September has reached the end, but the national version of the "Three-Body" TV series that fans of "Three-Body" are looking forward to still has no news.
However, a blast of thunder made fans boil overnight.
The first season of Netflix's version of "The Three-Body Problem" has been filmed and will be released worldwide in 2023.
Moreover, Netflix intimately released a two-minute slice flower.
This film has very little content, which actor plays whom, what is the content of the TV series, what is the grand scene that fans are looking forward to... Not at all.
However, from the exposed film flowers, we can still see some details, which can also lead to reasonable speculation about the Netflix version of "Three-Body".
Without further ado, today, Tomato Jun will take you to analyze this piece of flower frame by frame, and uncover everyone's three questions about the Netflix version of "Three-Body".
Question 1: Netflix version of "Three-Body", are there many Chinese actors? Who played the classic characters?
From this film, we can see some of the previously announced actors.
In terms of casting, there are several characters that can be clearly judged.
For example, in her youth, Ye Wenjie should have been played by Chinese actress Zine Tseng.
Although Zine Tsang is a Chinese-American actor, he is not famous, and he only plays the role of soy sauce in American dramas.
She should have played the story of the young Ye Wenjie at the Red Bank base, but because of her all-plain appearance, dark skin, simple dress and haircut, it does seem to be closer to what is described in the novel.
Compared with Wang Ziwen, who plays the young Ye Wenjie in the national version, Zine Tsang still has some advantages.
In addition, the candidate for the elderly Ye Wenjie is almost certainly the Chinese actress Zhou Caiqin.
Everyone should be impressed by her role as Jia Mu in the new "Red Chamber". In fact, Zhou Caiqin may be the first Chinese actress to become famous in Europe and the United States.
Her father was Zhou Xinfang, a famous Chinese master of Peking Opera, and at the age of 17, Zhou Caiqin was sent by her father to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Studies in London, England, where she was the first student of Chinese descent.
Zhou Caiqin's acting career is very long, so far it has been 50 years, known as the "Oriental Audrey Hepburn" reputation, when she was young, Zhou Caiqin, a black hair, a cheongsam, I don't know how many European and American male stars have been conquered.
Now, at the age of 86, she can play the elderly Ye Wenjie in "The Three-Body Problem", at least in the Chinese circle, and may cause another wave of topics.
In the national version of "The Three-Body Problem", the elderly Ip Man Jie is played by Chen Jin.
Personally, I feel that in the casting of the elderly Ye Wenjie, Chen Jin is better than Zhou Caiqin, after all, Zhou Caiqin's age is a little too big.
The third confirmed actor is Benedict Wang, a familiar face in Doctor Strange.
Accustomed to him upgrading and fighting monsters in the Marvel world, it was quite unexpected to suddenly appear in "The Three-Body Problem".
Many viewers thought that he was a Korean actor, but in fact, his real name was Huang Kaixuan, and he was of Chinese descent of the Eight Classics.
However, Huang Kaixuan grew up in the United Kingdom, graduated from Salford City College, and since his debut in 1995, he has made cameo appearances in many well-known Hollywood movies, such as "Twin Killers", "Reunion", "Spider-Man" and "Doctor Strange", which can be called the busiest supporting role.
Unfortunately, in the latest film, there is no Wang figure, but it is rumored that he plays Zhang Beihai.
Zhang Beihai is a character who appeared in "Three-Body 2", is the backbone of the first batch of space forces, and the image of Wang, a rough uncle, feels that there is still some difference between him and the military identity of the captain of Zhang Beihai Fleet.
In addition, there are two characters that everyone cares about, and when the film was released, it received great attention.
One is John F. Kennedy, who did not appear in the film, but has appeared in spy photos. C. Bradley.
He's the Sam in Game of Thrones who has been following Snow all along.
Tomato Jun really couldn't imagine which role Bradley's chubby figure could play in the first part of "The Three-Body Problem".
There were rumors that he would play Ye Wenjie's son-in-law, Yang Dong's husband Ding Yi, to know that Ding Yi is a scientist, let Bradley, will not be a little contrasting.
There is also a flashing character in the film, which also arouses great interest from good people.
She carries a large knife, looks a bit masculine, but dresses in a feminine style, short hair, high split black cheongsam, so that "Three-Body" fans think of this image.
