"The people who are surrounded by the city want to escape, and the people outside the city want to rush in. Whether it is marriage or career, most of the wishes of life are like this. Accompanied by voice actor Bik's narration, in August this year, the 10-episode TV series "Siege" made in 1990 was restored and replayed on the Oriental Film channel. The old dramas of decades ago have once again entered the audience's field of vision, which makes people sigh that at that time, they had both form and spirit in the choice of actors.
In fact, "Siege" can be said to have created the most grand cast ever in the history of Chinese tv dramas. Fang Hongwei played by Chen Daoming, Zhao Xinlin played by Yingda, Su Wenyun played by Li Yuanyuan, etc. are all impressive, gao Songnian, president of Sam Lu University, was played by Ying Ruocheng, then vice minister of culture, and the famous director Wu Yigong and his family of three all played roles in the play.
In 1990, the filming scene of "Siege of the City" of Zhejiang Chunhui Middle School, Wang Zhihua and Ying Ruocheng
30 years ago, how did the fairy casting of "Siege" come about? Wang Zhihua, the executive director of this drama and a national first-class actor of the Shanghai Film Actors Troupe, unveiled the story behind the shooting of "Siege of the City" to us.
The 72 characters are not sloppy
In "The Siege", there are 72 characters with names and surnames. On the boat from France to Shanghai, on the way to the mainland, on the campus of Sam Lu University, and finally back in Shanghai, Fang Hong gradually encountered all kinds of people along the way, they are social beings. Director Huang Shuqin called them "Seventy-Two Sages", requiring the 72 characters in the whole play not to be sloppy, giving priority to actors with a sense of humor, "the choice of all actors should be done decades later without regret."
Huang Shuqin was selected according to the characteristics of the characters described in the book, "on the one hand, it is the appearance, and the connection between the actor's inner emotions and the characters that she feels in the chat, she is particularly accurate."
The earliest role was Chen Daoming, who was the "male protagonist" that Huang Shuqin wanted. She had seen "The Last Emperor" and seen a temperament similar to Fang Hongwei from Puyi, played by Chen Daoming.
Wang Zhihua still remembers that "Siege of the City" was filmed on April 20, 1990, "Some people on the Internet said that Chen Daoming wore a long shirt at home in the summer of 1990 to find the feeling of the Republic of China, and rumors were false, we were filming the scene on the boat at that time."
In 1990, "Siege of the City" huang Shuqin directed the play
It is true that Chen Daoming has resigned three times. "'Siege' is not like a general novel, there is no complicated storyline, using various details to show the characters, he began to worry about the completion is not good, did not dare to pick up, but Huang Dao and he said, you do not act, we will not shoot."
Chen Daoming is a very serious person, and since he has taken over, he wants to play this character to life. In addition to pondering the character of the character, he also has ideas about tone and tone. Chen Daoming is a northerner, but in "Siege of the City", he imitates the southern accent very well, and Huang Shuqin is often laughed at the scene.
Wang Zhihua and Chen Daoming had known each other since the early 1980s, when they were both making films in long films. Chen Daoming was in the crew of "There is a Snowstorm Tonight", and in the evening, he was the first to sit in the conference room and watch the news broadcast on time. Because on TV, there is his wife Du Xian. After that, they also collaborated on the TV series "Jasmine".
Speaking of Chen Daoming, Wang Zhihua was full of praise. When filming "Siege of the City", Chen Daoming was the most famous of all the actors, but he never put up a shelf. "He doesn't think he's an actor, and it's absolutely okay for you to joke with him." Of course, usually he doesn't talk much, and he can talk only if he can talk. ”
Yingda played Fang Hongwei's friend Zhao Xinlin in "Siege". When Huang Shuqin was looking for this character, she used Chen Daoming as a reference. Yingda is white and fat, just in contrast to Chen Daoming in image, he himself is like Zhao Xinlin, an international student returning from the United States.
Ge You was not well-known at that time, and in order to win the role of Li Meiting, he also found Huang Shuqin's recommendation through his mother, who was a literary editor. Huang Shuqin looked at the photo, and especially went to see Ge You's performance in "The Stubborn Lord", felt that it was appropriate, and fixed it. The only slight regret is that Li Meiting is a classmate of Gao Songnian, the president of Sam Lu University, and Ge You was a little younger in this role, but he took the villain temperament of this literati very well.
In 1990, "Siege of the City" outside the Ningbo Tiantong Temple, Wang Zhihua and Huang Shuqin and Zheng Chang were in line with the film
"One role after another must be on the number in advance, and you can't wait for the start of the performance to find it." During the preparation, as soon as they have time, they sit down to talk about casting, Wang Zhihua has been filming outside, there are many familiar actors, often think of who, they recommend to Huang Shuqin. "Ren Guangzhi of the Shanghai Youth Repertory Theatre is good." "You can play Mr. Wang, contact him quickly to see." Xu Jinjin, who plays the little widow, has also worked with Wang Zhihua and knows that she is suitable for the role of this kind of little woman. Huang Shuqin brought her over to talk and settled down.
