Lu Xun's pen has countless small and profound characters, among which the more famous ones are Yan Tu, Xiang Lin Sister-in-law, Kong Yiji and other people, if you choose a person who can best represent the fame and greatest reputation of Lu Xun's works, Ah Q is undoubtedly suitable.
Since the birth of the character of Ah Q in 1921, there have been countless dramas and comics to interpret him, of course, there are also people who want to make Ah Q into a movie, Yuan Muzhi even wrote the script, but Lu Xun believes: There is no such star at the moment, and if it is not done well, it will become a funny play.
Therefore, although the Hong Kong side has twice filmed A Q-themed film and television dramas, the mainland side did not shoot "A Q Zheng Biography" by the Shanghai Film Studio until the early 1980s, and there are also many stories in this process, let's come together.
First, the prototype of "A Q Zheng biography"
Just like Yan Tu and Ah Chang have their own people, Ah Q also has a prototype, but not a person, his original prototype is called Xie Agui, usually working short-term work sometimes petty theft, more often idle, when the Xinhai Revolution occurred, he ran to the street to shout the revolution, cheering the arrival of his era.
Xie Agui has an older brother named Xie Ayou, he usually gives people a living of rice, the two brothers together basically formed a "real can do" and "really can do" A Q image, but A Q's several "deeds", the love tragedy is based on a young master Tong, bullying the little nun is a show talent, Lu Xun integrated it into Ah Q.
As for why Ah Gui or Ah Gui is called Ah Q in Lu Xun's pen, there are some ironic "deep interpretations" on the Internet, and some say that Q has a small braid, representing ignorance, backwardness and feudalism. It is also said that Q looks like a mirror, and Lu Xun regards Ah Q as a mirror of the Chinese people.
In fact, Q is the first letter of Gui and Gui in the Guiyin alphabet Quei in the early years of the Republic of China, and Lu Xun wrote A Q only because of convenience, just as he wrote Xiao Tong as Xiao D.
Of course, if you have to go deeper, you can also think that the prototype of A Q is all the laymen in China and even the world, after all, everyone will have some characteristics of Ah Q.
Second, Lu Xun did not agree to shoot the movie "A Q Zheng biography"
After the advent of "A Q Zheng Biography", this small person quickly became a "big person" in the cultural world, whether it was a playwright or a cartoonist liked him, painted a lot of portraits for him, and some people began to rehearse the drama of "A Q Zheng Biography", like Zhao Dan and others have performed Ah Q on the stage.
As mentioned above, the famous director Yuan Muzhi wrote the script, and the famous playwright Hong Shen wrote to Lu Xun in the hope of shooting the movie "A Q Zheng biography", but Lu Xun refused.
A Q has a comedy component and a tragic component, but really to make a movie, it is easy to show of course comedy, it is not easy to show tragedy, and in the end, the probability of A Q becoming a comedy role is very large, Lu Xun should not believe that the domestic film industry at that time can shoot the effect he wants.
For Lu Xun, hong Kong is obviously more open than the mainland, and they first made a movie by Yuan Yang'an in 1958, in which the famous actor Guan Shan played Ah Q. It is also one of his masterpieces, and for this role won the Best Actor Award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
It doesn't matter if you are not familiar with Guan Shan, he has a daughter who is very famous, Guan Zhilin.
In 1976, Hong Kong TVB filmed a TV series "A Q Zheng Biography", playing Ah Q as the famous old drama bone Jiang Yi, that is, Ke Zhen Evil in "The Legend of the Eagle Shooter".
For "A Q Zheng biography", the mainland side does not want to shoot, but it will always encounter some twists and turns.
Third, xie tian and Zhao Dan's thoughts
In 1961, the 80th anniversary of Lu Xun's birth, the Shanghai Film Studio wanted to take this opportunity to shoot a film "Lu Xun Biography", which also had the role of Ah Q.
The person who played Lu Xun was selected as Zhao Dan, and Zhao Dan began to prepare for this long time in advance, and he even put on a robe and put on his beard and makeup every day to go to life to find Lu Xun's feelings.
