"Disappearing Her" breaks 2 billion! What is the secret of Chen Sicheng's blockbuster?

Wen 丨 Kino

Editor丨Keva

On the 10th day of release, the cumulative box office of the movie "Disappearing Her" exceeded 2 billion! The single-day box office exceeded 300 million for the first time!

Since the release of the Dragon Boat Festival, the box office of the film has continued to rise, and it has now won the third place in the box office of Chinese films in 2023, becoming the first hit in this summer, and the 30th film in Chinese film history to break 2 billion.

To become the biggest winner in the current market, the film's producer and screenwriter Chen Sicheng has made a great contribution. In a recent interview with China Film Report, Chen Sicheng said that giving full play to the advantages of the subject matter, strengthening the suspense style, and choosing the right actors are the three major elements for the success of this film.

Although the film's choice of the Dragon Boat file is a relatively small schedule, Chen Sicheng was very confident in this work before its release, hoping to break out by word of mouth, and then drive the summer file in July and August. "We are not competing in the schedule, the most important thing is to use good content to revive the audience's enthusiasm for the film and let more audiences return to the theater."

Now this string of record box office figures does prove that "Disappearing Her" has done it, opening a surprise for the summer file.

It is different from "Tang Detective" and "Manslaughter"

"Disappearing Her" is extremely stylized

From "Detective Chinatown" and "Manslaughter" series to the new work "Disappearing Her", Chen Sicheng continues to cultivate domestic suspense films, why does he have a soft spot for the genre of suspense films?

"Curiosity is the most important thrust of human progress, and suspense films give everyone the possibility of satisfying curiosity." I think life is the biggest mystery, and many things are unsolved for me. Chen Sicheng usually likes to pay attention to suspense cases in reality and history, and "Disappearing Her" stems from some social news and unsafe overseas travel incidents that have occurred over the years.

So, he thought of such a story - "The newlyweds went to a strange environment, something more extreme happened, and then explored some extreme dramatic attributes of human nature after alienation." ”

"Tang Detective" aims at the Spring Festival file, the purpose is to please more audiences, if it is too stylized, elderly audiences and children will find it difficult to accept. "Manslaughter" is based on realism, and the image pursues reality, so it cannot be too stylized.

Because the story text is set in an isolated island in Southeast Asia, and at the same time it is a drama-within-a-play mode, Chen Sicheng finally has the opportunity and space to create the ultimate stylized suspense movie he has always wanted to show.

This stylization is reflected in layers of inverted plot settings, extreme performances, highly saturated visuals, and more dramatic metaphors, such as the colorful, toxic and aggressive animals that appear in the film, and Van Gogh's paintings, "It's brilliant and passionate, but in a way it represents a danger, and so does love." ”

Zhu Yilong has a liquefied temperament

Can evolve into different shapes

Whether the suspenseful reversal drama of "Disappearing Her" can be brilliant, the choice of actors and their performances are crucial.

At the premiere, director Guo Fan said that he saw "infinite possibilities" in Zhu Yilong and looked forward to working with him in the future. Actor Zhu Shimao did not hesitate to praise, "The biggest success of the movie is the choice of Zhu Yilong to play." ”

Before "Life Events" was released and not too many audiences saw Zhu Yilong's acting skills, Chen Sicheng recognized Zhu Yilong to play He Fei.

"First, he can complete the role, and second, the audience's cognition of him is not so familiar, he has a certain sense of distance." Chen Sicheng does not want to play He Fei's actor, it is easy for the audience to have too solid cognition, "As long as you play this role, the audience will say that he should play a bad person, or that he can't be bad." ”

"A good actor should be like a liquid, placed in different solids, and he can form different shapes. Zhu Yilong has this fresh and liquid temperament. The final presentation also proved that my original judgment was correct. Chen Sicheng said.

Zhu Yilong has done his homework in the understanding of character image and psychology, and has taken the initiative to make a lot of performance designs in order to shape this ultimate character.

For example, the subtle movement of twitching at the corner of the eye, Chen Sicheng thinks it is particularly good, "He is a diving instructor, he is in the diving environment all year round, plus taking medicine in the later stage, he will have some externalized performance, which is very suitable for this character." Zhu Yilong's voice was hoarse when his hair was shaved, and the camera captured a tear from the corner of his eye, which Chen Sicheng called a stroke of God, "It's great, because that tear is not in the script." ”

Chen Sicheng is used to preconceived ideas when writing scripts, directly substituting actors into the role, "which has a particularly great benefit, you will feel that the character is alive." When writing the character of Chen Mai, Chen Sicheng immediately thought of Ni Ni, "She is the most suitable actor for this temperament in China as far as my eyes can see." ”

Wen Yongshan previously collaborated with Chen Sicheng on "Detective Chinatown 3" and "Manslaughter 2", this time playing the fake Li Muzi, a charming and dangerous "femme fatale" in the film. In Chen Sicheng's view, Wen Yongshan is a rich and multifaceted actor, let her play her mother in "Tang Detective 3", she is not a mother herself, and she has never played such a role, and finally presents a "amazing" effect, "discovery may be more important than creation".

The ending Easter egg is not whitewashing

There are no plans for the "Vanishing TA" series

At present, "Disappearing Her" broke the circle, the box office soared, received more and more attention and discussion, and also triggered heated discussions about the ending Easter egg.

At the beginning of the film, He Fei holds only his wife Li Muzi in the Polaroid photo, and the Easter egg becomes a husband and wife, showing a sweet life of them. Many viewers are "angry", and "scumbags" like He Fei do not deserve a happy ending.

"People say why are you doing this, are you doing whitewashing? It's not. I hope that this movie carries a so-called concept of one thought: one thought of heaven, one thought of hell. I hope it is a dream of He Fei, he has more opportunities to choose, if I have to talk about a creative idea, I hope it is that we are careful about each life choice. ”

In Chen Sicheng's creative concept, literary and artistic works are a mirror, and the audience will bring their own unique experience, experience, experience and various perspectives, and different audiences will get different understandings through different mirrors.

"Detective Chinatown" and "Manslaughter" have formed a series of films, is it possible that "Disappearing Her" will evolve into a "disappearing TA" and create a new domestic suspense film series?

Before the film's release, Chen Sicheng told us that he did not have this plan, but he also had reservations, "If everyone likes it, we will do it." As long as the masses have needs, we will work hard. ”

Next, he will work on several projects: the executive producer "The Big Three" is expected to be released this year. At the end of August, he will start shooting a new film. "Manslaughter 3" is in the script stage and is scheduled to start at the end of the year. "I hope that through our efforts, everyone can see more good Chinese films, so that everyone can regain their enthusiasm and confidence in film."

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