When Zhang Ran was calling, Li Xuejianxin opened the movie script in front of him and slowly looked at it.

Before Zhang Ran answered the phone, Li Xuejian had been talking to Zhang Ran for about an hour. Zhang Ran explained the ideological conception and practical significance of the script, as well as the characters in the play. After listening to Zhang Ran's explanation, Li Xuejian felt very shocked. This story has some similarities to "One Person's Lights and Decoration", which presents an old man's struggle with the harsh living environment, the confrontation with the fate of suffering, and then extends to thinking about the ultimate destiny of mankind.

The script not only has a high idea, but also has a very wonderful story. After opening the script, Li Xuejian was deeply attracted by it after reading a few lines. He couldn't help but continue reading. In the end, he was immersed in this extremely tragic but shocking story. So much so that when Zhang Ran called and was about to continue chatting, he didn't notice it, and he was still reading the story in his hand with all concentration.

This script is adapted from Yan Lianke's same name, "Year, Month and Day". Yan Lianke can be said to be one of the best writers in China now. Gu Changwei's movie "Favorite" is adapted from his. "Year, Month and Day" is his representative work in the middle and is the winning work of the Lu Xun Literature Award. It tells the story of a severe drought in the mountainous area of ​​Rake, and the crops were not harvested, and villagers fled together. However, because Xianye was old, he was unwilling to die in a foreign land. At the same time, he stayed in order to protect a corn seedling.

Xian Ye moved to the side of the corn seedlings and guarded it day and night, just like taking care of his own children. The food was gone soon, so Xian Ye went to dig the ground to sow the corn seeds that could not sprout due to drought. There was almost no water in the well, Xian Ye threw the mattress into the well, let the mattress suck water in and squeeze out the water. After digging the seeds in the field, Xian Ye went to dig the grain in the mouse hole, and fought with the rat group to compete for food.

The battle was that the rats never fought against Xian Ye, and eventually migrated in large numbers, but the rats burned the corn seedlings to the point of spots. Xian Ye had to carry water dozens of miles away. By the small pond, Xian Ye met a wolf pack. In the confrontation with the wolf pack, he defeated his hunger, fatigue and sleepiness with his tenacious willpower, and defeated his opponent. When the food was exhausted, Xian Ye took the blind dog to eat rat meat. After the rat meat was almost done, he drank rat soup.

At the end of the story, Xianye discovered that the corn seedlings lacked fertilizer. At this time, the corn seedlings could not bear fruit. So Xianye decided to sacrifice himself and use his body as fertilizer. In the end, the corn seedlings survived the drought with the nutrients provided by Xianye's body and produced a corn. Most of the corn kernels on it were shriveled, only seven were extremely full, as bright as jade kernels.

"Year, Month and Day" reminded Li Xuejian of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea", but "Year, Month and Day" is fuller in details, richer in connotation, and closer to his own life than "The Old Man and the Sea". He was a farmer, had experienced drought, and had also seen fleeing famine. He had personally experienced many of the things expressed in "Year, Month and Day". In his opinion, "Year, Month and Day" is a national fable, a proof of the tenacity and unyielding descendants of Yan and Huang. To some extent, the Xianye is a symbol of the spirit of the Chinese nation and the embodiment of the Chinese nation.

After closing the script, Li Xuejian, who was in a state of ups and downs, saw Zhang Ran looking at him, smiled embarrassedly and said, "I'm sorry, I'm fascinated by reading the script."

Zhang Ran smiled and waved his hand and said, "It's okay. What do you think?"

Li Xuejian immediately said, "Okay, it's really very good. I must let the role of Xian Ye play. I think I can play it well."

Zhang Ran chuckled and said, "I don't think there is any more suitable actor than you, otherwise I wouldn't have invited you here. I am only worried about one question, that is, whether your body can bear it!"

Li Xuejian didn't want to miss the role of Xianye, so he quickly said, "I have no health problems!"

Zhang Ran explained: "At the beginning of the movie, Xian Ye's physical condition was OK, but as the story progressed, with the lack of water and food, Xian Ye would definitely become thinner and thinner, and in the end, the whole person was very thin. There must be a contrast between before and after. If the actor's beginning and ending state is the same, it would be more false. I hope that during the acting process, the actors will gradually lose weight, and at the end, they will be thinner. You have lost weight for the role many times, but that is when you are healthy. Now your health is not very good. I don't know if your physical condition allows you to make trouble like this!"

As an actor or artist with aspirations, Li Xuejian hopes from the bottom of his heart that he can keep more characters that are alive and popular with the audience, and does not want the characters he creates to become a passing cloud. Xianye is definitely a character that can be remembered. After hearing Zhang Ran worried about his body, he immediately said: "Don't worry, I'm in good health now. Last year I starred in the movie "Yang Shanzhou", which tells the story of a retired senior official in Baoshan, Yunnan Province planting trees and afforestation. Yang Shanzhou is very thin. In order to get close to the characters, I lost weight. It's really okay."

When Zhang Ran heard that Li Xuejian was still losing weight for filming last year, he felt that there was no big problem, so he said: "At that time, we will arrange a special doctor and nutritionist to guide you and monitor it throughout the process to ensure your health."

Li Xuejian waved his hand and said, "Don't spend that in vain. I have experience in losing weight. Just eat cabbage every day."

