In order to present the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the Central Radio and Television Station prepared a drama with a large pattern of the main theme, which presented the three major battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai and Pingjin in a panoramic manner in the form of a TV series.
However, it is very challenging to present the three major battles in a panoramic way, because the three major battles not only have many characters, but also many scenes.
For example, the film version of the "Armageddon" trilogy filmed by the Bayi Film Studio 30 years ago not only took 5 years to shoot, but also used 130,000 officers and soldiers to participate in the shooting, and the cumulative mobilization number was as high as more than 3.3 million people.
In terms of scenes, the crew of that year traveled to 13 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions just to select scenes.
From Harbin in Heilongjiang in the north to Fenghua in Zhejiang in the south, and from the Yellow River Loop in the west to the shores of the Bohai Sea in the east, this area is even more vast than the battlefield at that time.
In addition, the film version of "Armageddon" filmed by Bayi Film Studio is too classic, and there is naturally nothing to say when filmed well, and if it is not filmed well, it will be scolded by the audience. So, which director will the CCTV let take on this difficult task?
After the drama version of "Armageddon" was broadcast, the ratings have remained high, but no one expected that Teacher Wang Jinsong would actually say such a thing: No matter how high the ratings are, they will resolutely not cooperate with Liu Tao in the future.
Why would the approachable teacher Wang Jinsong say this? Or did Liu Tao do something to anger him? Next, let's talk about the behind-the-scenes story of the drama version of "Armageddon".
In 2020, the Central Propaganda Department issued a task requiring the Central Radio and Television Station to take the celebration of the centenary of the founding of the party as the main line, profoundly display the original intention and mission of the Chinese Communists in the form of TV dramas, and shoot many dramas that reproduce the main theme of key battles during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
From "Crossing the Yalu River" at the beginning of the year, "The Age of Awakening", "Hit the Water in the Middle Stream", and then to the later "Armageddon", each one has condensed a strong positive energy in society.
In particular, "The Great Armageddon", jointly produced by the Film and Television Documentary Center of the Central Radio and Television Corporation and the Bayi Film Studio, has also become a major drama celebrating the centenary of the founding of the party.
However, you may not know that when the Film and Television Drama Documentary Center of the Central Radio and Television Corporation entrusted the arduous task of filming "Armageddon" to Gao Xixi, he also considered whether to take it for a long time.
Because this task is definitely a hot potato, Gao Xixi is not unattainable, and in the end he still bites his teeth to take this task.
Why didn't Ghosh dare to pick up? We have to start with the movie version of "Armageddon" 30 years ago.
In 1990, bayi Film Studio spent 100 million yuan to shoot the most magnificent war epic "Armageddon" trilogy in the history of Chinese cinema, spanning 13 provinces.
In order to restore that history and the real war scenes, bayi film studios used 6 people for the director alone, and used more than 3.3 million group actors and actors.
The most powerful thing is that the film version of "Armageddon" also used more than 20 military-level units, more than 30 independent divisions and regiments, and 130,000 officers and soldiers to participate in the filming of the film.
At the same time, the crew also mobilized a large number of tanks, artillery, aircraft, ships and other combat equipment. Such a magnificent scene, how can the latecomers surpass it?
But the task has been taken over, Ghosh can only harden the front, he led his team to consult a large number of materials, and at the same time he also invited military advisers and experts in the study of military history and party history to provide himself with professional advice, so that his works will not have historical errors.
But in order to make the current audience acceptable, he also tried to make the script younger, but no matter how innovative history is history.
After a discussion among the crew, they decided to start telling this glorious history with the story behind each great man or the transformation of the little people.
The advantage of this is that it can not only reproduce that glorious period, but also have a space for interaction with the audience.
After the script was finalized, the choice of actors gave Ghosh a headache, because the important characters in it were all great people of a generation. Therefore, in terms of casting, Ghosh is cautious and cautious.
In the end, the crew set such a standard: based on the shape, the god is dominant, and it is better if the god form is both.
Under such standards, the first to be finalized are special actors such as Tang Guoqiang, Liu Jin, Wang Wufu, etc., after all, they have long been familiar with the portrayal of great people, and the image of the great people they play is also the most acceptable to the audience. In the case of Tang Guoqiang, he has played Mao Zedong more than 50 times.
It is worth mentioning that in a tv series with a main theme like this, many actors are trying to fight for a role, but what the director did not expect was that there were still people who refused his invitation. What's going on here?
After Yu Hewei received the script of "Armageddon", he couldn't eat or sleep, and every day he struggled with whether to act or not.
Ghosh is a gift to Hewei, and the two have already cooperated in 12 plays, yu Hewei is really not easy to refuse. But once he agreed to star, Lin Biao, played by Ma Shaoxin, became a mountain above his head.
He believes that Ma Shaoxin not only grasped the characteristics of Lin Biao, but also portrayed the role beautifully, and he really did not have the confidence to surpass!
