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Text: Big mouth commentary
Editor: Big Mouth Review
In 1993, when CCTV started broadcasting "The Legend of the New White Lady", its ratings were absolutely frightening, and everyone would take it for granted that it achieved the effect of a crowded alley.
There is a very interesting thing in this, many friends after the eighties were young at that time, did not feel that there was a problem, and when they were older, they found that Ye Tong, who originally played the male protagonist Xu Xian, was actually a woman, how is this possible?
Many people were immediately surprised and did not believe it. I waited until I checked some information to convince myself that this was indeed the case.
At this time, there will be such a question, how can a large number of actors at that time find a suitable one. Twelve years after the broadcast of "The Legend of the New White Lady", Zhao Yazhi, who once played the White Lady, gave the answer.
Weak and handsome actor, hard to find!
"Blue Sea and Blue Sky" may not be remembered by many people, but when it comes to "The Legend of the New White Lady", I believe that even if more than ten or twenty years have passed, many post-80s and post-90s will revisit this TV series in their spare time.
Even the current post-00s and post-01s are very interested in this TV series, and they will not think that the singing in the TV series is outdated and the plot is conventional. So much so that nowadays, every year during the winter and summer vacations, many TV stations are still broadcasting on a loop, and their ratings are still good.
This is the charm of the TV series "The Legend of the New White Lady", no matter how many years have passed, many people will still hum the theme song and the classic singing passages in it from time to time.
Ask who can't sing "Once in a Thousand Years", and who doesn't like "Crossing Love", not to mention every piece of singing in it, when it is broadcast on TV, many people will hum along.
Because of "The Legend of the New White Lady", there are also many people who like the new yellow plum tune, so a classic is a classic, and even after thirty years, the rating of this TV series is as high as 9.1 points.
And now whether it is a remake into a movie, or a TV series, there is no way to reach the height of the old version, whether it is the choice of actors, or the plot in it, after the broadcast, it has been criticized to some extent, but for Zhao Yazhi and Ye Tong's version of "The Legend of the New White Lady", in addition to praise or praise, there is almost nothing wrong with it.
Being able to let Zhao Yazhi and Ye Tong play Bai Niangzi and Xu Xian respectively is something that no one can imagine, and it has also achieved unexpected effects.
But how did you think of letting Ye Tongnu dress up as a man to play Xu Xian? Zhao Yazhi said the answer when she was a guest on the "Art Life" program.
She told the host Zhu Jun that in fact, the reason is not particularly complicated, many people can think that the main reason is that the male number one Xu Xian in "The Legend of the New White Lady" is a weak and handsome scholar image.
When I learned that I was going to start filming "The Legend of the New White Lady", there were indeed many male actors who came to audition, hoping to play Xu Xian, but the male actors at that time were all very masculine. Although some people are indeed very handsome, they can't get close to the character of Xu Xian in temperament.
Ye Tong is Xu Xian's best choice
So when choosing an actor, director Xia Zuhui was very troubled, and at this time the producer gave a bold suggestion, that is, the actor is not good, then choose from the actress, after all, the character of Xu Xian is different from other male protagonists. As soon as I heard this opinion, the director's first reaction was that it was impossible, but then I thought that maybe it was a way.
But it is also difficult to choose someone who can play Xu Xian from among actresses, because most actresses are not particularly receptive to anti-strings. It is said that they thought of Lin Qingxia for the first time, because she played the undefeated Oriental and her acting skills were also great. But what the specifics are, no one knows now.
The reason why I found Ye Tong was because the TV series "Blue Sea and Blue Sky" in which Ye Tong participated was on the air at that time, and Ye Tong was a woman pretending to be a man in it. After seeing it, a staff member thought that this was the Xu Immortal they were looking for in every possible way.
When the crew contacted Ye Tong and hoped that she would play Xu Xian, I thought she would readily agree, but I didn't expect Ye Tong to think about it and directly refused.
The reason is simple, she doesn't want to play such a role all the time, always playing a man in the TV series, which is likely to affect her drama path.
Give up because of Ye Tong's refusal and choose someone else? The director himself did not agree, so he directly gave the script to Ye Tong, hoping that she would make a decision after reading the script. A good script is charismatic and can make a good actor give up a lot of principles.
After Ye Tong read "The Legend of the New White Lady", sure enough, she was attracted by the script, so she immediately agreed, and in order to fit Xu Xian's image, she also did a lot of homework.
