When Jiang Zhiqiang announced that he was going to make "Mei Yanfang", many people did not approve. "At that time, a lot of people came to me and said, you can make 'To Catch a Demon 3', you can also make 'Cold War 34567', why should you make a biopic? (Box office) dead set! Jiang Zhiqiang revealed.
Indeed, after decades of tinkering in the film industry, Jiang Zhiqiang has a very beautiful production resume: "To Catch a Demon" earned 173 million at the box office on its first day of release; "Cold War" won the Hong Kong Academy Award for Best Picture. Some people say that Jiang Zhiqiang's Anle Company is a "movie kingdom". And Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and Zhang Yimou's "Ten Faces Ambush" have also entered the Hollywood market through his hands, and some people have commented that Jiang Zhiqiang, who is well versed in the cultural differences between Chinese and American films, has produced a series of gilded business cards for Chinese films and sent them overseas. This time, Jiang Zhiqiang chose to touch the biopic with weak commercial attributes, because of a convention.
Jiang Zhiqiang was interviewed by Nandu
In 2003, Jiang Zhiqiang and Mei Yanfang agreed to set a role for Mei in "Ten Faces Ambush". In the end, it was a pity that Mei Yanfang did not appear in the cast list of "Ten Faces Ambush".
"Many years ago, I promised Mei Jie to work with her on a movie, but I couldn't make the trip. After Mui Yanfang left, a bronze statue of a 'Hong Kong daughter' was built in Hong Kong. She is the king of kings and has driven the Cantonese entertainment culture of the entire Canton pop. But after a heavenly king, there will be a heavenly king. What is unique about Mei Yanfang? It is she who has won the recognition and respect of Hong Kong people. How did Mei Yanfang do this? This is the story our film is about to tell. Jiang Zhiqiang said. This time, he completed his agreement with Mei Yanfang in the form of a biopic.
Part1
Dependent arising: A convention
The acquaintance with Mei Yanfang was very accidental, at that time, Jiang Zhiqiang asked his friend to invite Mei Yanfang to stand for his movie, and Mei Yanfang agreed to it. "We were living in different classes at the time, she was already very popular, and I was an unknown filmmaker who was struggling. But she easily agreed. In 2003, Mei Yanfang said that she wanted to make a movie that could stay, and in the end this movie did not wait for Mei Yanfang to join. After 18 years, Jiang Zhiqiang wanted to complete this agreement.
Nandu: Can you recall the acquaintance process between you and Mei Yanfang? What was the first chance to see her?
Jiang Zhiqiang: The first time I met Sister Mei was during the summer vacation of 1984. At that time, I was relatively young and engaged in the import film industry, that is, buying imported films to distribute in Hong Kong. We were living in different classes at the time, she was already very popular, and I was an unknown filmmaker who was struggling. She struggled above, I struggled below, life was different, not often able to meet for dinner. I remember buying a Japanese movie,"The Tale of the Cat," and we did a roadshow at Hong Kong's New Town Square to promote it. I asked a friend to ask Sister Mei if she would be willing (to help with the platform), and Sister Mei agreed as soon as she took a bite. At that time, Mei Yanfang was standing on the stage, and several floors of the New Town Square were full of people, and that was the first time I saw her.
Nandu: It is said that the filming of "Mei Yanfang" originated from an agreement between you and Mei Yanfang?
Jiang Zhiqiang: Yes. Since 84 years, [Sister Mei] has helped me with other things. But I believe I'm just one of them, and I've seen her help a lot of people, to help little people like us fight. One day in May and June 2003, Sister Mei called me out for coffee. I remember about the place called Yangming Villa, very quiet. Her demeanor and face at that time were still very OK, but very thin. She said she wanted to make a good scene. I asked her if she was as rumored to be (sick). She reassured me that it was just a small thing. Later I learned about her state of mind.
