China Entertainment 1997

June 10, 2008

After being busy outside for more than half a month, Cao Xuan returned to the crew of "Save Mr. My Life".

In a village in Miyun, the capital, there is a remote courtyard on a hillside. Next to this place, there used to be a small abandoned chicken farm. The courtyard was a place where the old man who watched the farm at night lived and kept feed and sundries.

Screenwriter and assistant director Ding Sheng spent a week wandering around the suburbs of Beijing before choosing this place.

Once the abandoned chicken farm was demolished and some fruit trees were planted, the hostage point in the movie was created.

As a matter of fact, the condition of the kidnapper's lair in the real incident was not that bad. The two-story bungalow was considered a good house in the countryside at that time.

Thinking about it, it is clear that these kidnappers are just a group of desperadoes and gangsters. If they have money, they will definitely enjoy life, not to say ostentatiously, but they will not choose a too bad place to wrong themselves.

However, for the sake of visual effects, the movie deliberately made the scene more difficult. The cramped and dilapidated small house is more conducive to shaping the depression and tension of the hostage environment and conveying the audience's emotions through the pictures.

Again, although "Saving Mr. My Life" is based on real events, it is not a documentary after all, and it still needs to be artistically processed.

Deliberately restoring reality and making the hostage conditions so good that the audience cannot get into the drama is putting the cart before the horse.

"Rescue Mr. My" started shooting in early May, but within a week of filming, the male lead Cao Xuan disappeared, as did the other main actors Liu Huohua, Wu Ruofu and others on the crew.

But everyone knows what's going on. If the lead actor is not available, he will film other actors' scenes. If it doesn't work, he will stop working and wait until Cao Xuan and others return.

In the small courtyard, when Cao Xuan returned to the set, director Cao Baoguo and many staff members applauded him.

"Director Cao, what is this?"

"We have all watched it online, went to the front lines in person, organized and participated in many charity performances, invested in and built dozens of hope schools, and none of them have collapsed. The cumulative donations and raised funds and materials from individuals and companies under their names have exceeded 1 billion. Mr. Cao, you That’s what it’s for.”

Cao Baoguo gave a thumbs up, but Cao Xuan, just like before in countless interviews and praises, only replied "should" and was unwilling to talk more in this regard.

"Thanks to everyone for your hard work during my absence, uh... let's film."

Cao Xuan didn't want to say more, and no one bothered him, but he was not in a hurry when filming. Cao Baoguo took Cao Xuan to look at the filming progress during this period, to understand the situation, and to check the status of the scene.

After all, I haven't been to the set for nearly a month, and I have been busy with a lot of things. Cao Xuan's mood has also been greatly affected, and it still takes some time to get into the character again.

Cao Xuan also understood the importance and simply stayed with the director to read the material.

In addition to starring, he is also the producer of this film. He has great authority over the crew. He didn't have time before, so now it's time to take a look at the quality of the material.

"Saving Mr. Me" has been in production for more than a month, but due to the absence of most of the leading actors, the progress is actually extremely limited.

The main scenes basically focus on Wang Qianyuan, who plays the villain Hua Zi.

Yes, in the end the villain found Wang Qianyuan.

Sun Honglei finally gave up on the drama "New World" due to issues with it. He himself didn't have much time and was busy starring in the TV series "Latent" produced by Fanxing.

The heroine, Kong Zheng, is played by Yin Zhao. In fact, the company initially cast Fan Xiaopang, and Jiang Yue even wanted to help Fan Xiaopang develop her career.

However, Cao Xuan stopped him directly.

Regardless of whether Fan Xiaopang can play Cuiping's role of fierceness and tenacity, the key point is that she is too beautiful and does not fit the character setting of Cuiping's rustic village girl in "Latent".

In contrast, although Yin Zhao is also beautiful, he is a more attractive type. He can be beautiful or ugly, his acting skills are good enough, and he is famous as a celebrity.

Duan Long suffered a slight injury while filming "My Leader, My Group" produced by Fanxing and was unable to film.

Wang Yanhui's acting skills are okay, but she looks too kind and honest, which doesn't fit well with Hua Zi's arrogant character image.

