Revisiting Liu Hao Ran's 20th Year: A Summary

Liu Hao Ran's 20th year - aka Oct 2017 through Oct 2018 - was not only significant because it meant he was officially out of his teenage years, but also because of the implications it had for his career. In the C-ent industry, an actor's potential future-wise is judged on a variety of factors, including their stashed works, and it was clear that Liu Hao Ran had quite a list of big, highly anticipated to-be-aired projects for 2017 and early 2018.

He said in an interview in December 2017 that he didn't realize that three of his biggest projects (The Legend of the Demon Cat, Nirvana In Fire 2, and Detective Chinatown 2) would be airing back to back after he spent a year filming them (+ The Founding Of An Army, which premiered July 2017), and in a later interview he admitted that there was a lot of pressure on him. Not quite a make-or-break scenario, but a lackluster performance in even one of those projects would have resulted in a bad impression leading into the next one, especially considering how highly regarded he was even then. 

He didn't disappoint though, and in fact, the end result after all of his projects aired was probably better than anyone could have imagined. So we wanted to document his many accomplishments (acting projects, events, endorsements, magazine covers - these are usually what cfans look at) in the past year (tried to keep it in the Oct 10, 2017 to Oct 10, 2018 time frame but wanted to account for The Founding Of An Army as well) with this summary post (we didn't include images because unfortunately we didn't have time to hunt them down for each of these). 

Nonstop Work 

Before we get into the achievements, it's important to explain just how much he's worked the past two years. Liu Hao Ran was admitted into the Central Academy of Drama in Fall 2015, and he spent most of his freshman year at school focusing on improving his acting (Twins was filmed summer 2015, and With You summer-to-fall 2015). Because he had school, he didn't participate much in Detective Chinatown promotions in Winter 2015, and it wouldn't be until With You promotions in Spring 2016 that he became active again.

He mentioned before that while he got a ton of project offers in 2015/2016, including idol dramas, youth dramas, and big IP dramas, he wanted to wait it out and see what other opportunities he might get. We know now that he started dieting hardcore in March 2016, so that's when he was trying to get the part of Bai Long in Chen Kaige's The Legend of the Demon Cat, and also around that time, he was offered a role in The Founding of An Army and was in talks with Daylight Entertainment for Nirvana In Fire 2.

This meant that he spent most of summer 2016 filming The Founding of An Army, and towards the end was when The Legend of the Demon Cat also started filming, so he was doing two projects at once. Filming for The Legend of the Demon Cat went into Winter 2016, and about a week after it wrapped up, he entered the set for Nirvana In Fire 2 for four/five months.

He was working so much that he said that filming variety show Give Me Five (Season 1) in Spring 2017 was actually a break of sorts, so even though he had to run back and forth, he thought it was worth it. He had two months "off" after NiF2 wrapped up, but a month of that was spent in Japan with his Central Academy of Drama classmates studying, and two weeks of that time was also spent filming Great Expectations: Twin Dragons. 

Detective Chinatown 2 filming in the US started in July 2017, and when he returned to China in October 2017, he told interviewers that he was exhausted and wanted to take a break - but he was announced as the main lead for Novoland: Eagle Flag merely a week later. You know the rest - he would spend the end of 2017 filming NEF and running around for drama/film promotions for The Legend of the Demon Cat/NiF2/Detective Chinatown 2, and most of 2018 was spent on NEF as well.

So really, you can't blame him for wanting to take a longer break this time...

Acting Accomplishments

As an actor, your projects, and your subsequent performances, are probably more important than anything else, and this is the area that sets Liu Hao Ran apart from most other post-90s actors and is the reason for his successes in other areas (magazines, endorsements, popularity, etc.).

I went into this a bit via a Twitter thread, but will be diving a little deeper (focusing specifically on the projects starting from The Founding of An Army and on).

The Founding of An Army - July 2017

Without getting into politics (because we're not here for that), I do want to emphasize on the significance of the The Founding film trilogy (The Founding of a Republic, The Founding of a Party, The Founding of an Army). They are commissioned by the Chinese government and are considered (at least by the government and film industry) to be incredibly important projects, which means that as an actor, it's considered to be a huge honor to participate, no matter how big or small your role is. 

Haoran has mentioned specifically that he was actually asked to take on the role of Su Yu (meaning he probably didn't have to audition) by one of the film's producers, Huang Jianxin, who is one of China's most famous movie producers and openly adores him.

However, the film ran into some controversy early on into the filming process when it was revealed they had invited a whole slew of "little fresh meat" to participate in the film. Lu Han, Zhang Yi Xing, Han Geng, Li Yi Feng, Ma Tian Yu, William Chan, Li Xian, Bai Yu and Ou Hao are among the younger generation that participated in the film aside from Liu Hao Ran. The backlash was immediate - netizens slammed the decision to prioritize box office numbers (because it's believed that you'd only use popular little fresh meat to get their fans to theaters) over quality. So even before the film premiered, it was viewed with disdain by a large portion of the general public.

