cover news reporter Zhou Qin
On March 30, the comedy movie " Galaxy Writer " was officially released. The film won the Jury Award and Best Screenplay Award at the 17th First Youth Film Festival. "One script, two screenwriters, three revisions of the draft, changing seasons, mixed emotions." The film tells the story of two young screenwriters who have dreams in Beipiao and pursue their dreams. With its unique comedy attempts and warm core, it has triggered many The resonance of "beating workers".
Recently, cover news reporters had a conversation with film directors and screenwriters Li Kuo, Shan Dandan, and screenwriter Gao Qun in Chengdu. They hope to make some innovations through this somewhat unruly and imaginative work, and hope that everyone can find their own shadow in "Galaxy Writer": the person who may have always failed and been mediocre, but has always worked hard. of myself. They are not too worried about the challenges that AI technology brings to creators, because "AI cannot replace the joy of creation."
Currently, the movie "Galaxy Writer" has been released for 4 days, with a box office of more than 3.67 million. Judging from the current film schedule and buzz, the possibility of "Galaxy Writer" becoming a hit is slim. But the emergence of such a special film is worth embracing.
The movie "Galaxy Writer" Chengdu Road Show
Film and TV Industry Life Illustration
The script of the movie "Galaxy Writer" took about one and a half months to complete, and it went very smoothly. Before this script, screenwriters Li Kuo, Shan Dandan, and Gao Qun had been investing their energy in another script, but in the end the project became "obsolete". Shan Dandan revealed that the protagonist in the script was too far away from their lives at the time. Later, they decided to write about a group they were familiar with, the friends around them, a group of northern drifters.
The protagonists of "Galaxy Writer" are common "migrant workers" in real life: new screenwriters Zhang Yi (Song Muzi) and Sun Tan (He Wenjun), they have passionate dreams and long for their own. Their names will one day appear on the big screen, but reality gives them a round of "punch-to-flesh" blows: confrontation with Party A, the pull of life, the confrontation with themselves... In the end, no one They can become heroes, but fortunately they have completed reconciliation with themselves.
adhered to the principle of screenwriting and refused to change the script. In the end, Zhang Yi and Sun Tan were fired. Boss Cai, who drank with producers and investors everywhere and got gout, didn't get a chance. He couldn't get a role and could only do Werewolf. The host, a pest who was betrayed by his girlfriend and brother, Zhou Keke, who persists in his dream of being a screenwriter even in a marginal job like taking meeting minutes. Every character in "Galaxy Writer" is the shadow of countless ordinary workers in the film and television industry. Li Kuo revealed that the story in the movie is "half of our work experience, and half of it is what happened among the friends we met in the city of Beijing. We moved it in, and some of it was artistically processed."
video , the screenwriter Zhang Yi suffered from anxiety disorder, which was the real experience of the screenwriter Gao Qun during the creation. Li Kuo and Shan Dandan got married while filming "Galaxy Writers". The "Nolan Watch", an important prop in the movie, was actually the couple's token of love. In the film, screenwriter Zhang Yi grabbed two movie tickets for "The Dark Knight " at the Beijing Film Festival, and finally transferred the tickets to fans. This is also the real experience of screenwriter Li Kuo. He revealed that when he was transferring tickets among movie fans, he asked "What is the first line of " clown "?", using this method to filter out scalpers. And this scene was also moved to the movie.
Not long ago, the movie "Galaxy Writers" premiered in Beijing. At that time, friends from the fan group came to attend. Shan Dandan said with a smile: "I found out that the group leader has now made a movie to pay tribute to Nolan. They also think it is quite time-travel. "
"Change the second male lead into a dog"
In the movie, the screenwriters Zhang Yi and Sun Tan, who are Party B, can only modify it again and again in the face of new demands from the management, such as, "Change the second male lead into a dog." Would it be more reasonable to change the number to a dog?" By the end of the change, the script had changed beyond recognition. His girlfriend Zhou Keke, who is also a screenwriter, advised Zhang Yi that screenwriting is a service industry, and Party A pays the screenwriter fees just to allow the screenwriter to revise the script.