At that time, she said very excited, asked me what I was doing, I said that I was preparing to shoot "Ten Faces Ambush" with Zhang Yimou, and she listened happily and asked her if she could join. I said that everyone wanted to work with her, and since there was a schedule, I would reply soon. At that time, what I remember most was that she said, "You have to remember, I would like to work with Zhang Yimou, I like your lineup, and I will definitely do my best to make a movie that can be retained!" ”
Nandu: This promise was not fulfilled at that time?
Jiang Zhiqiang: At that time, I was very infected at that moment, and immediately called Zhang Yimou, who was preparing for "Ten Faces Ambush". He said that he would immediately add a role for Sister Mei, and that role was the leader of the flying knife door, a big sister of the jianghu. But by the end of November, we had received word that we wouldn't wait for her. This is a big regret for Zhang Yimou and me. Zhang Yimou wrote at the end of the movie to miss Sister Mei. It was even more a pity for me, I didn't know she was sick at the time, and I couldn't help her make a scene at that time, and this commitment remained in my heart for a long time.
Part2
Difficulty: It's real
"Mei Yanfang" has been preparing for a long time. Jiang Zhiqiang said, "We don't live in a circle, I don't approach her as a person, but I can't talk nonsense." To this end, he and his team began to interview and collect information, but the interview was the most difficult part of the film preparation.
"Everyone's first sentence will ask, why should I answer you, are you going to make a movie to consume Mei Jie?" Jiang Zhiqiang mentioned that in order to pursue the truth, they have done a lot of work, "If our data collection is not rich enough, we can't find a story of Mei Yanfang that we want to tell in our hearts, we don't want to do it." ”
Nandu: Is there pressure to make a biographical film, and it is a biographical film that is not too long apart?
Jiang Zhiqiang: It's not pressure, it's difficult. At that time, I just wanted to help Mei Jie make a movie, and I didn't think about anything else. Both the writer and the director have a lot of difficulties. If you are a screenwriter, it is good to shoot a costume drama and find a screenwriter to write a story. But Sister Mei's words, you have to do a lot of data collection to shoot out, this needs to be brewed.
Nandu: I heard that this movie has been in preparation for 5 years? Why did it take so long?
Jiang Zhiqiang: In 2009, I wanted to shoot, but I couldn't find a screenwriter. I was actually busy with a lot of things in 2015. At that time, just after filming the second part of "To Catch a Demon", "Cold War 2" began to do publicity again. But I suddenly felt something (in my heart), that is, I still owe Mei Jie a play.
I called Liang Lemin at the time and said that I had a long promise in my heart that I wanted to shoot Ame. The next morning Leung called me and said, "Yesterday was December 30th" (the day Mui Yanfang died). He told me to wait for him for three months, and in three months we'd touch each other again. If we can come up with an outline, we'll do it. When we began to devote ourselves to writing an outline, we first had to go all out to find the events that Mei Jie had made public, such as those published in the newspaper. That's when we started thinking about the outline. Liang Lemin said that if our data collection is not rich enough to find a story of Mei Yanfang that we want to tell in our hearts, we should not do it. I couldn't agree with that, and we started doing data gathering.
Nandu: What do you think was the difficulty of making this film?
Jiang Zhiqiang: I myself think that filming Mei Jie's play must take a long time, because I am not very close to her and do not know her very well. From 1984 to 2003, she and I were far apart, and we didn't live in the same circle, so I had to collect information to know what I wanted to shoot. The difficulty is here, I don't approach her as a person, but I can't talk about it.
So we interviewed dozens of people who knew Mei Yanfang. Some of them are very familiar with Mei Jie, some of them maintain working relationships with Mei Jie, and some of them are in different classes with Mei Jie, and we learned about the details of Mei Yanfang's life from childhood to adulthood through visits. Eight months later, the script came out, and we thought of a direction, but we still had to continue to look for (information), because we had not yet thought of the main trunk of the story, who would play Mei Yanfang (this problem) has not been solved. But in that process, we have decided what kind of Mei Yanfang we want to shoot. At that time, director Liang Lemin did not know Mei Yanfang very well, he did not cooperate with Mei Jie, we all followed the information.
