【Editor's Note】
On the day of the launch of the broadcast on May 20, 2016, the TV series "Marshal Peng Dehuai" achieved the first good result in the ratings of tv dramas on the national star channel. Not only was it recognized by the general audience, but also industry experts affirmed this work. This year, "Marshal Peng Dehuai" won the special award of the organizing committee at the 23rd Shanghai TV Festival, and not long ago, won the "Five Ones Project" award of the 14th Spiritual Civilization Construction.
What is particularly gratifying is that this TV series breaks the normal situation that the main theme of history is rarely paid attention to by young people, and has received the attention and discussion of many young people on social media. A young man commented on social media: "I have been looking for idols, chasing idols, and now I have found them, Marshal Peng Dehuai is the idol of our modern people." ”
Looking back at the creative process of this work, you can see everywhere the great motivation and encouragement brought by the spiritual power of the idol.
In May 2013, military writer Ma Jihong and friends met in Wushi Town, Xiangtan, Hunan Province, to visit the former residence of Marshal Peng Dehuai. Along the 100-meter-long staircase, walk up to the top of the mountain, stand in front of the statue of Peng Dehuai, look at the statue, Ma Jihong's heart is surging with excitement. "Peng Dehuai ranked second among the ten founding marshals, whether it is merit or seniority, he is second only to Mr. Zhu, who has made a lot of TV dramas on the theme of Shuai in recent years, but there is no TV series that fully describes Peng Dehuai's revolutionary career. I don't know whether it was out of admiration for Mr. Peng or out of the sense of responsibility and mission of a military writer, it was at that moment that I made up my mind to do something for Mr. Peng. Ma Jihong said in a later interview. This is the beginning of the creation of "Marshal Peng Dehuai".
However, when she wrote, Ma Jihong felt the great difficulty of creation. How to depict historical truth? How to delve into the characters themselves? How to bring heroes closer to contemporary audiences? "How to write such an influential and characterable character well, at that time, I really felt bottomless in my heart." So Ma Jihong told her partner Gao Jun, let's go out for a walk and look for Marshal Peng's footprints. According to the growth trajectory of Peng Dehuai's life, they walked all the way through the place where Marshal Peng Dehuai grew, lived, and fought to collect on-the-spot style. After returning to Beijing, she consulted a large number of historical materials about Peng Dehuai, and also consulted party history experts and military experts through seminars, and gradually, The image of Marshal Peng Dehuai in her mind became clear, and she told herself that she "can write."
Ma Jihong
In the script, Ma Jihong sorted out the merits and encounters of Marshal Peng Dehuai's life, and focused on Peng Dehuai's three times of being in danger. These included the Jinggangshan Defense War, the Defense of Yan'an, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
"Whether a TV series is good or not, in addition to the main characters, the most important thing is to weave character relationships." When Ma Jihong is creating, he pays attention to the organic combination of high-level and low-level narratives, and strives to complete the unity of historical truth and real life.
The high-level narrative tells the story of Peng Dehuai and Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and others. In each stage of the underlying narrative, one or two small characters are selectively created, and Through the scenes between the small characters and the protagonists, Peng Dehuai's personality charm is highlighted. For example, the guard next to Peng, from a green hairy guy, how to grow into a tough guy. Another example is anna, an American female journalist, whose warm and straightforward personality is unforgettable. For countless nameless soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation but did not leave their names during the war years, marshal Peng Dehuai also has a double presentation of group portraits and individuals.
In order to narrow the distance with contemporary young audiences, Ma Jihong also focused on portraying Peng Dehuai's love story in the script. Ma Jihong once said at the seminar: "In the eyes of many people, Peng Dehuai is a tough guy with thick lines and seems to not understand love. But in fact, Peng Dehuai's loyalty to love was touching. ”
At the same time, Ma Jihong also integrated reflection and reflection on the current society in Peng Dehuai's historical story: "For example, now that the Chinese people have largely lost faith, I wrote about Peng Dehuai's loyalty, his loyalty to the party, and his loyalty to the country." In addition, in view of the fact that many cadres have not taken action after the reform has entered the deep-water area, I have written Peng Dehuai's responsibility. In addition, in view of the corruption that the people deeply hate, I wrote about Peng Dehuai's incorruptibility. ”
"'Marshal Peng Dehuai' is not a commercial drama that goes to the market, and investing in this kind of red-themed character biographical drama, in general, the possibility of making money is unlikely, and the possibility of losing money is not small." Gao Jun, the film's producer, said that the shortage of funds has become a major difficulty for the project. However, despite the difficulties, the efforts of Ma Jihong and the entire team are still seen by people of insight in the industry.
In the autumn of 2014, when I heard that Ma Jihong was writing "Marshal Peng Dehuai", Ren Zhonglun, the president of the Shanghai Film Group at the time, rushed to Beijing overnight to meet Ma Jihong, discussed the script overnight, and signed a contract. According to the creators, the project was in the most difficult moment at that time, and Shangying became a strong promoter of the project of the play. "This sensitivity to the subject matter comes from our cultural consciousness and from the respect for historical heroes." Xu Chunping, vice president of Shangying Group, said.
On January 6, 2015, Zhou Xuzhou, chairman of the board of directors and president of Hong Kong Yuye Group, whose ancestral home is from Xiangtan County, came to the TELEVISION Art Center of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army to discuss investment related issues, and the whole negotiation took only half an hour. Zhou Xuzhou did not even read the content of the agreement, signed an investment agreement of 15 million yuan, and also sponsored 2 million yuan in his personal name. Five days later, the first contract payment of 5 million yuan was in place as promised.
