Recently, Li Shaohong brought her war-themed film "Liberation and Endgame Rescue" produced by her general director and director to Nanjing to hold a premiere ceremony, and took the time to be interviewed by The Yangtze Evening News Purple Cow News. In 2019, 64-year-old Li Shaohong, broke through the genre to make a war film, broke through her own variety show debut, after several breakthroughs, she now "dares to think" to touch the science fiction, detective, and even comedy genre themes. The afternoon sun in Nanjing was just right that day, and she smiled and made this look.
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Wen | Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Kong Xiaoping
Photo | intern Ma Wenqian
"For me, the most important thing is to shoot"
In fact, Li Shaohong has a very good relationship with Nanjing, she was a soldier in Nanjing, stayed for more than 10 years, until 1978 to resume the college entrance examination. When she was preparing to enter the medical university that year, she mistakenly entered the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy, so that later she often joked: "If I don't become a director, I should be a doctor." ”
Li Shaohong's mother was a director, and when a classmate saw that there was an enrollment advertisement for the Beijing Film Academy in the People's Daily, he gave it to Li Shaohong and gave it to her, giving her the idea of trying it out. At the time, both she and her mother thought it was extremely unlikely that she would be admitted, but fortunately, she eventually broke through from tens of thousands of candidates.
Admitted to Nortel, Li Shaohong became a classmate with Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou and others, and also became the backbone of China's fifth generation of directors. In Li Shaohong's eyes, Chen Kaige is very literary and artistic, has a leadership temperament, and this time the two also participated in variety shows together; and Tian Zhuangzhuang often told others to read less books, because the movie was made, not seen. Interestingly, at that time, Li Shaohong's nickname in the class was "Women are more ferocious than men" (1967 British film title), "We used to use movies to nickname me, when some people said that I was more ruthless than men, comparable to Quentin, and later I did make thrillers like "Silver Snake Murder" and "Bloody Morning". ”
Starting from "Murder of the Silver Snake" in 1988, Li Shaohong has directed more than 10 films, 5 of which are adapted from well-known novels, including Márquez's "A Murder Case Publicized in Advance", Su Tong's "Red Pink", etc.; in terms of TV drama works, there are "Thunderstorm", "Daming Palace Words", "Orange Red", "Dream of the New Red Chamber" and other popular dramas. By 2019, Li Shaohong still maintained a strong working state, and as a director and producer, not only participated in variety shows, but also released two movies, namely "Ma Ge is a City" and "Liberation and Endgame Rescue". She told reporters that in fact, at her age, the burden of parenting is lighter, "I now have more time to busy myself, basically I spend all my time on work." In fact, as long as the plan is done well, time can be squeezed out. Of course, she also admits that it is more necessary to have a good team so that everyone can arrange their work in an orderly manner, "I am now concentrating on creating and grasping the script." For me, the most important thing is filming. Therefore, I often feel that things cannot be done and there is not enough time. But Li Shaohong does not consider herself a "workaholic", "I am not 'crazy', I am interested." In fact, I think that if people do something that interests them, they are unlikely to be crazy, and if they are crazy, they can't do it well. So, it's still about order. ”
"Expressing the world through our eyes through a female perspective, intending to experiment with sci-fi, detective and comedy films"
Li Shaohong said that she has experienced the entire process of the formation of China's film industrialization, production reform, market reform, and digital technology change, which has made the output and genre of the film have undergone earth-shaking changes, of course, it has also brought unlimited creative space, and the later Internet revolution has also brought great changes to the entire industry. In fact, these are also opportunities for female directors. Female directors have a unique female perspective, will use her different perspectives and different views of the world, to interpret the world in their eyes, more emotional, just like "Liberation Endgame Rescue", our film is more concerned about human nature, fatherly love, family affection, it is precisely a perspective that female directors are willing to pay attention to and express war, which is also the characteristics of female directors. ”
Li Shaohong frankly said that after so many years of directing career, the topic of women's films is often asked, "The characteristics of women's films are the perspective, men and women live together in this world, the perspective and attitude are not the same, maybe women attach importance to the problem and men do not pay attention, women feel simple and men feel very complicated, so the perspective is very important, with this cognition, I began to consciously shoot women's films from the perspective of women, which also brought different colors to my films." ”
"For me, after making war films, I now dare to think more, and I have my own views on many fields that have not been covered, such as science fiction, detectives, etc., including comedy, of course, comedy is the most difficult to make." In these subjects, there are unique desires and things that female directors want to express. Li Shaohong told reporters that for her, she is likely to challenge these subject areas next.
