Chapter 558: Change of Play
After joining the crew and settling in, Guo Fan organized the actors to read the script.
[The Wandering Earth] has two plots in total, one is the main plot of the male protagonist and his group on the ground, and the other is the auxiliary plot of the male protagonist's father "Liu Peiqiang" in the space capsule.
After Gu Wei joined the "The Wandering Earth" project last year, he proposed to Guo Fan that "Liu Peiqiang" should be played by Wu Jing. At that time, Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 1" sold more than 500 million yuan and his fame was rising. His age and image were more in line with the image in the play. Guo Fan agreed without hesitation.
At that time, Wu Jing was busy with the post-production of "Wolf Warrior 2" and had not taken on any other roles. When Gu Wei called to invite him, he naturally agreed without hesitation.
Of course, Wu Jing didn't have high expectations for the results of domestic science fiction films, he was just giving face to Gu Wei.
As early as 2009, he starred in a science fiction film "Robot" directed by Liu Zhenwei, in which he played a robot.
When promoting the film, the production team also invited Liu Cixin to come and discuss the past, present and future of Chinese science fiction films with director Liu Zhenwei.
However, "Robot" is said to have cost 100 million to invest, but the box office revenue was only 52.1 million, and the investors suffered heavy losses.
The movie’s reputation is not very good. It is advertised as a science fiction robot drama, but it is actually a romance drama.
The plot is confusing, lacking coherence and logic. The special effects, which are the most important thing in science fiction films, are not detailed enough, and the visual effects are not satisfactory.
These had little to do with Wu Jing, who was only the third or even fourth male lead in the movie at the time, but he realized from then on that there was still a long way to go in the domestic production of science fiction films.
Although the two lines in "The Wandering Earth" interact in the movie, there was no interaction during the actual filming. Each filmed its own way. There was not even a shot of Gu Wei and Wu Jing, the father and son in the play, in the same frame.
Now, "Wolf Warrior 2" will be released in more than 20 days. Wu Jing is now busy promoting the movie and has no time to join the crew.
According to the crew's filming schedule, Wu Jing would not join the crew until about two months later, and by that time Gu Wei's filming would be almost finished.
"Uncle Da, I've been watching your movies since I was a kid, and now I finally meet you in person."
During the script reading, Gu Wei met Wu Mengda, who was already 66 years old. His hair and beard were a mixture of black and white, and his face was full of wrinkles. He looked much older than Jackie Chan whom he met at the premiere a few days ago. In fact, Uncle Da was only two years older than Jackie Chan.
"Gu Wei, I know you. You've been really popular in the past two years, and you have a lot of fans in Hong Kong!
I saw him in person today, and he is indeed very handsome! "
Wu Mengda had a smile on his face, his eyes narrowed into slits, and the wrinkles on his face became more obvious.
"Hello, Grandpa Wu~" Zhao Jinmai greeted him obediently.
"Okay, okay~ The girl is so cute."
Wu Mengda's Mandarin is actually quite good, but when we first met he had a bit of a Cantonese accent to him. When we all read the script together, he quickly adjusted his accent.
There are not many main actors in "The Wandering Earth". In addition to Wu Mengda, there are Li Guangjie, Zhang Yichi, Sui Kai, Yang Haoyu and others.
These actors were selected by director Guo Fan, and Gu Wei had no involvement. However, there was a role of "Zhou Qian", a female member of the rescue team, in the film, and Gu Wei asked for it and gave it to Meng Ziyi from the company.
As a 170cm tall "sweet girl" from Northeast China, Meng Ziyi has no problem playing the role of such a strong-willed female warrior.
After all, she played the evil "Yuan Chun" very well, and Meng Ziyi still has some acting skills.
Last month, Gu Wei came back from Prague. After Meng Ziyi returned to Beijing to deal with school matters, he came to the Qindao crew to prepare for the filming.
"Director Guo, is there something wrong with the character design of the male lead?" Everyone read through the recent scenes together, and Gu Wei found Guo Fan with his own script.
"Is there something wrong?" Guo Fan was a little surprised.
"The protagonist Liu Qi's growth story, in my opinion, is like the growth diary of a naughty kid!"
"The growth diary of a naughty child?" This was the first time Guo Fan had heard of this expression.
Gu Wei nodded.
