"Lao Xie, when did you come to Yanjing?" Lin Chaoyang asked with a surprised look on his face.
After not seeing each other for more than three months, Xie Jin's face looked a little tired, "He came a few days ago."
Today, Li Tuogang told Lin Chaoyang that "The Legend of Tianyun Mountain" encountered a public opinion crisis, and asked with concern: "That movie "The Legend of Tianyun Mountain"..."
Xie Jin waved his hand, "It's not a big problem. Many people still support our movie."
Xie Jin has been in Yanjing for a few days. The first main purpose of coming to Yanjing is to participate in a seminar jointly organized by "Film Art" and "Popular Film" magazines.
This meeting was large-scale and high-standard, with not only more than a hundred film directors, screenwriters and theoretical workers participating, but also some official leaders.
Xie Jin, as a leading figure in the domestic directing industry, is naturally coming.
Indeed, as Li Tuo said, "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" received some criticism after being screened at the conference, but Xie Jin also received support from several heavyweight leaders and guests, which was enough to offset the criticism from the outside world and also brought
gave him great confidence.
Listening to Xie Jin's words, "The Legend of Tianyun Mountain" should have no problem passing the review.
The two chatted for a while and then changed the topic, and Xie Jin revealed the reason for his visit today.
In addition to holding seminars, his other purpose in coming to Beijing this time was to select actors.
Even before "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" has been officially released, the news that Xie Jin is preparing "Wrangler" has spread throughout the film industry.
The two movies have almost the same theme. "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" is about the hero Luo Qun's belief in the people after being mistakenly classified as a Y faction, and it is about the heroine Feng Qinglan's noble love and beautiful sentiments about life.
, a tribute to humanity;
"The Wrangler" tells the story of the male protagonist Xu Lingjun, who after being mistakenly classified as a Y sect, went to the grassland to become a wrangler, although he suffered unfair treatment for twenty-two years.
But in getting along with the simple working people, and in the love life with his hard-working and kind-hearted wife Li Xiuzhi, he healed his spiritual wounds and rekindled his love for life and the motherland.
Two movies with similar themes, and the time interval between filming was so short, Xie Jin undoubtedly created a problem for himself.
With "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" being the most beautiful before, how to shoot "Wrangler" better than before is the most serious problem facing Xie Jin now.
In order to bring forth the new, Xie Jin's first thought was to work on the cast.
"For the two characters of Xu Lingjun and Li Xiuzhi, I want to use new faces, and new faces that will make the audience feel bright."
Xie Jin talked about his thoughts on the casting of the movie, and said to Lin Chaoyang: "You are both the original author and the screenwriter, so you have to show up for the casting."
"I still have to go to work."
"It's winter vacation soon. What class are you in?" Xie Jin asked anxiously.
Lin Chaoyang didn't want to get involved in the casting and had no money to get involved, but Xie Jin had to let him go, so he had no choice but to agree.
After talking about business, Xie Jin had another meal before leaving. He made an appointment to audition for actors at Yanying the day after tomorrow.
Two days later, Lin Chaoyang rode his bicycle to Zhuxinzhuang in the CP District on the northern outskirts of Yanjing City early in the morning.
Yanying Campus stands in a field. In winter, the surrounding farmland is bare, which makes the place feel more lonely and deserted.
After entering the school, Lin Chaoyang met Xie Jin. Xie Jin also brought photographer Zhu Yongde and assistant director Bao Zhifang with him.
At this time, the Yanying campus was full of red brick bungalows, and the only building was a tube building, which was not only the school's classrooms, but also the students' dormitories.
Xie Jin, Lin Chaoyang and their entourage came to Yanying and were treated as honored guests by the school leaders. They were specially invited to the principal's office. Chen Huaikai, an old acquaintance of Xie Jin, was also specially called to accompany the guests.
While chatting, the school leaders took out a bunch of student information and photos to let them have a brief understanding of the students' information.
After a while, the school leaders took them to a rehearsal room and used it as an interview room.
The country resumed the college entrance examination in 1977, but Yanying resumed teaching only in 1978. Therefore, Yanying’s Zhuxinzhuang campus now only has students in grades 78, 79, and 80, with a total of less than 600 students.
Today, Xie Jin came to cast for a new movie. Yanying students already knew about it two days in advance, and they were all eager to try it out.
Unfortunately, the school has requirements that freshmen and sophomores are not allowed to interview, so only students from the 78th grade acting department are eligible to participate in today's casting.
The name Yanying Class 78 is a very special name for the Chinese film industry. As the first batch of college students after Bong Bong, Yanying Class 78 has provided a large number of talents to the Chinese film industry, and many students have become famous in later generations.
.
Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, Hou Yong, He Ping, Tian Zhuangzhuang...
Today, when I was choosing actors, I met all students from the acting department, including many familiar faces to Lin Chaoyang.
The first person to come in was Zhou Lijing, who was favored by many teachers at Yanying. He was admitted to the acting department of Yanying with perfect image scores and the top score in professional courses in the country.
Judging from the aesthetics of this era, Zhou Lijing's appearance was indeed outstanding. Xie Jin's eyes lit up when he saw him. He whispered a few words to photographer Zhu Yongde and asked Zhou Lijing to try out a scene.
The trial scene is just one page, it is the scene in the movie where Guo Qianzi leads Li Xiuzhi to Xu Lingjun's house and meets Xu Lingjun for the first time. The actor who plays the role with Zhou Lijing is Yu Shuping, a teacher from the acting department.
Zhou Lijing had five minutes to prepare. When the time was up, Xie Jin asked: "Are you ready?"
He nodded nervously, looked at each other again, and officially started to perform.
He made a gesture of holding the door open, with a hint of helplessness in his expression. He turned his head, not daring to look at Yu Shuping. He looked left and right, hesitated for a long time, and then started to imitate pouring water.