Zhang Ran said seriously: "That won't work. You must arrange a doctor and nutritionist for guidance and monitor it throughout the process to ensure your health. Otherwise, your health will be in trouble and delay the shooting progress, and the loss will be even greater. By the way, there is another problem. Yan Lianke is from the Tui Mountains, Song County, Henan Province. The story of "Year, Month and Day" takes place in the Tui Mountains, so you must speak Henan dialect during the performance, and you have to practice your accent."

Li Xuejian nodded and said, "I will take some time to go to the local area to experience life before the movie starts."

Zhang Ran laughed and said, "Then let's go together then! After the "Future Apocalypse" is officially released in July, I will also be planning to stay in the local area for a while to experience life. Then we will go together and we will have a companion."

Li Xuejian knew that in order to play the role of the steel slag, Zhang Ran went to the mine for two months before the filming of "One Man's Lights and Decoration". However, this time Zhang Ran was not an actor, but a director, so he couldn't help but ask: "You should also experience life?"

Zhang Ran spread his hands and said helplessly: "There is no way. I grew up in the city and have never lived in an environment. I may not be able to grasp many details about the characters, their living conditions. If I don't walk around the local area and live in that environment for a while, I will not be confident when shooting!"

Li Xuejian sighed slightly. In fact, many directors would go to the story to experience life during the script creation stage, but now they rarely see directors doing this. Everyone is busy making money and refuses to waste too much time on creation. There are really fewer and fewer directors like Zhang Ran!

While sighing, Li Xuejian raised his question: "The blind dog in the script is too smart and too spiritual, like a human. If it is an ordinary dog, it should be OK to find a circus dog. But this dog is still a blind man, and it is impossible for the circus to tame a blind dog. Then it may be very laborious to film this drama!"

"It's hard to say it's hard, it's easy to say it's simple!" Zhang Ran kept it a secret and smiled mysteriously, "I'll take you over and have a look in the afternoon."

Li Xuejian didn't ask too much, and said with a smile: "Okay, I'm looking forward to your solution!"

Zhang Ran talked to Li Xuejian about scripts, his ideas, and his requirements for Xianye’s analysis and image creation. Li Xuejian often listened quietly, but sometimes he would put forward his own ideas. After all, he had a much deeper understanding of the elderly and farmers than Zhang Ran.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Ran took Li Xuejian to the No. 1 studio in Century Film Capital. Most of the shots of the movie "Year, Month and Day" will be completed here, because there are many special effects on the movie and it will be filmed in 3D, making it more convenient to shoot in the studio.

At this time, many staff members in the studio were busy, and the lighting, photography and special effects teams were busy debugging the equipment and preparing for the upcoming trial shooting.

Li Xuejian had heard of blue screen shooting, but the scene like in front of him was blue, and even the ground was blue, which surprised him a little: "This is the blue screen shooting? This is the first time I've been shooting this kind of scene!"

Zhang Ran smiled and introduced: "This is the world's largest virtual studio, with an area of ​​1 square meter and a height of about 14 meters, which is larger than the largest global virtual studio in Hollywood. You can make any Hollywood movie here, and here we can truly reach the same level as Hollywood movies."

Li Xuejian was very happy when he heard this: "This is a good thing!"

"Most of the scenes of our play will be completed in this studio." Zhang Ran picked up the script and flipped it out, handed it to Li Xuejian, and pointed to the script and said, "Let's try to shoot a paragraph. In this paragraph, Xianye and his friends finished their food. After returning from carrying water, Xianye was about to eat the last rat, but he found that the rat was missing, there were blood in the pit and the footprints of the blind dog. He thought he was eaten by the blind dog, so he started acting from here!"

Li Xuejian looked at the script in his hand, then looked around, and said in confusion: "What should I do if the dog?"

Zhang Ran chuckled and waved to the staff of the special effects team. One of the staff immediately brought a blue toy dog ​​over and placed it on the ground, and the man stood next to the toy dog.

Li Xuejian was a little surprised: "You won't let me play a role against this toy dog, do you?"

Zhang Ran laughed and said, "This is how Hollywood blockbusters were shot. Just treat it as a physical performance. The staff will control the dolls to cooperate with you."

Li Xuejian has been a drama actor for many years and has won the Plum Blossom Award for the highest award in Chinese drama. No physical performance is completely a pediatric for him. However, there are many lines in this section, and it is the first time he has performed such a play, so it takes time to prepare and also needs to design his own performance.

Half an hour later, Zhang Ran's "start" command sounded, and Li Xuejian began to perform. He sat on a stool, took off his shoes, and shook in the air, as if he was about to pour out the sand in the shoes. He put on his shoes, stared at the wall, and then coughed, looked at the toy dog ​​on the ground, and said slowly: "Blind, come here." At this time, the staff gently picked up the toy dog ​​on the ground, pushed forward, and placed it on the ground.

At the same time, Zhang Ran was staring at the monitor screen. The monitor in front of him was a little different from the past. It was not one monitor, but two monitors. One showed the blue screen of the scene. Li Xuejian was acting in front of the toy dog; while the other monitor had a background. Li Xuejian was sitting in a yard with a hole in the ground in the yard and a stove next to it. A blind dog made by CG was lying not far from the stove, and the toy dog ​​and the staff standing next to it disappeared.

When Li Xuejian said, "Blind, come here", the blind dog in the moonlight shrank slightly, stood up with difficulty, moved forward timidly, and then lay down at Li Xuejian, his body trembling slightly.
Chapter completed!