The first beauty in the novel, Mrs. Wang, is played by Yu Hui of the Shangying Actors Troupe, when she had already filmed the scenes of the Shangying Studio, and Huang Shuqin was more familiar with her and set early.
Gai Lili, who plays Miss Bao, was recommended by Wang Zhihua, and before filming "Siege", they had just collaborated on the movie "Broken Throat Sword", "I think she is suitable, can perform that feeling.". Galili herself had fairer skin, and in order to get closer to the description in the book, the makeup artist deepened her skin tone.
The sensitive and scheming Sun Roujia is played by Lu Liping, who is also an actor with whom Huang Shuqin has worked. Qian Zhongshu's many satirical Su Wenyun made Li Yuanyuan play three points, although she herself was far more beautiful than the characters described in the book. There is a saying that Lü and Li initially intended to swap roles, but were rejected by Huang Shuqin. Wang Zhihua denied this rumor, "After the actors read the book, they will have an image thinking about the role and know whether they are suitable or not." Moreover, Director Huang also has self-confidence, and she decided that if you come to act, you will firmly believe in the end. ”
Tang Xiaofu, who made Fang Hong gradually remember and almost perfect, experienced twists and turns in casting. Wang Zhihua recalled that Chen Daoming first recommended Yang Lan to Huang Dao, when she had not yet graduated from college, and her pure image matched the characters in the book, but Huang Dao went to see the program she hosted and was still hesitant. By chance, someone mentioned Shi Lanya to Huang Shuqin, who was not yet twenty years old at the time and had not acted much, but Huang Shuqin found her to watch the TV series she starred in, and immediately made a decision. "Film and television dramas pay more attention to the eyes, and Huang Dao sees Tang Xiaofu's feelings in her eyes."
Huang Shuqin also has a premise in casting, and it is best for small roles to be Shanghai actors. Because this is a "Shanghai-produced" TV series, it reflects the customs and customs of Shanghai. Finally, about 80 or 90 percent of the actors in the whole play are from Shanghai.
Song Yining and Lü Liang, a husband and wife of drama actors in Shanghai Renyi, starred in the play as a female instructor and poor philosopher Chu Shenming of Sam Lu University. Song Yining broke the image, stuffed cotton into his mouth, set up reading glasses, cut his hair short and flat, and had an image of a "three-people's old lady" who couldn't help but be funny.
Gu Yelu, a famous "pocket boy" in the 1940s, was invited to play the stuttering and sinister professor Han Xueyu. Li Tianji, a screenwriter at the Shanghai Film Studio, made a cameo appearance in the play as a commissioner of the Ministry of Education who only played for a few minutes. The well-known writer Sha Yexin played su Wenyun's husband, who looked like the poet Cao Yuen-lang of the "Four Joy Pills".
Now it seems that Huang Shuqin's wish of "not regretting it for decades" has been fulfilled. "If the casting is successful, the play is half successful. You have to make the audience believe in the character, otherwise the story is useless no matter how good it is. Wang Zhihua said.
Minister, Director, Factory Director
Fast forward 30 years, Wang Zhihua still remembers the appeal of the original filming of "Siege" - as soon as the news of shooting a new scene came out, the eyes of all parts of the country were projected.
Including Yingda, Ge You and other Beijing actors are all admiring. Even Ying Ruocheng, the vice minister of culture at the time, took the initiative to ask for help and wanted to play the role. Huang Shuqin assigned him to play Gao Songnian, the president of Sam Lu University. Gao Songnian did not play much, but Yingruocheng attached great importance to it, and specially took a week of creative leave from Beijing to go directly to the location of Shangyu in Zhejiang.
Ying Ruocheng came alone, without an assistant. Wang Zhihua sorted out all the scenes of Gao Songnian and put them in a week to finish filming. At the scene, Ying Ruocheng absolutely listened to the director's command. "I was particularly touched when I was shooting on the spot, he was an old artist, very serious about creation, and very kind. In the film crew and we mingled together, no one thought he was a 'minister', everyone called him 'English teacher'. ”
In film and television dramas, some dragon sets with lines in the foreground are called "special actors", which are generally selected from the shortest among the extras. However, when Huang Shuqin filmed "Siege of the City", he required that all actors' images and temperaments should fit the original characters and be able to act.
In 1990, "Siege" was executed on site
In "Siege", you can see many celebrities to "run the dragon set", and even small roles are not sloppy. Wu Yigong, then director of the Shanghai Film Bureau and a famous director, put on a long shirt and played Fang Hongwei's father-in-law, Manager Zhou. His wife Zhang Wenrong also played a husband and wife with Wu Yigong in the play.
