Yu Zheng rants about the industry: Bad acting is the director's fault

Producer and screenwriter Yu Zheng recently opened up about his thoughts on the entertainment industry. He talks about how it's a director's job to make sure that acting is on point.  He says,  "While we are complaining about an actor's bad acting, have we considered the lack of guidance by the director?"  Yu Zheng further says, " I am afraid that the director who does not understand the drama has ruined the drama."  

Yu Zheng shared the process around choosing the director for Story of Yanxi Palace in 2016. He revealed that there had been meetings with so-called big shot directors and these directors demanded exorbitant fees even without understanding the script. These are people that have filmed big productions or have ties to popular idols or work as a certain director's assistant. 

When a netizen commented that there was something wrong with the way Wu Jinyan delivered her lines. Yu Zheng defended the actress saying that there was no problem with Wu Jinyan's lines. He said that of course, she cannot compare to industry veterans. However, if three-time Gold Awarded film actresses are only up to this level, how good do you expect a young actress born in the nineties to be? 

With such a response, Yu Zheng immediately got flak for throwing shade at industry veterans (assumed to be Zhou Xun of Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace). Zhou Xun has won the big 3 acting accolades from the Golden Horse Award, Hong Kong Film Award and Golden Rooster Award over the course of her career. 

Yu Zheng's wrote a follow up post on Weibo, "The intention is to call attention to every aspect of the industry.  Why are there so many stupid people who always take someone's words out of context?  It's ridiculous."  He ended his post by saying "What I mean is that even multi-awarded film actresses can't be completely without fault, the occasional question of one or two lines should not be brought up, give her (Wu Jinyan) time, slowly see her progress." 

Here's the thing. I believe Yu Zheng has a point here. He could've said it better without throwing shade at anyone else but this is Yu Zheng we're talking about. It should be the director's job to steer the production in the right direction. If you have a great director who's worth his salt and has a passion for what he does, chances are, you're getting a quality production.  Settle for a mediocre one... well, you get what you pay for.  

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