Zhu Mo, producer of "My Babylonian Lover", said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Beijing News that although the story line of "Diary Come True" is "brain hole", and still has a strong girlish temperament, for the understanding of the "girlish heart" in the play, she will remember a story that many people were sharing last year, a 50-year-old aunt finally put down her identity in the family after years of efforts, in order to complete her ideals, a person to go on a self-driving trip, aunt said, "When I drive a car on the road without people, I didn't feel lonely, I just felt free. Zhu Mo said that she believed that at that moment, the aunt's girlish heart and girlish dreams really reflected into her real life, and she was happy.
The drama tells the story of Chen Meiru's childhood diary played by Bu Guanjin.
Story: Will give the girl's heart a "highest courtesy" at the end
"My Babylonian Lover" tells the story of the heroine Chen Meiru who wrote a romance novel in her diary when she was 12 years old, and she named the dream mixed-race prince "Murong Jaylen" and "Murong Jaylen's friend " Ouyang Wenshan". When Chen Meiru was 24 years old, the story in the diary became a reality, and the ancient Babylon prince and the characters in the diary really appeared next to the heroine, and brought the love story in the diary of that year: the handsome and extraordinary mixed-race prince Murong Jaylen loved Chen Meiru alone; the prince's close friend and the rich and enemy Ouyang Wenshan loved Chen Meiru's girlfriend Jiang Huizhen; Chen Meiru's love enemy Princess Nine Heavenly Dragons loved Murong Jaylen alone, while Chen Meiru's male classmate Duan Shuiliu fell in love with the Nine Heavenly Dragon Women at first sight. Zhu Mo said that at the beginning of the creation of "My Babylon lover", it was expected to show different emotional patterns in this idol drama and provide different references for female audiences, so the whole drama established the roles of Chen Meiru and Jiang Huizhen as a pair of friends very early, and then tailored different "styles" of boyfriends Murong Jaylen and Ouyang Wenshan for the two of them, and at the same time arranged a suitor Duan Shuiliu for the 12-year-old Xiao Meiru's love rival in the diary, Duan Shuiliu, forming three pairs of CPs.
Feng Xiaoyue played the mixed-race prince Murong Jaylen.
The love in "My Babylonian Lover" is persistent and pure, coupled with the character setting of "prince and princess" in fairy tales, the whole story seems very "girly". In Zhu Mo's view, "girlish heart" everyone has, regardless of boys and girls, there will be many vulnerable moments, need the care and understanding of others. "Each of us has been a child, and we have all had the stage of loving fantasies and dreaming, and those dreams are glittering before they are shattered by reality. They should not be buried, they should always be cherished. This story, from the very beginning, is serious about the girl's heart and girl's dream. Zhu Mo said that "My Babylonian Lover" uses the "girl's heart" as the starting point of the story, and will also give it a "highest courtesy" at the end of the story.
Style: The fantasy plot relies on real characters
Babylon's handsome and obsessive prince, beautiful princess and rich and enemy prince's best friend, "My Babylonian Lover" is not only "girly heart", but also the whole story is in the "fantasy" country and the real world intertwined, how to make the plot of this "fantasy love story" and reality connected and landed? In this regard, Zhu Mo said that the connection between this drama and reality mainly depends on the roles in real life, in addition to the adult old classmate trio Chen Meiru, Duan Shuiliu, Jiang Huizhen, there are also Xiao Meiru, Xiao Zhenzhen, Xiao Duan Shuiliu, Xiao Chen Jinxin, second uncle, second uncle mother, Meiru boss, three Internet celebrities, Meiru primary school classmates, Sichuan Opera Troupe actors, Wushan scenic security, etc., these roles are all very grounded.
