Chapter 95: The Most Unlikely Superstar

The moment filming wrapped, Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng had already planned to find a place to eat, then part ways afterward and return to their own routines, only meeting again when the film’s promotion began.

But Huang, the veteran chef, suddenly sent word for them to come to his room. He said he had something to arrange.

“Ah, you’re here. I have a promotional assignment for the film that I need you two to handle.” Huang had been sitting leisurely on a stool, sipping tea. When Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng arrived, he motioned for them to sit and explained the matter.

“Why are we starting publicity at a time like this?” Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng were a little surprised by the reason he had called them over.

By rights, the film’s promotional period should only begin some time after filming had ended. It was not supposed to start now; if it did, the publicity window would stretch out quite a bit.

After all, no matter how quickly a film was edited, that would still take one or two months at the earliest. Add in the approval process for release and related matters, and it would take at least three or four months before the film could officially be shown in theaters.

After hearing their confusion, Huang smiled and explained, “Under normal circumstances, publicity wouldn’t begin this early. But this film is going to be submitted to major international festivals overseas, and those festivals have a requirement: when a film is entered, it must not have had its official release yet, and there has to be at least a month between the two.”

“So if we start publicity now, it solves that problem nicely. And if the film wins an award overseas, then there won’t be any issue of the promotional period being too long. On the contrary, it can keep building momentum nonstop.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is. Got it.” Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng finally understood after his explanation. They truly had not considered the factor of international film festivals before.

In truth, Huang did not want to enter the promotional phase so quickly either. By rights, after a film wrapped, the actors should have some time to recover and adjust their state of mind.

When actors perform in a film, it is easy for them to pour their emotions into the role, so they need time to readjust. For example, Zhou Ran himself had fully immersed himself in his performances by using the experiential style of acting.

So after finishing a role, he also needed some time to step out of it; otherwise, his life would still be affected.

For instance, after playing the drummer protagonist, he had developed the habit of subtly tapping out the beat with his foot whenever he heard music.

It had originally been a character’s habit from the film, but after Zhou Ran embodied that role, he had directly picked it up himself. To shake off such a habit, he would need time to adjust.

Acting in a film and failing to leave the character behind afterward is a dangerous thing.

Many roles are inwardly gloomy, even dangerous, and some actors, after playing such characters, end up sinking into the same depression themselves, making things precarious for their own well-being.

In his previous life, there had even been a superstar-like figure who, after playing a role and failing to break free from it completely, became deeply depressed and ultimately jumped to his death. Whether the story was entirely true or not, there was a strong chance that it was.

As the saying goes, one must not lose oneself in the demon or one cannot truly live. A truly good actor can very likely reach that state in performance, and this is one of the reasons the experiential school of acting is often criticized. Prolonged immersion in it can easily lead to a split in personality.

After learning of Huang’s arrangement, Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng did not say much. As the male and female leads, cooperating with the film’s promotion was part of their duty, and Huang really had no choice here either. If they wanted to take part in an overseas festival, they had to do it this way.

Once Huang saw that both of them understood the situation, he told them where their first stop would be: their old friend, Teacher He’s newly launched interview program. Huang had arranged it this way partly to give Teacher He a boost as well, basically helping both sides gain some traction.

As The Drummer wrapped, promotion for the film officially began on Weibo too. The production account simply uploaded a wrap photo of Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng and added a caption announcing that filming had ended.

Yet that single, simple promotional post instantly caused an uproar on Weibo.

Just a few hours after the official account posted the image, it had already shot up the trending chart. The absurd speed was enough to frighten many people, and they could not help but sigh: that top-tier star Zhou Ran was coming back again.

In truth, it was perfectly normal for the post to trend. Since Zhou Ran had last appeared before the public, more than a month had passed.

Ever since the announcement of the Huayu Golden Melody Awards, Zhou Ran had seemed to vanish from the world. There had been no news of him anywhere, neither on Weibo nor across the internet. The only thing his fans knew was that he had joined a production to film.

So this time, the moment anything involving Zhou Ran surfaced, his fans pounced like wolves that had gone hungry for far too long. They had truly been waiting with unbearable anticipation. Zhou Ran had even been jokingly described by many media outlets and fans as the most unlike a top star among top stars.

No one had ever seen a top-tier celebrity disappear for more than a month at a time without a single trace. Other stars were desperate to increase their exposure every day, while Zhou Ran seemed desperate to vanish from the public eye every day, keeping his head down, working in silence, and only speaking to the public once he had results to show.

That trait made him the kind of figure fans both loved and hated. They loved him because whenever Zhou Ran appeared before the public, the news he brought was always astonishing—either a new album release or an award.

What they hated was how few ways there were to keep up with him. Whenever fans wanted to know how he was doing, all they could do was refresh Weibo and hope for luck, checking whether Zhou Ran had updated anything. If not, they could only wait in frustration.

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Chapter 95: “The Most Unlike a Top Star Among Top Stars” Free to Read.