Interview | Guan Hu on "Revolutionary": Li Dazhao's life, conventional narrative can't satisfy

  The paper reporter Chen Chen

  "Revolutionary", released on July 1, is a film about Li Dazhao, and it is also a key film celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China this year.

Different from the narrative method of traditional biopics, and also very different from the conventional theme movies in the impression, director Xu Zhanxiong brings a new perspective to give the film a very romantic idealistic aura and color.

  Under the poetic lens full of revolutionary romanticism, the passionate journey of China's early Marxists, represented by Li Dazhao, to save the country and the people is shown in the perspective of every living person.

  As the first biographical film focusing on the traces of Li Dazhao's personal revolution, the movie "Revolutionary" focuses on portraying the lofty image of Li Dazhao as a great Marxist, and at the same time injects a more pyrotechnic and humane screen for this pioneer of the Chinese communist movement. soul.

  The English name of "Revolutionary" is "The Pioneer". This movie that shows the deeds of the "Pioneer" 100 years ago has also made a corresponding "pioneer" attempt in the audiovisual language, which is just like a unity from form to theme. .

  As a director who has worked on many major film and television works in recent years and has rich creative experience and unique control over historical themes and grand scenes, Guan Hu, the producer of "Revolutionary", also expressed his creation on such major historical themes. Ambition for further exploration.

Chief producer Liang Jing said at the premiere, “I hope that there can be artistic progress in the creation of the main theme, and I hope that the main theme movies in the future can be more accepted by the audience. This is our subject, and this time is also a time. Experiment. I hope we are enterprising and this experiment is successful."

  Before the film was released, the producer Guan Hu accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper, and talked about his understanding of Li Dazhao and the "age of awakening" that spurred his ideals, and the artistic concept of using the movie's unique audiovisual means to lead the audience to feel the power of faith.

  【dialogue】

 "Lower" the angle of view and look at Li Dazhao from the side of ordinary people

The Paper: The

script has been greatly revised during the creation process. Can you introduce this process?

 Guan Hu: It

was originally a regular biographical film. Some events are arranged in chronological order to tell a character.

But we believe that this path is not enough for Mr. Li Dazhao's life, and the conventional narrative is not enough, so we immediately changed the course and changed the direction.

We spent some time perfecting our script, I think it was God’s favor, let us go another way.

The Paper: When I

was going to discover Li Dazhao's historical materials this time, what were the unexpected or shocking new discoveries that were finally reflected in the movie?

Guan Hu:

If you really delve into the details, you will find a lot of things that weren't known before. For example, Mr. Shouchang actually had a daughter who died when he was three years old. He didn't see this daughter in Moscow at that time.

We even tried to write this script from the perspective of our dead daughter, but later felt that it was too illusory, so we got rid of this idea. Trying like this has gone through a lot in this process.

  Specifically in the movie, we clarified some "traffickers" and "uncle neighbors" style things as much as possible according to the details we know, such as Bai guest acting as a thief, such intersections, or some Li Dazhao's treatment of children His feelings have also been implemented.

These are very small details, not very involved in the grand narratives of the past.

 The Paper:

In recent years, you have been committed to making character-centered movies. What kind of new space has been opened for the establishment of character images with this different "scattered perspective" narrative method this time?

Guan Hu:

For me, the biggest attraction is that after this event is completed, Mr. Shouchang is vividly in front of me. He may have stayed in the textbook before, or everyone learned from the previous generation. A historical figure of, but now this is a real person.

  And this new experience really helped me a lot. It meant that we used a relatively condensed social microcosm to show the feelings and feedbacks of people from different classes from the top to the common people on different aspects of a person.

This kind of narrative angle is helpful to our later creation.

It can write a person more "perfectly".

The past biopics were basically from the perspective of God, which was a holistic view. At this time, we lower the perspective of looking at a person and look at him from the perspective of ordinary people. This attempt is very beneficial.

The

Paper

:

Compared with the original impression on the book, where did the new understanding of Li Dazhao occur after the filming of this film?

Guan Hu:

The English name of our film is "The Pioneer", a pioneer.

