In the early summer of 2016, the wind and sun were beautiful on weekdays, and Yu Dong, the president of Bona Pictures, who was accustomed to killing and deciding, was entangled.
A few days ago, Tang Jing, director of the Haizheng Art Center, sent him a script, which was written by the famous screenwriter Feng Ji based on the evacuation of overseas Chinese from Yemen.
The Dragon Commando, composed of 8 special forces, had to go to Yemen, where the war was severe, to resist the pressure of government forces, rebels and terrorist organizations to pick up the trapped compatriots, which was arduous and shocking.
Yu Dong read it, very realistic, cruel and terrifying, but also made people tear up.
There was a breath in his chest that could not be dissipated for a long time, it was a complex emotion of touching, pride, and shock.
It is not easy to shoot such a real picture, thinking of the ongoing "The Great Cause of Building the Army" and "Mekong Action", two gold-sucking beasts, Yu Dong gritted his teeth and rejected Tang Jing.
But who is Tang Jing? She is the tenth lady of "The Tale of Wulin"! To say that she is clever is humble.
She found an opportunity to meet with Yu Dong once, and then took down Yu Dong, who was hesitant, and the two sides successfully cooperated.
Thanks to Tang Jing's efforts, it was only after the "Red Sea Action" that grossed 3.6 billion yuan in the future.
Yu Dong felt fortunate and sincerely "thanked Director Tang" at the award ceremony of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Award for Best Feature Film.
In March 2015, the news of the Navy's "Yemen Evacuation" operation was overwhelming, and the whole country was immersed in joy and pride. As a screenwriter at the Television Arts Center of the Political Department of the Navy, Feng Ji was both touched and surprised.
Judging by his poisonous vision of creating a classic TV series such as "Indelible Fan", "Yemeni Evacuation" can be adapted into a movie.
He immediately made a report to the leaders of the art center, who were very supportive and urged him to complete the first draft as soon as possible.
Feng Ji got the letter and immediately launched a survey, he went to a submarine detachment to experience life to learn submarine tactics, found the commander and team members of the incident at that time for interviews, busy for more than half a year, the script was first completed, the political commander of the Yemeni evacuation of overseas Chinese General Xia Ping personally named it - "Red Sea Operation".
General Xia Ping
The script was available, and everyone was very happy and wanted to shoot it for the audience as soon as possible. However, Haizheng Television Arts Center has always focused on TV drama production, and it can be said that it does not know anything about movies. This made Director Tang Jing feel worried.
And in 2015, the main theme movie did not sell well, and investors were reluctant to take this "hot potato".
At that time, only Bona Pictures made a fairly good main theme movie, and Tang Jing decided to catch this sheep hair.
At first the sheep was reluctant and hesitant. Tang Jing found an opportunity to talk with the boss Yu Dongshen once, and promised that the navy would give the greatest support, and the two sides reached an agreement and made a plan.
Since you decided to shoot, you have to do your best! Then it is necessary to be cautious about who to shoot and who to perform.
Boehner's "Mekong Operation" that boehner was filming at the time was nearing the end, and although director Lin Chaoxian was from Hong Kong, he was an authentic "military fan", and there were classic police works such as "Guild Wars", and Yu Dong handed over the project of "Red Sea Operation" to him.
Lin Chaoxian is super excited, he has wanted to be a soldier since he was a child, but Hong Kong does not have the conditions to let him realize his dream; he wants to take the police academy to become a policeman, the results are too bad to be enough.
Perhaps because of these layers of obsession, his police films can be made so deeply.
Other directors are afraid to touch the main theme of the movie, but director Lin Chaoxian feels that he has picked up a treasure, and this opportunity to realize his dream is unattainable.
Lin Chaoxian was very cautious about "Red Sea Action" and personally chose the shooting location.
His style is still always "real", first went to the place where the "Yemen evacuation" incident occurred, and decided that when a large-scale war broke out in Yemen, he could not guarantee the safety of the entire crew, and could only choose Morocco.
He had filmed in Morocco, where it was still quite suitable for "Operation Red Sea", and he had a score in mind.
Despite this, he personally flew to Morocco for a month before putting his mind at ease.
With the shooting location, Lin Chaoxian ran back to China to select actors.
He once single-handedly pushed Zhang Jiahui, Xie Tingfeng and others to the throne of the Film Emperor, and was jokingly said: If you want to be the Film Emperor, you will go to shoot Lin Chaoxian's scene!
He let out the wind to select actors, and the actors who came to audition were like carp across the river.
But he scared off many people with one request: to be like a real warrior!
For Lin Chaoxian, he wants to shoot "Red Sea Operation", "Yemen Evacuation", a real battle between special forces and terrorist organizations, he asks the actor to be able to become a real special soldier, to present the word "real" to the audience.
He chooses actors to first look at the temperament, to see if he has the "strength" of special soldiers, and secondly, he must be able to endure hardships and train himself into special soldiers.
Lin Chaoxian believes that willpower is more important than acting, and it is up to him to adjust the bad acting skills.
