"囧Mom" is a new work of the "囧 series" after xu Zheng's long absence for four years, and it is also a new realization of the Middle-aged Xu Zheng's Chinese-style family relationship, the film tells the story of The little boss Ivan played by Xu Zheng who is entangled in business disputes and marriage crises, but accidentally took a train to Russia with his mother played by Huang Meiying. During the six-day and six-night journey, he had a fierce conflict with his mother, and then survived the difficulties together, and the mother's and son's feelings improved.
【Story】 Quarrel with parental control
When he first wrote the script, Xu Zheng did not aim for the third work in the 囧 series. In a casual conversation, he heard a friend talk about the K3 train to Russia, which lasted six days and six nights from Beijing to Moscow, along the way can see a lot of different scenery, Xu Zheng felt that such a journey should be interesting, and then thought that if a grown man takes this train, the most disastersome may be to be alone with his mother for six days, so slowly constructed the theme.
From the birth of this idea to the completion of the first draft of the script, Xu Zheng and the screenwriters only took five days. With the first draft, Xu Zheng immediately booked a ticket to sit on k3, and after returning, he kept revising, and then carried out two retreat-style creations with the screenwriters, and "囧Mom" became the fastest one in all of Xu Zheng's scripts.
Xu Zheng attributed the smooth creation of the script to his personal life experience, and the state of communication with his mother in the film is his own experience. Xu Zheng said: "When we discuss this story, we found that most of the parents of our generation have a kind of atmosphere of control, they are affected by the original family when they are young, and together there will be a lot of relationship problems that have not been solved, especially the traditional concept that they have no channels and methods to improve relationships, these problems are inherited to the next generation, and too much love and control is projected onto the children." When the child grows up, a dispute will form. ”
【Shooting】 A large number of landmarks are filmed, and 90% of the shots involve special effects
Because the story takes place on a cross-border train, along the way for a long time, space is small, how to shoot on the train, the crew spent almost a year, and the small script idea became a huge production process.
In the film, the mother played by Huang Meiying wants to go to Moscow to perform, along the way, there need to be Ice, Snow and other Russian landmarks and landmarks appear, the crew filmed a lot of scenes in Lake Baikal, St. Petersburg, Moscow and surrounding cities; Yuan Quan, who played Ivan's wife Zhang Lu, concentrated in New York, and the crew went to New York to shoot across borders. In the Beijing part, it is to go to the railway station to shoot the train station, in Shanghai to take pictures of the airport, and in the studio in Wuxi to shoot the interior part, 90% of the film involves special effects production. Xu Zheng joked that he did not expect to finally make a special effects blockbuster, "Our goal is to make sure that the audience has a sense of reality, it is a story that happens in real life, but behind it are countless special effects shots." ”
Yuan Quan photographed on the streets of New York.
In March 2018, a Russian website reported that the film that was still temporarily called "Russian" was to be filmed at the Saratov Song and Dance Theater under the title of "One of China's Highest-Grossing Directors Makes a Movie at the Saratov Song and Dance Theater", and many citizens saw the shooting of Chinese films for the first time.
【Role】 Huang Meiying is like Xu Zheng's mother
For Xu Zheng's appearance invitation, actress Huang Meiying herself was surprised, because she has not appeared on the big screen for many years in film and television works such as "Longing" and "Golden Powder Family", let alone starring in The New Year comedy. Xu Zheng has his own opinion: "Teacher Huang was a very beautiful actress when she was young, and even now that she is old, her temperament and image are particularly good, and I think the image of the role of mother is very important. I have watched Teacher Huang's TV series a long time ago, and I am very impressed by her performance and face. When I auditioned this time, I found that Teacher Huang had a lot of subtle expressions, which was exactly what I thought the role of mother should have. Later, when we chatted together, we learned that her husband was also from Shanghai, and that her experience with her son was exactly the same as that of my mother, and I felt that there was no second person more suitable than her. ”
Xu Zheng and Huang Meiying were on the shooting scene.
Before "囧Mom", the 70-year-old Huang Meiying had played the role of mother many times, but they were all more dignified and orthodox images, and Huang Meiying was always a little worried about starring in the comedy. Before the official start of filming, Xu Zheng found a performance director for Huang Meiying to rehearse together, and also used the method of filming documentaries to help Huang Meiying find the role, and everyone watched the replay over and over again to let Huang Meiying relax. One day Xu Zheng received a message of nearly 10,000 words, which was Huang Meiying's understanding of the role, and wrote the story and emotional changes of the character for decades clearly, which made Xu Zheng sigh that this is the dedication of the older generation of actors.
There is a scene in the film, the mother and son are chased by black bears in Russia, and they need Huang Meiying to run and hang Weiya, xu Zheng has always been worried about Huang Meiying's body. Unexpectedly, Huang Meiying's cooperation was extremely high, and she excitedly said that she had been an actor for so many years, or the first time to hang Weiya. "Sometimes I think she is too serious, too well prepared, I said Mom, you don't follow your preparations, comedy should be relaxed, she will be a little uncomfortable at once, or used to do the most adequate preparation." 」 But with a little grinding, she will bring us more surprises. ”
【Dialogue with Xu Zheng】
Beijing News: The scene of the train is one of the biggest highlights of the film, how to solve the problem of the narrow space of the train shooting, and present a richer audio-visual?
Xu Zheng: This K3 train spans three countries and has countless stations, which makes it difficult to shoot. We rented three train cars in Russia, and all the landscapes we saw outside the train had a dedicated film crew to photograph different landscapes and different times. In the studio, we simulate the movement of the train, use the light to create light effects at different times such as day, night, dusk, etc., and then simulate different situations such as the train passing through the tunnel, stopping and entering the station, meeting the car, etc., and finally compare all the different attractions we shoot on location. Therefore, 90% of the shots in the movie have computer special effects.
Beijing News: How do you view the box office and market pressure carried by the 囧 series or commercial comedies?
Xu Zheng: I think that commercial films have a big task of substitution, the audience must find a confidant in the film, resonate with the film, I think commercial films are facing a wider audience. And everyone's requirements for commercial films and commercial comedies are getting higher and higher, not only satisfied with funny, but to have emotional value in the theme, which can enter the deepest and softest part of everyone's heart. Moving the audience is the quality that a good commercial film should have.
Beijing News reporter Li Yan
Edited by Huang Jialing Proofreader Zhai Yongjun