Inspired by the fire, how did "Wanjia Litigation" become "The Story of Qiu Ju"?

1992 If I had known that "Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum" would make Gong Li go against his original vision of Gong Li's future and push Gong Li to the world, maybe Zhang Yimou wouldn't have insisted that Gong Li play "Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum".

The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum, adapted from the famous writer Chen Yuanbin's Sue Ten Thousand Families, is undoubtedly the best work of Zhang Yimou and Gong Li.

Different from all the films in Zhang Yimou, The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum is a film creation with direct shots, documentary style and the theme of rural life. The most important thing of this film is to push Gong Li to the international market, from a "rustic village woman" to an international superstar.

Gong Li, who used to be, never imagined that this film would have such a deep relationship with her, let alone that this film took her and Zhang Yimou in two different directions.

Today, let's take a look at the story of Qiu Ju, so as to rewrite their stories.

0 1, the inspiration from the fire

1at the end of 990, a fire swept through the simple dormitory building in Chen Yuanbin. Even if he comes back from other places as quickly as possible, he can't save any manuscripts or other materials in his creation.

Incredibly, facing the ruins, Chen Yuanbin has a kind of serenity and serenity that it has never had before.

He thought, instead of listening to everyone's comfort and sympathy, it is better to write a novel that transcends all his previous works.

So he chose his most familiar legal theme and began to conceive a work that can be finished in one sentence, which is the story of "peasant woman suing village head" that we later saw.

This is the original intention of "10,000 lawsuits".

At that time, Chen Yuanbin lived in a small hotel, constantly forcing himself to find the best structure and narrative perspective of the novel in such a trivial matter and limited scene as "the peasant woman sued the village chief".

Try to vividly and truly show the original face of society through sufficient living ability.

The phrase "seeking explanation" runs through the whole novel and is a common phrase in life at that time. Through the creation of Chen Yuanbin, it was also included in the entry of New Chinese Dictionary.

This novel has only more than 30,000 words, and it took only 10 days to complete all the creation.

Because it tells the life style of thousands of ordinary people, Chen Yuanbin specially named this novel "10,000 lawsuits".

He, the heroine in the novel, not only represents herself, but also represents thousands of people like her in Qian Qian and Qian Qian.

Coincidentally, during the 65,438+00 days of writing in Chen Yuanbin, he received 65,438+00 invitations and reminders from Zhao Hong, a writer in China.

The letter repeatedly stressed to him that he wanted a novella that was "far-sighted, easy to understand, insightful, fresh and unique, and unique" and "the best contemporary and realistic theme, which was thrilling to read".

"Even if it is not thrilling, it must be shocking, at least let the boss sit still after reading it; Or sigh, or sigh, or drink tea and think deeply. "

This coincidence contributed to the rapid emergence of "10,000 lawsuits".

Chen Yuanbin sent Wan Jia Litigation to Zhao Hong with the mentality of giving it a try, and then published it on the front page of the third issue of China Writer in 199 1.

People's Daily and Writer's Daily respectively published their affirmation of this work.

Zhang Yimou, I almost missed it.

02, and Zhang Yimou's unexpected encounter.

During the short period of one year from 1990 to 199 1, two China films, Ju Dou and Hang Up the Red Lantern, which were nominated for the Academy Awards, were banned from being shown.

The story theme of the film exudes a strong bloody smell of "feudal society corrupts human nature", which was resisted by the public for some time.

Zhang Yimou, the director of these two films, was also attacked.

199 1 year, Chen Yuanbin attended the writers' youth conference, during which Wang Xiaolian of changchun film studio and three female editors of China TV drama production center and Beijing Film Factory took a fancy to his "Sue Ten Thousand Families" and discussed with Chen Yuanbin to adapt the novel into a film.

At that time, Chen Yuanbin chose to let Zhang Yimou direct.

Unfortunately, because of the two films mentioned above, Zhang Yimou is entangled in right and wrong, and it is undoubtedly too risky to find Zhang Yimou to direct the film at this time.

Because of the uncertainty of the director, the adaptation plan of Wanjia lawsuit was put on hold. And this is also the first time that Zhang Yimou missed "10,000 lawsuits".