Taking the role of the second aunt as an example, she is the kind of enthusiastic parent that everyone has seen, with a strong ability to love, although her actions have caused psychological trauma to Chen Meiru when she was a child, but the background of this role is very warm, "This is very demanding for the actor, Chen Wei's performance is very surprising to us, looking at such a second aunt, you can't 'hate' it." Now look at the audience's feedback, sure enough, many people like her, and joke that 'the second aunt is the most powerful, whether you are from ancient Babylon or not, you can clean up and obey'. ”
In the first half of "My Babylonian Lover", there will be some natural funny plots in the diary and people in reality, but it has been funny to be unable to survive the story of the whole play, behind the seemingly fantastic and funny story, there is a bigger proposition waiting for the protagonist group, these people who come out of the diary, will they gradually have their own subjective consciousness? Because the prince and dragon girl in the play are the characters of the 12-year-old girl, about the gap between the 12-year-old's "innocence, childishness" and reality, Zhu Mo said that this part does not need to be deliberately neutralized in the first half of the plot, and the people who come in several diaries, their innocence and naivety, are the characteristics of this drama, and also an important source of comedy in this drama. With the development of the plot, the people in the three diaries also gradually began to break away from the setting of the diary, with their own will and choices, which is also where the plot can bring surprises to the audience later.
Xu Weining wants to play a slight middle two temperament.
People: Feng Xiaoyue confirmed his involvement in 2016
Because When Chen Meiru created Murong Jay lun, Ouyang Wenshan, and the Nine Heavenly Dragon Girls, she was only twelve years old. Therefore, when these three people appeared in the time and space where Chen Meiru lived, in addition to the misplaced thinking brought about by the growth environment, their bodies were also imprinted with Chen Meiru's naïve innocent thoughts. For example, the male protagonist Murong Jaylen came to this world with the setting of "Xiao Yong, Good War, Handsome and Wild", but he did not have the basic survival skills in this world, and he did not understand the boundaries of human interaction, and he slashed mobile phones at every turn, broke the TV with a sword, and wanted to take out his liver to sacrifice.
The role of the Nine Heavenly Dragon Girl is the most real psychological reflection of the little girl, she has created a beautiful and flawless love enemy, and her position in the prince's heart has always been above such a perfect person, in order to prove that she has an irreplaceable position in the prince's heart. In contrast, the character of Ouyang Wenshan, the prince's friend and head of the guard, is more capable of adapting to the new environment, which is also from Chen Meiru's "everything, everything" set for him in his diary. However, he still has places that are not compatible with the world, such as buying a place at every turn, and giving others a gold nugget at every turn.
Although the character setting has a "secondary two" temperament, the actor's appropriate choice and high-quality acting skills make the plot unfold naturally. In particular, Feng Xiaoyue and Xu Weining, two actors with mixed-race temperament, seem to be tailor-made for the characters in the play, "they are the natural choice of this play." According to Zhu Mo, the casting work of this drama began very early, and Feng Xiaoyue had already confirmed his participation in the project in 2016. In the second half of 2017, the addition of Xu Weining and Wang Ruichang was confirmed, which allowed the creative team to tailor the characters according to the image, characteristics and personalities of the three of them. Bu Guanjin, Zhou You, and Zhu Yanmanzi were decided in 2018.
Stills of Xu Weining and Zhou You.
Production: A large budget was spent on the ancient Babylonian plot
"My Babylonian Lover" spent a lot of budget on the production of ancient Babylon-related plots, on the one hand, to go to Morocco for live-action shooting, on the other hand, to carry out large-scale sets in the studio, and on the other hand, to assist in special effects work. In order to make the plot of the ancient Babylon part more immersive, the main creative team carried out a months of preparatory work, and the work of the art team was placed in the forefront for eight months, and everyone carried out a lot of data collection and historical research, and also went to Morocco and Paris in advance to investigate the scene. The reason why he chose to spend a lot of budget to restore the ancient Babylon scenes, which account for only about two episodes of the overall episode, is because Zhu Mo felt that these scenes had a very important mission of "picture immersion". "If this part is not filmed well, the overall style of the picture will be very cheap and low, then our drama will really become a pure sand sculpture drama, and even everyone's sense of resonance with the fantasy part of the little girl will be weakened."
