Watch more "007" kind of protagonist "Goldfinger" coarse spy war theme, the hit drama "Opponent" is the opposite, Guo Jingfei and Tan Zhuo played by the spy couple, one is a taxi driver husband, one is a wife with hyperthyroidism and emotional instability, the two mouths are meticulous all day, arguing for their children, complaining about pensions, and their lives are terrible.
Recently, the novel "Rival" was published by writers publishing house. The author of the novel "Opponent" is Wang Xiaogun, who is also the screenwriter of the TV series "Opponent". Wang Xiaogun graduated from Shanxi Medical University and later abandoned medicine to practice literature. In 2017, the spy drama "Mask" written by Wang Xiaogun triggered a boom in watching dramas, and the screenwriter of "Unsung Hero Yu Min" in the 2021 hit drama "Meritorious Service" was also Wang Xiaogun. In addition, he also served as a script supervisor in the variety show "Actors Please Take Place", and wrote works such as "Who Am I" and "Heavy Hearts". "Opponent" is another spy war work launched by Wang Xiaogun after "Mask", "Secret Messenger" and "Chaser".
In an exclusive interview with a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily, Wang Xiaogun revealed that the opportunity that touched his creation of "Opponent" was in 2018, when CCTV broadcast the news that Taiwanese spies were arrested in the mainland. What impressed Wang Xiaogun the most was that an overseas spy had been lurking in the mainland for two or three years, with a combined salary of only a few thousand yuan per month, and he was often punished for his poor work. "I was a bit surprised by this news. The real spy life is also a chicken feather, and not every spy spends as much money as 007. ”
Similar to the 007-style film and television drama, the profession of spy is glorified
Reporter: Why did you decide to write the spy couple as "the poor version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith"? Was this the original setting for "Opponent"?
Wang Xiaogun: The original idea was to restore a group of small people. Ninety percent of the world is made up of little people. I also want the audience to know that the real spies are not so glamorous, they live around us.
In some previous film and television dramas, spies are often portrayed as omnipotent, heaven and earth, clothed in fine clothes, and particularly beautiful. But as far as I know, the lives and circumstances of many spies are not like this. This profession is actually a particularly anxious, walking on the tip of the knife, positive and negative skins, more in line with the fast-paced, high-intensity, high-pressure mentality of the current big cities, including the details of their lives are often not so exaggerated.
Some film and television dramas similar to the 007 style beautify the profession of spy, so this time I want to create or describe some more realistic images.
Reporter: Guo Jingfei, Tan Zhuo, Yan Bingyan, Ning Li and other actors have performed very successfully, have you participated in the selection of actors? Is there any story of working with them?
Wang Xiaogun: Selecting actors is mainly the work of producers and directors. The screenwriter can give some advice, such as Jiao Gang, who plays the role of Huo Chuanlu. These actors are very good, we have become very good friends outside of work, friends here are not just "friends" in the so-called polite words, but really can make friends, walk through a story together, appreciate each other from the heart and be willing to be close. As Guo Jingfei said, he did not expect that at such an age, he could make such a good friend through a play.
Reporter: Do you watch the barrage or discussion sent by the audience? Is there anything that impressed you?
Wang Xiaogun: I was most impressed by the scolding, especially the personal attacks. I choose to flash by. Those who praised me stared at me for a long time and could not bear to leave. Hahahaha.
The most difficult thing about writing "Opponent" is the details
Reporter: It is very difficult to create modern spy dramas, why do you want to challenge this theme?
Wang Xiaogun: For creators, in addition to the requirements of the project itself, the freshness of self-creation and expression is also very important. The audience doesn't like to see things that have been seen before, and everyone likes the new and hates the old. The script is essentially a commodity, and the screenwriter should try to provide the market with some unseen narrative angles, or genres, and it is more exciting to write themselves.
It is much more difficult to write modern spy dramas than in the era of spy dramas, because it requires the logic of life far greater than the logic of drama. For example, if you write about Harbin in the 30s, a policeman is chasing, a secret agent is on the run, they are running on the central street of Harbin, then this scene can be morning or evening, and the audience will not be so careful to study its rationality, such as the flow of people at that time, why there is no intervention, and so on. But if you write a current plot, such as a chase scene in Beijing's Tiantongyuan, the audience will immediately think of such a scene, and he will ask some questions, if it is the morning rush hour, will there be traffic jams? A spy can't run a few steps because there are people in front of him. If he wants to escape by subway, he may not be able to squeeze in at all. Elements of real life demand to be more real.
Reporter: How long did you prepare for "Opponent"? What preparations have been made specifically, and what else is there besides the accumulation of materials? After you start writing, how long does it take?
Wang Xiaogun: In addition to some reading, reading a large number of materials related to this genre, and some biographies of people at home and abroad, there are also some logic and details about modern counter-espionage work. The producer hired a general consultant teacher for our project, and he played a big role in everything from idea to story, from plot to line, from script to art, from shooting to the whole process.