At present, the mainstream view is that this "female warrior" is the messenger of the three-body to the earth, Chiko.
But in terms of image, this look is far from the original "Three-Body". Tomoko in the original book is the image of a Japanese woman, dressed in a kimono, noble and beautiful, with long flowing hair, gentle and lovely on the outside, but fierce on the inside.
If Tomoko looks like this, the cultural metaphor in "The Three-Body Problem" is probably going to go astray.
Another speculation is that she is the female guard by Ye Wenjie's side.
However, in the original work, there is no description of the female guard carrying a large knife, and the original word used by Liu Cixin is "slim and beautiful", which is probably not in line with the image of this "big heroine".
In addition, there are two characters with obvious oriental facial features in the film, one is a long-bearded old man,
One is the Mongol Han.
These two characters should be virtual characters in the game in the original book, the first may be Mozi (and it is said that Qin Shi Huang's, Tomato Jun feels that it is not quite like), and the second is unknown.
Looking at all the famous and surnamed actors in the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem", in fact, it is still more disappointing to Chinese fans.
Because none of these actors Chinese.
The only four Chinese (Benedict Wang, Zhou Caiqin, Zhao Jialing and Zine Tseng) are almost all marginal characters.
In terms of other characters, there is also a Hollywood correctness, there is black actor John Edpo, there is Mexican Elsa Gonzalez, there is white Alex Sharp, there is Shamo Asmani of Indian descent...
Although the creators claim that the lineup of "The Three-Body Problem" comes from 11 countries, it is clear that China does not include the country of origin of the original work.
Question 2: Is the Netflix version of the "Three-Body" scene restored? What story will it tell?
In this film, there are many scenes that we can still match at a glance with the original book.
These neat devices must have appeared in the Red Bank base in the first season.
And the speech under the light is also obviously the scene of the three-body organization of the earth.
This scene may appear inside the spaceship,
As for the details of Ye Wenjie's sending of earth coordinates to the universe, this scene of Kataka can be described as a very accurate restoration.
Of course, there are also many scenes from the "Three-Body" game in the original book.
The palace that passed by in a flash, obviously the ancient architectural style of the continent,
Even the details and the dilapidation are extremely elaborate.
Of course, there are some scenes in the film, and we can't speculate that it should be other stages of the Earth in "The Three-Body Problem" or the set in the game.
In general, in terms of scenes, the restoration degree of Netflix version of "Three-Body" is still relatively high, although there is no distinctive "famous scene" in the original work, but compared with the special effects of the domestic version of the trailer, it is still very textured.
The national version of "The Three-Body Problem" also has many sets and sci-fi scenes to restore.
Especially this scene of the "Guzheng Project" still looks fake at a glance.
From the contrast between the scenes of the two versions of the trailer, we can also feel the gap between the domestic and Hollywood film and television industries.
In terms of story, because this film does not have a clear story and timeline, it is impossible to judge for the time being. But one thing is almost clear, Netflix's version of "Three-Body" may not be told linearly according to the original timeline, but instead disrupts the entire "Three-Body" story and presents it in flashbacks or interludes.
Why?
Because the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" is very clearly said to be the first season of the Qingqing, but there are many characters and characters that appear in the second and third parts of the original work.
If the short-haired Japanese samurai before was "Tomoko", then her appearance should be in "Three-Body 3: Dark Forest".
In addition, Princess Dew is clearly appearing in the film, and this character is also a very important character in the fairy tale told by Yun Tianming to Cheng Xin in "Dark Forest".
If the film only has the content of the first season, but all the characters in the third season of the novel are present, then we have reason to suspect that this adaptation may not be carried out according to the timeline.
Two screenwriters, David Benioff and D. Bernioff, wrote the film. B. Weiss, audiences who like Game of Thrones should be familiar with it.
When you saw the two of them appear together, and it was an adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem", did you shiver?
Tomatoes certainly believes that on the basis of such a good original novel, Netflix's screenwriters should have the ability to tell a good story.
But I am also afraid that after their commercial adaptation, they will lose the charm and appeal of the story that "The Three-Body Problem" should have.
Question three, the Chinese story is handed over to the United States to shoot, can it be filmed? Can you shoot the spirit of the original?
Tomato Jun first gave his own clear opinion: No.
We can look at this from two perspectives.
The first angle is the way Hollywood adaptations of stories from other countries.