However, this is not the most important thing, Lin's temperament is to refuse to be thousands of miles away, and it is really too difficult for Yu Hewei to perform at this level.
That is to say, if Yu Hewei took over this play, it means that he must be greeted with a scolding.
In the end, it was Wang Jinsong's words that made him enlightened, and Teacher Wang Jinsong said to him: Classics are not used to transcend, and the reason why he can become a classic must have his peak. If you want to succeed, you can avoid its sharp edge and surprise it.
Yu Hewei listened to teacher Wang Jinsong's words, so he made up his mind to participate in the performance.
In order to interpret his role more vividly, Yu Hewei's first thought was to lose weight, because his figure was still slightly more generous than Lin. After making up his mind, Yu Hewei began to diet and exercise, and lost more than a dozen pounds before shooting.
The flowers bloom in two, one on each side. Here Yu Hewei is struggling with whether to act, the crew here is also mostly opposed, and finally director Gao Xixi tried to defy the public opinion and chose Yu Hewei. After all, the two have cooperated many times, and he is still very optimistic about Hewei.
In the end, Yu Hewei did not disappoint Gao Xixi, he chose to avoid Ma Shaoxin's sharp edge and take a different path, in the most grounded and funniest way to perform, so he was unbearable as soon as he appeared.
In addition to the need to stick close to the prototype for important roles, Ghosh also invited some actors who are more popular with young people to join, playing fictional roles such as combat heroes, front-line commanders, patriotic students and so on.
For example, young actor Su Qing played a military sister-in-law Wang Cuiyun who was looking for a husband for thousands of miles, and she eventually grew into a female warrior after experiencing dangers and obstacles. Popular actors Chen Turing and Zhang Yunlong will also play young students who are running for the fate of the country in the play.
After the actors were finalized, the crew set up three main shooting locations in Beijing, Zhangjiakou and Hengdian, with a total of more than 700 shooting scenes and a total length of more than 40 kilometers of trenches excavated.
From the start-up to the finishing, the crew used a total of 107 cannons, 6 tanks, more than 1,400 guns of various types, more than 100,000 props and bullets, and a total of more than 50,000 props.
In terms of actors, there are more than 350 main actors in the whole play, 800 special actors, and 60,000 mass actors.
In the 120-day filming of the drama version of "Armageddon", 3 film crews shot across three provinces, and a total of 85 battles and battles were restored. A total of 9,540 costumes were used in the shooting, and the total number of props exceeded 50,000.
On June 25, 2021, "Armageddon" premiered on CCTV and Beijing Television, and the ratings remained high for several consecutive days, standing out among a number of tv dramas with the main theme.
Despite this, the audience still scolded Liu Tao, some people said that her acting skills were Waterloo-style declines, and some people said that her temperament was not enough and her tone was strange. Why do the audience say that?
In this TV series, Liu Tao plays Song Meiling, the real Song Meiling is proficient in six Chinese words, dressed very delicately, but often smiling, looking very affinity.
But Liu Tao's performance is slightly exaggerated, especially her performance of slowing down the speed of speech in order to highlight Song Meiling's gentleness, which really makes people can't listen to it!
Compared with her performance in "Langya List", it is indeed a bit unsatisfactory. Could it be that Liu Tao is suspected that Wang Jinsong teacher does not have Hu Geshuai?
In fact, before the TV series began, Teacher Wang Jinsong already knew the ending. He had said before when promoting "Armageddon": No matter how high the ratings, he will no longer cooperate with Liu Tao.
Although he added later, the audience who played with her only paid attention to the "sister who rides the wind and waves", no one wants to look at us full of vitality brothers.
Although this sentence caused everyone to laugh, how could everyone not know that Teacher Wang was joking to express his dissatisfaction.
Speaking of teacher Wang Jinsong, I have to praise Chiang Kai-shek, who he plays, for being very expressive.
It is said that in order to interpret the role of Chiang Kai-shek well, Teacher Wang not only read the biography of Chiang Kai-shek, but also firmly grasped the character of Chiang Kai-shek. Especially during the negotiations, his and Tang Guoqiang's back-and-forth is a classic.
And his tight grip on crutches during the negotiation, as well as his inadvertent gesture of raising his hand and throwing his feet, showed the surging momentum within him in an instant.
As for why this drama can be successful, Ghosh believes that the TV series "Armageddon" was broadcast at the special moment of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, which is a good opportunity to review history.
In addition, Ghosh does not deny that it is "stressful" to complete such an epic masterpiece, and its success is due to the fact that all the crew members have been working hard and hard to give full play to their strengths, as well as the help of many new and old artists to complete the shooting task.
Screenwriter Huang Jiandong also said that the highlight of this script creation is to pursue the truth, achieve a real presentation of historical truth, sincerely touch the audience's inner drama viewing effect, and strive to make the characters, stories, and emotions are real and credible, up to the leaders, generals, down to the soldiers, the people, there are enough real details to express.