Regarding the modification, Shan Dandan revealed that he is just like Zhou Keke in the movie, and he is quite willing to change: "I think I am more conscious than the two of them. I think I must do things well and achieve Party A's "Satisfied." But later, she found that it was difficult to reconcile the opinions of the public. If every modification suggested by Party A was implemented, the final work might lose its original flavor.
screenwriters Li Kuo and Gao Qun prefer to stick to their own creations. Gao Qun admitted that he is an idealist and works as a screenwriter out of love. Having been a screenwriter for many years, what he wants to accumulate most is the "right to speak": "I want to be able to speak out what I want to insist on, instead of just listening. In fact, screenwriters in the entire industry sometimes don't have that much right to speak. In many cases, Everyone can give opinions, except the screenwriter himself."
Movie "Galaxy Writer" poster
In Li Kuo's view, "How to satisfy some of my own small expressions or ideas while reaching a consensus with Party A? This process is really torturous,” but he believes that this process now seems to be an accumulated experience.
"No growth is also a kind of growth"
In the latter part of the film, the producer snatched the authorship rights and was kicked out of the project by Party A. Career and love were in a mess. The frustrated screenwriter Zhang Yi decided to leave Beijing, but when I heard my companion talk about the next script, I was "beaten" and my hope was rekindled. The phrase "No growth is still a kind of growth" in the film soothed the hearts of many viewers.
In Shan Dandan’s view, this sentence is a portrayal of everyone’s real life, “If we are still relying on external forces to give us the chance to turn over, this is actually a cruel fairy tale. The audience will be disappointed after reading it, because where is life? Such a good thing," Shan Dandan felt. "Everyone in life is beaten down by society and when they are sad, sometimes just a cup of milk tea, a cup of coffee, or a gust of wind blows, and you give yourself a shot of chicken blood. Why can't you live with yourself? Then get back on the road."
Gao Qun believes that the characters in the movie stick to their original aspirations and find love, which is growth. In his opinion, it doesn't matter whether Zhang Yi, the screenwriter in the movie, is successful or not. What's important is that he found something he likes to do, and it makes him happy. "Growing up is not necessarily about reaching a certain position, but about finding your original intention."
Stills from the movie "Galaxy Writers" New screenwriter Zhang Yi talks to Sun
After the previous project took more than two years to create, it unfortunately ran aground, "Galaxy Writers" "Writer" has become the most successful project for Li Kuo, Shan Dandan and Gao Qun. They hope to express those undisciplined parts and do some innovation: "We don't know whether this attempt is good or bad now, but I think it is worth doing."
's happy AI creation cannot replace
as a movie A small-budget comedy movie, the main creators of "Galaxy Writer" are almost all newcomers to the film industry, but Shen Teng was invited as the last Easter egg, which is really surprising.
Li Kuo revealed that he and Shan Dandan both worked at Happy Mahua. After returning from the First Film Festival last year, they contacted Shen Teng’s team through Zhang Xiaofei and described the idea and creativity of the easter eggs to him. "Brother Teng said they were all children born from twists and turns, so he quickly agreed to help." The end of the
video is presented in an almost absurd science fiction way. One hundred years later, the AI era has arrived. People unearthed the movie script "Seven Seconds Man" buried by Zhang Yi and Sun Tan, built an art center on the original site of the script, and decided to make "Seven Seconds Man" into a movie. The meaning given to it is: the last hope to save human creativity.
AI appeared in the movie. Will you try to use AI in your creation? Li Kuo said frankly that in terms of creation, he will definitely not embrace AI, but the emergence of AI will indeed bring him thinking: "As the last scene said, I think the only thing we can challenge against it in the future is that we Imperfection creates a perfect and warm thing."
Gao Qun (left), Shan Dandan (middle), Li Kuo (right)
For Gao Qun, he also said that he will definitely not use AI to write scripts because he does not want the joy of creation to be replaced. Even if During the process of script creation, Gao Qun once suffered from anxiety. He also mentioned the happiness brought by creation many times in interviews: "To put it bluntly, it's like our life. We have joy, anger, sorrow, and joy, not happiness. , life is interesting. Just because you have pain, your happiness can be greater. The same goes for creation. It is precisely because you experience pain when creating that your happiness is magnified at the moment of breakthrough. "
(image source)
