After reading "Eliminating Three Evils in Zhou Chu ", Mr. Tomato discovered an interesting thing.
As netizens said: Ethan Ethan works hard alone, but it is Ethan Ethan and Mingdao who are popular.
Ethan Ruan returned to the audience's attention with a vigorous film. Ming Dao, who had been dormant for a long time, broke out of the industry again because he looked exactly like him.
Mingdao even responded specifically on his own social media: "Eliminating Three Evils" is not the I played.
What’s interesting is that Ethan Ethan was the first to debut and also served as Ming Dao’s stand-in.
Although there is not much age difference between the two, in terms of career, Ethan Ruan seems to have far opened up the path to Mingdao, so that the latter does not suffer from exhaustion.
One is the current "Taiwan idol brother", and the other is the former "Little Prince Overlord". Two completely different life situations are clearly reflected in Ethan Ruan and Ming Dao.
As actors, is the gap between them really that big?
As idols, what is the reason for their current differences?
Many people feel that compared to Ethan Ruan who has opened up his acting ceiling, Ming Dao, who can only play the second male lead at the moment, is just another story of "circling in the comfort zone".
If we delve deeper into the experiences of these two people, we may discover a profound truth that we cannot ignore.
01. Sharing "one face", the same first half of life
Mingdao is 1.8 meters tall and handsome in appearance. He is the earliest benchmark for domination. The slightly raised corner of his mouth is Mingdao's trump card. Even after he is over 40, he can still be a domestic leader. Starring as a love-struck boy in an idol drama.
Compared with Ming Dao, Ethan Ruan's conditions seem to be better. He has a big man of 186, looks similar to Ming Dao, has deep eyes and three-dimensional facial features. If you have to single out the difference in appearance between the two, it is Ruan Jingtian's. His appearance is cleaner and purer than that of Ming Dao. His eyebrows are less businesslike and more sporty.
Such appearance conditions may, from a certain perspective, destined the two to have different career paths in the future.
Ming Dao and Ethan Ruan were both born in the 1980s, one was born in 1980 and the other was born in 1982. Their similar ages made the first half of their careers almost overlap.
Due to the popularity of idol dramas such as "Meteor Garden", China had an idol trend in the early 21st century.
Ming Dao and Ethan Ruan happened to catch up with the golden age of idol dramas. With their handsome appearance and unique temperament, they both rode the east wind of idol dramas and became first-line stars with sparks and lightning all the way.
Compared to Ethan Juan, Ming Dao became famous earlier.
In 2002, the travel program "Adventure King" was looking for a host, and Mingdao responded.
This was not a good job originally. Although he was a host, it required cliff jumping, bungee jumping, and volcano climbing... There was really no one available at the time. The director saw that he was happy, so he gave him this hot potato. In the
program, Mingdao thoroughly carried forward the spirit of "not afraid of death" and the effect was very good. His two years of hosting career brought him a "Golden Bell Award" trophy. Under the aura of this award, Mingdao officially became an actor. Debut.
In 2004, Ming Dao was just 24 years old, in his prime, with peak appearance. In the movie "Heaven's Wedding Dress" , this handsome boy used his smile to open up the ceiling of the word "idol" and became a boy who surpassed men. The existence of the Lord has also become the ideal boyfriend in the hearts of many girls.
Mingdaohuo relies on temperament, not acting skills. But at that time, appearance was king, which made Mingdao instantly popular. In the following year's "The Prince Turns into a Frog" , Mingdao became an instant hit.
At this time, Mingdao's reputation was at its peak. He might not have noticed that a niche student who looked very similar to himself had quietly risen to prominence.
Ethan Juan and Ming Dao's acting careers are more similar than their looks.
Also in 2002, Ethan Ruan accompanied a friend to audition for a model, but was spotted by the director and starred in Penny Dai's music video.
Although Ethan was very qualified, his family did not agree with him taking this path, so at this time, Ethan had to listen to his parents and apply for the pilot exam.
In the intervening two years, Ming Dao was catching snakes in the mountains, Ethan Ruan was wandering around Taipei, Ming Dao relied on his life to work hard, and Ethan Ruan relied on his appearance to perform acupuncture.
During this period, Ethan Ruan was still unknown. Although he had collaborated with Faye Wong and Zhang Huimei, they were just unnamed minor roles in music videos. With these experiences alone, at Kaiwo Model Agency, Ethan Ruan, Zheng Yuanchang, and He Junxiang have already Became the "Three Musketeers of Kaiwo".
The turning point for Ming Dao was in 2004, and so was Ethan Ruan.
This year, "The Wedding Dress of Heaven" became a hit, and Ethan Ruan also ushered in his first idol work "Dance of Michael" . In the film, he was not outstanding enough to steal the spotlight from the protagonist. Professionally , already one position behind Mingdao.
In 2005, Ethan Ruan's career finally took off. His "Green Forest" entered the mainland and was broadcast on Mango Channel, which helped him gain his first batch of fans in the mainland.
