Di Renjie, who once served as the head of the Dali Temple in the Tang Dynasty, is known as "a god in deciding cases" for his accurate review of more than 17,000 case files and the record of not one appeal. This legendary deed has also been portrayed as a classic role in film and television dramas many times.
For example, in the TV series "Detective Di Renjie", Liang Guanhua's version of Di Renjie and his line full of pictures "Yuan Fang, what do you think?" is unforgettable. In addition, the film series "Di Renjie" directed by Tsui Hark also outlines the image of Di Gong with sharp eyes and a god who judges cases.
Now, the famous Chinese detective Di Renjie has once again come to the forefront. According to CCTV, the TV series "The Case of Di Gong of the Tang Dynasty" with Di Renjie as the protagonist will be broadcast in the first quarter of 2024. Although details such as the specific broadcast time and cast have not yet been announced, judging from the known lineup, the production team is strong. This costume suspense drama invited many powerful actors to participate, including Zhou Yiwei, Zhong Chuxi, Zhang Jiayi and other well-known artists. In addition, the supporting cast is also quite luxurious, including Zhang Ruoyun, You Yongzhi, Yin Xiaotian, Li Naiwen and other outstanding actors.
However, it is worth noting that this ROC mystery novel is not just an adventure novel adaptation of a certain dynasty, but is borrowed from the novel of the same name by Dutch diplomat Gorope in the 50s of the last century. As a foreign sinologist with a keen interest in Chinese culture, Gao Luopei created this work with 24 bizarre cases and more than 1.4 million words as the main character, with Di Renjie, a famous minister of the Tang Dynasty.
It is reported that in some of these cases, Gao Luopei flexibly used the elements of traditional Chinese crime novels and added elements of Western mystery novels, skillfully integrating the two, making the book widely praised overseas. Since it first spread to Europe and the United States, this work that combines the advantages of Chinese and Western mystery novels has become popular all over the world and has been translated into many languages. Therefore, it can be seen that this IP has attracted much attention abroad, and has even been adapted as "Judge Di" by foreign filmmakers.
In 1987, Taiyuan TV launched a drama called "The Legend of Di Renjie's Case", which was the first film and television work about Di Renjie's detective story in China. However, due to limited production budgets, the show ended in a hurry after filming only five cases from the original film, and failed to show the full plot, which is indeed a pity.
Similar plays such as "Detective Di Renjie" that appeared later did not completely follow Gao Luopei's original story, but were freely created by the screenwriter. In contrast, the upcoming CCTV version of the TV series "The Case of Tang Di Gong" can be seen as a faithful presentation of this global best-selling original book. It is understood that the play will cover 17 of the 24 cases in the original book, and is expected to reproduce classic plots such as the gold case.
Let's take a look at the production team.
"The Case of Di Gong of the Tang Dynasty" is an eye-catching work, so can the cast of the play match it? Open the list of actors of the play, we will find that this team is strong, from the leading actors to the supporting roles, to the creative staff behind the scenes, the entire lineup can be called a big production.
First, let's take a look at the starring team. Zhou Yiwei plays the starring role, and there are three well-known actors around him - Zhang Jiayi has played the starring role in many hit dramas, playing Wei Wujian in this drama, Wang Likun and Zhong Chuxi play the roles of the first and second women respectively, playing Di Renjie's assistant Cao An and the unique female emperor Wu Zetian. It is worth mentioning that "The Case of Di Gong of the Tang Dynasty" also invited powerful actors such as Zhang Ruoyun, Zhang Zijian and Yang Xue. Among them, Zhang Jiayi often plays a positive role in other dramas, but this time he is willing to play a supporting role for Zhou Yiwei.
In addition, the supporting cast of the show is also very luxurious, gathering the leading actors Zhang Ruoyun in popular dramas such as "Celebrating More Than Years" and "Sword in the Snow", as well as senior actors such as You Yongzhi, Li Naiwen, and Li Chen. In the 17 character posters announced, we can also see outstanding actors such as Jia Shengying and Chen Turin from different fields. Even including the small supporting roles in the unit drama, there are many high-profile new generation actors.
It is worth noting that Zhang Zijian, the actor of Yuan Fang in "Detective Di Renjie", plays He Yi in this drama, and Yang Xue, who plays Jiang Yuyan in "Little Fish and Flowers", plays the role of Ying'er in the unit case. These actors breathe new life into the production.
The cast is extraordinary, and the production team is also top-notch.
This play is directed by Li Yunliang, who once directed the drama version of "The Wind", and won 8 points of praise from Douban. Jing Yu, the screenwriter in charge of the adaptation, has been involved in the creation of blockbusters such as "King Kong River" and "Revolutionary", and has rich writing experience.
And the most anticipated thing is the various wonderful scenes during the whole filming process. During the 316 days of continuous shooting, the production team meticulously created the set and demonstrated their professionalism.