In addition to the strong sponsorship of investors, the actors have never asked too much for remuneration and treatment. According to the accommodation standards given to the lead actor by the crew, Dong Yong, who plays Marshal Peng Dehuai, can stay in a five-star hotel at the filming location, and three meals can set additional standards, but Dong Yong himself asks to eat and live with the crew. Considering the tight budget of the crew, he also reduced his salary. Bai Bing, the actress who plays Qi Xin in the play, learned about the shooting situation of the entire crew and took the initiative to say: "I will play this role for free." ”
"It's not easy to get praise from top to bottom, and if there is no talent for genius, there should be the ingenuity of craftsmen." Ingenuity is expressed as an attitude of creation. As Xu Chunping said, when producing "Marshal Peng Dehuai", director Song Yeming's full dedication is worthy of admiration.
Film and television series such as "Rushing Out of the Amazon", "Ode to Yan'an", and "Eighth Route Army" directed by Song Yeming have won many international and domestic awards. As a national first-class director, Song Yeming directed the TV series "Marshal Peng Dehuai", which attracted great attention, and the pressure that followed was not small.
On January 5, 2015, Marshal Peng Dehuai was officially launched in Beijing. The shooting lasted for 136 days in winter, spring and summer, from the extreme cold of minus 25 degrees Celsius to the extreme heat of 35 degrees Celsius, which was filmed in Wangzuo, Hebei, Taigu, Shanxi, Hengdian, Zhejiang, Mentougou, Beijing, Yantai, Shandong and other places. There were nearly 30,000 participants before and after. More than 40 crew vehicles have traveled a total of 260,000 kilometers. When talking about the filming process of this play, Song Yeming once choked up in an interview: "Everyone feels that being able to shoot this drama is not only our wish as a soldier, but also a wish of the people." ”
This time, Dong Yong played Marshal Peng Dehuai, which surprised many people, and his most impressive role in recent years was Zeng Da in "No War in Peking". Even at first, Dong Yong himself felt incredible. "When the crew found me, I thought it was just a supporting role in the play, but I didn't expect them to let me play Peng Dehuai, and I didn't dream of it."
But after the broadcast, Dong Yong's performance was unanimously praised by the audience. He interpreted Peng Dehuai's military character very well. "Although I have not been a soldier, my parents are soldiers, and I have the blood of a soldier on me. My parents were both fighters in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and they were soldiers under Peng Shuai. Dong Yong said that when he told his father that he was going to play Marshal Peng Dehuai, his father was first stunned, and then he said a sentence: "Peng Dehuai is a heroic idol in the hearts of our generation." After a while, Dong Yong's mother said: "If there is really a crew to let you play Peng Dehuai, sansheng is lucky." ”
In Dong Yong's view, the biggest shining point in Peng Dehuai's body is personality charm. "When my 84-year-old father said the four words 'hero idol', at first I didn't understand them very deeply, but when I tried to enter Peng Shuai's body and soul, I felt that these four words were used very accurately."
Before starting the camera, Dong Yong went to Peng Dehuai's hometown to experience life, "I went to Peng Shuai's hometown before the start of shooting, and went to the place where he lived when he was a child. There are very few images of Peng Dehuai that can be found on the Internet, and then there are some pictures. "On the road of finding and grasping Peng Dehuai's inner charm, Dong Yong believes that what has helped him the most is the books about Peng Dehuai." I read about 11 biographies, some published in China, some published in the United States, and some published in Korea, so that I can understand Peng Dehuai from different perspectives. After reading these books, my admiration for him was deeply implanted in my heart. ”
Producer Gao Jun remembered a sentence dong Yong said at the launching ceremony: "I will play Marshal Peng Dehuai with my heart and soul." Later, during the filming process, in order to get close to the characters, Dong Yong did not eat dinner every day, and even pulled out two teeth to make the face shape closer to Peng Dehuai. On the night of the whole drama, Dong Yong just drank a sip of wine and burst into tears: "I have been shooting scenes for more than twenty years, and there is no drama that does not look forward to the killing, and after staying in the crew for a month or two, I feel that it is not OK." I stayed up this scene for half a year, but I didn't want to kill it, and I was reluctant to leave the crew..."
It is the creators' respect for heroes and respect for history that allows them to unite and elaborate this work. For "Marshal Peng Dehuai", many experts gave high praise. Li Yang, a well-known planner and critic, once pointed out, "For military themes, such as revolutionary themes, the creation of red historical themes still has national needs, and there are also special potential depth needs among the audience." Li Zhun, former vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and a well-known literary and art critic, believes that "Marshal Peng Dehuai" is a model for such themes: "This is a breakthrough success in the creation of Peng Dehuai's film and television dramas, and an important harvest in the creation of major historical revolutionary themes." ”
Zhong Chengxiang, former vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and a well-known literary and art critic, said: "This work completely recreates the artistic image of Marshal Peng Dehuai in front of today's audience, almost returning to the great history of the Chinese nation that has experienced such a magnificent, tortuous and always moving forward, which is undoubtedly a major event in the construction of contemporary culture and the construction of contemporary spirit of our nation." As he said, remembering history, not forgetting the past, and being grateful for heroes are an indispensable part of the spiritual civilization of our contemporary society.