The official premiere date was July 28, 2017, but while box office numbers weren't ideal, those who did give in and watched the film agreed that while some elements of the film was lacking, the performances were better than expected. The majority of the little fresh meat only appeared for a couple minutes - and only three among the younger generation (Liu Hao Ran, Ou Hao, Ma Tian Yu) played more prominent roles.

To this day, many believe that Su Yu was Liu Hao Ran's best acting performance thus far, and he received almost universal praise. In reviews (both from professional critics and general audience members) and forum threads, he was named by many as having one of the best performances among the ensemble cast (Zhu Ya Wen, Liu Ye, Huang Zhi Zhong, Zhou Yi Wei). Liu Hao Ran and Bai Yu were the names among younger generation that appeared the most in positive reviews. I will say though, that his screen time is limited, and I do think that the role resonates more for the domestic audience than international ones given the background and context of the character. 

This was also the film that introduced Liu Hao Ran to many those in the film industry (because while Detective Chinatown was a box office success, it isn't everyone's cup of tea), including Hong Kong producers/directors (who watched it to support director Andrew Lau). When you make a good impression, directors and producers will remember you - even if they're not able to use you right away for their next project, if there is ever a suitable role down the road, they'll think of you.

Nirvana In Fire 2 - December 2017

I have a whole post on the significance of NiF2 for Haoran so won't go into too much here, but this was the project that everyone thought would launch him into a new level of stardom. It turned out to not be the case, as the drama didn't have strong enough viewership, but to this day, Xiao Pingjing is the #1 favorite character among cfans and is the performance that gained him the most fans (the joke among cfans is that Qin Feng 2.0 brought in the most on-the-verge-fans, and Pingjing converted them). 

Acting-wise, Haoran received mostly positive reviews, especially for his performance in the latter half as General Huai Hua. There's no doubt that his acting improved significantly through the course of filming this drama, as director Kong Sheng is an incredible and patient teacher, and the rest of the Daylight Entertainment staff and veteran actors all seemed to make it their mission to help Haoran to the best of their ability. The drama also receives an acclaimed score of 8.5 on Douban.

The biggest thing to note - aside from the fact that Haoran landed a starring role in a Kong Sheng directed, Daylight Entertainment produced drama for his very first TV drama role - is that the drama was nominated for Best Television Series at the prestigious Magnolia Awards. When you consider the male leads in the other nine dramas (not counting Nothing Gold Can Stay - that is Sun Li's drama through and through), it's incredible to realize that this is also an acknowledgement of sorts for Haoran, considering he was very young and was the main focus for the second half of the drama.

(Why do we tend to talk so much about nominations? Because in the c-ent industry, every year, you're going against hundreds of drama productions - modern, historical, Republican, and everything in between. The volume that China churns out drama-wise is infinitely larger than those of other countries, which is why even getting nominated is seen as such a big deal for major awards.)

The Legend of the Demon Cat - December 2017 

Haoran continued his streak of praised performances as Bai Long. While he didn't have a lot of screen time, his character (along with Sandrine Pinna's Yang Gui Fei) can be considered to be as the heart of the story, and his performance won the approval of many serious film enthusiasts (his Douban followers noticeably increased after the film came out). 

The biggest takeaway from this film is probably Haoran's versatility - while Bai Long is also a youth, he was very different from the other characters that Haoran has portrayed.

Detective Chinatown 2 - February 2018 

While our personal opinion is that Qin Feng 2.0 didn't really give Haoran the chance to really show off his acting abilities, this is his most famous role by far and is the reason why he's shot to another level of stardom. Detective Chinatown 2 was a huge box office success as it becomes the third highest grossing film of all-time in China. It is also one of the only two Chinese films that are currently among the top 10 highest-grossing films released in 2018 with worldwide gross of $544 million. (Update: As of Nov 11, Venom surpassed Detective Chinatown 2 and become #10 with worldwide gross of $545 million)

Haoran is the first new generation actor to top the V-linkage charts for a film role (generally speaking, film actors - no matter how much they've made at the box office - don't really benefit popularity-wise). Qin Feng 2.0 is also the reason why Haoran is in consideration for one of five best actor nominees at the Hundred Flower Awards (official nominations should drop any day now) and is the reason why media and PR statements have dubbed him now as the "20 year old with the 50 billion (yuan) box office value". 

He also gained significant praise among critics and industry members for his performance as genius detective Qin Feng. 

