After 6 years of preparation and 3 years of filming, it is not luck that "Flowers" became a hit drama of the year, nor did it happen overnight.
As Wong Kar-Wai's first TV series, "Flowers" made the lice in the drama circle's "gorgeous nightgowns" nowhere to hide, and hit the drama circle in many aspects through dimensionality reduction.
The audience exclaimed: "Wong Kar-Wai has made me have a bad taste in watching dramas. He shoots TV dramas as movies. How will others shoot TV dramas in the future?"
Beautiful shots, gorgeous colors, unique Shanghai style temperament, There is no part of the ups and downs of the times that is not popular and hotly discussed by the audience.
's non-linear narrative structure uses the emotions of the characters as a guide to extend the story line and make all the characters who have only briefly seen the light of day fully fleshed out.
Since it is telling the story of Shanghai, how can it not speak Shanghainese? Shanghainese dialect naturally has more charm when spoken by Shanghainese actors.
Shanghai accent, Abao accent, Reiko's feminine accent, no wonder CCTV commented that "Flowers" is a TV series with "accent" .
A truly good drama requires a sense of immersion, an immersive experience of Shanghai in the early 1990s created by Wong Kar-Wai, in an atmosphere that is both strange and familiar.
"Flowers" is not only a plot, but also an attitude. This kind of attitude is unclear. It is a demeanor that is neither humble nor arrogant, and a quiet dignity.
You can see Wong Kar-wai's outstanding, proud but not arrogant temperament in the play. This is his unique charm that cannot be matched by other directors.
uses Shanghai actors to create a Hong Kong film, and uses Wong Kar-wai's half-life learning to create a "new concept" of Shanghai images.
Even the great director Wang Jing was beyond his reach. He posted a post praising Wong Kar-Wai, saying that he has given Shanghainese a face, and lamented that he would be able to shoot the things he likes like him.
A good work is indispensable for good actors. Hu Ge, Tang Yan, Xin Zhilei, Ma Yili, You Benchang, and even the guest star Fan Zhiyi were carefully selected by Wong Kar-wai.
The dedicated performance of each "treasure actor" makes "Flowers" present an extraordinary story.
In 2017, Hu Ge received a call from Wong Kar-wai. It was the first time he met his idol.
"I have been exposed to director Wong Kar-wai's works since middle school. I never thought I would have the opportunity to meet him, let alone appear in his works."
Talking about "Flowers", Hu Ge said that he looks like It was like a dream, and I had a lot of conversations with Wong Kar-wai about my views on the novel "Flowers".
At first, Wong Kar-wai wanted him to play the three roles alone, as well as Hu Sheng, Xiao Mao and Po. The reason why
had such a bold idea was because Hu Ge's drama "Dream Like a Dream" was so amazing at the time. Wong Kar-Wai admired the multiple aspects he displayed on the stage.
In order to capture the story well, "Flowers" was prepared for three years. The 1:1 restoration of the Yellow River Road and the 5,000-square-meter "Flowers" studio greatly surprised Hu Ge.
He said that although he had never eaten on Huanghe Road, the Yellow River Road in his impression was just like what was shown in the drama, with bright colors that are eye-catching and thousands of flowers like a sea.
During this period, Wong Kar-wai did a lot of preparation work, leading everyone to collect information about Shanghai in the 1990s, and also invited experts on stocks and "old masters" from foreign trade companies.
They need to serve as "brain responsibilities" to guide the crew at any time. Before starting, every actor must enter the scene in advance to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the 1990s.
"This cooperation is more like falling in love. At the beginning, you will be very nervous and uneasy, always wandering between confidence and unconfidence.
Slowly you will find that as long as he (Wong Kar-wai) is here, you will It's very reassuring, like falling in love."
Wong Kar-wai gave Hu Ge a high degree of emotional comfort, allowing the actor and director to trust and trust each other, which is not easy.
When working with a big director, no one will feel less pressure. Fortunately, Wong Kar-wai is energetic and his micromanaging attitude also affects others.
Whenever Hu Ge feels stressed, as long as he sees Director Wang going back to meetings to write scripts after filming every day, all his tiredness is instantly eliminated.
htmlThe story of Shanghai in the 1990s is actually a pursuit of the memories of our fathers and a complement to the imagination of the past years.Hu Ge was still a child at that time, and it was Wong Kar-Wai's expectation to use "Li Xiaoyao's Feeling" to play Abao, and he did it.
In order to choose the actor for the role of Li Li, Wong Kar-wai watched the performance of all Xin Zhilei's works, which made Xin Zhilei feel incredible.
Xin Zhilei mentioned in the interview that she was selected by Wong Kar-Wai for her role as Ding Baiying in "Xiu Chun Dao II: Shura Battlefield".
Her performance in "Flowers" is remarkable, but she fits the role of Li Li very well, and I have to admire Wong Kar-wai's vision for casting.
Ma Yili recalled the scene when she first met Wong Kar-wai. She said that the first time Wong Kar-wai saw her, he asked her if she had a bad temper.
Later, Ma Yili found out that Wong Kar-wai wanted to understand the personality of each actor, so as to maximize the strengths and avoid weaknesses, and bring out the best of the actors.
In order to choose Ma Yili, Wong Kar-wai watched almost all of her dramas, such as "The Cheongsam Detective", "The First Half of My Life", and even her appearance in "Dragon City".
The same goes for other actors. Wong Kar-wai needs to know all the actors well before he can hand over the roles to them with confidence.
In the drama "Flowers", the painter played by Chen Yiming is painting Lingzi, whom he has a crush on. In fact, this painting is the "Portrait of a Girl" series that Chen Yiming created in his early years using Ma Yili as a model.
At that time, Ma Yili was still an 18-year-old freshman in theater. This dreamy linkage was not only a fate spanning 30 years of parallel time and space, but also Wong Kar-wai's unique idea.
Tiffany Tang, who is famous for her idol dramas, did a scene 86 times in order to film Wong Kar-Wai's "Flowers".
At her current age, it is no longer suitable to be a flower in an idol drama. If she wants to transform into a powerful actor, she has to accept all kinds of "torture" from the director.
The actors are willing to cooperate with the director to polish the script, and the director is willing to work hard and patiently guide. With this kind of two-way understanding and dedication, there is no need to worry about making high-quality dramas.
