Linlin's VIVANT Torturer Role Sends Viewers Back To His Taiga Drama Turn
The reaction shows how completely a makeup and prosthetics change can separate an actor from the villain he plays: the same face with eyebrows and a mustache read as someone else entirely, so the abuse lands on the performer rather than the character.
Reporting from 1 source: Magmix.
Linlin, 43, plays Zhou Haoran, a Shinshi intelligence agent who tortures Bekkan member Wada Mitsugu in the second season of TBS's Sunday Theater VIVANT. After episode 19 aired on October 4, he posted on Instagram that he had received a wave of messages, some supportive and some angry, and noted that no one recognized him while signing the VIVANT monument. Viewers have since looked up his role as Zhang Shichang in the 2024 NHK taiga drama Hikaru Kimi e.
Linlin's Instagram post came the night of October 6, after episode 19 showed Zhou cutting off all the fingers of Wada's right hand and, with subordinate Li Mingze, wounding him using the Nogi family's guardian sword held by Kurosu Shun.
The post included screenshots of viewer comments and the line "#Yesterday I went to sign the TBS VIVANT monument, but my hair had grown out and no one noticed me." He had already described shaving his head for the role, and wrote on June 23 that his costume mustache in Hikaru Kimi e was finished with real hair. Comments on that older post now include replies asking which role he played and noting that the eyebrows alone change his face.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.