Golden Rooster Award, Zhu Yilong is angry in the field of commercial endorsements, brushing a wave of existence, which inevitably makes people worry whether he will "reward" himself again and embark on the old road of traffic stars.
Secondly, unlike Zhang Songwen's acting skills, Zhu Yilong has a group of crazy rice circle fans who kill him all the time.
Search for an article about Zhu Yilong on the Internet, and there will be fans of the same trick below, crazy saying good things about Zhu Yilong.
They held Zhu Yilong's avatar and blew rainbow farts, which not only disgusted passers-by, but also discouraged ordinary audiences.
For celebrities, "rice circles" are a signal that must be vigilant.
Under the pursuit of a group of brainless fans, even if Zhu Yilong has the intention to become a low-key acting school, he may fall into other unexplained disasters due to the disruption of fans.
Finally, I am afraid that Zhu Yilong's self-awareness is too high, his positioning is not clear, and he is too casual in choosing scripts and receiving plays, which will ruin the good reputation of the "acting school".
You must know that at the earliest, in the mouth of the Hong Kong media, Zhu Yilong was called "Little Liang Chaowei".
But in fact, as far as Zhu Yilong's acting skills at this stage are concerned, it is still far from Tony Leung.
And this year's Golden Rooster Awards are also controversial because Zhu Yilong won the actor.
Someone once initiated a vote on social media to vote for the "most watery" actor of the Golden Rooster Award in the past 5 years, and Zhu Yilong was elected with a high vote.
Awards are honors, not proof of strength.
In "Life Events", Zhu Yilong's portrayal of Mo Sanmei cannot be said to be very amazing, it can only be said to be decent.
In the film, in order to express Mo Sanmei's city gas, Zhu Yilong has a series of deliberately designed actions.
For example, spitting, lighting cigarettes with funeral burned paper money, and so on.
These scenes look fine at first glance, but if you look closely, you will feel a little deliberate.
Especially when Zhu Yilong performed expressions, he was more exaggerated, but it weakened Mo Sanmei's city aura.
"Golden Rooster Award" is not a short man to pull a general, Pico has no right to speak.
But Zhu Yilong's acting skills have definitely not been fully played, which is a fact.
It is foreseeable that after getting the actor, there will be many film parties and directors who will hand olive branches to Zhu Yilong.
His next career peak may be imminent.
This year alone, Zhu Yilong has three new films "Mistake by the River", "Disappearing Her" and "Volunteer Army: Heroic Attack" to be on.
The film contract confirmed by Zhu Yilong has been scheduled for 2025.
At this juncture, which scripts should be abandoned, which movies must be filmed, Zhu Yilong's heart, there must be a scale.
This scale, to a large extent, determines the direction of Zhu Yilong's career in the future.
Even the Golden Rooster actor has a bonus period. And this year's Zhu Yilong is 35 years old.
Take advantage of the Golden Rooster Dividend to take two more bites, everyone can understand.
But if you receive too many endorsement announcements, consume the mystery of being an actor, frequently accept commercial scripts, and have no provocative vision.
Under limited energy, an actor in the gap between "flow" and "strength" is easily eliminated by the market.
These are three hidden worries, but also three kinds of crises.
In the face of the temptation of fame and fortune, if Zhu Yilong chooses to endure it a little longer, it is not a good thing.
As far as Zhu Yilong's qualifications are concerned, he has the potential to become an international actor.
The Golden Rooster Award should be the beginning of his career as an actor, not the end of his honor.
Wait, wait, the future Zhu Yilong, maybe it will be better.
Text/Pipi Film Editorial Department: Ephemera
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