Great Expectations: Twin Dragons - April 2018 

The truth is not a lot of people watched this, because it's a special spin off mini-webdrama series, but he was heavily praised for his acting charisma in this performance. It was a much darker role than his usual fare (comparatively - we'd like to see him go for a straight up antagonist role at some point), and really showed off more of his versatility as an actor. 

Novoland: Eagle Flag - TBD 

Okay, I know this one isn't out yet, but believe it or not Haoran has actually gained a lot of praise (and even some fans) from just the trailer alone, mostly for his presence and line delivery. 

Line delivery is a weakness for many Chinese young actors because of the nature of the drama industry - dubbing is used so often that young actors are taught to put less emphasis on line delivery and more on facial expression/body acting. However, Haoran is mostly a film actor, where dubbing isn't really a thing, and he is also a Central Academy of Drama student, where stage performance (which is like 75% line delivery) is prioritized above all. 

Brand/Magazine/Other Events 

As an actor, your acting projects are really the most important part of your career, but for C-ent stars in particular, attending brand/magazine events is seen as part of the job as well, and does to a certain extent reflect your relevance in the industry. Note that Haoran attended a bunch of events at the end of 2017 because in his own words, he "owed favors" as he had spent most of the year filming so pushed events/invitations. I think we'll see something similar this year as well (as you can probably tell, there are about five months where Liu Hao Ran had no events at all as he pushed all invitations so he could focus on filming - even the Linmon Pictures CEO noted this in her interview about NEF). 

Here are the major brand/magazine events/variety shows Haoran attended in late 2017 through Oct 2018. 

- Elle Men Behind the Camera Awards, November 2017 

- Chanel Early Spring/Summer 2018 Show in Chengdu, November 2017

- Esquire Man At His Best Awards, November 2017

- China Film New Power Forum, November 2017 (subs are coming for this one)

- L'Officiel Banquet, November 2017 

- Happy Camp (Great Expectations special), December 2017

- 4th Annual Silk Road International Film Festival (he was the official flag bearer), December 2017

- Uno Young Party (Men's Uno), December 2017

(insert a bunch of promotional events for NiF2/Legend of the Demon Cat/early DC2 throughout Dec)

- Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter show at Paris Fashion Week, January 2018

- Happy Camp (Detective Chinatown 2 special), January 2018 

(insert a gazillion DC2 road shows/performances/promotional events throughout January/early February)

- Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2019 show at Paris Fashion Week, June 2018

- Puma brand event in Shanghai, August 2018

- Tiffany and Co's brand event in Zhengzhou, September 2018

- Chanel's grand opening of Le Rouge pop-up store event in Beijing, September 2018

Endorsements 

Endorsements are one of those things that we probably shouldn't put a really heavy emphasis on - in the end, all contracts are temporary, and they'll come and go. However, for those who are interested, here is the list. The last four came after Detective Chinatown 2, for what it's worth. 

As someone who just came back from China, I can say that his most visible endorsements (by far) are Puma (this one I saw the most - but maybe it's because I was at the malls a lot? ha), Wang Lao Ji, and Kiehl's - at least in the city that I was in, which was a mid-sized one. Note that I didn't ride the subway at all - according to cfans, Wang Lao Ji, Zhihu, and Bliss Cake do a lot of marketing in subway stations. 

- Puma
- A Chinese Odyssey Mobile Game
- Hong Mi (Xiao Mi subsidiary) cellphones
- Maybelline New York (seasonal deal)
- Mirinda
- Zhonghua Toothpaste
- The Beast Floral (seasonal deal)
- Wang Lao Ji (first ever brand spokesperson)
- Zhihu (first ever brand spokesperson)
- Bliss Cake
- Kiehl's (first ever brand spokesperson)

Magazine Covers (Oct 2017 to Oct 2018)

At this point in time, Liu Hao Ran's got two covers on the Big 5 women's magazines (one solo) and has been on three of the five major men's magazines (he still has Esquire and GQ to unlock). For a refresher on why we look at magazine covers, reference here.

- Madame Figaro Hommes, October 2017
- L'Officiel Hommes, October 2017 (major men's magazine)
- Harper's Bazaar, October 2017 (Big 5 women's magazine - shared cover with Chun Xia)
- Elle Men, December 2017 (major men's magazine)
- Men's Uno, January 2018
- Marie Claire (special side issue), January 2018
- Leon, March 2018
- Bazaar Men, March 2018 (major men's magazine)
- L'Officiel Hommes, April 2018 (major men's magazine)
- VogueMe, April 2018
- Men's Uno, August 2018
- Men's Uno Young!, August 2018
- Cosmopolitan, October 2018 (Big 5 women's magazine)
- OK!, October 2018

It's been an amazing year for Haoran, and we can't wait to see what awaits him in his 21st year!