In fact, the difficulty lies in (interviewing) these people, everyone will ask in the first sentence, why should I answer you, are you going to make a movie to consume Mei Jie? So this piece is very difficult. You see a lot of documentary-style footage, and in the last year she had a press conference, a "1-99" concert, and SARS. Why add these things? We just want to tell everyone that many of her deeds are true (in the movie) and that her purpose as a person is also true.
Nandu: How did these difficulties come about?
Jiang Zhiqiang: Fortunately, in 2015, I already had some slightly successful scenes, at that time, everyone thought, you obviously have so many successes, you can shoot "Catch the Demon 3", you can shoot "Cold War 34567", why go and shoot a Mei Yanfang? There is no business, it is definitely not OK. They are also suspicious of this matter. From the time I called director Liang Lemin in 2015 to the summer vacation of 2018 when filming began, there were many difficulties and pressures, and there were many things that could not have been done, but I don't know why, under our efforts, so many difficulties can be solved.
When we watched the movie ourselves, Liang Lemin said that there was a scene in it, and Mei Yanfang had a cocoon in her throat when she was young, and she was thinking about whether she was going to work in a factory. Later she decided to sing. You see that shot, she's walking against the crowd, and we're infected by her spirit. This thing may also be predestined, or she is blessing us, (difficulty) to solve.
Part 3
Spirit: "Mei Yanfang Spirit"
Dani Wang's last interview was to put on a wedding dress and sing "Sunset Song". She has been preparing for this for a long time, "I watched some interviews and concert videos to learn Mei Jie's demeanor, for example, when she thinks about things, her eyes will look above or below, such as when she sings and dances, she will use some unique hand movements." Dani Wang said.
It was also this scene that made the team set up Wang Dani to play Mei Yanfang. At that time, Wang Dani had just begun to sing "Sunset Song", and several staff members on the scene covered their mouths and ran out of the field. Jiang Zhiqiang said that he saw Mei Yanfang's persistence and spirit in Wang Dani. "There will be a heavenly king after the king, but Mui Yanfang is known as the 'daughter of Hong Kong', she has had this quality since she was a child, disobeying, not believing, to do the best things, where to fall, where to get up." Dani Wang has similar qualities. ”
Wang Dani's last interview was to put on a wedding dress and sing "Sunset Song".
Nandu: You just mentioned a detail, Mei Yanfang originally wanted to go to the factory to work, but in the end she insisted on singing. Facts like this detail are also accessible through? What does this lens represent?
Jiang Zhiqiang: Also through visits. In fact, it was during the visit that we found out what we really wanted to shoot, because when we collected information, I found that she was a very remarkable, very remarkable, very remarkable person. What's so great about it? If you watch a movie, you already know it.
You are very right, our play has some elements and details of the documentary in it, if we don't put these into it, people who know Mei Jie, they have seen her play, if you don't know Mei Jie, you may be after 90, 00, when you watch this play, you will feel, this is just what you are saying, how real can it be?
But these details are all told to us by many people. For example, why didn't Mei Jie change careers to do other things, because at that time she had the determination to sing, she did not believe, she did not believe. She left Hong Kong in 1993 due to the "slap incident" and was at the bottom of her career. Why did you come back later? It is that she does not believe that wherever she falls, she must get up wherever she falls. In fact, she embodied this quality when she was a child. That's what we want to express, and we call it the "Spirit of Mei Yanfang."
Nandu: The whole film actually hides some other important events of Mei Yanfang, we will find that the presentation of events is selective, can you introduce the basis for choosing the presentation of these events, or do we have a theme?
Jiang Zhiqiang: Our play is not talking about the deeds of Sister Mei's life, her life is really wonderful. Our story begins when Mei Yanfang was a child, and she began to work and work in society at the age of four. She doesn't speak English and often asks with low self-esteem, "Why do everyone know English, but I can't?"
