A wealthy woman in China is being accused of financing a short-form film just so she can star in it and kiss the young protagonist sixty times, the country’s media reported.
Zhong Yufei, an up-and-coming actor, recently took to social media to talk about the nightmare he experienced on the set of a production that was supposed to be his big break.
The 23-year-old actor was allegedly constantly harassed on set by said woman, who turned out to be the project’s sole financier.
The wealthy woman reportedly set two main conditions for financing the film: that she had to play the lead female role and that she had the final say over the script.
This gave her free rein to the production and, since she could always hide the whole matter, no one dared to argue with her, no matter how absurd her decisions were.
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For example, the script she wanted approved included more than sixty kissing scenes, and no matter how many times the director and other members of the film crew tried to tell her that the unusually high number of scenes risked disrupting the pace of the plot and causing the audience to lose immersion, she never listened.
“I’ve seen more movies than you’ve done,” the woman allegedly said, completely ignoring any and all advice.
Zhong Yufei, who was cast as the film’s male lead, said he was surprised when he felt the woman kiss him during the first of many romantic scenes.
He instinctively tried to back away, but she allegedly grabbed him by the back of his neck with one hand and held him there while she kissed him forcefully.
The young actor, who had only previously played a couple of supporting roles in other films, felt that this film could be his big break, so he did not object despite the constant harassment.
He claimed he was also dissuaded from speaking out by the behavior of the other people on set who chose to ignore what was happening before their very eyes.
Film producer Meng Xing revealed that due to the unusually high number of kissing scenes, the film was rejected by the platform it was supposed to be broadcast on.
Once filming was completed and the film entered post-production editing, the platform reviewed some scenes and rejected them outright because they were too explicit, with too many kissing scenes, which could easily violate regulations.
Given the film’s commercial disaster and the public’s negative reactions to the poorly written mess, Xing decided to come forward and explain that he and his team had almost no say, and that all decisions were made by the lead actress/sole investor.
The incident went viral on Chinese social media, sparking a debate about the harassment to which young actors are subjected on set, with accusations that capital turns film sets into private hunting grounds where actors are treated as objects that can be disposed of at will.
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