What was it like for the actors of "White Deer Plain" to actually cut 1,000 acres of wheat for filming?
"Novel is considered to be the secret history of a nation." On the title page of the novel "White Deer Plain", the author Chen Zhongshi once quoted this famous saying of Balzac. A year after his sudden death, the TV series of the same name, which he once wrote about "stirring a century of national history and recasting the spirit of White Deer," also debuted on Jiangsu Satellite TV last night. Judging from the premiere, the leading actors led by Zhang Jiayi showed extraordinary acting skills, and the Shaanxi style was even more striking.
Although there have been many adaptations, Chen Zhongshi himself has said many times that the most suitable adaptation form for "White Deer Plain" is a TV series. Only the size of a TV series can accommodate the huge time, space and characters of the novel. The investment of more than 200 million yuan, a million-word script, more than 7 months of filming, 94 leading actors, a shooting team of more than 400 people, and an ensemble cast of more than 40,000 people also added to this TV series. A sense of heaviness.
The storm of "Bailu Village" in Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province is slowly unfolding on the screen. What are the stories behind this version of "Bailu Plain"?
Zhang Jia translated He Bing
A talented actor performed heartily
A thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets, and the same is true for "White Deer Plain" for the audience . The cast of the play is luxurious, including recognized acting schools such as Zhang Jiayi, He Bing, Qin Hailu, Liu Peiqi, and Li Hongtao, as well as outstanding new generation actors such as Lei Jiayin, Zhai Tianlin, Li Qin, Ji Ta, and Wang Xiao.
Judging from the premiere, the leading actors showed impressive acting skills. Among them, Zhang Jiayi, who played the core character Bai Jiaxuan, took full advantage of his unique advantages as a Shaanxi native. He behaved and talked like a local farmer. Under his interpretation, Bai Jiaxuan's legendary story of six funerals and six marriages, and meeting Bai Lu, also became a legend. was shown very vividly. The smoothness and cunning of He Bing's version of Lu Zilin, the calmness of Liu Peiqi's version of Mr. Zhu, the virtuous and simple nature of Qin Hailu's version of Xiancao, and the loyalty and diligence of Li Hongtao's version of Lu San are all clearly displayed in front of the audience.
For these performances, Zhang Jiayi revealed that the scenes between the actors on the scene were often "hearty". "Sometimes He Bing and I would high-five each other after the performance, and we were so excited; sometimes it was particularly sad. After the performance, I had to sit down for a long time." He Bing said that the rivalry between Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin was full of sparks, and there was confrontation and friendship. "They will come to each other when something really happens. Even if they occasionally quarrel and conflict, they will never forget that they are brothers who grew up together."
In addition to inspiring each other, the veteran actors also take on the responsibility of providing The young actors in the crew have the task of "leading the show" and often help them follow the script and find the feeling over and over again. For example, Tian Xiao'e, played by Li Qin, has a scene where she bites her finger and talks to Hei Wa in a charming way. At that time, it was Qin Hailu who first felt it finger by finger, groping for that sexy style, "When Tian Xiao'e is awakened, there are many details and can be very sexy, so I told Li Qin to sit down When the arc is revealed, people will be very different."
Performance re-lives
The extras must also be "original masters"
From the perspective of uniqueness. From the folk songs of northern Shaanxi to the vast snowy plains, "White Deer Plain" outlines the unique rural ecology of Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province from the very beginning. The reporter learned that in order to truly experience the feeling of rural areas in Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province, before the official start of filming, the crew ordered all the leading actors to move to the countryside nearly a month in advance to eat and live with the villagers. "As a farmer, you need to cultivate the land. Today's life is too far away from that. If you shoot it right away, it won't feel like it." Director Liu Jin expressed his original intention of experiencing life in one sentence. During the 20 days of life experience, the male actors went to the fields to plow fields, cut wheat, drive carriages, and sunbathed themselves in the sun every day to become tan; the female actors learned to spin, roll dough, cut vegetables and cook in the house, completely returning to " In the original ecological life of "men farm and women weave".
For the actors, this experience truly allowed them to cross over from "acting" to "life". Wang Xiao, who plays Bai Xiaowu, said that if you don’t really learn how to cut wheat, you will show your timidity when acting. “When you cut a handful of wheat and hold it in your arms to throw it on the stack, a novice will look away from the wheat. Far away, the feeling of a farmer is very close, and I want to hold him in my arms.