Du Jiang came to the interview by himself. There is no shortage of big names in the role of "Xu Hong" to interview, but only Du Jiang remains.
Shandong Hanzi has thick eyebrows and big eyes, a square face, a straight board, a straight breath, put on a combat uniform, and holds a gun is a soldier who is alive and free.
More importantly, he said in the interview: "I would love to play this role, and I need this opportunity very much." ”
People have urgent desires, and they will fight for them. Lin Chaoxian, who had been crawling all the way, knew this well.
Sure enough, for this opportunity, Du Jiang desperately exercised himself: 6 hours a day of strength training, only eating cooked chicken breast and broccoli and brown rice made of paste. It took a month and a half to meet Lin Chaoxian's requirements.
Compared with Du Jiang's active struggle, Huang Jingyu's role is somewhat "easy".
Lin Chaoxian had seen Huang Jingyu before and was impressed by his "dirty, bad" temperament, but Huang Jingyu's own image had a military "right", and the two were fused together, much like the feeling of Gu Shun, a genius sniper in the Jiaolong Commando: open and calm.
Director Huang Jingyu watched a few "Mekong Action" films and "fooled" him.
Although it is difficult to select male actors, there is still a huge space for picking, and actresses are not so good.
When I heard that I was going to Morocco to suffer for 5 months, I was not allowed to return to China halfway, and many female stars were discouraged, and even Jiang Wenli shook her head when she heard it.
Half a month after the start-up, the suitable "Xia Nan" has not been found, and the producer has been frowning all day and sighing.
Even on the plane are thinking about finding actors, and the friends next to them pour bitter water, this year, the actress who is willing to suffer is not easy to find Wow!
I didn't want to take this flight and there was also Haiqing.
Haiqing took the initiative to ask about this role, and he was very interested inside and outside the words, asking the producer: "What requirements?" ”
The producer was overjoyed, but did not dare to expose too much, only vaguely saying that it was the role of a war correspondent, to have the temperament of a cultured person!
She was still very happy, thinking, "Don't I have a cultural temperament?" ”
Haiqing took the initiative to take over this role, and the next day he took two assistants to take a flight to North Africa.
Just landed on the ground was blinded by the yellow sand, wanted to turn around but could not, had to grit their teeth and hold on, this support is a few months.
After interviewing and fooling all the way and assembling the entire cast team, the crew of "Operation Red Sea" began five months of shooting in Morocco.
Devil director Lin Chaoxian is famous, here is Morocco, called every day should not be called the ground is not smart, once you enter the group, don't want to run, so the actors are very "obedient":
The training arranged by the director is done conscientiously, and the director's requirements are desperately met.
It is not only afraid of the "authority" of the director, the actors' reverence for the military and the love of the country do not allow themselves to relax, and everyone wants to make "Red Sea Action" well.
If you want to make a good scene, you must become a person in the play.
The actors who play the Dragon Squad learn from the retired special forces every day, from the height of the center of gravity in the gun-holding posture to the cooperation between the different directions of the team in the operation, the speed and perspective that should be presented in the battle, all of which must be learned one by one, and there is no room for error.
Every day like this, Du Jiang was "demonized."
He sneaked into the hotel with a broom to investigate, and every time he entered an unfamiliar environment, he subconsciously tactically analyzed its safety index and quickly planned the evacuation route in his mind, and even saw a car driving past, he had to wonder if there was a car bomb under the car...
Du Jiang was crazy and crazy, and Huang Jingyu did not let go.
He has a real dragon commando sniper as an instructor, and the commander can teach the creeps no matter what you did before, not to mention that the posture should be able to achieve subconscious precision, and even the weight of breathing must be controlled within a few seconds.
These can be practiced, but the sense of intimacy between the sniper and his gun cannot be achieved quickly.
The instructor told him: "A person who really knows guns, even if he doesn't put it up, he should feel right." ”
In order to find the "feeling", Huang Jingyu holds his sniper rifle every day, exchanging touches, like a lover.
Every lead actor came this way, they trained and went on missions like the special forces, and they became close comrades like them.
When filming deep into the desert, the crew could not find a hotel, and everyone could only squeeze into the sandy bungalow, and the signal was intermittent, like returning to the innocent era when there was no electrical appliances.
The actors are like the members of the company who have left the work, busy with the housework at the head of their house, and gag each other.
Zhang Yi, as the big brother of the Jiaolong Squad, took the lead in "old-age care", openly planting vegetables in the name of unaccustomed diet, but the technology was not refined, and he did not plant a few for a long time.
Everyone laughed at him while helping him find earthworms. Haiqing was watching from the sidelines, reciting two English poems to them from time to time, "Help the Fun".
After getting away from the hustle and bustle, people only think about filming. The sahara's wind and sand wash people clean and create a film with a sense of authenticity.
"Operation Red Sea" makes people look blood boiling, a big reason is because of its graphics - heavy weapons are dense.
Rows of heavy tanks rolling past, helicopters rumbling, warships on a majestic sea, fine firearms in the midst of fierce battles...
The strong and direct visual impact, the cold and merciless thickness of heavy weapons, suddenly aroused the audience's fear of war and death.
