CCTV decided to adapt the famous work, Journey to the West Dream directed by Yang Jie
One day in 1981, CCTV held an important meeting. At the meeting, the leaders of Taiwan solemnly announced that they had decided to adapt "Journey to the West", one of the four famous novels, and shoot it into a TV series.
The directors present were secretly nervous after hearing this, because this was undoubtedly a difficult task.
Director Yang Jie, who was sitting in a corner of the venue, couldn't hide her excitement after hearing the news, Journey to the West is a classic work she has been familiar with since she was a child, and directing a TV series of her own has always been her biggest dream.
The opportunity is rare, and Yang Jie mustered up the courage to take on this challenge. However, I thought that I had never directed such a big production before, and I must have lacked experience, and I was afraid that I would live up to the leader's instructions.
Just when Yang Jie's heart was going up and down, he suddenly heard the leader call his name: "Director Yang Jie, if you dare to shoot, we will hand over "Journey to the West" to your director, what do you think?" Yang Jie was surprised, thinking that this might be an opportunity given by God to realize her dream of Journey to the West.
Even if the road is rough, you have to be brave enough to go on the road and present a wonderful work to the audience.
So, Yang Jie plucked up the courage and accepted the task on the spot. After the meeting, Yang Jie began to prepare with enthusiasm, first looking for suitable screenwriters, meditating with them day and night, brainstorming together to create a script that meets the needs of the screen.
However, Yang Jie's decision was questioned by her peers around her. A director from an opera background wants to shoot screen works directly, and the difficulty can be imagined. What's more, it's such a classic book.
But Yang Jie was not discouraged by the doubts of others, she calmly responded to the doubts of all parties, and was determined to present a popular TV classic to the audience.
For this dream of traveling to the west, Yang Jie devoted all her enthusiasm to it. She knows that the road is difficult and dangerous, but if she has a dream, she is not afraid of difficulties. The success of this drama not only means a new starting point for his directorial career, but also an opportunity to prove his strength to the audience.
Star scouts are looking for Monkey King hard
With the script in hand, finding the right actors is the top priority of filming. One of the most troublesome things for Yang Jie is to play the role of Monkey King. This image, which has been familiar to many generations, is the most difficult and critical.
Director Yang Jie runs a keen mind, describing in his mind what his ideal "Monkey King" should look like. She judged that this was a spiritual, agile and intelligent image that must be interpreted by the best actors in order to bring a new visual shock to the audience.
For this reason, director Yang Jie jumped south and north, looking for candidates. She has visited the two "monkey kings" in the Peking Opera industry: one is Li Wanchun, the "Monkey King of the Northern School", and the other is the six-year-old child of the "Monkey King of the Southern School".
However, after the interview, Yang Jie was not satisfied, the former asked for bronzing, and the latter was too old to be able to play this role.
When Yang Jie was irritable, Liulingtong suddenly said that he had to introduce someone to Director Yang Jie. This person is the later famous "Monkey King" - Zhang Jinlai.
At first, Yang Jie didn't expect much when she saw Zhang Jinlai. The weak and thin young man in front of her was far from the masculine and sturdy Monkey King in her mind. What's more, Zhang Jinlai still wears thick myopic glasses, his eyes are scattered, and he doesn't look like a kung fu actor at all.
But under the repeated assurances of the six-year-old child, Yang Jie decided to give the young man a chance. Who knows that Zhang Jinlai later trained desperately, in order to make his eyes more vibrant, he spent a lot of time staring at table tennis balls and candle flames, and finally successfully mastered this role.
The success of an outstanding Monkey King also marks that the hope of the TV series is gradually lit up with the unremitting efforts of talent scouts. Director Yang Jie, who found the monkey, finally saw that the hope of learning from the scriptures was gradually taking shape on the horizon.
The crew sang and danced to find the scene for filming
In the production of film and television dramas, the selection and construction of locations are very important. This determines whether the audience can be immersed in the scene and fully integrated into the plot. Director Yang Jie knows that this is important, and she made a decision that made everyone excited - the whole drama must be filmed in real scenes, and will never be made do in the studio.
In order to select the most matching exterior for each shot, the crew embarked on a long "journey of learning from experience". Everywhere they went, the beautiful scenery was fascinating.
In order to shoot the scene of Huaguo Mountain Water Curtain Cave, the crew trekked through mountains and rivers to Wudang Mountain, just to capture the deep and peaceful atmosphere. The thrilling fights on the road to learn the scriptures must also be vividly reproduced between the mountains and mountains.
Choosing locations is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but the enthusiasm of the actors is not diminished in the slightest. Everyone sat around the campfire, eating potatoes burned by the extras, and happily discussing today's shooting plan.
