"Disappearing Her" producer Ji Jing exclusive interview
At first, no one seemed to have thought that "Disappearing Her" would be a hit this summer, and when the film was released 5 days ago, Maoyan Movie Professional APP significantly increased the expected box office of the film, and according to the trend is expected to reach a higher box office, Hawkeye telephone interviewed Ji Jing, the producer of Yitong Production, and made an in-depth interview on the issues that practitioners and fans are concerned about.
Q: After the start of the summer file, the media generally predicted that the film's highest box office would be 900 million, which seems to exceed many people's imagination.
Y: First of all, thank you for the love of the audience, we did not expect the market to be so active, after all, the overall pattern of the market is not very clear after the Spring Festival, and the market on weekdays is about 30 million.
We are very happy that "Disappearing Her" will bring more audiences into the theater, in fact, now that the summer season has just begun, there are a series of wonderful domestic films behind, and the overall market performance is now very good.
Q: This film seems to have become a "record shredder", it is now the best box office film of Yitong as the main controller, which record do you care about the most?
Ying: When I first did this project, many people would say that "suspense films" have a ceiling, and when we did "Manslaughter", this problem was in front of us, and we were happy that good content had no ceiling, and breaking stereotypes was what made us most happy.
Q: At the time of "Manslaughter", it is generally believed that the ceiling of suspense films may be one billion (this may also be the reference for most media to estimate "Disappearing Her" to 8.9 billion), but the appearance of "Disappearing Her" also gives more possibilities to the market, right?
Y: Actually, the audience's viewing habits and the audience's walk back to the theater are what we all value more, and the return of the audience is the precious thing.
Q: Now the positioning of the film genre is diverse, this "Disappearing Her" may be a suspense film or a romance film, how do you think about this issue?
Ying: This film features two young directors, and it should be a completely new exploration of genre films. And this time when the producer (that is, director Chen Sicheng, the same below) was making this film, he also hoped that the film could be made into a particularly extreme, stylized suspense film.
The style, story structure, color and metaphor of the film are extreme, on this basis, we still have to do a deep insight into the hearts of the characters, including the discussion of "love, friendship and family affection", which may be the real reason why there is so much discussion among the audience. Therefore, in addition to suspense, these human good and evil and choices are the power of the film.
Q: In "Manslaughter" we are more about the social issues shown in the film, such discussions are universal, to "Disappearing Her", it seems that the film is more of an individual problem, what do we want to express through the film?
Ying: Actually, our film still wants to talk more about human nature, and we need to be cautious and kind when faced with various choices, including Easter eggs, we also want to express the original intention of "one thought of heaven and one thought of hell".
What we want to convey to everyone is that you should choose carefully, and different choices will bring different results, and even cause irreversible loss of life.
Q: In fact, in contrast, the two characters Shen Man and Li Muzi achieved double redemption in the film, Li Muzi redeemed Shen Man when he was a child, and Shen Man did whatever it took for Li Muzi when he grew up.
Ying: This is exactly as you mentioned, Manman (that is, Ni Ni's character) was redeemed by Li Muzi when he was a child, and the two almost had a "life-passing" friendship, which is also Manman's willingness to lay such a big situation for Muzi, no matter what, she must find Muzi.
Q: So will the friendship-switched family relationship be more reliable?
Y: Many viewers also ask if love will disappear? In fact, love is divided into many kinds, there is passion, there is also parental love, friendship love, this is actually an eternal topic, love will definitely not disappear, this is also one of the views we want to express.
Q: In fact, beautiful feelings will not disappear, so in addition to the traditional "love, family affection and friendship", do you explore other feelings in the film, after all, people are the most complex.
Ying: We also want to express that a person should not be swallowed by his own desires in the process of growing up, why not be corrupted by his desires in the process of his own growth and struggle.
Q: Did the film refer to the knowledge of psychology in the early stage of creation?
Yes: Yes, including the "Mandela effect" and He Fei's personality, we have all done relevant research, and we have all discussed with some psychologists, so now many viewers are discussing some psychological issues in the film.
Q: In the past, we would only pay more attention to physical disability and neglect psychological attention.
Y: Actually, now we have to pay more attention than ever to some of the psychological damage that ordinary people have suffered, so we always emphasize now that people need to learn to reconcile with themselves, and at the same time, the people around them also need to care for this.
Q: The structure of the film has both a game in the middle of the game setting and a good reversal, it seems that many viewers have heard the relevant discussions before watching it, and they will generally know the ending of the film, but this film does not seem to be afraid of spoilers?
Ying: Yes, there are many classic films that unfold the story from different perspectives, and we used a similar approach, and Zhu Yilong's superb acting skills also kept the audience in the dark for a while, and it was difficult to guess the ending.
Q: Maybe when Director Chen made this script, he also considered the AB side of human nature more, and also used a commercial story to tell about human nature, which may also be a theme of his creation?
Ying: That's true, and that's probably one of the reasons why the film is so much debated.
Q: Different from the previous "Tang Detective" and "Manslaughter", now our film market marketing has undergone big changes, especially in the help of short videos, how do we think about this?
Ying: Film marketing is also changing step by step from print media to online media, but all these requirements are still based on the excellent content and story of the film as the first premise, and it must also be conducive to effective communication, which can make it more effective to spread.
