"Artemisinin is a small step in the process of human conquest of malaria and a gift from traditional Chinese medicine to mankind." —Tu Youyou
Pay tribute to the heroes of the country and praise the meritorious figures. The TV series "Meritorious Service" is a major realistic theme work produced by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and promoted by the organization, and is also a repertoire of the General Administration of Radio, Film and Television's "Ideal Illuminates China - Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China", produced and distributed by Chunyu Film and Television, with the famous director Zheng Xiaolong as the general director, Li Xiaoming as the editor-in-chief, Cao Ping and Dun Yong as the chief producers, and Wang Lei, Lei Jiayin, Guo Tao, Huang Xiaoming, Jiang Xin, Tong Dawei, Zhou Xun and Huang Zhizhong as the main producers.
"Meritorious Service" is currently broadcast in the golden file of Zhejiang Satellite TV, Jiangsu Satellite TV, Beijing Satellite TV and Oriental Satellite TV, and the three network platforms of Youku, iQiyi and Tencent Video are broadcast simultaneously, and the popularity and reputation continue to rise, and the popularity statistics of each data platform continue to rank first for many days. Yesterday's "Sun Jiadong's Heavenly Road" unit ended successfully, and tonight's "Tu Youyou's Gift" unit took over. "Tu Youyou's Gift" mainly tells the story of Tu Youyou, a Nobel Prize winner in medicine and an outstanding representative of traditional Chinese medicine science and technology innovation, who developed a new antimalarial drug artemisinin. In the 1960s and 1970s, in the absence of advanced experimental equipment and difficult scientific research conditions, Tu Youyou led the team to overcome difficulties, and even tried drugs by herself, and after experiencing countless failures, she finally successfully completed the scientific research task. It celebrates the broad mind and selfless dedication of Chinese scientific researchers in that era.
The creator conducts a lot of interviews just to create a unique "that one"
The "Tu Youyou's Gift" unit is directed by Zheng Xiaolong, written by Wang Xiaoping, produced by Dun Qi, and starring Zhou Xun. The director of this unit, Zheng Xiaolong, is a leading figure in Chinese tv dramas, the president of the China Television Drama Directors Association, and many works have won the "Magnolia Award", "Feitian Award", "Golden Eagle Award" and "Five One Project Award". His works cover a wide range of subjects, but realistic creation is his constant pursuit. Whether it is "Beijingers in New York", which reflects the real living conditions of Chinese overseas, or "Golden Marriage", which tells the story of the couple's fifty years of ups and downs, there are both realistic expressions and humanistic care. The representative work "The Biography of Zhen Huan" is an irreplaceable phenomenon-level masterpiece in the past ten years. This time taking over the heavy responsibility of the general director of "Meritorious", Zheng Xiaolong, as always, adheres to the creative habit of striving for excellence, and wants to make "Meritorious Service" a realistic theme work that the audience likes, the audience loves to watch, and the audience is satisfied with." ”
Screenwriter Wang Xiaoping's representative works include the movies "Gua Sha", "Turandot: The Origin of the Curse", the TV series "The Biography of Zhen Huan", "The Legend of Mi Yue" and other well-known works. The reason why she chose to work as the screenwriter of the "Tu Youyou's Gift" unit in "Meritorious Service" is because Wang Xiaoping grew up in Zhongguancun, the base camp of Chinese scientists, and her mother was one of the founders of the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and her unit was also the collaborative research unit of Tu Youyou's "523 Project". Participating in the creation of such a work is also the best memorial to my mother.
The creative goal of the creators was to shape one of the group. China's scientific researchers are a group with the lowest voice, the most boring life, and the greatest dedication. Day after day, year after year, they dedicate their lives to the search for human well-being. Very few of them succeed, and most of them exist in the silent denominator that no one pays attention to. When the writers and directors of "Tu Youyou's Gift" started this unit creation, the first thing that came to mind was what were the character characteristics of the protagonist? That is, how to create an image of Tu Youyou, who is both ordinary and vivid and different from other film and television works and other female scientific researchers, and shapes a special one in that group. After a lot of interviews, life, and contact with the people around Tu Youyou, the creators found Tu Youyou's character traits - undistracted concentration, which is simple and stubborn beyond all interpersonal relationships, that is, selfless investment that ignores the discussion and eyes of others. Tu Youyou drills the horns in her ideal kingdom, so her words and actions are different. The creation emphasizes this concentration, and through countless details, Tu Youyou's concentration is written interestingly and cutely. In order to develop new antimalarial drugs, for the sake of the world's mothers and children, she neglected her own children; her attention was always focused on topics related to scientific research, and she seemed to be often "out of the soul" in the eyes of outsiders. A large number of rich details of life make Tu Youyou's image unforgettable as soon as she appears.
