Liu Xiang, director of "Disappearing Her": The film is not about gender opposition, but about justice and friendship

Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Wang Jinyue

It received a box office of 1.259 billion yuan in 7 days of release, and the suspenseful crime movie "Disappearing Her" that is being screened ignited this year's summer file. Because of some personal affairs and "social terror", Liu Xiang, one of the directors of the film, did not attend the film's previous promotional activities, but he has also been silently watching the audience's reaction to the film. Liu Xiang accepted an exclusive interview with this reporter and talked about the behind-the-scenes story of shooting the film.

At first, there was no confidence in the director's ability

"Disappearing Her" is the second film directed by Liu Xiang, and the matter dates back to 2021, when shortly after the release of his directorial debut "The Unexpected Guest", one day he suddenly received an invitation from executive producer Chen Sicheng, saying that he had a script at hand and asked him if he would be interested. "At that time, I was quite surprised, because "The Uninvited Guest" is just a small-cost movie, and now director Chen Sicheng suddenly wants to hand me a big project, I am surprised and a little unconfident." Liu Xiang recalled. However, Chen Sicheng is full of confidence in this cooperation and encourages young directors to let go and do it, which also makes Liu Xiang feel much more relieved.

When he received the invitation, the script of "Disappearing Her" had been basically finalized, and director Chen Sicheng was also one of the screenwriters of the film. At that time, it was a little tight before the start of filming, and after he arrived at the crew, he quickly entered the state, "adapting, learning, and working at the same time." "The film started in Hainan in December of that year, because the story in the film takes place in Southeast Asia, and the natural scenery of Hainan is relatively similar to Southeast Asia. The film was shot for more than two months, and the next step was to do post-work.

Chen Sicheng told Liu Xiang before filming that commercial films need to be relaxed and measured on the basis of tense rhythm, and he also put forward many specific requirements for the art and visual of the film, which made Liu Xiang feel that he benefited a lot.

There are some animals in the film, such as snakes, scorpions, etc., which not only fit the environmental characteristics of the place where the incident occurred, but also are a metaphor for the transformation of the characters' identities in the movie, full of the dangerous atmosphere of "hunters and arrestees".

There is also a picture of a lighthouse by the sea repeatedly in the film, which is a very important location, because it is here that the truth is revealed at the end of the film. Liu Xiang told reporters that many shots of this lighthouse surrounded by huge waves were actually shot from five or six locations five or six kilometers away from each other, and finally these shots were combined together through special effects.

Convey positive values through suspense stories

After the release of the movie, many audiences were very indignant about the unconscionable behavior of He Fei played by Zhu Yilong in the film, and some even thought that he was a hopeless "scumbag". But in Liu Xiang's view, this is not exactly the focus of the story, "From my point of view, I don't want to interpret it from the perspective of gender opposition, but just a carefully planned revenge story driven by friendship and a sense of justice." Of course, the producer and we also hope to convey a positive value in the film, and also hope to raise some socially significant issues to the general audience. ”

As a suspense movie, there are multiple plot reversals in "Disappearing Her", and as the story deepens, He Fei's true face is gradually revealed, which makes many audiences very enjoyable to watch. Liu Xiang also agrees with this, "The logic of this script is very complete, and the design of structure and rhythm is also very ingenious. This also greatly stimulated his creative imagination. The two films directed by Liu Xiang himself are both commercial genres. He believes that some types of movies may have less emphasis on the story, but for a suspense movie, suspense intensity and plot density are the primary elements, "It has two important tasks: one is to constantly create suspense and always grab the audience's attention; At the same time, it is also necessary to give a variety of new plot information, otherwise it is easy to make the audience feel psychologically fatigued. ”

Liu Xiang also attaches great importance to the rationality of the story. Whether a story similar to "Disappearing Her" will appear in reality is also a topic that many audiences talk about after watching the movie. "Realist genre movies pursue objective truth, but as far as this film is concerned, it is still an idealized romantic story, which can be understood as a 'fable', just like Jin Yong's martial arts novel, there is a high probability that there will be no sunflower treasure book in reality." In terms of reasonableness, my personal pursuit standard is to try not to break through the bottom line of 'unfalsifiable', that is, there can be no common-sense mistakes like 'ice burns', so that the story can be said to be basically true. ”