"Look at the opening scene, Liu Qi's actions were very rebellious. He skipped classes with his sister, cheated others for protective clothing, and broke the law by going to the surface. He's a complete naughty kid."
"Then why do you think the hero does this?"
"Rebellion, Resentment, and Love"
Guo Fan waited for Gu Wei to continue.
"Looking at the background of the story, when Liu Qi was a child, Liu Peiqiang went to the International Space Station on a mission, and he was gone for more than ten years. In order to allow his father-in-law Han Ziang to enter the underground base directly without drawing lots, he chose to abandon his seriously ill wife.
These may seem like rational choices to an adult, but to an immature child, his father abandoned his mother and only cared about completing his mission while ignoring his family. As a result, Liu Qi lost his mother's love and his father's love was out of reach since childhood.
For more than ten years, although he had his grandfather's care, without his parents around, it was normal for Liu Qi to feel resentment towards his father during his rebellious teenage years.
Guo Fan nodded. He felt that Gu Wei had no problem grasping the role.
"However, judging from his performance, Liu Qi must be a positive person at heart. That is to say, no matter how rebellious he appears on the surface, deep down, he loves his grandfather Han Ziang and his sister Han Duoduo 100%.
Even a resentful father longs in his heart to be together and experience the feeling of fatherly love.
The reason why Liu Qi went to the ground at the beginning of the story was because he felt that going to the ground would allow him to be closer to his father in heaven.
Because his father told him when he was a child that he could see him as long as he looked up at the sky.
When they reached the surface, Liu Qi and his group experienced all kinds of difficulties, and he grew up rapidly in the process. With the death of his grandfather and the fact that his father chose to die for the greater good, he put aside the grudge between father and son, chose to forgive his father, and was willing to sacrifice his life to save the earth.
It’s what it means to resent your father, understand your father, and become a father.”
"Isn't this great?" Guo Fan felt that Gu Wei had understood the role quite thoroughly.
“The general outline is fine, but the specific manifestations are not right.
In the first half of the opening, Liu Qi's performance was a bit too "bearish".
Take his attitude towards his grandfather Han Ziang, for example. He always calls him "old thing", even though he is his closest relative who acted like a father and mother to him and raised him.
Judging from the scene where Han Ziang died, Liu Qi had a very deep affection for his grandfather."
"Well, we were also considering that Liu Qi was more rebellious at the beginning. Just like you said, there must be a growth line and a sense of contrast." To be honest, the script of "The Wandering Earth" has many loopholes in terms of the story, and the plot is not very detailed, but the main line is fine, and the special effects are completely beyond the audience's expectations, so some minor problems can easily be ignored by the audience.
"What modifications do you think are most appropriate?" Screenwriter Gong Geer was also present, and he asked directly.
Changing “old thing” to “old man” can also show Liu Qi’s rebelliousness.
Later, when Han Ziang sacrificed himself, the last two words changed from "old man" to "grandfather", and the emotions were immediately elevated."
Gong Geer and Guo Fan looked at each other and nodded.
"The rest I will pay attention to in the performance. Liu Qi respects and loves his grandfather but is also rebellious. He resents and yearns for Liu Peiqiang at the same time."
Gu Wei has thoroughly analyzed every aspect of the protagonist's character and motivations in "The Wandering Earth".
In the original version, Qu Chuxiao had limited acting skills and a limited understanding of the character, so he played Liu Qi in the first half as a completely ignorant and naughty child. This made the character's subsequent growth very abrupt, and even though he became a hero, many viewers did not like him.
Of course, this situation would not happen to Gu Wei.
"Boss, do you really want to cut your hair?" Young assistant Yang Chaoyue looked at Gu Wei's handsome appearance in the mirror and felt extremely reluctant.
"I'm not the one cutting your hair, so why are you so reluctant? Teacher, go ahead and cut it."
"Okay." After Gu Wei gave the order, the barber quickly shaved his originally handsome hairstyle into a short haircut close to his scalp as requested.
As it was necessary for the filming, Gu Wei had no hesitation, but the assistant who was watching him get his hair cut looked reluctant, as if he was cutting his own hair.
"Yes, it is said that short hair is the best way to test whether a man is really handsome. There is some truth to it." After cutting his hair, Gu Wei looked at himself in the mirror. He looked a little clumsy compared to before, but still as handsome as before. There was no change.