The whole writing took almost three years. Of course, this includes some episode modifications and waiting for submission.
Reporter: For you, what is the most difficult part of "Opponent", and what parts make you revise repeatedly?
Wang Xiaogun: The most difficult thing is the details. For example, in the whole process of chasing and arresting spies, the national security cadres and police have some specific ideas and technical means. Our drama chooses to show more case-handling ideas than technical means. Because one of them has some confidentiality requirements, and the other is also a trade-off in the way of creation.
The part that is repeatedly modified should still be the episode. Mainly the direction of the fate of some characters and the final ending, this was somewhat repetitive at the time, and the result presented in the end was still the best one.
Tv series and novels have 10% less content
Reporter: What is the difficulty of adapting a novel into a screenplay? What do you personally find more satisfied? What do you feel sorry about?
Wang Xiaogun: The novel is more self-expressive in expression, and some self-expression is also more sufficient. TV drama is a commodity, so it needs to be more refined, and there are some commercial requirements. Overall, TV series and novels have 10% less content. The main plot change is some emotional entanglement and storyline between the three young spies of Taoyuan, Hualien and Hsinchu. If you can have two more episodes, these young characters will be fuller. It's a small regret.
Reporter: Which character in "The Opponent" has invested your own shadow?
Wang Xiaogun: The character of Li Tang has some similarities with me in personality, but not all. In fact, some characters when you eat him thoroughly, think thoroughly, when he or she lives, many times there will be their own life, such as in the logic of behavior and language logic, he will have his own choices, sometimes the creator is following him, writing. It sounds a bit vain, but it's an experience.
Reporter: A big reason why everyone likes "Opponent" is that it has a life texture, spies are no different from other ordinary middle-aged people except that they live more fearfully, are you deliberately "rewriting" the chicken feathers where they live when you create, and "lightening" their spy stories? Will the actors act strictly according to your script, or will there be some improvised sparks?
Wang Xiaogun: In fact, the spy bridge section is not lightly written. Probably because the actors acted too well, making the audience impressed with the characters and ignoring the plot. This may also be a beautiful illusion that the creator enjoys. If the characters of a play stand up, the audience will often remember the characters and ignore the specific bridges and plots, which is actually good for creation.
In the creative stage of the script, those chicken feathers seem to be parts of life, but in fact, they are connected and echoed with the details of the line of espionage. The interaction between the two is also a creative method of spy war themes.
The actor added a lot of magic to the characters created by the script. For example, Guo Jingfei ate the dumpling skin left in the bowl for his daughter, for example, Tan Zhuo brushed his teeth desperately after performing the task, such as the gentle details between Yan Bingyan and her husband, and the details of Ning Li's design for himself to practice his right hand at home and break the left hand at home, which are impressive strokes, are all added by the actors themselves. I am very grateful to them.
If you write a novel for ten years alone, you can't write a work that can move people
Then this freedom is meaningless
Reporter: Novelist and screenwriter, do these two identities have any impact on your creation? For example, when writing a novel, you will expect the script after that, and the novel will pay more attention to the sense of picture, details, and so on. Being a novelist is more free, and being a screenwriter is a lot more restrictive, so do you prefer to write novels?
Wang Xiaogun: The novel will be more personal. This mainly depends on their own choices. TV drama is a kind of thing with stronger commodity attributes, if you choose to create a TV series or movie, then you will inevitably face some constraints and compromises first. You also need to be smarter, how to do some article between the red light and the green light, flashing around.
Novelists have a relatively greater degree of freedom. But in addition to those gods, it may also be difficult for ordinary novels to support their families, which is also a reality. But I don't think there's anything between the two that's higher or who's lower, or which one is more wronged to write about, and I don't think it should be stated in this way, because literature is universal, whether it's a novel, a poem, a prose, or a movie or a TV series, if you create a wonderful story, a group of living characters, whether it's a reader or an audience, or you yourself will be moved by it, that sense of accomplishment is actually the same.
If a novel cannot be written in ten years alone and cannot write a work that can move people, then this freedom is meaningless. Quan Dang is entertaining himself.
Reporter: What qualities do you think a good novelist and screenwriter should have?
Wang Xiaogun: Self-discipline. In fact, professional writers and professional screenwriters are essentially the same as professional athletes. Professional screenwriters also have the so-called golden period of creation, which mainly refers to physical strength. One cannot write forever. To some extent, it is the same as a professional athlete, who needs to be highly disciplined, not to drag the draft, to work and rest on time, to be kind to his body, to maintain a good state, a competitive state and a writing state. Lots of training, non-stop competition. Self-recovery after injury. I think it's all in common in essence.
Reporter: Now that the audience's appreciation level is getting higher and higher, and there is also a lot of criticism of the screenwriters of domestic film and television dramas, do you feel that there is more pressure to create than before? And how to defuse this pressure?
