Today's Chinese films are mostly traffic-oriented, and the vast majority of protagonists are "small flowers" and "small fresh meat". In July this year, the 13th First Youth Film Festival ended in Xining, which is not well known in itself, but the closing ceremony was accidentally fired by a piece of Haiqing's complaints.
She said that the current film and television circle is extremely unfriendly to "mature women", because of the market and the theme of the reason, the older actresses are very passive, and have to rub shoulders with excellent works. Her speech vividly expressed the dilemma of 30+ actresses "not wanting to get old" and "not daring to grow old".
But forty years ago, a director did the opposite, not only using "older actresses", but also pushing a small-budget, small-production film to the altar, creating a hundred million yuan box office with a ticket price of three cents. The director's name is Tokihiko, and the film is called Gunshots from the Secret Bureau!
Movie posters
"The Gunshots of the Secret Bureau" can be called the first spy film in Chinese mainland, and the heroine in the film is named Shi Xiuying. Director Chang Yan took a lot of effort to find the most suitable actress. At that time, dozens of actresses were interviewed repeatedly, but there was no suitable one. Just then, Tokihiko went to see a movie and accidentally saw a person in the audience of the theater. He immediately decided that the heroine was none other than her! This lady was Xiang Mei, who was 40 years old at the time.
To Mei
Due to the inconvenience of communicating with Xiang Mei during the film screening, I originally wanted to wait until the end of the movie to contact him, but Xiang Mei had disappeared into the audience after the film was finished. On the one hand, he did not leave his name or contact information, which made Chang Yan anxious.
Although the people did not stay, they left a clue for Chang Yan - he saw Xiang Mei and the people of the Shanghai Film Studio together, and Chang Yan speculated that Xiang Mei was probably a person from the film studio. As a result, an assistant director in charge of actor work soon came to the Shanghai Film Studio to carry out the "search operation".
Directed by Chang Yan
According to the description, Chang Yan was looking for a twenty-eighty-nine-year-old actress who was about 1 meter 67 tall, but the comrades of the actor troupe at the studio pondered hard and did not figure out who this person really was. Isn't Xiang Mei in the studio? Of course not, so why?
Because Xiang Mei was actually 40 years old at this time, and her height was only 1 meter 64. But she looked young, slender and tall. Only to give director Tsunehiko the first feeling of mistake. Therefore, they could not find this "twenty-eight or nine-year-old" actress no matter what.
The last few tosses and turns, until the studio took out a photo collection of all the actresses in the factory, looking at them one by one, and the assistant director who was looking for someone patted his thigh: Oh mom, it's her!
The 40-year-old actress Xiang Mei was not the best candidate for the heroine according to the ideas of the people at that time. Moreover, because of her fair complexion and foreign appearance, Xiang Mei was not popular in the era when workers, peasants, and soldiers were popular. From 1957 to 1964, Xiang Mei played different types of roles in "The Red Detachment of Women", "Northern Jiangnan" and "Night Voyage", but they were all supporting roles and did not leave a deep impression on the audience. Before filming "The Gunshots of the Secret Bureau", Xiang Mei had not even acted in a movie for ten years. Why does Tokihiko have to be her?
Zhu Xijuan (left) and Xiang Mei (right) in the Red Women's Army
It is reasonable to say that At this time, Xiang Mei has passed the golden age of actresses, but director Chang Yan values Xiang Mei's maturity, stability and beautiful atmosphere. He said that a witty, brave, and improvised female underground worker should have life experience and work experience, which is not a young and naïve "little girl piece". It is precisely because of director Tokihiko's insight that he has achieved the movie "The Gunshot of the Secret Bureau" and also achieved this classic role on the screen!
Stills from "The Gunshots of the Secret Service"
After the release of "The Gunshots of the Secret Bureau", Xiang Mei "lived" again, and the drama continued. The most amazing thing is the image of the underground party worker she created in "Blue Archives", which appeared in a black velvet cheongsam, and the image of the crowd and beauty is still regarded as a classic by the audience.
Xiang Mei stills
Later, in the CCTV 1988 version of the TV series "Journey to the West", Xiang Mei also played the role of the Queen of The Black Rooster.
Xiang Mei starred in "Journey to the West"
In addition to picking the heroine's unique vision, Tokihiko's selection of the male protagonist is also "not going the usual way", what kind of story is behind this? Pay attention to the headline number of "Hubei Satellite TV Big Reveal", and continue to decrypt it for you tomorrow!