China Partner
"Arriving Home at One Point"
Produced by Chen Kexin and directed by Xu Hongyu, "Arriving Home at One Point" was released on October 4, telling the story of three young people with e-commerce dreams, express delivery dreams and coffee dreams who meet in the millennium ancient village of Yunnan, and they jointly start a journey of rural entrepreneurship through their respective advantages. The Beijing News exclusively interviewed director Xu Hongyu, starring Liu Haoran and Peng Yuchang, to interpret the interesting behind-the-scenes story of this movie.
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Pre-cloud preparation, cloud discussion, cloud casting
"Arriving Home at One Point" began preparation at the end of 2019, and due to the sudden impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the film's creative method can only adopt unconventional "cloud preparation": the script "cloud discussion" and the actor "cloud casting", which make director Xu Hongyu feel different from the previous traditional way of creation. "In the past, we all met in person, and the preparations for the survey and collection meeting were basically face-to-face, and we could see some practical things, but this time it all became online communication, and the feeling of being able to see was different." Xu Hongyu sighed that the preparation methods this time are different, and the intense shooting that began under special circumstances makes people full of uncertainty, but he is still a very lucky director, not only has an experienced team and actors with a sense of drama, even the "millennium ancient village" in the film was also selected after spending more than a month during the preparation period of the cloud, and when he really came to this shooting location, he could feel the optimism and sense of mission that nature and the village gave to life.
For several leading actors, the process of filming "Arriving Home at One Point" is a pleasant experience, Liu Haoran, who plays Wei Jinbei, said that the whole process is cheerful, although the time is tight, sometimes it rains and rests, they rush to Yunnan with the same enthusiasm as the characters in the play, live a completely different life from the city, and every day they are like the characters in the play.
creation
There was no complete script on set
The three young partners in the film all have their own identity backgrounds, Wei Jinbei, a business person played by Liu Haoran, finds the true meaning of struggle and entrepreneurship by taking root in the countryside; Peng Xiubing, a courier played by Peng Yuchang, is attached to creating a rural express delivery business, hoping to bring changes to his hometown with this new way of life; Li Shaoqun, an idealist played by Yin Fang, persistently grows the ideal coffee in his hometown.
But there's nothing surprising about the actors is that there isn't a full script on set, or even they say "no script." Liu Haoran said that because Xu Hongyu, who was born in editing, has a magical skill, that is, he will make everyone full of performance confidence, he will let us rest assured and natural to show, because there is no clear script, we will casually act a lot of material on the set, such as a play to give ten kinds of acting, he will be very sensitive in the post-editing process to know what performance method is liked by everyone, what is important, and finally presented is a good effect. Peng Yuchang recalled that he had not seen the script before, and he was very surprised to know that he wanted to shoot this drama in such a tense situation, and he completely handed himself over to Xu Hongyu during the filming process.
When filming a subway scene in Wuxi, he met director Liu Weiqiang to visit the class, Xu Hongyu told Liu Weiqiang that his play was filmed in 32 days, Liu Weiqiang laughed and said that his fastest scene, just like "Ancient Puzzle Boy" was only filmed for 7 days, so that Xu Hongyu couldn't help but smile and shut up, like this rapid shooting method, he said that he was also the first contact: "The real script is not complete, but we know very well what we want to express." Many of the details were also made up during the creative process of the screenwriting team. In fact, the reason why the play can be successful is that the screenwriting team has done a very solid job of setting the background setting of these three characters, so that the main creative team can create wildly and freely according to the personality of these characters, which can open up the creative thinking and generate more sparks among the actors. ”
【Answer questions】
Many viewers asked questions, such as: Why is there no love line in a youth inspirational film? Are some of the funny memes in the film a nod to "The Chinese Partner"? Why is the title of the film in English coffee or tea... The Beijing News asked the director and the lead actor to solve the audience's puzzles.
Where is the deleted love scene?
It is expected to perform "online"
The film tells the story of three enthusiastic young people who change their hometown to start a business in Huanglu Village, Yunnan, and many viewers have a question: Why did they not have a love scene during the three years of entrepreneurship? Director Xu Hongyu said that there is actually a love line in the film, that is, the village flower "Wang Saifen" mentioned by Peng Xiubing (Played by Peng Yuchang) and Li Shaoqun (Played by Yin Fang) in the same village, but in the end he cut out the love scene in the main film, and he will reveal the story of this love line online after the release. As for who the village flower is, some people joke that "Liu Haoran wearing women's clothes should be the village flower." Yin Fang also quipped that the role of Murahua had been replaced by Wei Jinbei, played by Liu Haoran.
Which scene is the most atmospheric?
Tan Zhuo appeared
In the film, the sales manager played by Tan Zhuo is beautiful and generous, but also domineering, and the scene where she signs a contract with the entrepreneurial trio for nine minutes, and the audience can't help but love and hate this role. Xu Hongyu said that this is also the longest scene in the whole film, filmed for a whole day, "This scene has undergone a lot of communication and rehearsal, because the emotions of this scene are hierarchical, at first everyone was excited because of the high price she offered, but then because of Tan Zhuo's dismissive words led to differences between the two sides, and finally returned to the difference in ideas of the three people themselves, to make everyone's emotions reach the peak of the encounter, the release and polishing of emotional points need to be constantly tried." ”
Why is the English film called "COFFEE OR TEA"?
Be exquisite
The English title of "One Point to Home" is "COFFEE OR TEA", which is the English title that Xu Hongyu insisted on changing, Xu Hongyu said: "This is the first time I heard the screenwriter Zhang Ji tell this story about my understanding of this project, this English title can also give us more creative space, Tea represents traditional Chinese culture, Coffee represents young people's feelings about freshness, let everyone choose traditional or modern, Chinese or Western, or finally to find coexistence, Coffee and tea are both out of a soil that demonstrates our inclusive attitude of making both tea and coffee. ”
Is it a tribute to The Chinese Partner?
Times are different, dreams are changing
The film's supervising producer is Chen Kexin, plus the storyline of the three brothers Tuyang combining entrepreneurship, these elements may remind many viewers of Chen Kexin's 2013 "Chinese Partner", and "Arriving Home at One Point" also has a lot of plot stems that echo this film: for example, Tan Zhuo calls to ask if the boss can ask if the price can be 6 million, the boss's name is Peter, and this is Chen Kexin's English name. Liu Haoran and the children speak English more or less "tribute". When some viewers smile, they will inevitably have the question of "whether there is a deliberate tribute". Xu Hongyu said that although there will be some similar plot memes, but "One Point to Home" and "Chinese Partner" are completely different stories, "Chinese Partner" is the definition of dreams in that era, the dream at that time is to go out, and today your dream may lie in the change of the entire surrounding environment, "One Point to Home" is more like an inspirational movie about dreams, entrepreneurship is to return to and feed the countryside, in fact, Chinese films rarely have such a genre, It's more like a story of entrepreneurial youth growing up.
Written by/Beijing News reporter Zhou Huixiaowan