After that, Ethan Ruan's career ushered in a short period of explosive growth. "Girls Over Flowers", "Passionate Midsummer", "Exit No. 6", "I'm in Kenting *The Weather Is Sunny" and so on, made Ruan Jingtian famous. Compared with Ming Dao who became popular with one work, Ethan Ruan relied on a dense bombardment of works. This also shows from another level that in terms of entertainment resources, Ethan Ruan is much better than Ming Dao.
The careers of the two people turned downward and they appeared at the same time in 2008.
Because this year, the popularity of idol dramas has died out.
02. One is making money, the other is practicing
The cold winter of idol dramas is coming, taking away a large number of artists who became popular due to their appearance.
Ming Dao and Ethan Ruan are among them.
In 2008, Mingdao's 183club was officially disbanded. At the crossroads of his career, Mingdao made a decision with a relatively clear goal: make money while he is young.
There is nothing wrong with making money, especially for a famous and handsome young actor like Ming Dao.
After that, Mingdao almost only did two things, one was to act in idol dramas, and the other was to participate in variety shows.
"Keeping the Sunshine and Keeping You", "Smile in My Heart", "Emotional Life", "Love Near Me", etc. On the road of being an actor, Mingdao has always been in his comfort zone. Although he is not a major, Mingdao can It's very satisfying to play the role of an urban tyrant.
However, his works have not changed significantly, and his role in the drama has begun to be limited to homogeneity.
Mingdao, who traveled between idols and variety shows, gradually lost his previous aura. After the audience's aesthetic fatigue, Mingdao's star began to dim.
Two things have shown us that the current Mingdao is indeed still in the quagmire of career difficulties.
one piece, is "Love Around the Corner" that she starred with Jiang Wenli.
The two of them, at middle-aged and elderly ages, acted out a sweet love affair that only young people can have. There was a thick greasy feeling on the whole screen, which made everyone call it "too greasy".
Actually, this drama is a 2016 work by Ming Dao. Eight years have passed, and Ming Dao still lives in the image of the overlord he once was. It can be seen that he has not had any outstanding works in these years.
Another is the variety show "Actors Please Take Your Place" that he participated in.
In 2019, Ming Dao has been debuting for more than ten years, but he is still on stage competing with newcomers on his acting skills.
The old actor who has passed away was pushed around by several directors on the stage, showing a strong bitterness like a "gone flower".
I don’t know whether it was the directing team that caught the eye, or the young man’s words were really imprudent. His opponent, the young actor Chen Ruoxuan, who had just debuted for 5 years at the time, dared to say, “I think Ming Daolai is responsible for appearance and handsomeness, and I am responsible for acting."
What's even more sad is that Chen Ruoxuan seemed to be right. Mingdao finally lost and entered the waiting room. At this moment, Mingdao finally murmured to himself: "There has been nothing very successful in the past few years, even me. I look down on myself a little bit. "
Mingdao knows his situation better than anyone else, but change is never that easy.
In comparison, in the past 10 years, Ethan Ruan has been undergoing transformation.
In 2009, during his own stage of the idol drama " After "The Lost Dog Queen" was broadcast, Ethan Ethan began to transform.
In the 2010 "Monga" , Ethan Ethan shaved his head for the first time, got tattoos, and played the role of a gangster monk with high IQ, reserved and calm personality.
movie set a first-week box office record in local film history. With his superb performance in the film, Ethan Ruan won his first Best Actor.
competed with him, such as Qin Hao, Ni Dahong, Wang Xueqi and other powerful mainland actors . With one film, Ethan Ruan almost vindicated his acting skills.
After that, Ethan Ruan seemed to have opened up his acting skills.
Many of his subsequent works, although they cannot be said to be very successful, have always been successful. One, it seems that they are all trying to break through their own works.
He collaborated with Huang Xiaoming in "Blood Drops", and "Army Paradise" once again gained some attention. "Rampage Detective" he acted in Detective Fan Ruyi, in "Assassin Nie Yinniang" , he began to challenge martial arts and literature again.
He is Hu Bayi in "Ghost Blowing the Lamp: The Grave of Yellow Skins" , and is "Psychological Crime: City Lights" Jiang Ya in also has works such as "Detective Pu Songling: The Wizard of Lan Ruo" and "Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings" .
Although these works have good and bad qualities, if you look closely you will find that , Ethan Ruan's works in the past ten years have covered almost all types of film and television dramas, he has tried all the roles that male actors can play, and he has partnered with many stars from the mainland and Taiwan.
In Mr. Tomato's opinion, it is not so much a trial Wrong, it would be better to say that Ethan Ruan is looking for an opportunity, a breakthrough, and he is looking for his own direction.
Facts have proved that he has found the right one.
If you are familiar with Ruan Jingtian, you will find that he is in "Eliminate Three Evils in Zhou Chu" The look in this movie is very similar to the character Lin Yousheng played by him in the "Pursuit" released in 2023.
He grew a beard and appeared with messy hair. His eyes were decadent and vicissitudes of life, which is similar to "Zhou Chu Chu San" Some scenes in "Harm" have similar approaches but similar results.
