Text | Jump screen, author | Pang Hongbo
"Everyone seems to think that I have been idle these past few years."
Since the 2019 Spring Festival "Crazy Alien", Ning Hao has mentioned it more than once in interviews I want to take some time off. Even during the interview with "Mr. Red Carpet", Ning Hao expressed a sense of exhaustion.
"I was a little irritable with those particularly irritable scenes."
So, "Mr. Red Carpet" came back five years later with a "minimalist" and "elegant" film.
The "kill" not only means that after "Crazy Alien", Ning Hao has no independently directed feature films except short films. The "kill" also lies in the theme of "Mr. Red Carpet".
"Beating investors violently", "Changing posters to C positions", "Can you be more professional than the management? Just follow what the management says". The audience had previously called the trailer crazy because of its "big" size. Although
seems to be an absurd comedy that uses the story of how stars make movies to "strafe" everyone, but for Ning Hao and Andy Lau, this may not be the case.
Andy Lau's journey from worry to outrageousness
The story of how a star makes a movie.
If I had to sum up "Mr. Red Carpet" in one sentence, it would be "the story of how stars make movies." In this setting, the king plays the role of a farmer, violently beating up investors, having an affair and a secret marriage. The movie contains the "large scale" that the audience is most eager to pry into.
Regarding the original intention of creating "Mr. Red Carpet", Ning Hao said frankly that in "Crazy Foreigner" After "Star Man", he wanted to make a movie with Andy Lau. In 2006, Andy Lau funded Ning Hao to shoot "Crazy Stone". Although this was not Ning Hao's debut, it became the starting point for Ning Hao to officially enter the core area of films. In In that movie, the doctor played by Ning Hao was originally played by Andy Lau, but due to Andy's health at the time, he was unable to play the role.
After that, Andy Lau asked Ning Hao many times, "When will you film me?" "After "Crazy Alien" ended the "Crazy" series, Andy Lau finally waited for Ning Hao's "gift to Brother Hua": Liu Weichi.
"When he read the script for the first time, he didn't speak for more than ten seconds. , he was thinking, he couldn't imagine what it would be like in the end, he would wonder whether it was real or fake. He asked if I could think about it, and I said yes. He wasn't so sure at that time. As a star, he is still worried that the audience will not be able to distinguish the relationship between him and the character. But I think this is the fun, it’s fun not to be able to tell the difference. "
Ning Hao played "Lin Hao" in "Mr. Red Carpet". If Liu Weichi is a collection of Andy Lau, Tony Leung, and Stephen Chow, let alone the concentration of a cluster. Then in the south where ln is not divided, Lin Hao and Ning Hao are There is a stronger correlation. But this also invisibly sets the "unable to distinguish is fun" setting to the maximum, and ultimately allows the audience to judge the authenticity.
After thinking about it for a while, Andy Lau finally agreed to play Liu Weichi. “I think he may have thought through the context clearly, and he will be very serious once he agrees, and he even provides many of the jokes. I asked him about the script. I said that the original script only mentioned the divorce of the superstar. When will the divorce be announced? He said that he would not announce it when he got married, nor would he announce it when he got divorced. "
Understand that long live may always be an empty talk.
Communication is the core of expression.
"The barriers and gaps between people are actually very strong. Why are there so many difficult to communicate and so much hostility in our world? So many emotions, so many confrontations and quarrels, making the atmosphere more and more disharmonious. So what exactly has the Internet era brought about is what I am concerned about. In fact, obsession is quite scary. Everyone has their own obsession. In the end, it became that only I was the best, my methodology was the most correct, I was self-affirming, and it was difficult to put myself in other people’s shoes. Therefore, understanding Long Live may be an empty talk, and no one can understand anyone else. Everyone is in communication from their own perspective."