Invited Wu Yigong's family of three to perform "Siege of the City", which was proposed by Huang Shuqin on her own initiative. Some people say that they were originally scheduled to play manager Zhou's family of three, but the actual son in the play is the warrior Qiang, who has starred in "Sixteen-year-old Flower Season", and Wu Tiange, the son of Wu Yigong and director, plays Fang Hongyi, the younger brother of Fang Hongyi. "Let Wu Yigong and his wife play Manager Zhou and his wife, the character relationship is easy to handle, and the image is close, but we did not consider letting Wu Tiange play the younger son, and the age in the novel is not right, it was Fang Hongwei's younger brother, in fact, Zeng Dan, who played Fang Hongwei's younger sister-in-law, is also Wu Tiange's wife."
Yu Benzheng, the director of the Shanghai Film Studio at the time, played Mr. Shen, a returned politician who appeared at Miss Su's family party, so many words that Fang Hong gradually distressed that "the government can move the capital, but he can't change his seat."
When Yu Benzheng came to shoot the scene, no one on the scene regarded him as a "leader", and when they met and greeted him, they all said "Teacher Yu". Wu Yigong's wife, Zhang Wenrong, is an actor in the Shangying Actors Troupe, and everyone in the troupe calls her "Big Sister", and when they see Wu Yigong, they call her "brother-in-law". "We didn't feel that the director had a sense of distance, he lived in Huaihai Road at that time, and it was convenient to find him."
At that time, the filming team of "Siege" can be said to have gathered the technical backbone of various departments of the Shanghai Film Studio. For example, the art Zhong Yongqing has a special understanding of Shanghai in the 1930s, and when it comes to related scenes, there is a picture in his mind. "Siege" is based on the novel, the director needless to say, the staff in the factory are all handing a copy of "Siege", as soon as they are idle, they hold it and read it.
In addition to the 72 characters who appeared, Siege also featured a non-camera voice actor, voice actor Bicker, who accompanied the entire work with narration. In the late 1980s, he suffered from a laryngeal disease, and the narration of Siege became his last dubbing work.
In order to hurry, the director just finished cutting half of the film, and Wang Zhihua began to prepare for the post-dubbing work. At that time, according to the completion of the shooting, about a month later, everyone rushed back to Shanghai to record, and basically every actor was matched by himself, including Ying Ruocheng.
Whoever has the most details, the lens will be given to whom
Wang Zhihua remembers that one day in 1989, he was still busy dubbing the post-dubbing of a play, when he suddenly received a call from "Siege" producer Zhang Xue estate and learned that Huang Shuqin was unfortunately hit by a car accident and broke his calf bone while watching the location. Huang Dao was very anxious and could not sleep for this matter, because he must put the novel on the screen before Mr. Qian Zhongshu's 80th birthday. So, she wanted to ask me to be an executive director, and I said yes. ”
Throughout "Siege of the City", Huang Shuqin was almost filmed in a wheelchair or on crutches.
1990 "Siege" work photos
There are four people in the director group, in addition to Huang Shuqin, executive director Wang Zhihua, assistant director Xia Xiaoyun, and Field Reporter Qian Qingqing all played roles in the play. Wang Zhihua starred as Liu Dongfang, the head of the Department of Foreign Languages, in "Siege of the City", who originally only wanted to follow the director and did not plan to play a role. At the beginning, Huang Shuqin asked him to pick a role to play, and he said half-jokingly, "I will look at the upper Hongwei", he knew that Chen Daoming had already been fixed.
Liu Dongfang had originally set up an actor from the drama center to play, but when he started filming, he suddenly had something to do and could not come, so he had to be replaced by Wang Zhihua. "He is more suitable than me, and I am a little too handsome to play Liu Dongfang." Wang Zhihua said with a smile, "But it is too difficult to find someone temporarily, and to perform "Siege of the City", you must be familiar with the novel." This is also the only role that changes roles.
Many of the small roles in "Siege" are played by the crew, and the costume division, props division, etc. are all on the battlefield. When Fang Hong gradually returned to his hometown by train, the reporter who followed the interview was the cameraman Shen Xinghao.
Non-professional actors are not afraid of acting badly, And Huang Shuqin's requirements for actors are relaxed, don't act, just like living in it.
"At that time, the cost of filming TV series was tight, and everyone was careful. If there are people in the group who can act, this can save the budget, and there is no one who knows the script and the original book better. ”
At that time, the film remuneration was not high, the famous actors were only a few hundred yuan per episode, and Wang Zhihua's director salary for 10 episodes totaled 2500 yuan. Most of the crew's funds were spent on filming.
At that time, TV dramas generally made one episode every 3 days. In order to pursue artistic effects, the film crew of "Siege of the City" did not try to be fast, shooting an episode in 10 days, which was enough for 100 days, and for the first time, it was filmed on a dual camera like a movie.