Wang Xiaogun: In fact, the pressure has always existed. Overall, there are still more opportunities for screenwriting in recent years than before. Screenwriter Shi Kang when he finished writing "Struggle", at that time" was well known to everyone, he was also a first-line screenwriter in China, but he could not say what kind of subject he wanted to write, he also had to write an outline first, and go everywhere to talk about cooperation with the company.
In recent years, there have indeed been many more practitioners. I think that no matter what era, writing is still a very personal thing. In fact, it is a bit like an athlete, most of the time there is no audience, you can only train at home desperately, constantly accumulate experience, fall down and get up, so repeatedly, until the day of the final, you can see the applause of the audience, in order to hear the applause of the audience, of course, there are some people who can't even go into the qualifiers to be eliminated, in the end it is still a more personal thing.
In any profession, the requirements of practitioners for themselves are different, some are high, some are low. We are actually competing with the screenwriters of American dramas and Korean dramas, or we should be more self-demanding.
Abandoning a doctor from Wen A phone call turned me from a doctor into a north drifter
Reporter: When did you become interested in literature, and why did you decide that you wanted to abandon medicine and literature?
Wang Xiaogun: I probably like to read some extracurricular books since junior high school. Qiong Yao, Gu Long, Jin Yong all looked, and my eyes were short-sighted because when I was in the third year of junior high school, I quietly read "Deer Ding Ji" in the quilt every day. At that time, afraid that his parents would find out, he hid in a small room, covered his head with a quilt, and watched with a flashlight. At that time, parents were not allowed to close the door.
My grades in math were not very good, but my language was relatively good, especially in writing. This experience also gave me some confidence in my own writing. I really realized that I was interested in writing when I first joined the work force and wanted to publish my own novels during that time. I don't want to work in the hospital, I am trying to find a way to change the environment every day, of course, choosing to study medicine is not my own will, mainly related to my parents, because my parents are doctors.
After joining the work, because I was young, I had to work the night shift every day. I wasn't very busy during that time, so I wrote columns for various newspapers while working. One day I received a phone call from Hou Xiaoqiang of Sina.com, and he said that we are hiring an editor here, do you want to come? Looking back now, that phone call really changed my fate, it turned me from a doctor into a North Drifter. Everything that is happening now is related to that moment.
Do you think you have a midlife crisis now? How to spend it?
Wang Xiaogun: My own midlife crisis seems to have started a few years ago. It's like sugar gourd, eat one by one. I was very impressed with one of the bullet screens of "Opponent". This audience member said that "life is actually much more difficult than spying", which is full of vicissitudes and stories. Hopefully, he'll get through his own midlife crisis, and of course, maybe he's just a middle school student who just failed his final exams.
Reporter: At present, many young people like to read those easy and lowly nutritious sweet texts, but the literature with depth and nutrition is snubbed, what do you think about this? What advice do you have for young people to read?
Wang Xiaogun: Reading is often related to the times. Our culture in the 1960s and 1970s was relatively poor, and when there was a wave of publishing fever in the early 1980s, readers were like a group of people who had been hungry for a long time, and suddenly saw a variety of breads, and they would certainly spare no effort to stuff it in their mouths. The current era is not the same as it was then, the pace of the city where everyone lives is particularly fast, the pressure is high, and from the heart of the heart, he likes to look at some relaxed things.
In addition to the need for the entire cultural industry to have a sense of self-reflection, in fact, the times sometimes exist objectively, and we cannot blindly criticize readers. But for the creator, it is still important to provide some things that are correct in the three views, and to guide everyone's aesthetics.
Burnout periods occur almost every week or even every day
Reporter: Your works guarantee both quantity and quality, how is this done? Have you had burnout for so many years, worrying about not having creative inspiration and passion?
Wang Xiaogun: When screenwriters are actually paid attention to by most people, the time is relatively short. Most of the time he was silent, working alone, very boring. For example, no matter which TV series we see now, the writers of these dramas may have started working three years ago, but only recently people have seen a work that they have completed after many years of work.
The so-called guarantee of quantity is actually a result of accumulating and dripping stones over time. When it comes to a certain work, my writing speed is still relatively slow. I've heard of screenwriters who can write an episode on an international flight, which is unthinkable to me.
Needless to say, burnout periods occur almost every week, or even every day. It's a personal thing, depending on how you fight it.
Reporter: Your screenwriting works are very rich in themes, is there anything you have always wanted to create?
Wang Xiaogun: I actually want to try a football theme, such as Qiongzhong women's football. Find an opportunity to give it a try.
Reporter: In 2022, do you have any writing plans, or do you have any works that will be broadcast?
Wang Xiaogun: I am working on a main theme work. The follow-up plan is to write a short drama, about 12 episodes, a criminal investigation theme. The secret agent caught a little too much a while ago, let's catch the thief first.
Reporter Zhang Jia
Photo courtesy/ Xiaoyi