Through the work "My Babylonian Lover", the creator hopes to express that every girl is very precious, do not give up your initial imagination of love, do not be forced by social pressure to compromise and make up because you have not met a satisfactory person for a while. Zhu Mo said that we now like to say a word, called not forgetting the original heart, but what is not forgetting the original heart? "In the process of growing up, everyone will more or less lose their dreams when they were young. I hope that all girls can remember the 'original heart' of their childhood, remember their future vision, remember the expectation of love, all of which should not be easily abandoned, not affected by the sounds around them, do not make meaningless sacrifices, cherish themselves, and must first love themselves more than loving others. ”
#制片人谈选角 #
Murong Jaylen: Feng Xiaoyue is the only choice
Looking at the entire industry, there are very few actors who can meet the settings of Murong Jay lun and the Nine Heavenly Dragon Women. Feng Xiaoyue has been our first choice and only choice from the beginning. He was the first actor we confirmed for this project. The role of Murong Jaylen not only needs a mixed-race face, but also needs to have the aura of a "prince". Since Xiao Yue entered this industry, he has always been a bit independent, he is a bit different from the people of this era, and the things he usually likes are not the same as everyone else, which makes him more in line with this role. These things in the bones cannot be acted out, it is brought by the actors themselves.
Feng Xiaoyue decided to star very early.
Nine Heavenly Dragon Girl: Xu Weining has a beautiful and wonderful + naïve
The actors of the Nine Heavenly Dragon Women must meet the four words of "beautiful and wonderful", our casting range is very narrow, if you add "good acting" in front of this requirement, it will be even rarer. Xu Weining is able to perfectly meet these two requirements, and her interpretation of the Nine Heavenly Dragon Girl exceeded our expectations. Her own image is very sexy and feminine, but the role of the Nine Heavenly Dragon Girl is created by a 12-year-old girl, so she must have a very innocent appearance, Wei Ning just happens to be an actor with these two temperaments, and her interpretation of comedy also gives everyone unexpected surprises.
Chen Meiru: Bu Guanjin's small body has a lot of energy
Chen Meiru's role, in fact, has her own strength, she has her own firm understanding of many things in the world, this role is by no means the common "silly white sweet", she has a lot of ideas. This is very close to Bu Guanjin, who is actually a very energetic actor. Her acting skills are recognized by everyone, there is a lot of energy in the small body, Chen Meiru has a lot of emotional scenes, and the requirements for acting skills are very high. Xiao Bu is very involved in the process of filming, has a deep understanding and persistence of the role, and it is she who gives Chen Meiru a truly flesh-and-blood life.
Duan Shuiliu: The wandering leper is very consistent
The role of Duan Shuiliu, in appearance, should be in contrast with the other two male characters, he must be the kind of handsome, Zhou You is very consistent, and this role needs both innocence, affection, and social qi, and the scale must be just right to show the cuteness of this role, which Zhou You not only did, but also exceeded the quota. He can interpret each role to his own unique taste, and this stream of water is also his unique stream of water.
Ouyang Wenshan: It is very natural when Wang Ruichang plays "Overlord"
Wang Ruichang was also one of the earliest actors to be appointed. His image is very suitable for the role of Ouyang Wenshan, tall, sunny, warm and handsome. Although Ruichang is very young, but his facial contour has a sense of stability and city sense, he also has a very important feature, when he plays the "overlord", you do not feel strange at all, but feel very natural, this is the actor's personal charm. With the development of the plot, the audience will find that the role of Ouyang Wenshan has its difficulty in interpretation, and it is not a simple "hegemonic" setting, ruichang has done a good job.
Jiang Huizhen: Zhu Yanmanzi's dance skills make her like a tiger
Zhu Yan Manzi plays Jiang Huizhen.
Zhu Yanmanzi is also a representative of the new generation of acting schools, and her innate conditions are excellent, which is in line with our real positioning of Jiang Hui. Jiang Hui is really a girl who lives warmly and cheerfully, but she has her own firm career pursuit in her bones, although she will say that she is "just a small role in the Luoluochuan Opera Troupe" when her emotions are out of control, but this does not affect her desire to perform Sichuan opera well and carry forward the traditional culture, this kind of strong self-discipline of "drama is bigger than the sky", which is very compatible with Manzi himself. She also has a strong dance background, which makes her more powerful in her role.
Beijing News reporter Liu Wei
Edited by Tong Na Proofreader Liu Jun