In January 1986, Hu Yaobang, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, instructed that the three major battles be brought to the screen. After study, the Central Military Commission entrusted the shooting task to the Bayi Film Studio.
In February 1986, Bayi Film Studio set up a script writing team, and the primary problem faced by script creation was the shaping of Lin Biao's image.
As the main commander of the Liaoshen Campaign and the Pingjin Campaign, Lin Biao was difficult to avoid, and some people proposed not to write or write Lin Biao, and some people suggested that Lin Biao be written as a negative figure according to the previous caliber. After hearing this, Yang Shangkun said: "If you don't write About Lin Biao, who fought the battle in the Northeast Battlefield that year?" Moreover, lin biao must be realistic when writing about lin biao. ”
Chairman Yang Shangkun's statement played a major role in truly reflecting Lin Biao and truly reproducing the three major battles in "Armageddon".
At the end of 1987, the script of "Armageddon" passed the review of the Central Military Commission.
"Armageddon" has 238 famous and surnamed characters, as many as 50 main characters, and the film crew issued a notice to the whole country of "voluntary registration, audition selection", requiring the main characters to be "both form and god".
There were three roles that were widely considered to be unnecessary for audition at the time, Gu Yue as Chairman Mao, Wang Tiecheng as Zhou Enlai, and Lu Qi as Deng Xiaoping. The three great men they play cannot be surpassed by other actors.
The competition in the corner of Chiang Kai-shek is also only between Sun Feihu and Zhao Hengduo, and most people are optimistic about Sun Feihu.
As a result, Zhou Enlai was played by young actor Su Lin, and Wang Tiecheng was defeated. Chiang Kai-shek was played by Zhao Hengduo, and Sun Feihu was defeated.
Wang Tiecheng was absent from Zhou Enlai in the epic blockbuster "Armageddon", and the director's interpretation to the outside world was that Wang Tiecheng was older. However, there are flaws in this theory, when Zhou Enlai, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, was 50 years old at the time of the Liaoshen Campaign, while Wang Tiecheng was 51 years old at the time, and his age was completely untenable. There is a saying in the outside world that Zhou Enlai, played by Wang Tiecheng, is too radiant and worried that Gu Yue will "lose his style slightly", so he used the young actor Su Lin.
Deng Yingchao's mother received Wang Tiecheng
Sun Feihu's failure lies in the fact that the director team believes that his understanding of Chiang Kai-shek is not objective enough, and the traces of ugliness in previous roles are more obvious. Chiang Kai-shek, played by Zhao Hengduo, has been unanimously affirmed by Taiwan's surviving historical witnesses.
Actor Li Xuejian also signed up for the audition. Li Xuejian was the first actor to play Lin Biao on the screen. It was in the movie "Four Crossings of Red Water", the movie did not explicitly indicate that it was Lin Biao, and there were only two lines, but Li Xuejian still played brilliantly. Interested viewers can find that video in "Old Talk".
The role of Lin Biao finally fell on the unknown actor Ma Shaoxin of the Jixi People's Art Theater.
Ma Shaoxin is not only similar in appearance, but more rare is the god-like, of course, here is the credit of the script creator.
In accordance with Vice Chairman Yang Shangkun's instruction that "Lin Biao must seek truth from facts", director Wei Lian and the crew interviewed many staff members around Lin Biao at that time, and learned that Lin Biao usually loved to study operational maps, and his familiarity with the maps was amazing, which can be described as the wonderful scene in "The Battle of Pingjin".
Lin Biao pointed to the blank corner of the map that had not yet been fully hung: Shanhaiguan!
The selected actors also paid hard for the performance of "Armageddon". All the actors are losing weight in an attempt to conform to the image of the leaders of the war years.
Gu Yue pulled Lu Qi to play chess all night hungry, Lu Qi really couldn't stand it, and advised Gu Yue to take a break, Gu Yue said: "At present, the conditions are difficult, and the chairman needs to be haggard. ”
On August 1, 1991, "Armageddon" premiered in the Great Hall of the People, and then President Yang Shangkun personally attended and gave high praise to the film. When receiving the starring cast, Yang Shangkun eagerly asked "What about Lin Biao?" What about Lin Biao? Someone pointed to Ma Shaoxin, who was standing in the back row, and said, "There!" Yang Shangkun rushed forward, squeezed Ma Shaoxin's hand, shook it a few times, and refused to let go, his eyes were full of complicated emotions.
Yang Shangkun worked with Lin Biao for many years at the Red Army University in northern Shaanxi, and his feelings for Lin Biao were difficult to say.
"Armageddon" took 5 years to shoot, and the film was well received after its release.