Zhai Tianlin, who plays Bai Xiaowen, revealed that the crew bought 1,000 acres of wheat fields for the filming of the wheat-cutting scene. "The actors cut the wheat from these 1,000 acres of land during the filming and then sold it." ”
It is not only the lead actor’s requirement to integrate into local life, but also the crew’s requirement for more than 40,000 extras. Director Liu Jin revealed that there are a large number of large scenes with hundreds or even thousands of people in the play, such as opening and harvesting. Mai, the farmers' strike, Tian Xiao'e's criminal trial, etc. For this reason, he simply found many local farmers to be extras. "If the extras only use themselves as backgrounds, the play will collapse." ”
A million-word script
Ingenious adaptation without losing the original flavor
Due to its huge size and numerous characters, in the various adaptations of "White Deer Plain", Many directors only choose part of the clues in the novel to present. However, in the creation of TV series, Shen Jie, a post-70s screenwriter who once wrote "Tiger Mom and Cat Dad" and "Chicken Feathers Flying to the Sky", changed the 500,000-word novel into a novel. There are nearly a million words in the script, and a full 85 episodes of the TV series have been filmed. Judging from the first broadcast, the script has made adjustments to some plots while maintaining the main line of the original work, and some content that was originally difficult to present has also been appropriately adapted for television. Expression.
For example, in the novel, because the Bai family had a father who was benevolent to Xiancao in the early years, his father specially betrothed Xiancao to Bai Jiaxuan, who had been married for six years and was considered a wife. But in the TV series, Xiancao was a refugee woman rescued by Bai Jiaxuan on the roadside. Her rescue led to legendary plots such as the Bai family's "Feng Shui Treasure Land" and the "White Deer Appearing".
Another example is, In the original work, it was written in a very short space that Mr. Zhu persuaded 200,000 Qing soldiers to retreat alone. In the TV series, Bai Jiaxuan followed Mr. Zhu outside the camp. Mr. Zhu's eloquence was seen through Bai Jiaxuan's perspective. Presented. This also allows the audience to understand why Bai Jiaxuan admires Mr. Zhu so much and where his yearning for benevolence and righteousness comes from.
For such an adaptation, screenwriter Shen Jie said that there are several main reasons. The creation of characters once made him extremely entangled, "For example, Bai Jiaxuan, what are the roots of this person?" How did he grow up? I tried to see him from all aspects with the eyes of the characters in the play. And Mr. Zhu, I asked him to appear at the Qing army camp with Bai Jiaxuan from the beginning, as the future young patriarch of Bailu Village. Set an example of learning. ”
Sixteen Years of Dreams
The film “White Deer Plain” was made for all Chinese people
Since its publication in the early 1990s, the novel “White Deer Plain” has been published by many This adaptation covers Qin Opera, dance drama, drama, opera, film, etc. However, due to the limited size of these art forms, Chen Zhongshi himself also said that the most suitable adaptation form of "White Deer Plain" is the TV series, "the only way to fully display the work in the future The plot is a TV series."
But it took 16 years to put this work on the screen. According to Zhao An, the producer of "White Deer Plain", he first saw "White Deer Plain" in the 1990s. " was very shocked and believed that this was a work rooted in Chinese culture and open to all Chinese people. In July 2001, he signed the first copyright agreement with Chen Zhongshi. However, after the agreed three-year copyright transfer period, the play was However, due to various reasons, the project was not officially approved until 2010.
It took another six or seven years for the TV series to be filmed and released. Among them, finding a screenwriter was a hurdle. Everyone has a "White Deer Plain" in their hearts. Adapting a famous work may be a thankless task. We have contacted many well-known domestic screenwriters, and most of them declined politely. "So, why was Shen Jie, a screenwriter born in the 1970s, selected? Director Zhao Jun said that relatively young screenwriters are more likely to write songs that resonate with the general audience, "We hope that young screenwriters can make the current generation of those born in the 80s or 90s I have a passion for the characters in "White Deer Plain" and can have a youthful expression. "
In order to break the restrictions of regional appreciation, the lines in "White Deer Plain" are uniformly in Mandarin. Director Liu Jin said that this was made clear by the crew from the beginning, ""White Deer Plain" is written for Chinese people around the world. Yes, using Mandarin will not weaken the local characteristics, because it retains some special pronunciation of Shaanxi.
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Dialogue
Translated by Zhang Jia: "Bai Jiaxuan lives in my heart"
"What "White Deer Plain" means to me is that there is something missing in it, but something that is common in others Habits are admired by others, and buried by others. "Last year, when he learned about the death of Chen Zhongshi, Zhang Jiayi left this message on Weibo. In interviews, he also repeatedly expressed his extraordinary affection for "White Deer Plain", including the consciousness of being a Shaanxi native. and responsibility, but also ambition as an actor. He said that the day the filming ended, he felt like he had lost something, “For a long time, he (Bai Jiaxuan) lived in my heart. ”
I am very familiar with the details of the novel
Reporter: Can you talk about the origin of you and the novel "White Deer Plain"?