Ethan Juan rarely beautifies himself in movies. He completely sheds the "burden of the boss" and only serves the role. When
was filming "The Three Evils", he shaved his head, lost weight, practiced fighting moves, and never slackened off. He even collapsed at the end of the filming.
Although it is a low-budget film, Ethan Ethan's contribution is no less than those of "big productions".
Even in action scenes, Ethan Ruan often considers some details, such as finding tricky angles. For example, Chen Guilin has to untie his shoelaces every time he goes to a place and tie his shoes to observe the surroundings to reflect his cautious.
A fight scene in the water in the film was actually a smelly ditch. When Ethan was filming, he was pushed into it and drank a few big mouthfuls of dirty water. That's it, he didn't have any complaints.
Therefore, the success of "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" is actually Ethan Juan's success.
At the age of 42, he no longer pays attention to image, but exudes a clean and pure temperament. Such a temperament is difficult to find among domestic male actors of the same age.
It can be said that Ming Dao and Ethan Juan, who are about the same age, have embarked on completely different paths.
If it is clear that he is only qualified to play the second male lead until today;
then Ethan Ruan seems to be a born male lead, a movie king who has passed through nirvana.
03. The reasons behind it are lamentable, and the pain of the native family is lamentable.
Just looking at the career development of Ming Dao and Ethan Ruan, it seems that we can draw a very clear conclusion:
Ming Dao always revolves in the comfort zone. It is because he is familiar with "tyrants". "General", a "has-been" star who has not improved his acting skills.
On the same track, Ethan Ruan, who looks similar, is an "inspirational model" in the actor circle and an excellent template for the transformation from a boss to an actor.
Of course, this is true in itself.
Regardless of the career development track, Ethan Juan's plasticity or Ming Dao's current situation, this is indeed the case.
Ethan Ruan's change and persistence are admirable, especially the hard work he put into character creation and the aura he showed in the movie, which seems to have broken the ceiling that a former idol hegemon should reach.
But looking back at Mingdao, Mr. Tomato doesn’t want to be so harsh.
A person's choice is not only related to his own personality characteristics, but also to his family of origin.
If we have known Mingdao's family, perhaps we can understand and sympathize with his current situation.
Ming Dao and Ethan Juan were born in two completely different families.
Ethan Ruan comes from a good family and has been fond of video games since he was a child. He once missed school because of playing video games and stayed away from home for several days. His parents also posted a missing person notice in the newspaper.
Later, when he grew taller, his father suggested that he learn to swim and represented various schools in many competitions.
All these experiences are supported by Ethan Ruan's family strength, so his acting is more out of hobby, because although he passed the pilot exam, he still chose to be an actor.
But for Mingdao, this path seems to be no choice.
Mingdao's family was poor, he suffered from malnutrition since childhood, and even suffered from polio. Although he has been playing the role of a prince since his debut, Mingdao's family is very poor.
When he was a child, his brother Mingdao carried him to school.
When he was five or six years old, Ming Dao followed his mother to sell vegetables at the market and developed his own business experience.
Although his family is poor, Mingdao has been self-respecting and self-reliant since he was a child. When Ming Dao grew up, his father chose to go into business in order to make the family better off, but he lost all his money.
This is how Ming Dao went to great lengths in "Adventure King".
Later, when conditions improved, Mingdao finally moved his family into a mansion and gave them daily living expenses, but his brother got into bad habits.
He owed millions in gambling debts from a small amount of money, and it was Mingdao who repaid his brother's debts. Later, without Mingdao's knowledge, his brother mortgaged his car and property, which caused conflicts between him and his family, and he publicly stated that he would no longer repay his brother's debts.
You may have heard the subsequent news. My brother strangled his wife and children to death and then committed suicide in anger, which pushed Mingdao to the forefront.
Mingdao's career has been affected and his income has also decreased.
Everyone thinks that Mingdao doesn't care about feathers. In fact, he has no choice at all.
Mingdao once said that because I want a sense of security, I have to save a lot of money. The reason why I don't feel safe is because I'm afraid something will happen to my family. I save money just to give it to my brother to pay back the money.
At that time, Mingdao’s 70-year-old mother was still selling clams in the vegetable market.
What we focus on is the exquisite acting skills and the prosperity in front of the camera.
But for Ming Dao, the helplessness of reality is the reason why he always stays in his "comfort zone" when he takes on movies and chooses variety shows.
Except himself, no one in his family supports him to practice his acting skills and pursue his dream in the entertainment industry.
The prince who came out of the vegetable market, after taking a look at the prosperity of the world, finally had to go to the bottom of the well and be that frog that no one cares about.
Prince Ruan Jingtiancheng is a fairy tale, but Ming Dao's return to mediocrity is reality.
Although the two are now different, Mingdao's experience may be more in line with the difficulties and lives that we ordinary people have to go through.
Every mountain has its own unevenness, but everyone has its own unevenness.
Those of us who enjoy movies and TV series will understand one day.
Although we like to look up at the stars sometimes, we cannot defeat the passage of time.
Because the prince is a fairy tale and the frog is reality.
(Movie Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Department: Miaomiao)
