Literary Master 1978

"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, "I came here a few days ago."

Today, Li Tuogang told Lin Chaoyang that "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" encountered a public opinion crisis, and asked with concern: "That movie "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-level, with not only more than a hundred film directors, screenwriters and theoretical workers participating, but also some official leaders.

As a well-known figure in the domestic directing industry, Xie Jin 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 male protagonist Luo Qun's belief in the people after being mistakenly classified as a Y sect, and about the heroine Feng Qinglan's noble love and beautiful sentiments about life. , praise of humanity;

"The Wrangler" tells the story of the male protagonist Xu Lingjun, who was mistakenly classified as a Y sect and went to the grassland to become a wrangler, despite suffering unfair treatment for twenty-two years.

But in getting along with the simple working people, and in his loving 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 between filming was so short, Xie Jin undoubtedly created a problem for himself.

"Legend of Tianyun Mountain" is the most beautiful one before, so how to shoot "Wrangler" better than before is the most serious problem that Xie Jin is facing 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 film's casting, and said to Lin Chaoyang: "You are both the original author and the screenwriter. You have to show up for the casting."

"I still have to go to work."

"It's winter vacation soon. What class do you work 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. The only building was a tube building, which was not only the school's classrooms, but also the dormitories of the students.

Xie Jin, Lin Chaoyang and his party 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.

Unfortunately, the school has requirements that freshmen and sophomore students are not allowed to interview, so only students from the 78-level 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, whom many teachers at Yanying were optimistic about. 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 audition was just one page, and it was 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 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 Yu Shuping again, and officially began to perform.

He made a move to half-close the door, with a helpless look in his expression. He turned his head away, not daring to look at Yu Shuping. He looked left and right, hesitated for a long time, and then simulated pouring water.

"Drink some 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 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 it in big gulps.

Watching Yu Shuping finish drinking the water, Zhou Lijing kicked left and right again, busy in the void, as if he was packing up.

There are almost no lines in this scene in the script. It depends entirely on the actors' eye contact, facial expressions and body movements to complete it. For students in school, it is quite difficult.

However, Zhou Lijing performed well. Xie Jin couldn't help but nod slightly after watching his performance.

"Zhou Lijing, you 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, but whispered to Lin Chaoyang: "What do you think?"

"Not very good." Lin Chaoyang said bluntly.

"Tell me specifically, what's not good?"

"Not handsome enough!"

Xie Jin was silent by his words. He looked at him for a long time and said: "I have always had a question to ask you."

"What question?"

"Did you write the character Xu Lingjun based on yourself?"

The hero of "The Shepherd" is called Xu Lingjun, and Lin Chaoyang used this name as his pen name. It is normal for Xie Jin to have such an association.

Not only Xie Jin, but many readers who have never seen Lin Chaoyang will also associate him with the tall, handsome, and 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 misunderstandings about his appearance. If there were any defects in his aesthetics, then this time he would be counterproductive.

After chatting for a while, Xie Jin stopped struggling and continued to call people in.

Yanying's 78-level directing department has talents, and the acting department also has talents.

The one who just came in was Zhou Lijing, a top-notch actor who was popular all over the country in the 1980s. This time, the one who came in was a young version of Zhang Fengyi with a tough temperament and a bit of naivety.

After the performance, Xie Jin felt that Zhang Fengyi's acting skills were acceptable, and asked Lin Chaoyang again: "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 Shepherd", he poured all his dissatisfaction with his appearance onto the male protagonist Xu Lingjun, so in his description, the male protagonist Xu Lingjun would be tall, handsome, and gentle.

There were 32 students in the 78th acting class of Yanying, and each of them had ten minutes, and the casting was not finished until the afternoon.

After a busy day, Xie Jin declined the invitation of the school leaders, and left the school with Lin Chaoyang and others, and returned to the Xinqiao Hotel first.

"Tell me, what do you think? The male actor is not handsome enough, and the female actor is not pure enough. What are your standards?"

Xie Jin's tone was a little impatient. He was not angry with Lin Chaoyang, but he didn't understand what Lin Chaoyang's standards for actors were.

Lin Chaoyang is both the author and the screenwriter. Xie Jin believes that no one should have a deeper understanding of the image of the male and female protagonists than him, which is why he invited Lin Chaoyang to participate in the casting.

But today, I saw 32 students at Yanying, almost all of them were handsome men and beautiful women. Lin Chaoyang always said "not handsome enough" and "not pure enough". It is obvious that he has a ruler in his heart, but this ruler seems to be extremely subjective and abstract.

If Xie Jin cannot understand the casting criteria in his heart, then the casting will undoubtedly become very difficult, and Xie Jin may even have to use his director's authority to make arbitrary decisions. He does not want to become like this.

Lin Chaoyang's idea is actually very simple. He has seen the movie "The Shepherd" and is impressed by the male and female protagonists Zhu Shimao and Cong Shan. According to his idea, he must find these two people as the leading actors.

Now Xie Jin is casting a wide net, and he can't instruct Xie Jin like a charlatan to directly dig out Zhu Shimao and Cong Shan, who are still unknown at this time.

He is also afraid that his opinions will mislead Xie Jin and change the protagonists that Xie Jin should have chosen.

Of course, Lin Chaoyang couldn't tell Xie Jin about these thoughts. He could only say, "I'm 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, "Is Zhou Lijing not handsome enough? Fang Shu not pretty enough?"

When the two were arguing, Bao Zhifang, who had just left, walked in and said to Xie Jin, "Old Xie, the actor you invited before is here. I just settled him down. Can you meet him first?"

Hearing this, Xie Jin stopped arguing with Lin Chaoyang and said, "Let him in."

Bao Zhifang went out to call someone from the next door, and Xie Jin argued with Lin Chaoyang again.

"You said that actors must be handsome, beautiful, and pure. These are all abstract adjectives. We are casting now, so we must have concrete standards."

"At least you have to give some ideas, right? Tall, short, fat, thin, gentle, pitiful..."

Xie Jin kept talking, and Lin Chaoyang was not in a hurry to reply. The argument between the two soon turned into a one-man show by Xie Jin.

At this moment, Bao Zhifang entered the room, followed by a tall young man.