Translated by Zhang Jia (hereinafter referred to as "Zhang"): I read the novel when I was in my 20s. When the movie version was made a few years ago, although I was not approached, I read it again when I knew it would be adapted for the big screen. I am from Xi'an, and Bailuyuan is not far from my home. In fact, it is very close. The land described in Mr. Chen Zhongshi’s original novel, the people here, and even many details are all familiar to me. When I read the novel, I always use Shaanxi dialect. Reading!
Reporter: What role did you most want to play when you were young?
Zhang: I didn’t dare to think about it at that time. There is a problem with actors. The choice of location, Bai Xiaowen, Hei Wa, I imagined the characters, but at this age, only Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin are suitable for me.
Reporter: So I was very excited when I was invited to play Bai Jiaxuan. Are you excited?
Zhang: I was really excited when I was asked to play this role, because the novel is the representative work of the Shaanxi Army in the literary world in the 1990s. "White Deer Plain" is not an ordinary one in our hearts. I think you If you don't touch it well, it's better not to touch it. If you want to do it, there is only one way, which is to see if you have the confidence to do it well.
Can you connect the original work with the characters in the play? Diaphragm
Reporter: What did you think was the most difficult part of filming this drama?
Zhang: Adapting the script is actually the most difficult first step. The novel is very difficult to change, and the characters are very difficult to adapt. There are many, very heavy, and the spirit of the characters needs to be modified. We have seen many adaptations of the original works, and most of them have such regrets, so I really didn’t dare to do so after receiving the script for a week. Look, I was afraid that I would be disappointed after watching it, but it was tempting to put it there, and it was so attractive. The film crew and producers kept urging me. After a week, they said, take a look, it’s really good. I just took it out and read it. Before I finished it, I told them that the adaptation was quite good and very successful. I read the script in Shaanxi dialect. I didn't expect that Shen Jie was not from Shaanxi, but what was described between the lines was. It’s very rare that I can read Shaanxi dialect
Reporter: How did you prepare for playing a role with such a wide age range?
A lot of people sometimes watch this. I acted like I was confused on set, but in fact I had done a lot of preparation work before. After I got the script, I kept recalling the script and the original novel in my mind, and I couldn't tell which paragraph corresponded to which paragraph. Writing, it was added in the script - the script added a lot of content, and I am already familiar with it. I will keep thinking about this character, every scene of him, and trying to figure out this character, it will take a longer time. .
Reporter: How was it during the actual filming?
Zhang: The hardest part was getting anxious at the beginning. He Bing once said to me, "You do it." Well? You argued with the director on set, which made us all scared. "Actually, Liu Jin and I grew up together and have been playing together since we were in our twenties. We often quarreled. I was looking for characters, and Liu Jin was also looking for directions in the picture. He thought like this in every scene, and I was If you think like that, sometimes you will get into trouble. But people in Shaanxi communicate more directly. I told He Bing, "It's okay. You can do the same. If you have any ideas, just tell me. It's the same with anyone." "Of course I was very anxious at that time. As soon as we received this book, we used to scare and intimidate each other when we were talking.
What should I do if the photo doesn’t go well? Go out and shoot!
I hope it will cause people to reflect
Reporter: You once said that this drama is a once-in-a-lifetime drama. Why?
Zhang: "White Deer Plain" holds a really important place in my heart. I worship it like a god. I think it may be the best among modern Chinese novels. I also feel that this is really happening to me once in my life. When the film was being edited, I didn’t dare to watch it. I was afraid that I would become anxious after watching it and start to scold myself for my poor performance.
Reporter: Will it be impossible to get out of this character for a long time?
Zhang: For a while, I seemed to be still in that state. My lover said, "Sometimes you feel a lot of change when you stay there. Many times it feels like you are still among Bai Jiaxuan's characters?" Especially after I finished filming him, he lived in my heart for a long time. .
Reporter: What kind of aesthetic do you hope this drama can convey to the audience?
Zhang: I think it is a work that will cause people to reflect from time to time. This is its greatest significance.
Reporter: Many viewers will watch the drama in a joking way, such as forming CPs, making emoticons, etc. Do you mind?
Zhang: It doesn’t matter. Now it should be said that there are many styles. If the audience is interested in doing it, it means that everyone really likes and pays attention to this drama.