There are obviously three ways to do this.
One is that Netflix is responsible for investment, production and filming to actors from other countries, with little interference.
In this case, using Hollywood's film and television production technology, it is easy to appear blockbusters, and "Squid Game" is a very typical example.
As we all know, "Squid Game" is a Netflix investment, but the entire production team has retained the Korean localization.
The director and screenwriter is Hwang Dong-hyuk, starring Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-so, Wei Ga-jung, Kong Liu, Lee Byung-hyun and other Korean stars.
Under all the main creators who retain the Korean production team, "Squid Game" is also full of the unique taste of Korean film.
Second, it is a fit.
Co-production is the easiest to produce non-standard works, because of the problem of dominance and cultural differences, in the co-production, examples of our failures abound, from "The Great Wall" to "Turandot", one in one, this road will certainly not work.
The third is complete Westernization.
Obviously, this "Three-Body Problem" is such a work.
Among the main creators behind the scenes, it is said that director Zeng Guoxiang only directed one episode, and the rest was directed by BenQ Spiro.
In the cast, there are all kinds of people in 11 countries, but none of them Chinese... Such a series will certainly not be able to make the essence of the original work.
Tomato Jun is not worried about what is wrong with the directing level, after all, the mature production industry is there.
The most worrying thing is that these two screenwriters, omitting the cultural collision and wisdom contest between humans and aliens, have lost the grand worldview, cosmology, values and historical outlook of "Three-Body", and instead put the main part of the series on the great war between humans and three-body stars.
If it is such a shooting logic, then this Netflix version of "Three-Body" will be ruined into a pure popcorn cool drama.
The second angle is the ancient traditional Chinese wisdom and profound philosophical speculation in "The Three-Body Problem", which Westerners cannot understand, and of course, cannot shoot such a core.
In fact, this point is very easy to understand, there are fundamental differences between Eastern and Western cultures, and they are very different in their views on many things and in the handling of many problems.
When a Western director comes to make an Eastern story, he probably can't even understand the skin of this story.
For example, there is a scene in the film flower, which is a factory brand from the 1960s.
Although coarse cloth clothes can be made, hats can be made old, and characters can wear dirt, but this standard black-print lettering, is not timid?
At that time, where were the signs and banners with such a standard computer font? It is usually handwritten that appears real.
The whole story of "The Three-Body Problem" is actually based on Da Liu's accurate cognition and deep understanding of traditional Chinese culture.
In addition to most of the stories taking place in China, the most important core characters, including Ye Wenjie, Wang Miao, Shi Qiang, Luo Ji, Zhang Beihai, Yun Tianming, etc. in the early days, are all Chinese.
The first operation to destroy the Trisolaran organization of the Earth is called Operation Guzheng,
The proton sent to the earth by the three-body body, after anthropomorphization, is called "Zhizi", a wise wisdom, which explains everything.
Cultural phenomena like this in the original work, cultural symbols abound, can Westerners photograph it?
Moreover, the reason why human beings can negotiate with the Trisolaran people, the reason why Shi Qiang can destroy the three-body organization of the earth, the reason why Luo Ji can become the greatest wallfacer and sword bearer, and the reason why Yun Tianming can transmit the information of the three-body people through fairy tales is not all based on ancient oriental wisdom?
These wisdoms, these games, these spiritual essentials of these deep cultures, can Westerners photograph them?
Impossible.
When "Harry Potter" was filmed, JK Rowling always stressed the need to use the British lineup, because the whole story is full of British culture, and "The Three-Body Problem" is also the same.
Although Netflix owns the copyright of "Three-Body", no matter how well it is produced, no matter how good the acting skills are, and no matter how exquisite the special effects, it will never be able to shoot a truly connotative and wonderful "Three-Body" story.
Of course, the director also mentioned that except for a few sets that made China look in the green screen, most of the locations were filmed in the UK.
This basically shows that this "Three-Body" has nothing to do with China, and perhaps has nothing to do with Da Liu's "Three-Body", because it is still Western-centric in nature, and all the characters in the book will be Westerners.
It is aimed at a global audience, not a Chinese audience.
But we are still looking forward to the early launch of Netflix's "Three-Body", after all, so far, we have not seen a film and television "Three-Body".
Maybe Netflix can make a good start.
(Movie Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Department: 11)