In fact, there are such people in every era, and such pioneers will become people who everyone admires.

Thinking back to that era in this way, Mr. Li Dazhao will undoubtedly become one of my idols.

He is a pioneer, so do I dare to throw up my family and pursue him?

Now that I have finished making this movie, I can say with certainty that I want to dare.

I think from this perspective, this kind of appeal and impact cannot be given in textbooks.

  On the Long March, the Chinese Communists had sacrificed many revolutionary ancestors every day. In the end, thousands of people left to arrive in northern Shaanxi. Then in less than 20 years, they would change the world. What kind of force supported these people?

Later I discovered that it was a kind of faith, and this is the power of faith.

I dare not say whether this kind of power is lacking today, but the purity and strength of people's beliefs in those days is a particularly strong feeling given to me after the filming of this film. Perhaps this is what I hope to be able to pass to the audience through the film.

 Even if "1%" is caught, this can be done

 The Paper:

What kind of surprises did Teacher Zhang Songwen contribute to this role?

 Guan Hu: I

chose him because I know this person very well. As a "good actor" everyone calls him, many people didn't know his ability in the past, but I can feel the power in his heart.

He is not only the kind of technical method, he thinks that the appearances in the performance are the second place, the first is a kind of inner fit, it is relatively difficult to catch the heart of Mr. Morushang 100 years ago. I think Songwen has this ability.

One day we two chatted, and even if we caught "1%" this thing can be done, but I think he is more complete in the end.

  He has a different approach from others, which he calls changing perspectives.

He always put himself in the environment of the 1920s, thinking about how Mr. Shouchang would walk and eat, and then he would remember how to deal with this matter, he was really experiencing that thing physically, and then we slowly felt He took it into that environment.

This good actor is often like this and will create that environment immersively, so during the filming process, he feels that he is in that era.

This kind of power has the same leading effect on other actors, and everyone borrows each other's strength to immerse themselves in it.

 The Paper:

This time I chose Li Yifeng to play Mao Zedong and Han Geng to play Chiang Kai-shek. This choice is quite surprising. What was the process of this choice and decision?

 Guan Hu: It

’s an accident to you, and it’s not an accident to me, because I have been dealing with Yi Feng for many years. After the crew put on makeup on him, I watched him walk from behind, or watched him laughing in front of me. Like.

Most of the chairman in our impression was after the founding of New China, but the true 28-year-old Mao Zedong, a youthful and faith-following youth, we need a brand-new image. I think he is more appropriate.

  Han Geng is actually the same reason. I don't think he is an idol. He has a temperament in himself that can achieve this character.

Chiang Kai-shek in this movie has a rather gloomy feeling. He didn't come to the show. There is something in his body and his energy exploded. I think it is quite decent.

  Revolution is a "romantic" thing

The Paper:

In fact, it was said in the movie that that time was the darkest moment of the Chinese nation, but most of the shots were very bright and brilliant. What kind of considerations were taken for the choice of visual style?

Guan Hu: In

the film’s main creative team, director Xu Zhanxiong, photography director Gao Weizhe, editing director Yang Hongyu, and music director Dou Peng are all very young. Together, this combination is destined to achieve such a relatively beautiful style. Everyone has a common pursuit for the aesthetics of this romantic temperament.

  Perhaps the historical theme of the revolution in the past is unlikely to be such a romantic and aesthetic style, but this kind of romantic atmosphere, I can honestly say, is what we want.

I don't think revolution is not romantic anymore. It is so romantic and cute.

The Paper:

Are there any shots that are very laborious and can be introduced?

 Guan Hu: The

current film is relatively fast-paced. During the shooting, many shots are actually very complete. The actor's scheduling and the coordination of the shots are very smooth but relatively long. Later, I cut them short for the rhythm. It hurts a little bit.

The degree of completion of this kind of scene has to be very high, sometimes one shot is taken a day, and it often happens at the beginning.

Later, I persuaded the director to take more backup plans, but these long shots are actually very laborious.

The Paper:

The structure of this film is also very special. There are many attempts to disrupt time and space in editing. Why did you choose this method?