In the past, TV dramas were shot single-player, and after dividing the shots, the shots of a camera position should be shot off in one breath, adjust the lighting, shoot the next camera position, and finally combine them, but the picture and performance are easy to be incoherent. When shooting with two cameras, the actors can perform freely like stage actors, and the camera can also accurately capture expressions and reactions, but it also greatly increases the workload and cost.
During the live shooting, Huang Shuqin sat in a wheelchair to look at the monitor, which was very small at that time. "I look at the work photos at that time now, and I am thinking about how she can see clearly," Wang Zhihua sighed. Moreover, there is only one monitor, and when you want to see what the other camera is shooting, you must also unplug the connector of the previous one and switch it repeatedly.
Huang Shuqin will not ask the actor how to act, but will remind that the machine follows the person, and whoever has more details in the performance will be given the camera. Because "The Siege" is such a detailed novel. This dual-camera shooting mode also gives the actors more impulses to improvise, and everyone wants to show themselves better.
In the play, many of Chen Daoming's details are improvised. Dai Zhao'an, who played Lu Zixiao, appeared with his neck crooked, which impressed many people, which was actually a detail added by himself. "The director encouraged everyone to grab the scene, she said not to be afraid of much, just afraid that you did not have it, this play is based on details."
There is a detail in "The Siege" that Wang Zhihua remembers very clearly. Sun Roujia had a rocking chair in her dormitory, and the armrests were originally round. Fang Hong gradually took the grape metaphor of love, and Sun Roujia argued, Sun Roujia turned to leave, Fang Hong gradually became anxious, and sat on the arm of the rocking chair to please the explanation. When the scene was about to start filming, Chen Daoming suddenly proposed that the round armrest could not sit still, hoping to change it to flat, so that the logic of the character's behavior was more credible. But the landscape master complained, "It's too late to change it soon." Wang Zhihua was busy calling him to the side, and he was kind enough to persuade him, all in order to make a good scene. "You can rest assured, it will not affect the shooting, I will adjust the shooting order, you say, how long will it take to change it?"
The master smiled instead, "2 hours for you." The little trouble was solved. "Throughout the filming process, everyone coordinated with each other, respected each other's labor, provided favorable conditions for the filming of this scene, and also formed a friendship in the creation."
The executive director's job also includes arranging the shooting plan, having a big plan a week, a small plan for 3 days, thunder and lightning, must be completed on time. Due to limited funds, "how to spend" must be carefully calculated.
"There was a group scene of 'fleeing', several rickshaws pulled Fang Hongwei and his party, and they were crowded by the crowd, so they had to walk, carry their luggage through the crowd, and come to a small hotel. 1500 ordinary people were organized locally. We discussed when to shoot, and I suggested that in the afternoon, in case the shooting was not finished, we had to take care of the lunch of 1500 people. Thanks to the cooperation of various departments, the film was successfully completed in the afternoon in two hours. ”
Wang Zhihua also said that the first time he saw Huang Shuqin crying. "That time, Ge You suddenly proposed that there was a scene in Beijing that we had to go back to make up for it, and all of a sudden our shooting plan was disrupted." The other crew is also non-negotiable, and must adjust Ge You. That day in the canteen breakfast, Huang Dao explained to everyone why he had to stop shooting for a day.
Wang Zhihua is 75 years old this year, and he encounters interesting roles and occasionally plays them. He was straight, his voice was full of breath, and the marks left by the years on his face were very faint. After his retirement, he also tutored recitations and chorus at the Community University for the Aged with choirs.
Wang Zhihua missed the creative atmosphere at that time, whether it was a star or a predecessor, once he arrived in the group, everyone was like a family. "We shot very easily, and if it wasn't easy, we couldn't shoot this effect. We giggle and laugh, often ridiculing about the things in the novel, and constantly increasing our feelings about the characters. ”
A few days ago, Wang Zhihua took the time to watch the replay of "Siege of the City", and those shooting scenes of that year suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.
Ying Ruocheng, Sha Yexin, Wu Yigong, Ren Guangzhi, Li Yuanyuan, Gu Yilu, Li Tianji... Many people are gone, which makes him feel a lot of emotions. "I grew up in the courtyard of the Shangying Studio, and I often met Gu Yelu and Li Tianji, who wanted to be called Uncle Gu and Uncle Li. I didn't expect to be able to cooperate with those predecessors one day. They didn't treat me like a child and treated me with special respect on the spot. It is very happy to see them on TV again, and it is also a kind of remembrance. ”
He felt that "The Siege" was a very pure work. Everyone can get different feelings from it, and find different resonances from different characters. "Like tea tasting, these characters stand up to scrutiny."
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Zhang Yi
Source: Author: Zhang Yi Zhong Han