Although she meets the requirements in appearance and temperament, when she really performs, she is a woman after all, even if a woman pretends to be a man, there is a certain difference, so Ye Tong has put a lot of effort into this, because the TV series involves Huang Mei, and she also finds a teacher to learn.
It can be said that Ye Tong's efforts were not in vain, and the Xu Xian she played was praised, even if other actors also played Xu Xian later, no one could surpass her.
What's more interesting, with "The Legend of the New White Lady", Ye Tong can win the award, but the judges have made it difficult, it stands to reason that Ye Tong's role is the male number one, and she should be rated as the best actor, but she is also a woman. If she was the best actress, she played the male lead, which was an interesting thing at the time.
Dignified and elegant actresses, it is also difficult to find!
The success of "The Legend of the New White Lady" is even more because of the emphasis on casting, at that time, they only chose suitable actors, not like now, in order to high ratings, it is possible to choose traffic stars.
At that time, there was no traffic star, and the director paid more attention to the matching degree between the actor and the role. When choosing the actor to play the White Lady, because Zhao Yazhi was already a popular female star in Hong Kong at that time, and she was also a well-known "Feng Chengcheng", in terms of temperament and appearance, the crew of "The Legend of the New White Lady" thought that Zhao Yazhi was very suitable.
So when negotiating with Zhao Yazhi again, they also thought that she would agree to star, but they didn't expect Zhao Yazhi to refuse. Asked why, it was not that the script was inappropriate, but that she had just given birth at that time and her body had not yet recovered. Coupled with the fact that she does not speak Mandarin, she is afraid that it will affect this TV series because of her own reasons.
After learning the reason, the crew also expressed understanding. No way, they can only continue to pick the right actress. At this time, they thought of another actress with good acting skills, that is, Pan Yingzi.
But at that time, Pan Yingzi was filming "A Generation of Empress Dayuer", and she also liked the script of "The Legend of the New White Lady", but she couldn't be scheduled, and she was also helpless.
Fortunately, the crew indicated that she could wait for her to have a schedule, so they first set Pan Yingzi to play the white lady. When she had a schedule and came to try on makeup, she had a new problem.
That is, Pan Yingzi's white lady appearance is a little different from what is described in the script, and it is not very suitable from the temperament. Without waiting for the producer to think of a way to tactfully refuse, Pan Yingzi chose to give up, because she also knew that although it was a good script, if she was not suitable, it would not only affect her own drama, but also affect this good drama.
The producer thought about it and still thought that Zhao Yazhi was suitable, so he came to the door for the second time, hoping to convince her with his sincerity. For the problem of Mandarin, the producer believes that it can be solved by dubbing.
But at this time, Zhao Yazhi made a request for the next day, she didn't want to have too many ambiguous dramas with the male protagonist, because in this regard, she had too many scandals, which had affected her life.
When she learned that the actor playing the male lead was a woman, she was also relieved, because the other party was a woman, and even if there was physical contact, she would not feel any discomfort and would not affect her play. In this way, the hero and heroine finally settled the dust.
The Legend of the New White Lady has had a huge impact
For this TV series, even if it has passed another decade or two, there are people who keep watching it, this is its charm, and it is estimated that it is difficult to surpass this TV series.
Especially after the broadcast of "The Legend of the New White Lady", it also has a certain impact on Zhao Yazhi and Ye Tong. Although Zhao Yazhi was already a famous actor before starring in "The Legend of the New White Lady", being able to make "The Legend of the New White Lady" another masterpiece of his own at the age of 38 is enough to show Zhao Yazhi's strength. At the same time, it also made her more loved by fans to a certain extent.
For Ye Tong, although it also gave her more influence, it was true that as she had previously worried, she was used to seeing her as a man through "The Legend of the New White Lady", and when she played other roles as a woman, many audiences always felt a little dramatic.
After that, Ye Tong no longer had a representative work with higher popularity than "The Legend of the New White Lady", that is, Ma Jingtao's version of "The Legend of Relying on the Sky and Slaying the Dragon", which made her pay relatively higher attention. The reason is nothing more than that in this TV series, she also played Zhao Min, the lord of Mongolian County, in a woman's costume.
Epilogue:
In any case, no matter how Zhao Yazhi was chosen to play the white lady at that time, Ye Tong played Xu Xian, but in the end it presented a classic TV series to the public, which made people never tire of watching it. So there is no need to entangle why it is Ye Tong, a woman who played Xu Xian, but should thank her for being willing to play Xu Xian, so that people can see the classic combination of Xu Xian, green snake and white snake.