This is not a joke, the weapons in it are all real.
The director went to Morocco to shoot a film, which was to greet the local government in advance.
The government not only has to ensure the safety of the crew, but also provide helicopters, tanks and other weapons to cooperate with the filming.
The director even mobilized the local army to do the group performance, and asked the soldiers to help teach the other group actors the posture of fighting.
Isn't it majestic to look at? But all this is easy to say as long as you have money.
But the warship in the port is not something that the director can rent for money, it is a destroyer provided by the Chinese Navy with a cost of up to 1.4 billion yuan in the North Sea Fleet, which is the first appearance of the Navy's new weapons in the film, representing the Navy's great attention to the film.
These props, group performances and other big problems can be overcome, but the cultural barriers are difficult to break.
The filming team of "Red Sea Action" can be more than one domestic crew, there are foreigners from more than a dozen countries around the world, there are more than 300 staff, and more than 1,200 actors at home and abroad were used in a scene on February 26, 2017 alone.
Foreigners and our professional philosophy are in opposite directions, which makes Lin Chaoxian extremely painful.
Our domestic crew filmed desperately, starting at 6 o'clock in the morning and finishing at ten o'clock in the evening, the creators and actors gathered together to discuss the script, practicing tomorrow's shots can stay up until the early morning, so that even the axis is turned to the end of the shooting is not a problem.
Foreigners are not willing to fight like this, they are free to get used to it, they will leave at the point, completely ignoring your dissatisfaction.
"It's the saddest play inside me." Devil Lin Chaoxian spent more than ten times more effort than ever in order to coordinate his time.
Seeing that the director worked so hard, the actors were embarrassed to give advice.
Zhang Yi fractured his bones and turned up the mountain, and Haiqing was bitten by insects and made up his face.
Jiang Luxia, who plays the female special forces soldier Tong Li, trained as well as the male actor, and finally lost her menstrual period. The leg injury was not good or silent, so he wrapped it in a bandage, and when he returned to the hotel to open it, he could see the black and purple calves.
"She didn't tell me, I didn't know until after the shooting." Lin Chaoxian said in the interview that he did not know that Jiang Luxia was injured before the shooting began, and he was shocked to know.
Later, I heard Jiang Luxia say: "I am afraid that the director will replace me after he knows." Lin Chaoxian was both touched and relieved, saying in the interview: "I have the greatest admiration for Jiang Luxia! ”
At the beginning of July 2017, the crew of "Operation Red Sea" ended filming in Morocco and returned to the arms of their mothers.
They fled the harsh North Africa and came to Zhanjiang, which is high in the sky and the sea, but they felt lost and dreamed.
There was no longer the smell of smoke and sand between the breaths, and there was no need to be vigilant at all times, but when they stayed in the domestic hotel, their bodies were still reflexively tense.
But the adverse reactions to all this are the best evidence that they have become a dragon commando.
In the familiar hometown, everything became smooth, and the domestic drama was completed in more than 20 days.
The entire film, prepared for two years, cost 500 million.
From barren land to ancient city old alleys, from dangerous mountains and deserts to the waves and seas, to and from more than a dozen areas, suffered a lot of suffering, suffered a lot of injuries, and finally ended at the end of July 2017, the 2018 Spring Festival file was released.
The first day of the film schedule was only 10%, and the box office accounted for 7%, ranking fourth.
However, in the next few days, it climbed steadily, turned against the wind, and became the box office champion of the Spring Festival in 2018, with a wild 3.6 billion.
This film, which is soaked with the blood of countless people, has not disappointed people after all, it has become the highest reputation film in the Spring Festival file, won the real love of the audience, and won various awards such as the Hundred Flowers Award and the Academy Award, with a total of 31 nominations.
The same is an excellent reputation of military theme movies, some netizens will compare "Red Sea Action" and "Wolf Warrior 2", and before this, "Wolf Warrior 2" has hit a super high box office of 5.6 billion, and the reputation is also extremely hot.
But Lin Chaoxian said he was not worried: "I also like 'Wolf Warrior', but we express differently, we are a group of wolves. ”
I have to admire Lin Chaoxian's vision and realm, in just 3 years, the rating and reputation of "Red Sea Action" have successfully counterattacked "Wolf Warrior".
In the hearts of many people, "Operation Red Sea" can also become a representative of Chinese soldiers than "Wolf Warrior".
Compared to the expression of individual heroism, Operation Red Sea is more like a real national action, teamwork, indispensable.
There is the bravery and fearlessness of male and female special forces, there is also the sense of duty of ordinary war correspondents; there is the cruel and ruthless sacrifice of team members, and there is also the love of compatriots who have returned to the motherland.
There are blood and tears, some people are rescued, some people are sacrificed, and the war is inexhaustible, this is the real theme of the movie.
Military is not a gimmick, war is not an addiction. Director Lin Chaoxian said it well: "Use pictures and sounds to convey real power, and only real cruelty can play an anti-war role!" ”
I hope that the main theme movies in the future can have such a consciousness and play their "real" value.
. END .
【Text| Rainy and sunny】
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