In the end, only Qin Hao, the new candidate selected by Wang Qianyuan and Cao Xuan, was left.

The two are equally famous, but Wang Qianyuan may even be a little less famous. After all, Qin Hao has acted in several Starry movies and TV shows, and often collaborates with famous directors such as Lou Ye and Wang Xiaoshuai.

Although Wang Qianyuan debuted very early and acted in many works, he really didn't make many appearances in the industry, and his reputation is average.

Speaking of Wang Qianyuan, there is another interesting thing. When Cao Xuan came to find him, he had just changed his name. His previous name was Wang Jinpeng, so there was some mismatch. The staff searched around but couldn't find the person, and finally it was the Empress of the East Palace who found him. On fire.

The reason why the Empress of the East Palace found Wang Qianyuan was very simple. Wang Qianyuan was a senior of the China National Opera in 1993. When Hu Jing was admitted to the Chinese Opera, she found a senior to help guide the art test, and this senior was Wang Qianyuan.

In addition to Hu Jing, Wang Qianyuan has a lot to do with China Theater Class 96.

Liu Huohua and International Zhang were the scumbag students. When they were in their freshman and sophomore years, they handed in their homework and couldn't do it themselves, so they asked their seniors for help. Wang Qianyuan was one of the seniors they mainly asked for advice.

Others don't know that at least the two members of Cao Xuan's family asked Wang Qianyuan for help back then.

Perhaps because of this love, even though Qin Hao was a classmate, both Dongxi Ergong and Liu Huohua voted for Wang Qianyuan.

The screenwriter and director also valued Wang Qianyuan. His acting skills and age were one aspect, but more importantly, Wang Qianyuan looked a little bit like the prototype of the kidnapper.

Therefore, in the end, Wang Qianyuan won the role of Hua Zi, and Qin Hao, his junior brother, played the role of the second kidnapper.

And Wang Qianyuan did not disappoint Cao Xuan and others. He has been in the entertainment industry for more than ten years, and his professional skills are no problem. Yuan Shikong also won the Tokyo Best Actor in the past two years.

In the material, Wang Qianyuan also basically performed the ruthless and crazy role of Hua Zi, as well as his cunning and recklessness after being caught by the police.

In fact, the character of Huazi is a little beautified in the movie. This guy is a tough gangster and his methods are brutal, but he is really not as brilliant as shown in the movie.

When he was actually captured, this guy had a chance to detonate a grenade, but gave up in the end.

The police station is not as generous as shown in the movie. It is a forced state, which makes the police eat to death and is just struggling to death.

The "calmness" in the negotiation with the police in the documentary or the "arrogant smile" in the final courtroom are all superficial phenomena. In the words of his friends, this guy has a very good face. If he had real backbone, he would have detonated a grenade long ago.

The movie portrays Hua Zi as more fierce in order to create an atmosphere of arrest and showdown with the police, creating a sense of tension and oppression.

Similar situations often appear in police movies. Many prototypes of powerful gangsters are actually treated like dogs by the police in reality...

However, due to its subject matter, "Saving Mr. My" is mainly literary drama, and it is not too exaggerated. It just makes Hua Zi's character more difficult, and it does not break away from reality.

Cao Xuan read the materials all afternoon before Cao Baoguo came over with Wang Qianyuan: "How is it?"

"It's better than I expected. It makes me stressed."

"You flatter me."

Wang Qianyuan said modestly, and he was relieved in his heart. It is still very stressful for ordinary actors to work with Cao Xuan.

On the one hand, it’s business. Boss Cao’s Double Gold Award winner is no joke. If he doesn’t have any real ability, he will inevitably become weak.

On the other hand, Cao Xuan is a big boss in the Chinese entertainment industry. Which actor would not want to be appreciated by Boss Cao and soar to the sky.

Even if you're not appreciated, don't leave a bad impression.

For example, if Cao Xuan feels that a certain actor's acting skills are not up to par, it will be much more difficult for him to work with Fanxing in film and television projects than ordinary actors. Even considering Fanxing's influence in the industry, it will be difficult for him to take on other company projects.