Participate in variety shows, come to the picture from outside the picture, and feel that the "sense of lens" is not good
Recently, Li Shaohong has been on the Internet hot search many times because she participated in variety shows that selected actors. Filmed for decades of film and television dramas, excluding variety shows for so many years, why should Li Shaohong participate in program recording? This is a question that everyone must ask when she is interviewed by the media after she participated in the competition. Li Shaohong's original intention is actually very simple, that is, he wants to understand the current industry. Li Shaohong once single-handedly held young actors such as Yang Mi, Zhou Xun, chen kun and so on, tailor-made many good works for them, and boosted their development in their performance careers. She told reporters: "You see, Yang Mi was only 16 years old when she was first with us, and it was when she was very young that we slowly planned for her, hoping to turn her into an actor with potential." ”
Compared with Yang Mi's time, there are too many channels for young people to become famous today, "In the past, they all relied on assistant directors to find actors, or waited for the recommendation of agencies." And now there are too many channels, such as many variety shows of the cultivation system, and even some people have become famous and come with their own traffic. Li Shaohong said that through this variety show debut, she contacted a large number of young juniors and found that today's young people are generally versatile, "but their hearts are also more 'alive'." In the past, there were not many ways out for actors, and they could only act steadily, and it was impossible to sing across the line. Li Shaohong explained that even in the early years of the film and television circle, film actors and television actors can not be mixed, "want to act in tv? Hard times! Acting in a movie to act in TV? Drop off! There used to be an obvious gap, but now there is no more, so there are a lot of opportunities, and everyone's mind is more active, everything wants to seize, everything wants to show their faces and mix their faces. ”
These are very enlightening to the film and television industry, "so, I thought, instead of watching outside the door, it is better to go inside and go to the show." Li Shaohong also said that even if a lot of psychological construction was done before participating, "because I think the director should be a person outside the picture, not a person in the picture, so I am a bit repelled, and after coming, I found that in fact, for the actors, the challenge is greater, and the psychological pressure and endurance they have to overcome are much greater than those of us mentors." ”
Li Shaohong is frank that it is still very difficult to fully integrate into the atmosphere of variety shows in the short term and have a considerable "sense of variety". For example, she had to wear makeup and accept the gaze of the camera, "always feel that there is an eye staring at you, especially unnatural, there is no forgetfulness in front of the camera, liberating nature, like I do this director is not able to do, so I think the actor is really not good, "the heart will naturally produce discomfort, even if the show comes to an end, she still feels that her sense of lens is still "not good". "As a variety show, it is natural to think more from the perspective of entertainment and from the perspective of audience appreciation, but when it comes to casting, it is not so much to consider."
Love to try new things, under the guidance of her daughter", "clothes" are highlighted
Some people may have a stereotype of Li Shaohong, who has been a soldier, but as long as they have watched her TV series such as "Daming Palace Words" and "Orange Red", they will like the soft and eye-catching and unobtrusive tones and exquisite costumes in the play. Li Shaohong realized the importance of image and modeling aesthetics more than 20 years ago. Li Shaohong's own "clothes" are also very good, both in line with her age of appropriate, but also with fashionable small elements embellished; dare to use bright colors, but can be balanced and not kitsch.
The reporter also exclusively learned in the interview that over the years, the daughter who also works in the film and television industry has become Li Shaohong's clothing modeling guide, and it can be said that guiding Li Shaohong's dressing has become the daughter's work. Li Shaohong laughed and said that in fact, her family is a film family, her mother is a director, her husband is a film and television drama photographer, and her daughter runs around on the set when she is still in her belly, "She is a little bit older than our post-shaker, the shaker records her height, and the Spring Festival we spent together on the set is also the most, most of the Spring Festival in her life we spent on the set, so it is the best kind of education for her." And her kind of personality, may be from the fetus to feel as if she belongs to the set, so sometimes on the set is not willing to go, she is now almost our film crew's golden oil. ”
My daughter worked in the fashion industry before, and also did modeling for artists, and then naturally took over Li Shaohong's modeling work. Previously, Li Shaohong was busy filming, and her daughter's "business volume" was relatively small, and in 2019, Li Shaohong had two movies and a variety show, which needed intensive publicity, and her daughter got a lot of "business opportunities", so everyone gradually felt that Li Shaohong's clothes were gradually highlighted.
Li Shaohong always likes to joke about the shape her daughter made for her, "today I was dressed as a 'Christmas tree', tomorrow it is like a post office to send a letter or the like", but the daughter is a small cotton jacket, knowing that her mother is still very happy, because Li Shaohong is a person who especially loves to try new things.
In the daughter's view, for Li Shaohong to do modeling, will consider her director identity, age, and body characteristics, as well as daily habits, and even the mood of the day, so whenever she appears in front of the public, Li Shaohong's daily style is mostly suit jackets, with artistic elements and relatively bright and warm color clothing, which can make her slightly female affinity without losing her director's identity.
Quick questions and quick answers
This time filming "Liberation Endgame Rescue", did the experience of being a soldier affect your work?
Yes, I hope to use this film to pay tribute to my parents. I came from a military family, my father came out of the war, experienced the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, and director Chang Xiaoyang was also from a military background, so when we saw the script, we were very emotional and resonant.
As the president of the China Film Directors Association and the initiator of the "Green Onion Project", can you talk about the results of the "Green Onion Project" that you have helped new directors?
Up to now, the Green Onion Project has completed 10 works, 3 works have been released, 6 works have won domestic and foreign awards, 2 works are in post-production, and 2 works are being filmed. For example, the 2019 cinema movie "Over Spring", the reputation is very good. For young directors, it is commendable that the first film can achieve such results. We continue to escort and create better creative conditions to further improve the quality of the "new director's first film". In addition, the top 30 of the fifth green onion plan has just been produced.
You have worked and lived in Nanjing for more than 10 years, what is your favorite place in Nanjing?
I love the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and have been there many times. Xuanwu district is also very beautiful, with Xuanwu Lake.
What are some unforgettable experiences in Nanjing?
When I was a soldier in Nanjing, I was on the swimming team and would swim the Yangtze River every year. July 16 is my birthday. It can be said that I used to swim the Yangtze River for my birthday at that time.
Did you still spend the Spring Festival on the set with your daughter?
(Laughs): No, this year is a little special, just have a chance, not on the set for the Spring Festival, this year can be a big family reunion.