For example, the lawyer Chen Mai played by Ni Ni in the film is He Fei's wife Li Muzi's best friend, and after Li Muzi disappeared, Chen Mai immediately flew back from France to start the "revenge" operation. "Although such revenge will hardly happen in real life, we still hope that the audience will see it in the movie." This is indeed a romanticized, idealized story and the charm of cinema as art. Movies have their attributes above life, and they also have their drama. I myself am only a young director with little experience, and if the audience is disappointed, then I will sincerely apologize to them. ”

Zhu Yilong was not entangled at all when he shaved his head

The outstanding performance of the actors is also one of the important factors for the film to sell well. "Zhu Yilong, Ni Ni and Wen Yongshan in the film all interpret a temperament different from their own image," Liu Xiang said, for example, Zhu Yilong, in life, he is a completely undangerous and aggressive person in image and temperament, kind and gentle, but he portrays He Fei as a scheming, gloomy-hearted, human-faced hypocrite. "Executive producer Chen Sicheng thought about this very early, and I think his choice of actors is very bold and successful."

The professionalism of the actors touched Liu Xiang very much. There is a scene in the film where he shaves his hair, even a few days before the filming of the movie, Liu Xiang was still a little worried and didn't know how to communicate with Zhu Yilong, but when filming started, he found that Zhu Yilong had no psychological burden at all, "In fact, I think too much, the actors have long done their homework, and there is no baggage at all." ”

Ni Ni's "Sa" played by Chen Mai and the "demon" of the femme fatale played by Wen Yongshan are amazing. Wen Yongshan in life is a woman with a beautiful voice, gentle and lovely, which is very different from the characters in the film, but Wen Yongshan's amazing explosiveness when filming the scene of "breaking the bottle" is believed to be frightened by many people.

The underwater scene at the end of the film is the most difficult to shoot. For this reason, the crew found an aquarium that has not yet officially opened, the water depth is about 7 meters, and the actors need to stay at least 20 minutes at a depth of 4 meters each time to complete a shot. Zhu Yilong has practiced diving before, is very experienced, and can play very freely. Huang Ziqi, who plays Li Muzi, did not, as a beginner, she had to overcome a lot of psychological barriers, "so her underwater emotions at that time were very real." "The shooting time was chosen at night, and the underwater light was very dark. When filming started, the actor had an oxygen tube in his mouth and could not speak; On the other hand, the staff can only extend a special speaker into the water to convey information to the water, and the latter then replies with gestures, which is a very long process. "This scene took about 10 days to finish."

The heroine Li Muzi fell in love with an illusion

The most desperate thing in the film is that although the heroine Li Muzi saw the "starry sky on the sea" that her husband He Fei promised her in advance, she then became disillusioned, "'Starry sky' is a romanticized treatment. Li Muzi is a tragic character who falls in love with someone she shouldn't. Further, she was actually married to a fantasy, a dream, but this dream was shattered. Liu Xiang felt that the producer wanted to convey an emotion to the audience through this scene: it is sad, lonely, and a dream of disillusionment.

Many viewers regretted Li Muzi's love tragedy, and were also angry at He Fei's absolute feelings. In Liu Xiang's view, this would have been an avoidable tragedy, "The most important 'love' in our life to fall in love, not 'need' - need a person, need a support." The two need to have a deeper understanding when they get married, have common values and life vision, rather than love for the sake of need like Li Muzi, which will blindly ignore many things, than how to quit gambling addiction. ”

When Liu Xiang read the script sent by the producer for the first time, he felt that He Fei's personality was very complicated, limited by the length of the film, and unfortunately many things could not be expanded, such as how his character was formed step by step.

Liu Xiang majored in chemical engineering at university, and later went to France to study cinematography, and worked as a photographer for many years after returning to China. After making two suspenseful crime movies, his next film may be a sci-fi film, "I'm interested in all genres, but at the end of the day, my favorite is probably the storytelling itself."