It's far from being banned, but the road is definitely a little harder to walk. Maybe this is not Cao Xuan's original intention, but in his position, one sentence can often affect the career of an ordinary actor.

Of course, Wang Qianyuan's connections and qualifications do not mean that he is afraid of not being able to film.

But this time "Saving Mr. My" is a very important opportunity for him, and he naturally wants to seize it. Among them, Cao Xuan's recognition is undoubtedly the top priority.

Cao Xuan had already met Wang Qianyuan before, but he left the group before filming. The two parties were not familiar with each other and needed to get used to each other.

Another person who needs to get along is Zhang Ze, the Shi Jin squad leader of "Soldier Assault".

He plays another hostage who was also kidnapped in the movie, named Du Jiang in the movie.

I originally wanted to cast Hu Ge, but later I felt that the two handsome guys were not very good, so I planned to find a relatively ordinary actor. Zhang Ze was highly recommended by Kang Honglei and Duan Long.

Cao Xuan is also familiar with him. Not to mention the information about Golden Finger, Zhang Ze plays an important role in "My Captain, My Group" which was just completed at the beginning of the year. It is difficult to tell who is the male lead from Duan Long.

As a hostage, Cao Xuan's scope of activities is limited. More than 80% of the movie's scenes are in this hut, and more than 70% of the scenes with Wang Qianyuan and Zhang Ze.

It is no exaggeration to say that if I can spark a spark with these two actors, the role of Mr. Wu becomes 1/3.

………

Two days after Cao Xuan returned to the team, filming officially started. In the dilapidated and cramped house, Cao Xuan's hands and feet were tightly tied to his body with chains, and one end of the chain was still tied to the bed.

Compared with before, Cao Xuan's cheeks were obviously thinner this month due to various things involved, and his mental state was also a little haggard.

If it were another role, he might have needed makeup to make up for it, but right now he was playing a star hostage under pressure from a desperate situation, and his image and temperament fit the character even more.

Although they shouldn't think so, Cao Baoping and Ding Sheng couldn't help but feel secretly happy when they saw Cao Xuan's appearance and temperament.

Based on Cao Xuan's smooth and high-spirited reality star experience, it is still difficult to accurately grasp this kind of depressed emotional state when falling from the peak to the trough of life without performing.

He can act, but no matter how good he is, acting is still acting, and after all, it is not as gripping as the true emotions bursting out from the heart of the whole person.

This time, due to external involvement, Cao Xuan's mental and emotional state was obviously depressed. Regardless of other factors, from the perspective of character creation, positive promotion is more meaningful.

Of course, it’s enough to have these ideas in mind, there’s no need to express them verbally, just take advantage of this situation and shoot the relevant scenes in one go.

But even so, since I have just started filming, I still focus on simple scenes to cultivate tacit understanding and transition slowly.

At night, the dim yellow lights make the house a little depressing

Wang Qianyuan picked up the calendar hanging on the wall. On it were photos of people wearing long gowns and holding hands.

"Gong Xi Fa Cai, how old were you then?"

"Twenty-five, twenty-four seems like it."

"I'm particularly curious. As for your rumored girlfriends mentioned in the newspapers, how many of them are true?"

"It's all just a show and the media is hyping it up."

Cao Xuan seemed to say it casually, but his eyes were always alert. Hua Zi was very cunning. He had deceived Cao Xuan in the previous plot. Cao Xuan didn't want to involve others, so he easily kept the information from people around him no matter when and where. .

"You are really unreliable."

Wang Qianyuan knew just now that Cao Xuan was very guarded against this, so he didn't bother with it and sighed casually: "If you ask me, this person's life is different. Some are in heaven and some are on earth."

"You can't say that. Sometimes it's not other people's problems but your own problems..."

During the process of being kidnapped, Cao Xuan never gave up on rescuing himself. He kept talking to the kidnappers and trying to get them to release him. If it didn't work, he would make a good relationship and deal with each other normally without fighting.

So when he saw the opportunity, he always hoped to convince the kidnappers. But in the middle of his words, he saw Wang Qianyuan's expression change and immediately changed his words.

