Interview with Li Lu, director of "In the Name of the People" and "Circuit Procuratorial Group": I want to touch the "roof" of this kind of subject

Source: Global Times

[Global Times reporter Ma Qingyan] Four years ago, the hit of "In the Name of the People" created a "high point" of Chinese realist dramas, and characters such as Secretary Dakang and Secretary Sha are still talked about by the audience. The "Circuit Inspection Group", which aired last month, is regarded as a sister chapter of "In the Name of the People", telling a new story around the prison circuit inspection system that began to be piloted in China in 2018. "I personally think that the brilliance of the "Circuit Prosecution Group" is not inferior to that of "In the Name of the People," Li Lu was not afraid to compare his two works in an exclusive interview with the Global Times reporter, and he believed that the insistence on justice and impartiality is the common essence of the two dramas. For the main theme of the work, Li Lu prefers to call it a "realistic theme drama", and the favor for this kind of theme stems from his own sense of mission, "not only as a 'commercial product', but as far as possible to make a 'work' meaningful to society."

Just because it's worth doing

Global Times: In the Circuit Prosecutor's Group, the theme of "justice for the people" runs throughout. Is this drama a story first, or a theme and direction first?

Li Lu: There is a theme first. At the beginning, the Supreme People's Procuratorate Film and Television Center and the Golden Shield Film and Television Center specifically approached me and asked me to make a film to introduce the prison circuit inspection system that began trial in May 2018. At the beginning, I was given the script of the first few episodes, and after reading it, I felt that the foundation was good and there was still room for improvement, so I took over the show. The original idea was to touch the "roof" of the same genre.

Everyone's life will be more or less encountered with the judicial system, which is the matter around the people, which is their most concerned. This drama is a large group portrait, the character dimension is particularly wide, from the political and legal front, business people, intellectual class to ordinary people are involved, with richness, diversity, is a subject I like and good at. As a director, I do have a sense of mission that my TV series should not only be done as a "commercial product", but as far as possible to make a "work" that is meaningful to society. I made this drama because it was worth doing, and it has good social significance.

Global Times: Many people regard the "Circuit Prosecutor's Group" as a sister chapter of "In the Name of the People". Some people think that the latter has more realistic elements, while the "Circuit Prosecutor Group" has more fictional and romantic elements. What do you think of these two works? What do you think of the fact that "Circuit Prosecution Group" has not become a phenomenon-level work like "In the Name of the People"?

Li Lu: In fact, like "In the Name of the People", the script of "Circuit Prosecution Group" is also quite realistic, even if there is a seemingly more dramatic plot, it is based on real cases, plus artistic processing and sublimation. And for the insistence on justice and justice, this point is always the same, which is also the common essence of these two plays. I personally believe that the "Circuit Prosecution Group" is not less wonderful than "In the Name of the People".

Because "Circuit Prosecution Group" involves several complicated cases, the suspense atmosphere at the beginning is very strong, so I am worried that some people will not understand it, and may give up after watching two episodes. Our goal is not to cater to everyone, but to introduce a quality, time-tested drama to the audience, and the original intention of creating this drama is not to make a profitable commercial drama. I believe that audiences of different ages, different experiences, and different levels have different points of focus and be moved when watching this play.

Characters have weaknesses and don't deny their strengths

Global Times: How to grasp the scale of the presentation and exposure of real social problems? Does directing such works worry about touching "sensitive areas"?

Li Lu: The screenwriter and director will check the pass, and our crew also specially hired procuratorial consultants, prison judicial consultants, etc., to guide us throughout the shooting scene. Since this aspect of the subject has been involved many times before, my own grasp of the scale of the subject matter has also accumulated and studied.

Global Times: Character portrayal has always been a difficult point in the main melody drama. In the past, positive characters were often portrayed as perfect heroes, but instead made the plump negative characters popular with the audience.

Li Lu: Yes, this is also where I pay special attention. I deliberately make each character more like ordinary and real people. Feng Sen and Luo Xinran, who have the most protagonists in the "Circuit Prosecutor Group", have also designed a "mortal" side for them, such as Feng Sen's "ten years of pursuing murder" to avenge his wife is out of selfishness, and Luo Xinran has always had the careful thinking of transferring work, they are not perfect people. Not only did the positive characters not shy away from weaknesses, but the negative characters did not deny his strengths, such as Mi Zhendong's high-IQ crime and the part of morality. The purpose of our doing this is also to show you the breadth of the theme of the main theme and break through people's bias in understanding the so-called main melody drama.

Global Times: In the play, Teacher Song Chunli plays an old lady living at the bottom, with a spicy style and sloppy dress, which is very different from her dignified and elegant image in her previous works. Why did you choose her to play this role in the first place?

Li Lu: I'm a door-slamming director (laughs). As a director and director, I have an advantage that the actors are all selected by myself, and there is no relationship, which is also an important reason for the success of the TV series. In fact, I was not blind in picking Song Chunli at that time, such a low-level old lady had a high rate of appearance in the whole drama, and the things she did were sometimes very annoying, so that a person with a noble temperament came to act, and all of a sudden the contrast came out, and the fate of the characters also came out.

Reflect the facts in a present.2

Global Times: What is the key to the success of a main theme drama? At present, what space and bottlenecks can be broken through this type of theme?

Li Lu: The main melody drama you mentioned, I prefer to call it a realist theme drama. I think that the key to the success of this kind of drama is these points, first, the choice of theme is accurate. Second, reflect the facts to have a present nature, like the prison circuit prosecution system was only started in 2018, the time is right, such a theme is very good. Third, it is necessary to make the audience resonate and empathize. In addition, it is necessary to grasp the scale and cultivate the art. At present, China's TV dramas are making rapid progress in both quantity and quality, shortening the gap with international high-quality film and television content. However, it should also be admitted that China's TV drama production still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of the diversification of themes, the cost of production, the appearance and the adequacy of the shooting cycle.

Global Times: In addition to the realistic theme, have you considered other film and television genres? What are your next shooting plans?

Li Lu: I am preparing to shoot Mr. Liang Xiaosheng's Mao Dun Literature Prize work "The World of Man", which is also a literary masterpiece that reflects the history of the struggle and life of the people in the past 50 years. There are a lot of little people in it, and that's the subject I like. I think it is also a main melody drama like you said, and I hope to be recognized by the audience in the future.