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| 19-Year-Old Actor Abandons Drama Set, Production Recasts Overnight |
The short drama Love Brain (恋爱脑) hasn’t even made it to release yet, but it’s already gone viral – not for the story, but for the real-life meltdown of its young lead.
Nineteen-year-old Hu Lingchen, known among short drama fans for his breakout role in Hua You Chong Kai Zhi Ri (花有重开之日) on iQIYI earlier this year, suddenly “vanished” from set in late September.
Two days into filming, at around 3 a.m., he packed up, left his assistant stranded in the hotel, and walked out without a word.
Production had to grind to a halt on the spot, with estimated losses climbing past 100,000 yuan.
Crew insiders were quick to spill that Hu Lingchen’s sudden exit came after a heated dispute with his girlfriend, Qi Kexin, who was on set that day.
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Things turned even juicier when rumours spread that the real trigger was a kissing scene in the script.
Hu Lingchen later posted an apology video on 1 October, admitting he lacked “emotional management” but firmly insisting the kissing scenes were the true reason.
He stressed that he’d flagged his concerns earlier, got no response, and denied that his girlfriend was behind his decision.
The production team wasn’t having it.
They clapped back, revealing Hu Lingchen had actually demanded the female lead, Li Ziying, be swapped out for his real-life girlfriend.
When that got shut down, he stormed off.
They also pointed out that every part of the script – including the much-debated kisses – had been signed off in the contract.
To make things messier, netizens caught HuLingchen clapping back online with a post that read: “Not filming just to please my girlfriend? Yeah, so what?” before he deleted it and turned on Do Not Disturb.
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With chaos threatening to kill the project, the team urgently replaced Hu Lingchen with actor Li Xinghan.
In a near-impossible turnaround, Li stayed up round-the-clock and re-shot all 80 episodes in just five days.
Meanwhile, Xi’an Qiuyuan, the company behind Love Brain, announced plans to sue Hu Lingchen for breach of contract, seeking damages of 428,000 yuan.
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Netizens weren’t impressed with Hu Lingchen’s apology either, calling it self-defensive and too focused on protecting his girlfriend instead of acknowledging the losses and disruption caused.
At just 19, Hu Lingchen’s “run for love” drama has given him a brutal industry wake-up call.
What started as a bold role in a romance short drama has now spiralled into a PR headache, a legal battle, and questions about whether young actors and their personal relationships are ready for the pressures of filming.
Maybe next time, production teams should put it in black and white before cameras roll: “Are you okay with the script? Does your partner approve?”