After that, Wang Qianyuan said whatever he said, no matter whether it was justified or not, he did not refute it, but agreed with it in order not to anger the kidnappers.

However, this made him appear "weak", and Cao Xuan's entire aura was completely "suppressed" by Wang Qianyuan.

But this is more realistic. This is not a cool article on the Internet or a keyboard debate. You have to win the topic to convince the other party and make the villain speechless.

Your life is in someone else's hands, so giving in is the safest way...

Mr. Wu, who is in a weak position throughout the movie, always maintains this soft attitude, showing toughness at a few important moments, and such outbursts can also enrich the characters and advance the plot.

In fact, during the acting process, Cao Xuan kept simulating in his mind what kind of state he would be in if one day he was really kidnapped.

The final inference is that he is very similar to Wu Ruofu.

With his psychological quality, he might not be as calm as Old Wu, but he wouldn't be at the point of collapse.

After getting over the initial panic, you must try your best to save yourself, never anger the other person, slowly try to find opportunities, hope to lose money and eliminate disaster, and never involve your family.

I wasn't particularly impressed when I read the original version and the script before. When Cao Xuan actually sat in this scene, he imagined that if he was caught and the kidnappers gave Dongsi Ergong or his parents all kinds of dangerous demands, then he would rather die here than let him. The family deals with this gang of outlaws.

After figuring this out clearly, in fact, if Cao Xuan plays Mr. Wu, he will be able to capture a lot more sense of immersion.

At the beginning, because of his role positioning, Wang Qianyuan firmly "suppressed" Cao Xuan. When Cao Xuan slowly entered the character state, it was his turn to be unable to take the role.

The most intense part was when Hua Zi tried to take a video of him. Because of Hua Zi’s various greedy behaviors before, my husband didn’t trust him very much.

Realizing that this image was out of his control, he could easily be deceived by Hua Zi and harm his family and friends if he took it out, so he threw the camera down desperately and had a conflict with Wang Qianyuan for the first time.

Although this conflict ended with Mr. Wu showing weakness, it also showed his own bottom line, which made Hua Zi feel scrupulous.

Cao Xuan broke out hysterically. Both Hua Zi in the play and Wang Qianyuan outside the play were stunned. They cooperated several times but could not catch the scene.

The same problem also occurred with Zhang Ze, but the scenes between him and Cao Xuan complemented each other, and there was no conflict. Overall, it went smoothly.

Putting aside everything else, Cao Xuan still felt a sense of accomplishment.

A few years ago, he was the one who taught the old opera master how to behave. Now that times have changed, he can also bully the powerful ones.

Although Wang Qianyuan and Zhang Ze are not at the peak of their careers now, they are still considered veteran actors. When acting opposite each other, the two future movie stars almost couldn't catch the scene. Cao Xuan's ten years of honing his acting skills are not in vain.

Of course, it's just a sense of accomplishment. After all, he is also a double gold actor, and he can also be ranked high in the entertainment industry.

If he bullied two "nobodies", he would be embarrassed to no end, but he would be too arrogant to belittle himself.

………

"Save Mr. My Life" was shot very quickly.

It's said to be a movie, but in fact Cao Xuan himself appears in less than half of the movie, and the filming was concentrated on scenes. If it hadn't been delayed for a month, I'm afraid he would have finished filming.

He joined the group on June 10th, and Cao Xuan was basically finished on July 12th. Including the previous week or so, the total does not exceed one and a half months, and the progress is still very fast.

Of course, this is similar to the filming of other scenes, and the more concentrated filming is mainly related to his scenes.

But no matter what, Cao Xuan has finished his work for the time being.

Although the filming was a little tiring, I have to say that time is the best healer. A busy month of filming made Cao Xuan gradually get rid of the negative emotions he had before, and his mental state also recovered significantly.

Cao Xuan rushed home to celebrate her first birthday with her daughter. He was in Sichuan Province on June 1st. He couldn't make it back and was not in the mood.

Now that I have adjusted, I specially organized a make-up birthday, which was lively and lively, and also relieved the depressing atmosphere some time ago.