The person who plays Ah Q is set to be the famous actor and director Xie Tian, in order to create the image of Ah Q, Xie Tian did not hesitate to put an iron coil in the nostrils to support the nostrils.
However, the subsequent movement brought the preparation of "Lu Xun's biography" to an abrupt end, and the script of the last episode of "Lu Xun's biography" written by the famous playwright Chen Baichen was shelved.
In 1980, about to reach the 100th anniversary of Lu Xun's birth, Zhao Dan, who had not made a movie for a long time, found his old friend Chen Baichen, this time he hoped that the two could cooperate in the filming of "A Q Zheng biography", Chen Baichen readily agreed, and created a film script. Zhao Dan also despite his old age and flexurality, hoped to personally play Ah Q.
Unfortunately, not long after Zhao Dan's illness worsened, Chen Baichen, who knew Zhao Dan's condition, could not bear to witness the departure of his old friend, he mailed the script to Zhao Dan, but Zhao Dan finally failed to complete his wish and died on October 10, 1980.
Zhao Dan is gone, but "A Q Zheng Biography" still has to be filmed.
Fourth, the competition between Guo Kaimin and Yan Shunkai
The film script of "A Q Zheng biography" has been available, the original director Huang Zuolin chose to give up because of the death of Zhao Dan, then who will be the director, after all, it is a popular novel, it seems that it should be filmed well, and it is not easy to explain if it is not good, so many directors refuse to take this movie.
In the end, the task of directing was given to Cen Fan, the nephew of Cen Chunxuan, the famous director. He was also nervous at first, and then he used the "A Q Spirit Victory Method" to convince himself: You don't dare to shoot, I am bold, I dare to shoot, in case the beat is smashed, if you criticize me, I will say, you are not as good as me, at least I dare to shoot, you do not even dare to shoot.
The director determined the candidate, but the starring role was a big problem, at that time, the studio found a lot of people including statements and other people were not satisfied, one day the director of the studio Lu Ren called Yan Shunkai of the Shanghai Burlesque Troupe and asked him to come to the house.
At Lu Ren's home, Cen Fan and Lu Ren asked Yan Shunkai many questions in detail about "The True Biography of Ah Q", such as the character personality and social background. Coincidentally, the Shanghai Ballet was rehearsing the ballet "A Q Zheng Biography" at the time, and they found Yan Shunkai to help out the idea of writing the script, so Yan Shunkai was very familiar with "A Q Zheng Biography", his understanding of the work was recognized by the two directors, and a few days later he took a makeup photo, it seems that the role of Ah Q is none other than him.
However, things are not so simple, at that time and Yan Shunkai competed for the role of Ah Q also had the popular xiaosheng Guo Kaimin, although Yan Shunkai went to the location of Shaoxing to experience a long life, but also learned to cut rice and scoop rice, the samples were sent to the film studio one by one, but whether he starred in "A Q Zheng biography" has not been determined.
Originally, some leaders of the Shanghai Film Studio at that time believed that First of all, Yan Shunkai's age was too large, and it did not seem to match lu Xun's Age of Ah Q. The key is that the reason why Mr. Lu Xun once refused to make a movie in "A Q Zheng biography" was that he was afraid of making it into a burlesque play, and yan Shunkai was the main actor of the Shanghai Burlesque Troupe.
In addition, Guo Kaimin at least in terms of fame and appearance first has a great appeal, and Guo Kaimin himself was a student of comedy and burlesque, and he can also perform the feeling of good and evil.
In this regard, Yan Shunkai was once a little discouraged and angry, he felt very aggrieved, he was a big baby in the Shanghai Burlesque Troupe, how to get to the film studio, this can't work, it really can't work, don't act, go back.
Fortunately, at the insistence of Cen Fan, six experts and leaders of the Shanghai Film Studio went to Shaoxing to "accept" Yan Shunkai, and in the end, everyone voted to decide that A Q was not Yan Shunkai. When the news came, Yan Shunkai cried.
