Every intern reporter Bi Yuanyuan
Edited by Wen Menghua
"Journey to the West", as a classic theme that never goes out of style, has been adapted and remade in various forms almost every year, and in recent years, it has become the standard of the Spring Festival period, from "Journey to the West to Descend the Devil", "Journey to the West to the Heavenly Palace", to "Journey to the West", "Journey to the West" sun wukong three dozen white bone essences, "Journey to the West" is not absent every year.
Zheng Baorui, the "double billion" director who has directed "Journey to the West of the Heavenly Palace" and "Journey to the West of The Sun Wukong Three Dozen White Bone Essences", took "Journey to the West Daughter Country" to the Spring Festival file this year, as a romantic comedy movie, it can even radiate to the Valentine's Day slot, although Zheng Baorui waved his hand, "dare not have expectations for the box office", but the box office also determined the life and death of "Journey to the West" in his hand, "If the audience still wants to see, you can shoot the next one, depending on how this performance is."
Recently, Zheng Baorui exclusively accepted an exclusive interview with the "Daily Economic News" and restored a different "Journey to the West Daughter Country" in front of and behind the scenes.
Zheng Baorui, director of "Journey to the West Daughter Country" (Photo/Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
Retaining the classic bridge section, Tang Monk's feelings are extremely conflicted
When he first got this project, Zheng Baorui was resistant, he had shot various subjects all his life, he was overwhelmed by this "all women" drama, thinking that he could not control it, but slowly understood, Zheng Baorui admitted to being attracted, "This is about the love of a monk, very conflicting, how does Tang Monk face the problem of seven passions and six desires? Do you choose to love one person or all the monks? If you really fall in love with someone, how do you face that path in the future? ”
Anyone who has seen the novel "Journey to the West" knows that Tang Monk and the king of his daughter Kingdom did not have a love, but in the 1986 version of the TV series "Journey to the West", director Yang Jie made a bold adaptation of this story, allowing Tang Monk to make a promise to the queen that "if there is a fate in the next life". When filming "Journey to the West Daughter Country", the original work and the 86 version of the TV series became the main basis for Zheng Baorui, "The basic core is the same, and the most classic bridge sections are also there, such as the eight precepts of the pig peeking at the girls taking a bath, they can't go out of the daughter country, etc., but there are also innovative things." ”
When Zheng Baorui himself watched the 86 version of "Journey to the West", he was also surprised that Tang Monk finally bid farewell to the queen and fled. Zheng Baorui attributed the reason for the TV series's treatment in this way to "the values of love that can be faced in that era", "I think the boy is romantic, I rush in front, and there is a girl in the back who tells you, you rush, you go to your ideal place, when you turn back, I am behind you." So he hopes to see a brave Tang monk, he dares to face his emotions, "The beautiful part of the daughter country is that everyone knows how the ending is, but how to walk you feel satisfied, how can the girl unload when you leave, this is what I think is different from the old version." ”
"Journey to the West Daughter Country" Feng Shaofeng played by Tang Monk and Zhao Liying played by the daughter king of the country (photo / official stills)
"The biggest adjustment made by the movie 'Journey to the West' is to let Tang Monk bravely stand up and admit that he 'moved his heart'." Zheng Baorui said that in the past, when everyone looked at the daughter country, in the face of the queen, the Tang monks were all dodging with their eyes and dodging all the way. "This time, we let Tang Monk bravely stand up and face his true heart."
For the role of the king of the daughter country by Zhao Liying, many viewers are puzzled, but Zheng Baorui gave a new explanation, "She is not the mature queen you saw before, this is the first love of Tang Monk, and she is also the first love, so I don't want to think that she is a little girl, she should be sensible, intellectual, young, comfortable, and have an audience", although Zheng Baorui and the filmmakers discussed a number of candidates in the early stage, but after eating a meal with Zhao Liying, she finalized her, and did not see other actors" Her star flavor is not easy to produce distance, she is very neighboring, I think this is Zhao Liying's unique feeling."
Special effects do subtraction, costing 500 million special effects to spend 70 million
Although the first two works of Journey to the West have caused some controversy in word of mouth, the progress in special effects is obvious to all, especially in "Journey to the West" Sun Wukong Three Dozen White Bone Essences, the black smoke and white silk from the white bone essence are exquisite and beautiful, full of ink artistic conception, which is still impressive.
So, how will "Journey to the West Daughter Country" deal with special effects this time?