The rise in popularity this time is more due to the post-screening, which is also based on the feedback of the audience after watching the film, which we are also happy to see and willing to accept. Now it is more dependent on word of mouth between the audience, which still needs the story of the film itself to attract everyone.
Q: There may be some films that need to deliberately create a topic, but "Disappearing Her" relies more on the chemistry generated by the film itself and the audience to form her topic, right?
Y: The publicity team has carried out a detailed disassembly of the content of the film, but we are very grateful that the audience can see and understand the content we express, in fact, the publicity to the end depends on the word of mouth of the audience, thank you very much that the audience likes "Disappearing Her", after the screening, there are a lot of viewers to spread by themselves, promote by themselves, and even create the topic of second creation.
Q: Now that the crew is performing roadshows in many places across the country, what is the significance of offline roadshows when online is so developed?
Ying: The roadshow definitely has its positive effect, it can directly face the audience, we cherish and are willing to have more and deeper exchanges with the audience.
Q: Is it out of the need to circumvent censorship by placing films in other countries and regions?
Y: This statement is inaccurate, setting the story in Southeast Asia, more to create an exotic color to the film, it will also create a richer dramatic space. Especially like "Disappearing Her" this time, it needs the atmosphere of dense vegetation and humid climate, and it will make the film colorful and full of various mysterious dangers. Especially like Southeast Asia, there are many urban legends (such as the locker room secret door in the film), etc., which will make the film have a stronger dramatic tension, and through these comprehensive factors, we place the story in Southeast Asia.
Q: Apart from Southeast Asia, which cities in the mainland have stronger space for theatrical expression?
Ying: This still needs to be seen according to the content of the film, such as Chongqing is full of fireworks, Xiamen has more beautiful scenery, and many of our follow-up projects will choose to shoot in domestic cities.
Q: There are a lot of fun Easter eggs in the film, such as Van Gogh, which scenes in the film are impressive?
Ying: A lot, like the confrontation between Zhu Yilong and Wen Yongshan at the beach restaurant and the scene where Zhu Yilong shaves his head in the final psychiatric hospital, these two scenes are difficult not to impress us, after all, these big turns are full of tension. Especially the scene of Zhu Yilong's shaved head, although the production methods of the film are now very rich, we can completely achieve it through stunts and makeup effects, but under the communication between Zhu Yilong and the producer, he still insists that "real shaving" will better show a stronger sense of dramatic impact, and everyone may have seen Zhu Yilong's tears that can't help but come down, which is really precious, these are not obtained by special effects makeup.
In the scene of the beach restaurant, because Wing Shan has not acted in a scene similar to the femme fatale before, this breakthrough performance also adds a lot to the film, and like Zhu Yilong, it will add more dramatic tension to the film.
Q: Presumably many people also want to know about Ni Ni's performance in the film this time?
Ying: For Ni Ni, all of our expectations for the role of Manman have all been fulfilled by Ni Ni, her performance is sassy and great, including she had a diving scene, in fact, she was injured at the time, but all the actors involved in diving need to learn to dive, fortunately, Ni Ni has a certain swimming foundation, under the premise of absolute safety, she and the diving instructor have a good cooperation to complete the diving scene in the film. We all say that Ni Ni is a very talented and attractive actress, she is simply a mermaid in the water.
Q: Let's talk about Wen Yongshan, this time her performance is very attractive to the audience?
Ying: Yes, Wen Yongshan used to play the role of mother in "Tang Detective 3" and "Manslaughter 2", and in this part we all said that we can't let her be trapped in the role of a good wife and mother, she herself is definitely not a "femme fatale", and we all feel that she has unlimited possibilities, and can even try comedy.
Q: What is the difference between this cooperation with Zhu Yilong?
Ying: This is also our first cooperation with Zhu Yilong. From the beginning of the project, the producer was particularly determined to confirm that it must be Zhu Yilong. Because Mr. Zhu did not solidify his image and maintained a sense of ambiguity with the audience, he must be the only choice.
Zhu Yilong is an extremely charismatic and radiant actor. At the same time, he was also very immersed in the script, and when he was not filming, he studied the script in his room. And he himself has taken a diving certificate, diving is quite professional, and he entered the crew earlier, hoping to immerse himself in the role as soon as possible.
Q: I heard that he was a little hesitant to act at first?
Ying: Of course, there will be many actors who are worried that playing such a role will have a certain impact on themselves, but Zhu Yilong really starts from the role, he still thinks more about the script and the character itself, he can enter the logic of the character, and try to get closer to the character as much as possible.
Q: Tell me about the two directors?
Ying: Our company still hopes to dig up some new directors, including Liu Xiang, who also filmed a long "Unexpected Guest" (starring Fan Wei, Dou Xiao, Zhang Songwen) before, and the producer felt that director Liu Xiang had good control after watching it, and the film also had some of his own expressions.
Cui Rui has made short films before and has always been studying in the United States, he happens to have a complement with Liu Xiang, and finally under the overall control of the producer, the effect is also obvious to all. In fact, we have been committed to discovering young directors and are very much looking forward to working with young directors.
Q: Watching the film at the moment must be a big profit, which is definitely the best news for your company and investors.
Yes: Filmmaking must be responsible to investors and give confidence to all investors. If our films don't have a box office and no audience, how can the industry develop better?