Serpentina

That's almost certainly the case if you dig into the history of one prolific poster here (who might or might not have multiple accounts).

Beautiful interpretation, thank you!

He might not want to become a full on idol drama actor, but I could imagine he wants some piece of that traffic actor pie, because quite frankly that's where the money is at for many people unless they end up being total acting superstars. Prestige dramas are great, but the drama industry as a whole (prestige and idol alike) is in a depression - even Hu Ge said he doesn't have a choice of scripts these days like he used to. So finding constant, steady work in high-profile prestige projects is hard, while being a traffic actor provides a massive stream of income from brand endorsements and - to a lesser extent - also other stuff (e.g. variety shows).

I know people tend to look down on traffic actors, but in the end rent must be paid and food put on the table.

Came to the comment section to ask "Does the Road Home not exist?" It seems he has pretty selective memory 😅

Absolutely, that's why I think avoiding heat stroke and discomfort from sweating might not be too bad of an idea. Even though it's late September it's still 36°C during the day in Hengdian, which is terrible to do action scenes in. At night it has around 25-28°C which is still quite warm, but not as bad.

Filming is very taxing in general and unfortunately HMH always has a crazy schedule with everything he does (acting and singing and his brand endorsements etc). He was also very tired while filming Immortalis, if you look at all the daipai videos of him yawning or outright falling asleep on set - and that was shot during the day! If anything we have more photos of him asleep on the set of Immortalis than now. 😥

How dystopian.

I fear a lot of cdramas and kdramas likely use AI in some capacity, because nowadays it's sometimes used in the same instances as CGI was used previously. So scenery, people or buildings in the background, animals replacing real animals (e.g. in scenes that couldn't be filmed with real animals) etc. might all be AI assisted nowadays, even if the actors and props are real.

I understand, I sometimes have trouble remembering all the Chinese names too. ;) I got used to Hou Minghao from the start rather than Neo, so that helps, but HMH is faster for sure.

We don't know yet what LITS will be like, but it was obviously re-written from the novel, so it could be way more balanced. It won't be ML-centric though.

The rumoured project with TXW was only a melon and very likely completely fabricated. Not sure what you mean with Bai Lu and Zhao Lusi, I don't think HMH has any upcoming projects with them?

Like I said, I think his filmography has a pretty good balance between male-centric, female-centric and balanced stories. Especially considering that a lot of idol dramas are for a predominantly female audience and adapted from web novels with a predominantly female readership - so a female focus is of course more common. More male-centric storylines are often found in non-idol dramas, if someone prefers that (e.g. police procedurals, military dramas, action series etc.).

But if you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend KTTPH, where he has the strong screen presence you mentioned. It will also be there in Immortalis. And even in Glory, which was a full on reverse harem story, he was way more in each episode than just 1-2 minutes.

I'm sorry you didn't like The Unclouded Soul, but it's hardly representative of all dramas he ever made.

Fwiw actor Hu Ge, who is very very famous in China, just gave an interview and talked about the state of the industry and he said even he, in his position, can't always choose scripts anymore due how things are. If not even he has full choice, it's clear that most actors out there have to take what work they can get rather than only absolute dream projects. As such I still think - like I said - that Hou Minghao has many good roles under his belt, thankfully.

Btw his last released drama Key to the Phoenix Heart was not FL-centric, Xiao Wuyi was a very memorable character. And his upcoming drama Immortalis will probably be ML-centric as he plays the leader of an investigative trio.

The industry is currently favouring stories around FL, for that I think HMH actually has a pretty good balance. It's natural to always want to see him front and center as a fan, but I think being an important ML in a FL-centric drama can also showcase someone's acting ability well. It also shows future directors that an actor could be great in an ensemble cast (e.g. in a non-idol drama) rather than only shining due to ML plot armor.

The currently filming drama will apparently be quite different from the novel, they re-wrote a lot, so it might be more balanced. Rong Chenzi is not just a taoist priest, but also a demon hunter and rumour has it that it's a quite challenging role with multiple identities. We'll have to wait and see how it will turn out in the end.

He did say in interviews though that he doesn't want to go by Neo anymore and has dropped it from all his official social media accounts.

They changed the story a lot from the novel and the role of Rong Chenzi is actually quite challenging as he plays basically multiple people. He said he wants to do a modern drama, but more importantly he likes complex characters, so there's that. A flower in his hair (during an obviously flower themed scene - YSX had even more flowers) doesn't necessarily take away from that.

For sure. I don't know how the actors can deal with wearing wigs all the time. At least he's not shooting in the scorching summer sun, I'm sure the wig would be even worse then. Small blessings.

It's much cooler during the nights in Hengdian, it can get super hot during the day in August/September. People on drama sets frequently suffer from heat stroke. Shooting during the night means they have to sleep during the day, yes, but shooting itself is probably way more comfortable. When it comes to total shooting hours this production didn't film significantly longer per day (or night) than others.

It's much cooler during the nights in Hengdian, it can get super hot during the day in August/September. People on drama sets frequently suffer from heat stroke. Shooting during the night means they have to sleep during the day, yes, but shooting itself is probably way more comfortable. When it comes to total shooting hours this production didn't film significantly longer per day (or night) than others.

It's super hot during the daytime, temperatures are more than 10 degrees C cooler at night. They wear many layers of hanfu clothes, plus wigs. Other dramas shooting during the daytime often report that people suffered from heat strokes on set. It seems they are able to avoid that for LITS. I get that fans are concerned about someone having such a different schedule than they themselves are used from their own working hours, but considering the conditions and unique challenges of a drama set, shooting at night might actually be the better option.

It's super hot during the daytime, temperatures are more than 10 degrees C cooler at night. They wear many layers of hanfu clothes, plus wigs. Other dramas shooting during the daytime often report that people suffered from heat strokes on set. It seems they are able to avoid that for LITS. I get that fans are concerned about someone having such a different schedule than they themselves are used from their own working hours, but considering the conditions and unique challenges of a drama set, shooting at night might actually be the better option.

As far as I know the music agency (Yuling Culture) is only there to manage his tour and such, because that's obviously a massive undertaking. They might also manage his other music commitments and I hope they do it well, because quite obviously HMH loves music and his singer career is taking off.

As for Hesong, we simply don't know a lot. I know some fans have identified a certain person around him as someone, who has allegedly displayed problematic behaviour in the past (we have to rely on hearsay regarding that though, because there are no sources to research and any "evidence" presented is blurred out with fan claims written over it). But in reality I'm not sure we know if this is the person everyone thinks they are.

Regardless I don't think it would make sense for any agency to send a manager with their artist solely to "block" them while they are going to already agreed upon commitments. Any blocking would happen prior to that in the office, not while he's off to rehearsals or a show. Usually any staff going with talent to a show is there to organise things, make sure the process runs smoothly, everything is timed correctly, there are no hiccups and transportation and accommodation is in order.

So whatever is going on behind closed doors, I don't think we can deduct anything by one specific person being among his staff for specific shows. I saw some fans comment that she's there to "make sure" HMH returns to the drama set, but quite frankly, as funny as the thought is, I can't really imagine him spontaneously making a run for it and trying to escape into the sunset, which would require an anti-escape keeper. ;) But it shows that fan imaginations run wild regarding his situation with Hesong, about which we know FAR less than is circulated.

The only thing we truly know is that his plate is very full and that all fans would be happy if he had more time to rest.