Screenwriter Quan Yongxian: From "Cliff" to "On the Cliff"

"'On the Cliff' retains the relationship between the characters in 'Cliff', while weaving a new story, which should be said to be a prequel to 'Cliff'." For screenwriter Quan Yongxian, the creative process of the movie "On the Cliff" is a process of making up for regrets.

9 years ago, in the last episode of the spy drama "Cliff", Zhou Yi, a male No. 1 CCP spy officer played by Zhang Jiayi, and his daughter Sasha were shot and killed by the enemy in the snow and storm, and heroically fell before dawn. This ending has become a pain in the hearts of many viewers, and it is unacceptable to this day, especially in the final picture, Zhou Yi was shot 3 times, supported the wall with both hands, and slowly fell to the ground, such a sacrifice does not look spectacular.

Even screenwriter Quan Yongxian "feels extremely sorry" about Zhou Yi's death. Quan Yongxian once wrote a long paragraph to describe his mood at that time, apologizing for "the opening of the New Year's drama, can only present a crippled story in front of the audience", bluntly saying that "Cliff" is a "story that has not been finished at all", and that "Zhou Yi died too badly, too worthless".

Since the hero is dead and cannot be resurrected, why can't time be turned back and the story can be told forward?

Set in Harbin in the 1930s, the film "On the Cliff" tells the story of a squad of four CCP spies who had received special training in the Soviet Union to protect the witnesses of "Japan's anti-human experiments" and returned to China to carry out a secret operation code-named "Utra". Because of the betrayal of the traitors, from the first moment of parachuting and landing, they were already in the net laid by the enemy, and a more serious task was already in front of Zhou Yi...

From "Cliff" to "On the Cliff", the CCP spy officer Zhou Yi changed from Zhang Jiayi to Yu Hewei, and the head of the secret service, Gao Bin, changed from Cheng Yu to Ni Dahong. The old and sinister Gao Bin is suspicious, designing temptations for Zhou Yi every moment, and skillfully coping with one exam after another has become Zhou Yi's daily life.

Quan Yongxian was born in Heilongjiang, and was particularly fascinated by the stories that happened in that era on that black land, and after reading a large number of historical materials about the Northeast Anti-Japanese League period and the 14-year War of Resistance in Northeast China, too many touching stories touched Quan Yongxian a lot, they seem to be slowly forgotten by people today, and there are not many film and television works that reflect this kind of theme. An opportunity to provide Quan Yongxian with the opportunity to tell the story of the "cliff".

It was a hostage escape incident that took place in Zhongma City. At that time, the Japanese circled the Chinese used for bacterial experiments in a place called Zhongma City, and later there was a successful escape from prison, more than a dozen people escaped, the Japanese chased and intercepted, most of them were caught and executed, and only one person survived, which was the object of the "Utra" secret operation in "On the Cliff".

Taking this historical fact as the background, Quan Yong first let Zhou Yi "resurrect".

The big finale of "tiger head and snake tail" in Quan Yongxian's view did not affect the harvest of "Cliff" on major awards and audience reputation. On Douban, the current rating of "Cliff" is 8.4, and the two leading actors Zhang Jiayi and Song Jia have been hot until now. "Cliff" swept the Magnolia Award, Golden Eagle Award and other awards in 2012, and "Latent" and "Before Dawn", etc., are still the classic spy dramas in the hearts of audiences. And Zhang Yimou's first spy war film also stared at the "cliff".

On May 19, 2020, Quan Yong first posted an article revealing that "On the Cliff" was completed, he wrote: "Today is the day when "On the Cliff" is finished, and it is also the day when I just got free. The film was filmed for 159 days, and Director Zhang led the entire crew to experience two 14-day quarantines, which was really arduous. Gratitude, beyond words, take a photo souvenir. ”

Talking about this cooperation with Zhang Yimou, Quan Yongxian concluded that the TV series "Cliff" can be said to be the art of screenwriting, and the movie "On the Cliff" is more like the director's art, "I wrote two drafts of the script to him, how to visualize, how to use audiovisual language to explain this story, is what the director wants to express." Quan Yongxian said that director Zhang Yimou is first of all a visual master, so in the whole story expression, his audiovisual language is first-class, "the film restores the street scene of old Harbin, and the costumes and home furnishings of the characters at that time are very elaborate and very real."

What impressed Quan Yongxian was also Zhang Yimou's seriousness in filming. Once he went to the crew to visit the class, when he waited for an hour or two in order to shoot an empty shot, Zhang Yimou waited with everyone for the wind to come over, and personally climbed onto the shelf, "At that time, I was really worried, he was also an old man of nearly 70 years old."

The old drama bones in "On the Cliff" are all experienced by groping and rolling. The cast of Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, Qin Hailu, Zhu Yawen, Ni Dahong, Li Naiwen and Lei Jiayin not only makes people feel the full "spy atmosphere", but also shows the children and daughters of the heroes in the bloody rain and windy era, "Although the story of finding the lost children in the film is not long, it is tear-inducing."

In the film, the bones of the scenes appear in different postures, presenting a group portrait duel under the snow cover machine. Among them, there is the firmness to run for faith, the bravery of willing to sacrifice, the rebellion of self-preservation, etc., the two camps of good and evil fight each other, and in the process of mutual suspicion between the enemy and us, the human game behind it has gradually emerged, which is the core theme that director Zhang Yimou wants to explore behind the espionage war.

"When I write spy dramas, I pay the most attention to people, and the characters are the most attractive." Quan Yongxian often puts the character relationship in the atmosphere of espionage to express. "If the audience has established interest in this character and established emotions, every move, every word and deed of this character will affect the audience's emotions."

Quan Yongxian said that there are some differences between "On the Cliff" and ordinary spy films, in addition to the light and dark confrontation between the enemy and our camps, the film has a deep portrayal of the complexity of people, people's reactions in extreme situations, and encounters in desperate situations. And there are more characters in the movie, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of script creation.

"The heroic martyrs of that era were very different from what we think now, such as Zhao Yiman, who was born into a wealthy family and had a high education, but for the sake of faith, she gave up her superior life and went into the deep mountains and forests of the ice and snow to fight a hard battle." Quan Yongxian said that Leng Yun and Zhao Shangzhi are not living in poverty, but for the sake of national dignity and their own ideals, they have paid a lot or even their lives, "In the film, I want to try to restore that era and restore that group of people."

Source: China Youth Daily