What were Zhang Yimou and Gong Li doing when Chen Yuanbin refused Wang Xiaolian's adaptation of the film?

Zhang Yimou, who is in love, is passionate and willful in everything. Even though his two works have been questioned by Chinese people, he is still keen to follow his own needs and find suitable scripts.

Originally, he planned to adapt Liu Zhenyun's "A Chicken Feather".

He wanted to change the background of the story to Chongqing, so he took the whole production team to Chongqing, but because there was no inspiration for adaptation, he gave up the project "Chicken Feathers in One Place".

The whole team suddenly got idle, and now it's willful to think of it.

At this time, Gong Li is filming "Awakening from a Dream" and has not joined the group, but what is certain is that during this period, no matter what and when Zhang Yimou shoots, Gong Li is his undisputed heroine most of the time.

One day, Zhang Yimou went to work, passed by the post office and went into the post office to buy literary publications as usual. He chose the third issue of China Writers, which published Chen Yuanbin's lawsuit against thousands of families.

Subsequently, he chose the eighth issue of Novel Monthly.

The headlines of the two publications have published "Wanjia Litigation" in a prominent position on the front page. Based on curiosity, Zhang Yimou flipped through it and was immediately attracted by "The sun is getting better and better" and "Please make a statement" at the beginning of the novel.

After reading the novel in one breath, he quickly bought 20 monthly novels and distributed them to the crew members and faxed them to Gong Li. After discussion, he temporarily decided to give up a chicken feather and shoot a lawsuit instead.

At the same time, Zhang Yimou sent an urgent telegram to Chen Yuanbin, asking for Chen Yuanbin's consent, and signed a copyright contract.

Since then, "Wanjia Litigation" and Gong Li have embarked on the road of internationalization.

03, formally adapted "wanjia lawsuit"

Got the copyright of "Wanjia Lawsuit", how to adapt the film and how to make it into two difficult problems.

Zhang Yimou and he have an oral agreement to choose a peasant woman named "He" from several novels as the title of the film.

However, in the creation, the dialogues between movie characters are all in Shaanxi dialect, and "monks" are two dirty words that cannot be used together in Shaanxi dialect.

Therefore, the lawsuit of monks was renamed the story of Qiu Ju.

Zhang Yimou is not familiar with the Anhui rural scene set in the novel's story background, so he sets the story background in his familiar Shaanxi rural area.

Needless to say, we all understand Zhang Yimou's complex about Shaanxi Yellow Land.

The general direction of the film has been determined. Zhang Yimou and his production team rushed to the countryside of Shaanxi to experience life.

At the same time, he invited Liu Heng as the film's adaptation.

Liu Heng, who successfully adapted Ju Dou for Zhang Yimou, is naturally not difficult to adapt Wan Jia Litigation now.

However, in the process of adaptation, Liu Heng has encountered a bottleneck. When he thought that the film would eventually be starred by Gong Li, he couldn't write it at all. Gong Li has a noble temperament, and it is difficult for people to associate her with a local women's Federation.

Especially in the shooting at that time, casting was mostly done by people with similar roles in the masses, but Gong Li was not worthy of the image of a village woman. Liu Heng was troubled by this for a while, and finally he even suggested swapping roles with Zhang Yimou.

But Zhang Yimou insisted on his casting vision and believed that Gong Li could play well.

Zhang Yimou has seen funny pictures of pregnant women in Gong Li on the set, and now she proposes to designate Qiu Ju as a pregnant woman. In order to strengthen the authenticity of the film, Qiu Ju was also given the role of "sister".

I have to say that the increase in the setting of "Qiu Ju is pregnant" provides a better ending direction for the whole movie, and also improves the quality of the whole movie by more than one grade.

In the "Wanjia lawsuit", He sued the village head because the village head arranged a piece of rape according to the instructions of his superiors, but Wanjia planted wheat. Because Shan Qing didn't listen, the village chief gave him a quick beating.

After the adaptation, Qiu Ju's family wanted to illegally build a shed in the pepper field, but the village chief came to stop it and there was a dispute between the two sides. Qinglai's scolding just hit a sore spot when he didn't have a son, so he got angry and kicked Qinglai.