But when she left, there was a bronze statue in Hong Kong that read "Hong Kong Daughter." Why is there this bronze statue? From 1992 to 1993, she was already the king of the kings, and she led the entire Cantonese culture, Cantonese entertainment culture, which we call Canton pop. A king will appear, and a few years later there will be another king. And the existence of that bronze statue is not to recognize how much public welfare you have done, nor to represent how much you have achieved in your career. That bronze statue was given to her by Hong Kong people, and until now, there is no second bronze statue, so our movie is about this matter, why this girl can do this, how she won the recognition of Hong Kong people, why Hong Kong people want to make a bronze statue to tell others that there is Mui Yanfang. And how Mei Yanfang did this, this process is the story we want to tell.
Nandu: With the newcomer Wang Dani to play Meigu, will you worry about the audience's reaction?
Jiang Zhiqiang: In 2009, we thought about which one was suitable for playing Mei Jie, but we couldn't find it. By the time I wrote the script in 2015 to shoot, I felt that it was difficult for any actor to have a sense of substitution. For example, looking for Liu Jialing, the audience already has a Liu Jialing in their hearts, and it is difficult to substitute For Mei Yanfang, so it is difficult to find a famous actor to play. If you look for them, the audience's attention will be focused on: how much does Liu Jialing act like Mei Yanfang?
In the past, Maggie Cheung played Ruan Lingyu very well, and we will feel that this actor played it very well. But we want to shoot Mei Yanfang, want to focus on her, not imitate. Our starting point is not to find the one who most resembles her, but to find a temperament (the most similar), to find a blank piece of paper, this person can play Mei Yanfang in the script and tell her story. Instead of saying how much she resembles. In the world, we have not met anyone, it will be very much like her.
Nandu: You said you want to find a new person, but there are many new people, what are the characteristics of Wang Danni that make you think she is suitable for playing "Mei Yanfang"?
Jiang Zhiqiang: At our peak, we chose one out of thousands of people. One day we saw a picture of Dani Wang, she was a model, and her silhouette was very good. Only later did I find out she was so tall. For the interview, we gave her two pieces of paper. The first time, there is a scene in the first piece of paper, it is Mei Yanfang and her brother (Zhang Guorong) in "Rouge Buckle", and in that scene, Mei Yanfang wants to sing a male voice. We asked her to come back in two weeks and try it out. Two weeks later she came back on time and finished singing the play. However, they gave her another piece of paper and told her to prepare another one. In fact, from the first scene to the final announcement of the result, there was a gap of 6 months, and every time she came, she was very attentive.
Nandu: What are the qualities of Dani Wang that are similar to Mei Yanfang?
Jiang Zhiqiang: In these 6 months, we also chatted. We learned about her attitude towards people, origins, and things. We decided to choose her in the last wedding scene of the movie. On the last day, many people came to the set, and she wore a wedding dress and sang "Sunset Song" on the stage. When she finished her makeup, a makeup artist who had been with Mei Yanfang for ten years said, "Sister Mei seems to be back." When Dani went up to sing "Sunset Song", everyone thought that Mei Yanfang had returned. That's when I turned my head to find that the whole group of girls was crying.
In fact, at the beginning, we didn't think that Dany was like Mei Yanfang. But the most touching thing is that she originally had a job (to be done), but in these six months of interviews, she wanted to do her best in every interview. In the past six months, from her attitude, origin, and treatment of people, we have seen the shadow of Sister Mei, which is why I chose her.
Nandu: Why did you invite Leung Lok Man to direct this film?
Jiang Zhiqiang: The same is true of Leung Lok Man, many people ask me why I chose Leung Lok Min, because many Hong Kong directors don't spend six years making a play, usually many times a year. But he could spend five or six years because he, like me, did the best in everything, so we chose him.
Written by: Nandu trainee reporter Lin Wenqi Intern Liang Qiuying
Photo: Nandu reporter Chen Donghui