"Fans must be very distressed to know that you, boss, made such a big sacrifice to make a movie." The young assistant is a fan of Gu Wei herself, so she puts herself in the fans' shoes and of course doesn't want Gu Wei to cut his hair.
"They won't think so once the movie is released." Gu Wei touched his head and felt a little surprised.
He hasn't filmed any Qing Dynasty dramas in all these years, and he always wears a wig in ancient costumes. This is the first time he cut his hair so short since he was in college.
After getting a haircut, all preparations before shooting are completed.
"Brother, your hair shape."
"How about it? Is he more handsome now?" In the crew, Zhao Jinmai was surprised to see Gu Wei's new hairstyle.
"Indeed, it seems like you've become much smaller after losing your hair, like a high school student."
"Yes, this temperament is just like the Liu Qi I imagined." Guo Fan looked at Gu Wei and nodded with satisfaction.
Originally, after Gu Wei suggested changing part of the male lead's scene yesterday, he thought that the other party would make some changes to the appearance.
After all, Gu Wei is a top star and has always attached great importance to his image. I didn’t expect that when I just arrived at the crew today, I saw him shaving his head exactly as required by the script.
"It seems that he really is thinking about the filming of the movie."
"How is it? Is it heavy?" With the help of the staff, Gu Wei put on the civilian version of protective clothing, carried a black backpack, and held a transparent round helmet in his hand.
"It's not too heavy, but I can still hold on." Zhao Jinmai is also dressed in the same way.
"Ours is okay, but Li Guangjie and his team's exoskeleton suit is really heavy, reportedly weighing 80 kilograms."
"Ah? It's so heavy. Can they still move after wearing it?" Zhao Jinmai felt that the clothes on her body were already very heavy. It was very inconvenient to walk and move after wearing it. She didn't expect that compared with others, hers was actually light.
"Of course I can, but it's more laborious. And theirs is much more difficult to put on than ours. It takes several people to help put it on."
Gu Wei and Zhao Jinmai put on their makeup and costumes, ready to start today's filming.
Many of the sets in "The Wandering Earth" were real shots, of course, more of them are green screens with post-production special effects, such as the scene where Liu Qi and Han Duoduo leave the base shot today.
The two men swindled two sets of civilian protective suits, took the grandfather's car card, and took the elevator up from the base. The whole process was basically shot with green screen.
“I’ll go!”
Following the crowd of people wearing protective suits, the two passed by the helipad of an underground base. A huge plane was turning towards them. Gu Wei looked up and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
In fact, including the mechanical corridor on the ground, everything around it was green cloth except for other actors walking back and forth in protective suits.
It's all based on imagination.
Gu Wei is quite good at this kind of non-proprietary performance. He did it this way when filming "Monster Hunt". The director tells you clearly what scene you are in and what will happen. The specific reaction you should give depends entirely on your imagination.
"Look at your reaction, this is your first time too, right?
Have you ever been out?"
Zhao Jinmai's performance was also very good, and this level of performance was relatively easy for her.
“I didn’t see so many people the last time I came here.”
"You're a liar."
"How long will it take to reach the surface?"
"It'll take at least 15 minutes to get to 5 kilometers above ground."
"Oh~"
"Crack! This is good, passed!
The actors are taking a break, and the staff are packing up and moving on!"
The first scene was shot nearly ten times before Guo Fan gave it the go-ahead.
There aren't any major problems with the actors' performances, the main issues are some minor flaws in the camera, lighting, and even the extras.
Guo Fan is a person who pursues perfection. Having put so much effort into this movie, he wants to do his best to achieve the best results.
Gu Wei didn't care. It was like this at the beginning of filming, just polishing the shots.
There are always various problems when the crew first starts filming. But after a long time, everyone will cooperate well and the efficiency of filming will naturally improve.
"Are you tired?" Gu Wei and Zhao Jinmai walked to the side to rest.
"It's okay, the clothes are okay, but this thing is a bit heavy to hold." Zhao Jinmai pointed to the transparent helmet placed beside her.
"I suggest you drink less water," Gu Wei reminded her when he saw her pick up a bottle of water and was about to drink it.
"We have two more scenes to shoot. If I want to go to the bathroom, I have to take off this outfit and put it back on. It's quite troublesome."
(End of this chapter)
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