The contradiction between him and the village head, Qiu Ju and the village head is actually essentially different. After the adaptation of the incident, Qiu Ju's persistent complaints are obviously more convincing.

Qiu Ju has always said in the movie that the village chief can hit anywhere, but he can't pick the penis.

It was because the fight was in the wrong place, and also because the village chief's behavior was angry and vindictive, which made Qiu Ju determined to make a statement.

As for the film style, the use of candid camera and documentary style also adds more substantial "real" meaning to the whole film.

This is why when watching movies, many people can easily look at the street at first, but they don't know what those people mean.

The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum only uses four professional actors.

90% of the characters in the whole movie are played by non-professional actors or real family members in the local countryside.

Before shooting, all the preparations for the film are in full swing. The whole production team spent two months experiencing life, living with local farmers, making friends, learning languages, getting familiar with living habits and imitating body movements.

Gong Li joined the group one month after filming When I Woke up in Hongkong, but he learned Shaanxi dialect quickly.

While filming, Gong Li had a fever and fainted in the snow several times. Her face is "burning red", but it is more like the image of a middle-aged village woman with red sun on the yellow land.

As a hostess, Gong Li, even a passer-by, didn't know it was her for a long time in the movie. She was a village woman in red, which shows how successful the shaping of Qiuju was.

During the filming, according to the original sneak shot plan, after the actors were in place, the director didn't shout "ready to start" or hit the board. He only used the wireless microphone to send out signals, and began to perform after receiving the signals.

These lines were determined by their research the night before.

The film was shot with dual cameras and went back and forth. More than half of the shots in the whole film are candid shots. Zhang Yimou is also a person who strives for perfection. Some scenes were not satisfactory, and he even shot them 20 times.

In the end, as they expected, The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum was successful with its strong narrative tension, special shooting techniques and unique story itself.

04. Gong Li is going international.

From 65438 to 0992, The Story of Qiu Ju was released, which won many international awards in one fell swoop, including the "Golden Lion Award" at the 49th Venice International Film Festival, and was evaluated by judges and experts as "an unpretentious story of ordinary people".

At this point, Zhang Yimou finally walked out of the gloom of Hanging the Red Lantern and Chrysanthemum Bean, and went to the next director peak, and it was at this time that Gong Li stepped onto the international stage.

In fact, Gong Li's debut time is not long. Red Sorghum (1987) is her famous work. At that time, she was just a sophomore, and she already had a violent boyfriend, and Zhang Yimou also had a wife and daughter.

Very not easy to wait until Zhang Yimou divorced, Gong Li just had a "mistress". She once said to Zhang Yimou, "I don't want to study" and "I want to have children for him".

Therefore, when Gong Li plays Qiu Ju, her big belly, posture, gait, eyes and subconscious behavior make people wonder whether Gong Li is pregnant and deeply in love with Zhang Yimou for countless times.

But year after year, Gong Li didn't wait for a piece of marriage paper to come to Zhang Yimou, and the coolness in his heart slowly accumulated.

The success of Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum made the international film circle focus on Gong Li, and the subsequent Farewell My Concubine also made Gong Li accumulate more international fame.

And the contradiction between her and Zhang Yimou is becoming more and more obvious. Originally, Zhang Yimou wanted her to be the first actress in China, but Gong Li was unwilling to travel only in China, unwilling to take the road set by Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou's emotional inaction cooled Gong Li's fiery heart, and she began to work hard for her international career. Finally, with the help of Qiu Ju Tale, Farewell My Concubine and other works, she really went international.

1995, the eight-year relationship between Gong Li and Zhang Yimou ended.

final result

Gong Li once said: "I am satisfied with The Story of Qiu Ju, which has opened up my career and broadened my horizons. It should be regarded as the first step of my acting, and Zhou Yu's train should be regarded as the second step for me. "

Indeed, both the film and herself have gained different feelings and achievements from The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum. With Qiu Ju's personal design, she saw more possibilities and a more suitable career direction.

It is no exaggeration to say that The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum is the film with the deepest relationship with Gong Li. However, there are countless coincidences behind this film.