Huang Zuolin also commented that he said that the script of "A Q Zheng biography" was written by Chen Baichen specifically for Zhao Dan, but Zhao Dan was indeed too old to be appropriate, and if he continued to be a director, he would also choose Yan Shunkai.
Yan Shunkai did not disappoint everyone, his Ah Q was very successful, in 1983 he was also invited to participate in the Spring Festival Gala because of "Ah Q Zheng Biography". In addition, he won the Golden Crutch Award for Best Actor at the Swiss International Comedy Film Festival and the Best Actor Award at the Hundred Flowers Awards.
V. Brief review of the movie "A Q Zheng Biography"
"A Q Zheng biography" movie is really not easy to shoot, this is the common pain point of the adaptation of famous works, a good part of the credit is the original work, not good shooting, especially poor adaptation is easy to be scolded out of the flower.
The film "A Q Zhengbiao" has made some adaptations of the original work, and on the whole, although there are also some problems with the protracted and lengthy plot (such as Ah Q's dream), on the whole, not only the film is excellent but also the adaptation part is also very good.
Dirty to clean, first of all, the image of A Q is very ugly in Lu Xun's pen, many cartoonists write A Q is even more ugly and dirty, director Cen Fan believes that the times are different, we can make A Q clean and more in line with the aesthetics of the eighties. Therefore, Yan Shunkai's image of A Q is much more pleasing to the eye than many comics, and the director also deleted plots like catching lice.
In addition, the filming of Weizhuang is in Shaoxing, and the director did not deliberately shoot the feeling of the old society, on the contrary, many scenery and buildings are very much in line with the appearance of Jiangnan Town, which is very clean and eye-catching.
Virtual to reality, A Q is a virtual character, so he is very ridiculous in many things, so he is more like a comic. In the movie, Ah Q is embodied as a living person, and through the dialogue of the people around him and the explanation of the narrator, Ah Q's behavior is more reasonable while retaining the absurd premise of the original work. For example, Mama Wu's care for Ah Q has some foreshadowing.
Ugly to beautiful, Lu Xun's Weizhuang has almost no good people in the general sense, from Mrs. Zhao to ordinary villagers have shown a lot of ugly humanity, in the movie, the director appropriately adapted some individual characters, such as the old man in the Tugu Ancestral Hall, his care for Ah Q is extremely touching.
There are also some other small details, such as some avoidance in individual languages, and "monk touch" has been changed to "others can move".
In short, the film "A Q Zheng Biography" retains the pungency and absurdity of the original work, and at the same time makes a rational adaptation in art, and the author believes that its adaptation can enhance the audience's viewing experience and is successful.
6. Filming tidbits of "A Q Zheng Biography"
The first person to appear at the beginning of this movie is Lu Xun, because the narrator is Sun Daolin, so some viewers think that this is Sun Daolin starring, in fact, this actor is called Li Dingbao, that is, Fu Zuoyi in "Armageddon" and Mr. Wu in "Yongzheng Dynasty".
In the film, the little nun who was bullied by Ah Q once changed actors, originally the director let the actor wear a hood to perform, but after filming, he found that the effect was not good, and mobilized the actress to shave her head, but the actor did not do it, and finally under the stalemate, a Zhejiang Yue opera actor Zhang Youyun took the initiative to ask Miao to shave his head to play the little nun.
The film was filmed in Shaoxing, when filming a scene in A Q YouJie, due to the lack of extras, local residents spontaneously came to help, too many people did not have enough costumes, and many residents went home to bring their old clothes and old guys at the bottom of the pressure box, and worked together to finish the scene.
Previously, the author's article said that the six-year-old child was a blank piece of paper in the film and television circle before playing "Journey to the West", and some readers disagreed, because the six-year-old child did appear in "A Q Zheng Biography", although there was only one scene, he played a revolutionary who was killed by Bai Juren in the film.
Finally, like "The Siege", "A Q Zheng Biography" has not been remade so far.