If the shooting is professional in detail, the audience will feel that the plot is real
Craftsmen integrate ingenuity, and the main creative team of the "Tu Youyou's Gift" unit can be called "detail control". In order to show the face of that era, the crew made a lot of preparations. From the production of clothing, to the restoration of women's hairstyles at that time; from a pair of glasses and a notebook, to the restoration of the "Great White Building" of the Chinese Medicine Research Institute in the main scene, to the construction of the field hospital of the Vietnamese army in Hainan, to the seven heavy props that extract artemisinin from Xiangshan... In all aspects, the crew strives to be highly restored.
Because the series involves rigorous scientific experiments, the crew also produced a large number of experimental instruments for artemisinin research. Director Zheng Xiaolong and the creators not only learned how to use each instrument, but also asked experts to station the group to train the actors during the shooting. "The more professional this kind of detail, the easier it is for the audience to feel the truth of the plot." This is the principle that director Zheng Xiaolong has always adhered to in his creation.
In terms of character shaping, the crew also pays great attention to details. Before shooting, the director, screenwriter, and lead actor made a special trip to visit Tu Youyou. Tu Lao's life is simple, indifferent to fame and fortune, no shelf, and talks about artemisinin. Talking about her impression of Tu Youyou, Zheng Xiaolong said: "What impressed me particularly is that she said that she should never say that this matter has achieved my own merits, she said that it is everyone's credit, it is a collective labor, she has repeatedly emphasized this, so I think Tu Youyou, as a scientist, is very respectable." ”
In addition to visiting Tu Lao, the lead actor Zhou Xun also went to the Institute of Chinese Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine to chat with Tu Lao's colleagues and understand Tu Youyou in the eyes of others. In the exchange, she found the similarities between herself and Tu Youyou, resonating with the character from the inside, and then creating art, and finally presenting a full character image - a straightforward, unconcerned tu youyou, who regards scientific research as her destiny. Zheng Xiaolong commented on Zhou Xun as a talented actor: "Later, she even walked and took the bag more and more like this character. ”
The unit trailer debuted, Tu Youyou dedicated artemisinin to the world
Today, the official release of the "Tu Youyou's Gift" unit poster and unit trailer. In the unit poster, Tu Youyou (Zhou Xun) looks into the distance with a usual calm look, it is this simple, straightforward and calm scientist who still upholds scientific ideals in difficult times, forges ahead and does not forget to look back at the past, and finally discovered the code to attack human diseases, and her contribution to mankind is immeasurable. At the same time, Li Tingzhao (played by Zhang Songwen), Lao Xu (played by Song Jialun), Zhang Jianguang (played by Yu Rongguang), Dr. Liao (played by Chen Baoguo), Tu Mu (played by Xi Meijuan), Tu Father (played by Bai Zhidi) and other family members and colleagues also appeared.
Among them, Zhang Songwen's role is also a major attraction. He starred as Tu Youyou's husband Li Tingzhao, in order to let his wife focus on her career, he took care of all the family affairs alone, which was the most solid backing for Tu Youyou's scientific research career. Between the two people, there is not only chai rice oil and salt, chicken feathers and garlic skin, but also thinking about the future of their careers and the fate of life. In the play, when the two look up at the stars in the middle of the night and imagine the future, Tu Youyou said to Li Tingzhao: "Do you think people will get old?" I don't think so, people who believe in science and truth will never get old! This is not a romantic feeling unique to scientific researchers.
The unit trailer features a long whistle, a steam train driving through the emerald green mountains, accompanied by the opening of tu youyou's focus on the experiment, condensing the difficult process of Tu Youyou's continuous search for effective antimalarial drugs, there are difficulties, failures, but more persistence and hope. A sentence of "We will not be defeated by this setback!" "It speaks of Tu Youyou's inner perseverance and insistence on losing." At the end, accompanied by exciting music, Tu Youyou confidently summarized the research results, "The efficacy of rat malaria and the efficacy of monkey malaria show that the inhibition rate has reached 100%. ”
Just like the seemingly ordinary artemisia annua, which actually harbors great energy, Tu Youyou has been quietly obsessed with the study of artemisinin and its derivatives all her life, but her and her team's discoveries have saved the lives of millions of people around the world, especially in developing countries, making artemisinin a gift from China to the world.
"Tu Youyou, an excellent representative of traditional Chinese medicine technology innovation, has discovered artemisinin and solved the problem of antimalarial treatment failure, and has devoted herself to the research and practice of traditional Chinese medicine for more than 60 years, making great contributions to the cause of human health." On September 17, 2019, President Xi Jinping signed a presidential decree awarding Tu Youyou the "Order of the Republic".