Day after day, although everyone is tired, in order to fulfill the director's wish, every time they see the beautiful scenery, they will instantly lift their spirits and sing and dance into the shooting.
Director Yang Jie also knows that this kind of on-location shooting is extremely difficult, and the actors' efforts are far beyond ordinary people. But only in this way can we present the audience with a real and realistic and audio-visual feast of the Journey to the West.
She keeps in mind the hard work of every actor and always inspires everyone to forge ahead in unity.
When the sun went down and everyone returned to their quarters, everyone was exhausted.
The image of the four heavenly kings is changeable
During the filming of a TV series, due to the limited budget, it was necessary to find ways to save money. Faced with this problem, director Yang Jie and the four leading actors reached a consensus that everyone must support each other, work more and get more, and wear many hats.
For this purpose, all the actors shaved their heads so that they could wear different head coverings and makeup at any time. During the filming, the four leading actors often had to make temporary cameo appearances in some roles.
Zhu Bajie became a land lord with a golden ring, and the sand monk put on a dragon robe is the dragon king, even Sun Wukong has to do miscellaneous work in the monkey scene.
At first, everyone was not comfortable with this hard way of working. Behind the makeup, I can't tell which role I'm playing. What's even worse is that the small role of the cameo has no lines, and he is sweating all day long.
But out of insistence on the quality of the work, everyone quickly Xi this kind of hard work. Whatever the directors need, they do not hesitate to become. Hard work is temporary, but successful works will be passed on to future generations.
Everyone understands that this drama is their opportunity to realize their acting dreams, and they must give up their small family for everyone.
Director Yang Jie saw it in his eyes and was deeply pleased with the professionalism and dedication of the actors. Despite the difficult environment, they were able to overcome all difficulties by working together.
师徒翻脸内讧，孙悟空大开窍
When the crew worked together and made various sacrifices in order to complete the filming, to the surprise of Director Yang Jie, the four leading actors were secretly seeking personal gain.
At first, "Journey to the West" was a huge success as soon as it was broadcast, and the leading actors suddenly became household names and star faces. They were originally full of ideals and eager to impress the audience through their acting skills.
But the temptation of fame and fortune was too great, and the four soon forgot their original intentions and began to make money through various means.
They often go out to promote and perform commercially in the name of the crew without Director Yang Jie's knowledge. BMC's name has brought them a huge amount of traffic, and making money has become the primary goal.
What's even more excessive is that they even teamed up to blackmail the TV station, demanding that Director Yang Jie be driven away, otherwise they would not act in the later plots.
When Director Yang Jie learned of this, he was deeply saddened by the betrayal and selfishness of the four. She found four people to severely criticize them for violating their duties as artists and being deceived by money.
She thought that these former disciples would be able to reflect soberly, but not only did they have no remorse, but they also kicked the director out of the crew without reason.
Many years later, when director Yang Jie passed away, Zhang Jinlai, an apprentice, not only did not come to mourn, but took the opportunity to hype his new movie at the funeral. This kind of treacherous behavior directly led to its reputation plummeting.
The young man who struggled for art back then had already lost himself under the temptation of money.
Director Yang Jie faced the betrayal of his apprentices, and his heart was like a knife. She used to teach them as if they were her own, but she didn't expect that the tree planters would not have a day of sitting in the shade of the trees.
But after deep introspection, director Yang Jie reaffirmed her original intention and decided to move on, not letting these setbacks hinder her enthusiasm for TV drama creation.
Don't forget the original intention, Yang Jie left a TV classic
After being betrayed by the four disciples, Director Yang Jie once fell into self-blame and suspicion, and even had the idea of giving up. She couldn't help but ask herself how a director could really work hand in hand with the crew instead of falling victim to a power struggle.
But after careful consideration, director Yang Jie reaffirmed his belief. It was he who created this crew by himself, and he shouldered the responsibility for each staff member and even all audiences.
This unfinished drama carries the hard work and dreams of too many team members, and he must not give up halfway.
For the sake of his dream of becoming a director, and for the sake of this team that follows silently, Director Yang Jie decided to move on. She won't let failure and betrayal change her passion for television, because the motivation for creation comes from within, not from the outside world.
Director Yang Jie always has that pure heart, only telling a moving story for the audience, rather than greedy for fame and fortune. Under her dedication, "Journey to the West" has become a popular classic that has influenced generations to this day.
It can be said that it is Director Yang Jie's creative spirit of not forgetting his original intention and sticking to his ideals that has made this eternal drama. It shows posterity that as long as a creator is true to his heart, no difficulty can defeat her.
This spirit inspires countless people who pursue their dreams to continue to move forward on the road of learning from life.