From the characters to the palace sets, the images are breathtaking. When the funds were sufficient, the crew also spared no effort to invest in many magnificent scenes, such as restoring a huge ancient merchant ship and constructing a magnificent set in the desert Western Regions, which made people deeply feel the production team's intentions.
Looking at the entire lineup and the quality of the repertoire, the fact that the drama can land on CCTV is enough to prove its uniqueness. However, despite this, there are still some regrets.
There are two "hidden dangers" in casting: Di Renjie is biased towards oil, and Wu Zetian is too immature
Although there are many advantages of the series, Bluestone does not praise it all. An excellent script and a strong cast undoubtedly enhance the overall standard of the work, but at the same time, there are some unseen factors that may affect the audience's expectations.
In my opinion, two casting issues may have a certain impact on word-of-mouth after the broadcast. First of all, the casting of the protagonist Di Renjie may be insufficient. Actor Zhou Yiwei, who has starred in high-rated films, has no doubt about his acting skills. However, playing too many handsome roles makes him unable to fully match Di Renjie's temperament. In the past, the Ding Xiu and Long Bo he portrayed had a certain handsome style, which deviated from the hero image after him. Today, despite his dedication to getting rid of the stereotypes of the past, he has not yet been recognized by a wide audience.
Zhong Chuxi, the actor of Empress Wu Zetian, her beauty is indeed impeccable, but her domineering expression may not be enough. In fact, Wu Zetian in history has long been famous, and Zhong Chuxi's youth image is undoubtedly too immature compared with this woman at the peak of power. Therefore, there may be certain risks in choosing Zhong Chuxi to play this role. It is also worth noting that historical data shows that Wu Zetian was nearly seventy years old when he ascended the throne, corresponding to Zhong Chuxi's unique youthful beauty, and the age gap between the two is indeed too large. For a long time, Wu Zetian's image has mostly been played by elderly actors such as Lu Zhongyuan, which is in stark contrast to Zhong Chuxi's performance.
In general, although there are still many highlights in the series, if the above two casting issues are not properly resolved, it may affect the audience's evaluation of the series, and I hope that the producers can take it seriously and actively improve.
It is reported that there has been in-depth research and theater feedback on whether the suspense repertoire in the Ming and Qing dynasties indicates a new wave of excavation and innovation. Although there is no announcement on the show's airing time, I'm sure everyone will be able to see how it performs before long. In addition to the script itself, I think the emergence of "The Case of Di Gong of the Tang Dynasty" is very impetusive for traditional Chinese mystery dramas. In recent years, many domestic reasoning dramas have been launched, and the addition of "The Case of Di Gong of the Tang Dynasty" seems to mark the beginning of the return of domestic reasoning dramas to the fine mode of focusing on artistic creation.
Looking back on the development of domestic reasoning dramas in recent years, there have been some negative evaluations, such as "love plus drama", "cumbersome plot", etc. For example, "The Darkling", a drama with the main line of finding serial killers, although it initially gained a good reputation because of its distinct character settings, too many commercial implants in the following two seasons caused the word of mouth to drop sharply to about six points. There is also the suspense drama series "Forensic Qin Ming", which also fell into the trap of the protagonist's emotional entanglement in the later stage, which affected the development of the plot, and the score even dropped to a failing level. However, fortunately, in the past year, domestic mystery dramas have slowly moved out of the noisy and dramatic mode. Today's costume mystery dramas pay more attention to thematic performances and explore the stories behind them.
These episodes form two distinct genres. One is the social reasoning characterized by revealing the inside story of the case, such as "The Long Season", where the reasoning process is not the main attraction, but attracts the audience's attention by digging into the thought-provoking social issues behind the case. The other is the Benge-style reasoning that subverts the tradition and integrates reasoning and crime-solving plots, that is, suspense + puzzle solving. This kind of drama focuses on layout, interspersed with some mysterious small cases in the play, creating a sense of urgency and suspense. These two genres are the mainstream trend of domestic mystery dramas, and it can be seen from their rise that domestic mystery dramas are trying to start from digging deep into the storyline and gradually develop in the direction of refinement and maturity.
As far as "The Case of Di Gong of the Tang Dynasty" is concerned, although there are some hidden dangers in casting, from the perspective of the plot, the show obviously pays more attention to deep-seated emotional issues and avoids too much performance in other emotional dramas. In general, although "The Case of Tang Di Gong" still has some shortcomings, it is still worth the audience's expectations.
Looking forward to the future, with the wonderful performances of dramas such as "The Long Season" and "Under the Prosperous City", the innovative momentum of domestic reasoning dramas is gradually revealed. I hope that in 2024, "The Case of Tang Di Gong" can lead and deepen this trend and create a more exciting future for domestic reasoning dramas.