In fact, in the movie, whether it is the unfolding of the entire plot or the core of the final expression, it is all about communication. "What I want to write is that he has an inability to communicate in various dimensions. They actually communicated, but they couldn't communicate, so they just quarreled with each other. Essentially, they each stood at different angles. In fact, everyone has their own requirements, and their own requirements are the most important. They all defend themselves within their own requirements. So they are all enemies and objects of quarrel. "
In the previously released trailer, Superstar Uranus wanted to shoot a rural theme. The director wanted to shoot "Big Cotton Jacket" from a film festival perspective, while Liu Weichi wanted to shoot an emotional perspective, hoping to express fatherly love. In fact, the two were not on the same page from the beginning. Above; there are angel investors who "movies are nothing", hoping that the movie will be turned directly into an advertisement, so Liu Weichi cannot communicate with the investors; shooting a short video of "Everyone, double click 666", because it is 6 or liao, Liu Weichi He is also unable to communicate with the blogger.
This is a direct conflict caused by the continuous advancement of the plot. In addition to the "inability to communicate" in the plot, what the movie also presents is the "incommunicability" in values. Liu Weichi insisted on not using a stand-in and filming in real life , adhered to his professional bottom line, but also encountered many difficulties, which completely brought the story of "stars making movies" to an absurd climax.
"Part of what this dimension reflects is that the so-called correctness of the previous era may have changed in this era. became a problem. In the past, some people thought it was beautiful to show their machismo when they spoke on TV, but now it has become a form of male cohesion. Therefore, every era has its own aesthetic and value system, and the axis of value disunity appears both in time and among people. "
Outside of the movie, Ning Hao mentioned the word "elegance" many times in "Mr. Red Carpet". Local comedies are still in the process of collective migration from "hilarious" to "laughing with tears" , elegant comedy has become a new adjective. Just like when "Crazy Stone" appeared, "black humor" is also an anomaly in the mainstream domestic comedy in the market.
Regarding the definition of "elegant comedy". Ning Hao believes that the core The key element is democracy. “It is not a single indoctrination, but a communication between each other and the audience, leaving space for the audience and not forcing the audience to accept the plot and effects. Ultimately, I hope to become a person where I say a few words and you say one, to complete a work. "
"I never think that what I shoot is comedy."
"What I shoot is absurd drama."
"I'm not sure that what I shoot is comedy. I never think that what I shoot is comedy. What I shoot is Absurd drama. Absurd drama is only responsible for the truth, intercepting the more absurd aspects of real life, and is based on realism. "
In 2003, Ning Hao, who had not yet graduated from Beijing Film Academy's photography major, served as the director, screenwriter, and photographer for "Incense" and won the gold medal in the "Asia Digital Competition" of the Asian DV competition unit of the Tokyo Filmex International Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Film Festival. , was awarded the Best Film Award by the Hong Kong Arts Center, and was also selected by the jury of seven other international film festivals including San Sebastian, Vancouver, Munich, Manila, Sydney, California, and Taiwan Southern Film Festival.
In 2005, directed The children's film "Green Grass" was shortlisted for the 8th Shanghai International Film Festival - Asian Newcomer Award - Most Popular Film Award.
In the same year, Andy Lau launched the "Asian Rising Star Director" program to support 6 directors from Singapore, Malaysia and cross-strait China. The young director shot 6 Chinese-language high-definition films. At that time, Andy Lau said that he would use the salary of the three films as financial support, and the investors would not have any interference in the selection of the film's materials and actors. However, all films shot were required to be feature films. , can't make the audience feel dull.
In 2006, "Crazy Stone" directed by Ning Hao was born. This movie became more people's "masterpiece" of Ning Hao.In the industry evaluation system, whether it is in terms of commercial returns - a super high return on investment ratio of 25.34 million yuan earned from a cost of 3.5 million; or in terms of style - the "black comedy" style that is concerned with reality and focuses on little people, all have been given to this The movie has greater value for sure.
"I want to go back to the relatively simple film language of "Incense" and "Green Grass". Secondly, I think it can be like a work. I am not sure whether the movies I make are works. ."
Therefore, the clear label of "Mr. Red Carpet" at the beginning was an elegant light comedy. This "light" means that the movie is not a traditional hilarious comedy, and it is also somewhat different from Ning Hao's past crazy series.
Although Ning Hao believes that "Mr. Red Carpet" is still a commercial movie story, it has a more unique perspective. In a story that is almost "out of control", the movie actually has a very serious value discussion. Lin Hao, played by Ning Hao, faced investors and asked seriously, "What's wrong with our industry?" It undoubtedly became a microcosm of the entire film.