"You should drink water, you have walked such a long way."
Zhou Lijing put the "water cup" in front of Yu Shuping and said shyly.
When their eyes met, Yu Shuping also acted shy. At this time, she was playing the role of Li Xiuzhi who had just walked a long way to Xu Lingjun's house. The character must be thirsty, so she picked up the "water cup" and drank deeply.
Got up.
Watching Yu Shuping finish drinking the water, Zhou Lijing kicked left and waved right, busy there in vain, as if he was packing things.
There are almost no lines in this scene in the script, which relies entirely on the actors' eye contact, facial expressions and body movements. It is quite difficult for school students.
However, Zhou Lijing's performance was pretty good, and Xie Jin couldn't help but nod slightly after watching his performance.
"Zhou Lijing, please go out first."
After the performance, Yu Shuping said to Zhou Lijing.
After he left, Yu Shuping looked at Xie Jin. Xie Jin didn't say anything. Instead, he whispered to Lin Chaoyang and asked, "What do you think?"
"Not very good." Lin Chaoyang said bluntly.
"Tell me specifically, what's not good about it?"
"Not handsome enough!"
Xie Jin was silenced by his words. He looked at him for a long time and said, "I have always wanted to ask you a question."
"What's the problem?"
"In writing the character Xu Lingjun, is he based on himself?"
The male protagonist of "The Wrangler" is named Xu Lingjun, and Lin Chaoyang used this name as his pen name. It is normal for Xie Jin to have this association.
Not only Xie Jin, but many readers who have never met Lin Chaoyang will also introduce him to the tall, handsome, gentle Xu Lingjun in the novel.
"Of course not." Lin Chaoyang replied.
Hearing his answer, Xie Jin breathed a sigh of relief, that's good.
Xie Jin was very afraid that Lin Chaoyang had some misunderstanding about his appearance. If there were any aesthetic flaws, it would be self-defeating to come to him this time.
After chatting for a few words, Xie Jin stopped worrying and continued to call people in.
Yanying's 78-level directing department produces talents, and the acting department also produces talents.
The person who came in just now was Zhou Lijing, a top-notch youngster who was famous all over the country in the 1980s. This time, the person who came in this time was a young version of Zhang Fengyi with a strong temperament and a bit of naivety.
After the performance, Xie Jin felt that Zhang Fengyi's acting skills were quite up to standard, and asked Lin Chaoyang: "How about this?"
"Not handsome enough!"
Lin Chaoyang still gave the same answer, which completely made Xie Jin lose his temper.
He now seriously suspected that when Lin Chaoyang wrote the novel "The Wrangler", he poured all his dissatisfaction with his appearance onto the male protagonist Xu Lingjun, so in his description, the male protagonist Xu Lingjun was tall and handsome.
Gentle and elegant.
There are a total of 32 students in Yanying's 78-level acting class. Each student has ten minutes, and the casting did not end until the afternoon.
After a busy day, Xie Jin declined the banquet invited by the school leaders, left the school with Lin Chaoyang and others, and returned to the Xinqiao Hotel first.
"Tell me, what do you think? Male actors are not handsome enough, actresses are not innocent enough. What are your standards?"
Xie Jin's tone was a little irritable. He was not angry at Lin Chaoyang, but he didn't understand what Lin Chaoyang's standards for actors were.
Lin Chaoyang is both an author and a screenwriter. Xie Jin believes that no one has a deeper understanding of the image of the hero and heroine than him. This is why he invited Lin Chaoyang to participate in the casting.
But today I saw thirty-two students in Yanying, and almost all of them were handsome men and beautiful women. Lin Chaoyang always said that they were "not handsome enough" and "not pure enough". It was obvious that he had a ruler in his heart, but this ruler seemed to be different.
It is extremely subjective and abstract.
If Xie Jin cannot understand the casting criteria in his heart, then this answer to the casting choice will undoubtedly become very difficult, and there may even be a situation where Xie Jin has to use the authority of the director to act arbitrarily. He does not want to be like this.
Lin Chaoyang's idea is actually very simple. He has watched the movie "Wrangler" and was deeply impressed by the male and female protagonists Zhu Shimao and Cong Shan. According to his idea, he must choose these two as the leading actors.
Now that Xie Jin is casting a wide net, he doesn't act like a magic stick and directs Xie Jin to directly dig out Zhu Shimao and Cong Shan, who are still unknown at this time.
He was also afraid that the opinions he gave would mislead Xie Jin and change the protagonist Xie Jin should have chosen.
Of course, Lin Chaoyang couldn't tell Xie Jin these thoughts. He could only say: "I am a layman in acting, what do you want me to say? Anyway, in my heart, Xu Lingjun and Li Xiuzhi are both handsome men and beautiful women."
Xie Jin asked helplessly: "Zhou Lijing is not handsome enough? Fang Shu is not beautiful enough?"
While the two were having a verbal exchange, Bao Zhifang, who had just left, walked in and said to Xie Jin: "Lao Xie, the actor you invited before is here. I have just settled him down. Do you want to meet him first?"
Hearing this, Xie Jin stopped arguing with Lin Chaoyang and said, "Let him come in."
Bao Zhifang went out to call someone next door, and Xie Jin started arguing with Lin Chaoyang again.
"You said actors must be handsome, beautiful, and pure. These are all abstract adjectives. Now we are casting, and we must have concrete standards."
"At least you have to tell me something about Chou Yinmao, right? Tall, short, fat, thin, elegant, pitiful..."
Xie Jin kept talking, and Lin Chaoyang was not in a hurry to reply. The argument between the two quickly turned into a one-man show for Xie Jin.
At this moment, Bao Zhifang entered the room, followed by a tall young man.
Chapter completed!