Guan Hu:

You know that Mr. Li Dazhao's life has been magnificent. The people and things he has encountered far exceed those of ordinary people. It is impossible to use a regular narrative movie.

So I think it is a better way to use a new language to be as condensed and as complete as possible to reflect his life.

So this is not what we forced to do. Sometimes I think it was God who took us away, and there was even no reason.

I think the narrative of this character is appropriate.

The Paper:

Li Dazhao has experienced many events throughout his life. Why did he choose these current time points in the selection of the historical background?

 Guan Hu: After

we decided on the plan and direction at that time, we probably chose the more important ones from various historical events. Now we will leave 8 of them. In the end, we will leave these things and people. It is most suitable to be condensed in the volume of the movie. The sense of strength is stronger.

Some things are also very good and interesting, but because of the limited length, they retain the strength.

The Paper: There

are many times in the film to explain Li Dazhao's revolutionary theory, thought, and spirit. How can these very "metaphysical" things be integrated into the story to show it? Is it a big challenge?

Guan Hu:

First of all, movies are images. In fact, Mr. Shouchang is more of words in his life. He writes, meetings, and lectures. Special big actions are rarely seen. Therefore, it is relatively difficult to express from the perspective of images. We are in this respect. Also put a lot of effort into it.

It is necessary to make this movie look good and romantic in order to make it more acceptable to the audience.

 The Paper: In

this attempt, different people’s viewpoints are brought together on one person, and the viewpoints are constantly changing. In addition to the aforementioned new attempts on photography style, editing rhythm, and all these new attempts, are there any concerns about the audience? Acceptance?

 Guan Hu:

Yes, I did it at the beginning, and I will definitely experience doubts and worries, but the benefits of this narrative are also obvious.

So we are determined to do this, not to challenge the audience, but to take a step forward in the new language of film.

Even if the audience can't adapt to it for the time being, slowly in the process of this movie, they may leave some doubts.

Then he might go back to look at Baidu and find out what is going on in history, which is also a good thing.

  And I don’t think it can disrupt the audiences who have the habit of watching movies.

On the contrary, for audiences who are critical of film language, I think they may be more satisfied with those audiences.

I always say that I tell everyone that we can’t do it just because we’re worried.

 The creation of the main melody is a necessary stage of a career

  The Paper: The

final point of the movie is "believe." Why did you choose this point?

 Guan Hu:

From a fundamental point of view, this is an explosion from the heart of our creators. Every nation in the world has faith.

This is not a value that must be imposed, I think it flows directly from my heart.

 The Paper:

There is a saying that "all history is contemporary history", so when you come to film this story today, how do you hope the audience will understand the spirit of the "revolutionary"?

 Guan Hu:

If we can vividly create an era at that time, and let everyone jump away from the books and immerse themselves in the world of movies, the so-called revolutionary spirit is nothing more than the power of belief we just mentioned, and it will persist to the end. determination.

I think that using the method of film to express this energy may be the most intuitive one that can be given to the audience in several forms of art, so how to understand it, each audience has its own answer.

 The Paper: In the

past few years, you have been making movies with the main theme. What is your experience in exploring this type of diversification?

 Guan Hu:

For me, every country in the world has its own mainstream movies. What we are doing now is equivalent to some movies that conform to the values ​​of most people.

Now we are making mainstream movies more suitable for the audience, looking for emotional resonance from the perspective of civilians. This is the direction we have been trying hard for the past few years.

This time, "Revolutionary" is a little bit experimental, and I am trying to push the language of the film one step further.

 The Paper:

In the process of continuously digging into the characters and events of the mainstream values ​​in the past, what kind of influence do you think will have on your personal outlook on art?

 Guan Hu:

I think life is about going through all kinds of things. These are all things that life must go through. It will help me to a certain extent.

Without this "Revolutionary", my understanding of this character would not be so thorough.

  Speaking of personal rhythm, after a few "big movies", I might hope to go back and shoot some smaller, more author-oriented ones, and then I would also like to make typified creations. This kind of creative rhythm , I also have consideration.

It is impossible to stay at a high-tempo frequency all the time.

I will stop at an appropriate time and do something quiet.