Liu Rulan couldn't help but laugh when she saw this behind-the-scenes video.
"This Chen Yulin is absolutely hilarious. His acting here is way better than in his actual works."
"Right? That's exactly what I think."
Xiao He nodded with exaggerated seriousness.
It wasn't just him feeling secondhand embarrassment - even the comment section was filled with stunned netizens:
[Holy thunder, what year did this throw me back to? How am I seeing such divinely awful acting in current movie promotions? It left me speechless.]
[Another god-tier addition to movie promotion legends!]
[I didn't laugh when the director cried over the actor's performance; I didn't laugh when theater audiences wept while revising work PPTs - but when I saw this soul-stirring video, I laughed and everything felt released.]
[I'd call this an epic anti-depression video.]
[I actually laughed watching this. Initially thought Silent Search, being a zombie film, should be pretty good, but now I'm feeling... well, let's just wish them success.]
[Exactly, I originally planned to watch it, but their promotion is so cringeworthy. If Chen Yulin can't even perform well in behind-the-scenes clips, how can we expect good acting in the actual movie?]
[Honestly, their production team's promotion seems intense, but the actual footage isn't particularly stunning. It's either close-ups of zombies or groups arguing in rooms - feels quite different from what I imagined a zombie film would be.]
[Shh, don't say that. The Silent Search team spent a huge amount on promotion this time. Better keep quiet.]
[Welcome to watch Law of the Jungle~ Equally exciting!]
Although this promotional clip drew some criticism, under the Silent Search production team's massive promotion efforts, these issues became insignificant. Promotions for Silent Search continued spreading widely across major platforms.
In contrast, Law of the Jungle completely slacked off, even piggybacking on Silent Search's popularity instead.
Dong Zeng, who had been preparing to release damaging information and wage a public opinion war against Law of the Jungle, found no opportunity at all.
"Hehe, I thought they had some real capability, but they're just a bunch of weaklings."
Dong Zeng sneered coldly while observing the online situation.
The promotion director for Silent Search cautiously asked Dong Zeng: "Director Dong, should we still release the damaging information about Law of the Jungle?"
Recently, they had been collecting damaging information about several key creative personnel from Law of the Jungle, focusing particularly on the two main actors, Liu Zehang and Xiao He.
Liu Zehang was relatively easy to investigate. He had previously clashed with his agency, and to control him, the agency had intentionally released some damaging information - some true, some false, though nothing particularly serious. After Liu Zehang changed agents and reconciled with the company, this information had been clarified and cleaned up.
But now, regardless of whether this information was outdated, they could still reheat it to cause some trouble for Liu Zehang. After all, netizens have short memories and rarely check clarifications. Spreading this information would make some people believe it again.
As for the other lead, Xiao He... this guy was more troublesome.
Xiao He had only been in the industry for just over a year, frequently working on sets with limited social contact. Not many industry insiders knew him well. Although several of his breakout roles were villain characters, he maintained very positive energy in real life, having appeared on official hot searches countless times for rescue efforts alone. Being officially certified made targeting him quite difficult.
Currently, from what could be seen online, there were no obvious damaging materials or past scandals about him. The only negative hot searches that emerged were probably because audiences cursed Xiao He's characters and incidentally included his related tags, but these actually had nothing to do with Xiao He himself - he was purely collateral damage from his roles.
But for male celebrities, causing trouble was still very easy. Prostitution, domestic violence, cheating, hookups, sleeping with fans, verbal abuse... various scandals, regardless of truth, could be fabricated. Just post some Weibo chat screenshots, and instant online trials would begin, with netizens munching on melon seeds while playing judge, countless marketing accounts instantly swarming in, rumors spreading one after another...
Making trouble for these celebrities was something that could be easily accomplished.
They didn't care whether Xiao He would later clarify and pursue legal action. After all, they didn't aim to completely destroy Xiao He, but only to affect Xiao He and the Law of the Jungle film behind him. If they could force a schedule change, that would be ideal - just don't compete for their box office or affect their business.
But given the current favorable online situation where they maintained the advantage, releasing damaging information now would be inappropriate.
Dong Zeng watched the comment section, occasionally interspersed with Law of the Jungle promotions, and sneered coldly.
"Hehe, don't release it for now. Can't let them piggyback on our current popularity."
Did they think he couldn't see through these petty tricks?
Trying to ride on Silent Search's promotional popularity?
Impossible!
In an instant, Dong Zeng abandoned the idea of sending damaging information to Law of the Jungle.
No, negative popularity is still popularity - he wanted to deny them even a sliver of traffic!
"Go control the comments immediately! Remove all Law of the Jungle related comments from the comment section! Ban all Law of the Jungle related tags across all platforms."
"Ah? We can control comments on our side, but if we want platform-wide bans, that might be..."
Fortunately, the promotion director still had some rationality and immediately offered a gentle reminder upon hearing Dong Zeng's words.
What capability did they have for a complete online blackout? If they had that power, they'd just silence the Law of the Jungle production team directly instead of worrying about this? Ridiculous.
Unaware of the promotion director's private thoughts, Dong Zeng changed his approach: "Then go handle it now! Absolutely don't let that Law of the Jungle production team leech off our traffic!"
"Okay, okay."
The promotion director didn't dare refuse again, quickly nodding before leaving.
So the next day, the internet was basically filled entirely with Silent Search promotions, while comments related to Law of the Jungle became even scarcer. The Law of the Jungle promotion director who had planned to continue piggybacking sighed regretfully: "They noticed so quickly and deleted everything."
What a pity. Their water army actions were too obvious and got noticed by the other side. Otherwise, they could have laid low a bit longer and continued riding the popularity wave.
Ren Changwen still felt somewhat hesitant: "Should we continue piggybacking?"
This behavior of directly leeching off a competitor's popularity and traffic didn't feel quite right...
The promotion director blurted out without hesitation: "Of course we should! Why not? They're spending money while we enjoy the benefits. If something happens to the Silent Search production team, wouldn't that massive traffic flow directly to us?"
"Director Ren, don't worry! When it comes to promotion, I'm a professional!"
What capability did they have for a complete internet blackout? If they had that power, they'd just silence the Law of the Jungle production team directly instead of worrying about this? Ridiculous.
"And Director Ren, come to think of it, you've already piggybacked off their production team once before! A few more times won't hurt! We can always let our work speak for itself later!"
Director Ren: ? What nonsense! When did he ever piggyback before?
But suddenly, Director Ren remembered.
Uh, well... both main actors Xiao He and Liu Zehang were people he picked up from the Silent Search audition site.
Thinking about it this way... it actually seems pretty good?
Piggybacking on the Silent Search production team brings good things...
Director Ren coughed lightly, patted the promotion director's shoulder, and said earnestly: "I believe in you!"