Millennium director

After returning to the capital, Wu Yuan was greeted by an empty home.

Liu Yifei did not wait for him at home, but went to the northwest to film with the crew.

Preparations started last year, and after several months of closed training, just as "The Great Sage" was wrapping up, Zhang Yimou's new movie "Cai Wenji" also started shooting at the Yinchuan Film and Television Base.

Facing an empty home, Wu Yuan, who had just been married for less than a year, was somewhat unaccustomed to it. This also made him devote more of his attention to work after returning to the capital, staying almost every day. In the company's post-production center, I would only go back home for a short stay when I was sleeping.

Of course, in this case, video chatting with Liu Yifei every day is also indispensable. During the video chat, she will also share the shooting situation with Wu Yuan.

The reason why "The Great Sage" went to the northwest of the motherland to start production is mainly because there is a scene in the script where Cai Wenji is kidnapped by the Huns that needs to be filmed, and movies involving the Han Dynasty background are basically shot in several film and television cities in the west of the motherland. , there are also complete film and television buildings from the Qin and Han Dynasties to provide shooting.

After more than ten years of development, Chinese-language films have basically formed a mature shooting system.

For example, most modern dramas are filmed in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Xiamen.

Most of the scenes set in the Qin and Han Dynasties were filmed in film and television bases in the Shaanxi-Gansu region.

The Tang Dynasty drama was filmed in Tangcheng built by Chen Kaige and at the Xi'an Film and Television Base.

Ming and Qing dramas and Republic of China dramas were mostly filmed in Hengdian, fantasy and fairy-tale dramas were filmed in Xiangshan, and other films like Shendiao and Tianlong Film and Television City were filmed in Hengdian.

In this way, a film and television shooting system covering all parts of the motherland has been formed.

Of course, this is not absolute. At least Hengdian and Xiangshan are versatile. If it is convenient, scenes of any background and era can be filmed in these two places.

These two places are also the film and television bases with the largest number of group performances in the country and the largest number of crews received every year.

People in the industry often joke that if they have never filmed in Hengdian or Xiangshan, they would be embarrassed to say that they are an actor.

But it is also interesting to say that these two places are famous all over the country and are popular even among laymen who have basically no contact with the film and television industry. However, Wu Yuan, a professional director, has never shot any film or television drama.

From the time he started making movies until now, he has never filmed in Hengdian or Xiangshan. This is extremely rare in the industry.

Even Zhang Yimou filmed "Hero" and "A City of Gold" in Hengdian.

Wu Yuan's few trips to Hengdian were either to visit classes or to record the variety show "Actors Please Take Your Place" that year. He had never filmed there.

The places where he shoots the most scenes are mainly in the Huairou Film and Television Base in Beijing and the mountain city of Chongqing, which is very similar to Jia Zhangke's preferences.

The movie "Cai Wenji" will also be shot in Hengdian. When the time came to the end of August, the crew of "Cai Wenji" moved from the northwest to Hengdian for the second half of the filming.

Wu Yuan, who was very quiet and restless, thought that he had hardly been to Hengdian, so he got some ideas and came to Hengdian with his assistant to visit Liu Yifei.

On the third day after the crew of "Cai Wenji" moved to Hengdian, Wu Yuan arrived at the filming location in Hengdian with several cold drink trucks.

He didn't even say hello in advance, it was a surprise attack.

When he arrived at the scene, everyone from the director Zhang Yimou to his wife Liu Yifei to the other actors and staff of the crew were very surprised.

"Hahaha, surprise!"

Wu Yuan smiled and hugged Liu Yifei, who was running over. While still greeting Zhang Yimou, who was looking at him with a smile, he said: "Thank you, Director Zhang. It's not easy to shoot this kind of costume drama in this summer."

But no, just a hug, he could clearly feel the steam on Liu Yifei's body, and the lining she wore was probably wet.

In fact, the clothes worn by real ancient people in summer were not very hot, especially those of nobles and high-ranking officials. Summer clothes were breathable and cool. Silk was as thin as cicada wings, which was much more breathable than industrial materials such as polyester worn by modern people.

But the crew couldn't get such clothes. After all, in order to consider the visual effects, the costumes in the movie naturally have to sacrifice a lot, and they don't take into account the influence of seasons.

"It's too hot. I brought a lot of cold drinks. Let's take a rest and drink some to cool down." Wu Yuan took the initiative to hand Liu Yifei a glass of lemonade with less sugar and watched her drink it in small sips. , and then turned his attention to the rest of the crew.

This "Cai Wenji" is a biographical film. Naturally, the heroine is the absolute protagonist, and other characters appear around Cai Wenji's life.

Of course, a person, especially a historical celebrity, has a life full of ups and downs. Even a biopic cannot record her from her birth to her death. It is usually filmed around a few important events in her life. .

For Cai Wenji, the important nodes in life are of course the carefree life in her youth, the bullying by the Southern Huns in her youth, and the ups and downs after being redeemed in her middle age.

Therefore, in the movie, there are three characters who have a profound impact on her. One is her father Cai Yong, one is King Zuoxian of the Southern Huns, and the other is Cao Cao who redeemed her.

In Hengdian, we were mainly filming the post-redemption story, so on the set, Wu Yuan only saw the actor Yu Hewei, who played Cao Cao.

Well, he is the former Liu Bei, the actor who once again performed the essence of Cao Cao in "The Great Military Advisor Sima Yi".

"The Advisors Alliance" was a hit TV series last year. The series is divided into two parts. The first part was broadcast on June 22, 2017, and the second part "Tiger Roar and Dragon Roar" was broadcast on December 7, 2017.

Interestingly, the first part of this series was broadcast on both the Internet and the TV station, but the second part was only broadcast on the Internet. The specific reason is mainly because of the new regulations on TV series issued in the past two years, requiring the number of TV series to be controlled at 30-40 episodes and requiring streamlined content.

Therefore, this kind of long-running TV series has to be changed into two parts, and can only be broadcast online, so the top will turn a blind eye.

However, this does not affect the popularity of this movie, and it even won the Outstanding TV Series Award at the TV Drama Feitian Awards at the beginning of the year.

This drama has also become the best costume political drama in recent years, which is much more real than idol dramas such as "Nirvana in Fire" that are disguised as political dramas.

Yu Hewei, Wu Xiubo, and Li Chen, the "Uncle Alliance", also became popular again because of this drama and became the new top stars.

Among them, Zhang Yimou was very optimistic about the actor Yu Hewei and admired him very much, so after the explosion of "The Great Military Advisor Sima Yi" last year, he invited Yu Hewei to play the role of Cao Cao again.

Facing the invitation of the national teacher, Yu Hewei naturally could not refuse.

Wu Yuan also admired this actor and took the initiative to greet him: "Teacher Yu Hewei, it's our first meeting. I have been friends with you for a long time. I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate in the future!" (End of this chapter)