"We think of water, because water is very difficult in terms of special effects, but I think water and daughter country are very compatible, it has both gentleness and flow, but also the power of terror to kill people", under this idea, Zheng Baorui created a new character "River God" in the film.
However, the river god in "Journey to the West Daughter Country" broke this kind of masculine or feminine character setting, rigid and soft, no gender. "There is no villain in this drama, and the final fight is also because of love, so the positioning of the river god is God, she has no gender, played by Lin Chiling, but his body is a boy." "I hope that in the handling of feelings, we can be macroscopic, can the love between the king and the Tang monk be put down?" The river god will tell you that even if I am a god, I can't put it down."
In "Journey to the West Daughter Country", Lin Zhiling played the god of the forgotten river (photo/ official stills)
It is understood that there are five modeling options for the role of The River God alone, and the blue makeup is finally presented. Talking about the makeup of the river god, Zheng Baorui said: "It is very complicated, such as Sun Wukong's forehead, face, nose, chin, they are separated from each other, there is an interface, but Lin Chiling is a whole face, there is no interface, so her makeup is a very big technical test." ”
For the special effects shots of the entire movie, Zheng Baorui admitted to spending more than 70 million yuan. The whole movie cost a total of 500 million yuan, in addition to special effects, a large number of costumes, sets and actors' salaries are also expensive, the film finally has a big drum, a total of 3,000 staff at the same time, "this is really a very large budget."
From the 2380 special effects shots of "Journey to the West", to the "Journey to the West of the Sun Wukong Three Dozen White Bone Essence" half cut, only retained more than 1300 special effects shots, Zheng Baorui has been doing subtraction in special effects, this time "Journey to the West Daughter Country" has reduced more than 100 special effects shots, but the investment is still very large, Zheng Baorui also admitted that it is much more complicated, "This year, you can only reduce the lens, make the quality real, the amount is not important, the important thing is to make the finished product, even if the amount is small, but exquisite, it is good." ”
Although the finished product has not yet been released, in fact, after experiencing "Journey to the West: The Haunting of the Heavenly Palace", "Journey to the West: Sun Wukong Three Dozen White Bone Essences" to "Journey to the West Daughter Country", Zheng Baorui not only joined the "1 billion entertainment department", but also changed from a "special effects layman" to a director who understands 3D shooting and post-production processes.
Zheng Baorui's "Journey to the West: The Sky" has a cumulative box office of 1.045 billion yuan (Photo/cbo China Box Office)
The "violent" director this time filmed "a woman for a lifetime"
To this day, Zheng Baorui still sighs, "I rarely shoot scenes of heroines, and this drama really finished filming all the women I want to shoot in my life."
However, Zheng Baorui has always had the desire to make love films, "I like love romance films, but there are more fights and killings, and there has been no chance."
Most viewers are familiar with Zheng Baorui because of his violent, bloody, dark shooting style, and the video style of films such as "Dog Bites Dog" and "Army Chicken" is known for its poignancy, and even Chen Guanxi cannot escape his cunning hands.
Zheng Baorui's "Dog Bites Dog" directed by Sharp Image Style has a Douban score of 8 points (Photo/Douban)
But when it came to the "Journey to the West" series, it was obvious that Zheng Baorui began to want to hide himself in the background of the movie and put away the sharp edge.
"I feel that my previous style is an obstacle for the "Journey to the West" project, for the audience, and if we define it as a family movie, we don't need this style to exist, and if we insist on adding them, I think it is not very calm behavior." 」 So when I was shooting Journey to the West, I deliberately hid myself very far behind, so that you couldn't feel who the director was."
But in "Journey to the West" Sun Wukong three dozen white bone essence, Zheng Baorui still secretly took a step forward, and finally Sun Wukong beat the Tang monk with a stick, violence, cruelty, and paranoia appeared again, but for "Journey to the West Daughter Country", Zheng Baorui believes that it is another style.
"The director is not my ideal for me, but a career, I should be competent for every genre", "When I was in "Dog Bites Dog" and "Military Aircraft", I even shot a caesarean section, and I can still go crazy, and at a certain stage, you still have to look back to see if you can handle a warmer thing."
Zheng Baorui, who likes to watch "Fancy Years", always has a beam of light in his heart, he loves love love films, and he has also operated many violent films, which scene is the most brutal in "Dog Bites Dog"? "It's not a fight, it's the birth of a child, the darkness is because there is light."
For him, the film will continue to be made, "Maybe I will go back and shoot some very dark things, but I also want to make a story of aliens wandering on Earth." 」