The 1-year-old little Cao Li is fair and tender, wearing a pink dress. She is cute and beautiful. She has inherited the good looks genes of her parents. Although she is still young, her potential as a beauty has been clearly revealed.

Xia Yu and Yuan Quan, the couple who were invited, were very greedy.

"Why don't we make an appointment to have a baby kiss? When I give birth to a son, I can ask Li Li to be my daughter-in-law."

"What a sweet dream."

Cao Xuan glanced at Xia Yu with contempt and caution. This guy was not an honest person.

There had been scandals with Gao Yuanyuan before. Although the "misunderstanding" between the two parties was resolved with Fanxing's intervention, the guy then had an affair with another actress for more than a year. Quan gets back together.

The son born to such a scumbag will definitely not be a good thing. My precious daughter must stay away from such a person.

Cao Daguan has always had a flexible moral bottom line and standards of conduct. When he was a son-in-law, he was shameless and loyal.

But now that I am an old father, when I think about my daughter possibly meeting a scumbag, I wish I could throw away his ashes. Similar ideas must be nipped in the bud...

Cao Xuan was furious with Xia Yu, while Empress Xigong, Yuan Quan, Han Mei, Liu Tianxian, Mei Ting and Zhang Tong gathered around to look after the child.

She doesn't have many friends in her circle. Apart from a few classmates, she only has a good relationship with a few Chinese drama students.

There were a few other people I could chat with while filming, but we were not close enough to risk leaking secrets by inviting them to my daughter's first birthday party.

Basically, these were the only people who came to the birthday party, all friends of the same age, and Hu Jing even avoided going out.

After all, their relationship goes against the rules of the world. They can do whatever they want at home, but they are still a little bit insufferable in front of outsiders. Even if they are aware of it, getting along face to face is another matter. This is also to avoid everyone's embarrassment.

So today’s birthday party is actually two parties, one is for friends to celebrate, and the other is to go home in the evening and invite parents to celebrate at home.

"Li Li, go and catch them. Take whatever you like."

During the Zhou Catch Ceremony, various things were placed on the fluffy carpet. Cao Xuan took the camera to record the ceremony. Zeng Li encouraged his daughter to catch Zhou. Everyone watched with laughter.

Little Cao Li, encouraged by her mother, crawled to the middle of the carpet in a daze.

After looking around, Dong pulled down the calculator, Xi fiddled with the ruler a few times, and finally took a plastic gold ingot and happily exposed the only eight teeth in his mouth.

"Golden Yuanbao brings good fortune. Brother Xuan, your family's big industry has a successor."

"Haha, Li Li will be a little rich woman in the future."

"I think the wealthy families in Xiangjiang and abroad call her Princess So-and-so. Can our Li Li also be called Princess Fanxing?"

"She's not just any princess, she's the eldest princess of the stars."

"Bah, these are all feudal remnants."

Cao Xuan's eyelids jumped when he heard the words eldest princess, and he couldn't help complaining: "The eldest princess and the prince are so vulgar, so vulgar. It's been so many years since New China, how can there be any feudal aristocracy? Everyone is The successor of socialism.”

Liu Tianxian: "..."

The eldest princess and the prince are arrogant, so aren’t the east and west palaces remnants of feudalism?

But she only dared to think about this in her heart, and she would definitely not dare to say it out loud.

As the core of the West Palace Party, Liu Tianxian was very happy to be invited to attend the first birthday party of little Cao Li. He kept playing and amusing with little Cao Li, trying to make this junior sister remember him.

Although Cao Li is still just a little baby with no teeth, maybe in a few years, she will be hanging out with others, so it is right to be prepared for a rainy day and start a friendship in advance.

But it's a little too early. Little Cao Li doesn't remember anything at all at the moment, and Cao Xuan doesn't recognize anyone after being away from home for a little longer, let alone her.

After the birthday party, Cao Xuan didn't rest at home for two days before Mr. Han called and invited him to the Huairou Film and Television Base.

Next year's tribute masterpiece "The Founding of the People's Republic of China" is being filmed here, and the entire entertainment industry is participating. Cao Xuan is no exception. Mr. Han invited him to play a guest role.

And his guest role is...

————

ps: Chapter 519 has been released