Cover news reporter Zhang Jie
In November 2021, Tencent Video released the trailer for the "Three-Body Problem" series. Prior to this, Netflix also announced the first cast of the "Three-Body" web series. The "Three-Body" adaptation competition has officially begun, which also means that after several changes in the adaptation rights, the adaptation curse of "Three-Body" seems to have finally been broken.
Literary IP adaptation is difficult, "Three-Body" is not an isolated case, and the film and television adaptation of "Wolf Totem", which is also a phenomenon-level work, is also constantly twisting and turning. Recently, Jiang Rong, author and writer of "Wolf Totem", was interviewed to retrace the long and bumpy road of film and television adaptation of this classic novel.
5 years and 700 million: Jean-Jacques Arnold's version of "Wolf Totem"
In 1967, Jiang Rong, as a Beijing zhiqing, came to the Wuzhu Muqin Grassland in Inner Mongolia to join the team. He lived in the grassland for 11 years, experienced the "spiritual nomadism" of his youth, and formed an indissoluble relationship with the wolves on the grassland. After witnessing the gradual decline of grassland and nomadic civilization, out of love and nostalgia for the grassland, he wrote a long novel about man and nature, civilization and wildness, reproducing the cruelty and beauty of the grassland. This majestic and emotionally rich work is "Wolf Totem".
Li Jingze once commented: "The Wolf Totem is an important text published in the particularly complex historical period of our entry into the new century, which actually responds to the great anxiety felt by the whole nation at that historical stage and can withstand our reading for another 10 years." In the past 17 years, "Wolf Totem" has won a number of honors at home and abroad, has been translated into 37 languages, and has become a representative of Chinese literature "going out". In 2019, it was selected into the "New China 70 Years and 70 Novels Collection".
Such a well-known classic, its adaptation is naturally also attracting much attention, and it has been early in the picture of domestic and foreign film and television companies. In 2007, China Film Group obtained the film adaptation authorization of "Wolf Totem" and officially launched the adaptation of this huge work. However, the extremely difficult thrilling scenes such as "man-wolf confrontation", "wolf-horse battle" and "flying wolf" in the original book have deterred many directors until the French director Jean-Jacques Arnold appeared.
The preparation of Jean-Jacques Arnold's version of "Wolf Totem" took 5 years and cost more than 700 million yuan. The production team adheres to the principle of naturalism, in order to shoot as much as possible in real scenes, specially establish a wolf breeding base, hire foreign wolf trainers, and train "wolf actors"... The sincerity of the team is beyond doubt, but subject to a variety of objective factors, after the release of the film, many viewers believe that there is still a big gap with the spiritual world of the "wolf totem" presented in the original work.
But in any case, the Jean-Jacques Arnold team has handed over an answer sheet that allows readers to see the cinematic prospects of the grand work "Wolf Totem". And with that comes a more uplifting and anticipatory call: Can we create an animated film like The Lion King, Wolf Totem?
"Although the copyright has been fully returned to the hands, it is still inevitable to feel regret and loss."
"In 2014, the early stages of the live-action film Wolf Totem, directed by Jean-Jacques Arnold, were almost completed. In addition to the joy, Mr. Jiang Rong and I thought, since it is an animal theme, wolves are also known by all ethnic groups, can we create an animated film "Wolf Totem" like "The Lion King", with the ultimate romance and creativity of animation, classic novel story narrative, showing the core of the harmonious spirit of man and nature in "Wolf Totem", and expressing the great beauty of the Chinese grassland? Ahn Bo Shun, who was the responsible editor of Wolf Totem, recalls that the idea of an animated film for Wolf Totem began at this time.
For this more popular and global perspective of adaptation, the author Jiang Rong is full of expectations. In July 2014, he authorized Dawang (Beijing) Culture and Art Creation Co., Ltd. to sign a contract with LeTV Pictures. Zhang Zhao, who was the CEO of LeTV Pictures at the time, invited "The Lion King" director Rob Minkov to join as the director and producer of the "Wolf Totem" animated film.
However, a few years later, LeEco fell into crisis: Zhang Zhao fell ill and died... The adaptation project of "Wolf Totem" came to a complete standstill.
Until the expiration of the adaptation authorization period in August 2021, the animation film "Wolf Totem" has not been arranged to start shooting, let alone obtained the national film administration filing license. The long 7-year wait came to naught. Nevertheless, he expressed his sincere gratitude to the relevant personnel involved in the "Wolf Totem" film and television project.
"Although the copyright has been fully returned to the hands, it is still inevitable to feel regret and loss." Jiang Rong sighed in an interview. The adaptation of "Wolf Totem" is back to the author, and for the millions of fans who are waiting for it, this "return" is undoubtedly mixed feelings, because it means that another wait has begun.
The rise of guoman: born at the right time, willing to ride the wind and waves
The ups and downs and twists and turns experienced by "Wolf Totem" can also become a microcosm of the current dilemma of literary IP adaptation to a certain extent. Excellent film and television adaptation can make the artistic charm and spiritual connotation of the original work bear and circulate in a richer and more diversified form, which helps to expand the influence of the work and prolong its aesthetic life. However, at the same time, due to multiple reasons such as insufficient capital investment, imperfect operation mechanism, difficult to find excellent production teams, and imperfect industry systems, literary IP adaptations often move forward with difficulties or reach an impasse.
Although the animation adaptation project of "Wolf Totem" has been temporarily shelved, both the author and the reader are still full of expectations for this form of animation. Compared with live-action movies, animation is easier to use technology to restore the majestic and shocking visual effects to the public, and it is also easier to implement the magnificent and flexible imagination.
Nowadays, coinciding with the golden age of classic IP animation adaptation, high-profile masterpieces such as "The Return of the Great Sage", "Jiang Ziya", "The Devil Child of Nezha", and "White Snake: Origins" continue to emerge, and the call for "the rise of national comics" is getting higher and higher, and it is more and more favored by young audiences. Compared with Europe, the United States and Japan, China's animation film IP development still has broad market prospects and development space, and local cultural resources still need to be further explored. The "Wolf Totem", which contains the civilization and spirit of the grassland and carries the moving national epic, is undoubtedly a rich treasure house.
The return of rights, what is the next step? Despite the twists and turns, the 75-year-old Jiang Rong said that he is still full of expectations: "Wolf Totem is a big book, and in the past 17 years of release, it has been loved by a large number of readers, and I am very pleased. The spirit of the wolf totem, especially the harmony between man and nature, has become the consensus of everyone and the strong voice of the times, which proves the eternity of the work. Therefore, I hope that more talented and financial people in the film and television industry will actively develop "Wolf Totem" and tell the Chinese story to the world. ”
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