On June 21, the last Chinese-language film in the Golden Goblet Competition of this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival completed its world premiere. Director Zhang Dalei's new film "The Stars Are Waiting for Us" met the audience at Shanghai Cinema SHO.
director Zhang Dalei and the leading actors Liang Jingdong, Huang Lili, and Zhang Ninghao shared the behind-the-scenes creation of the film.
A group photo of the main creators
"The Stars Are Waiting for Us" tells the story of Lao Zhang (played by Liang Jingdong), a northwest man who faces difficulties in life and career and wants to drive a pickup truck to the desert to give himself an explanation. Unexpectedly, I met some strange people along the way. They were strange, mysterious, and yet familiar. Everything that happened next left him in a trance, making it difficult to distinguish reality from dream. In the end, these idealists crowded into the broken pickup truck and drove into the night toward their respective ideal places.
Stills from "The Stars Are Waiting for Us"
Zhang Dalei revealed that the story originally had a prototype character who was a model entrepreneur in Shaanxi. A friend wanted to ask Zhang Dalei to make a movie about this character. Zhang Dalei confirmed that, "A real character is based on a real person." As long as the form of existence is known to others, the film should still have some space for its own creation." After many discussions and deliberation, Zhang Dalei tried to find a new subject that could express himself and be consistent with the theme. Button’s Narrative”.
Zhang Dalei
Lao Zhang, devastated by failure, lost the direction of his life. He drove a broken pickup truck back to the desert. Maybe it would be the end of the world, and maybe he would find an answer. On the way, Lao Zhang inexplicably met Xiaowei, a boy who caused trouble and ran away, and Sissi, a girl who came out to find her mother. The two young people wanted to send the big Russian back to his hometown. They firmly believed that as long as they went to the border and found a train named "Al You can get there by taking the blue train "Late". They all squeezed into Lao Zhang's pickup truck and drove to their ideal places in the night...
In " August ", Zhang Dalei looked back on his childhood life in the 1990s; in "Blue" In "Blue Train", he told the past events of a small town on the border between China and Russia; in "The Stars Are Waiting for Us", the director set the time in the contemporary era, but still chose the cast of "Blue Train" and even changed its English title "Stars await us" became the official title of this film, completing an intertextual creation. The image of "Looking for the Blue Train" is consistent with the connotation of the director's previous works. He once again continued his film exploration with idealistic care.
Regarding the echoes with the characters in "Blue Train", Zhang Dalei said, "They live in the movie space. I hope that in this movie, Lao Zhang can meet these people and let these people walk together."
Liang Jingdong
Zhang Dalei hopes to create a group of clumsy but persistent idealists. In the film, "Everyone has their own goals, and everyone has a direction, but in different ways. No matter how strong their abilities are, as long as they are heading towards Go in that direction and chase it, even if others think it is ridiculous, I think it is worthy of respect and moved me."
The character Sissi played by actress Huang Lili this time is the same character from "Blue Train". Even Sissi’s flightless bird named Bubu continues to participate in the story. Huang Lili explained, "The bird is actually a reflection of myself. I wanted to go out, but I forgot how to go out. I have this ability myself, and it is the same as most young people. We forget who we are. "
黄丽丽
Zhang Ninghao, who also played the role of Xiao Wei in "Blue Train", said about the difference between the two performances, "In "Train", it will be more green, but this time it will be more concrete and more interesting. Some fun."
Zhang Ninghao
In addition to "The Stars Are Waiting for Us", Zhang Dalei's other short film "Why Do We Dream" was also shortlisted for this year's Golden Goblet Short Film Unit. This short film is the same as Zhang Dalei's drama " Moses on the Plain》are closely related.
Faced with the problem of creating a "Zhang Dalei Universe" around the same characters in creation, Zhang Dalei said, "Everyone has a particularly complete map in the space of my imagination. I dare not say it is the universe, because the universe is to me "It's too big." He hopes that his movie will create "a space" in the movie, "It is their place, the past and the future. I may make some fragmented movies about them in the future." Maybe I am too familiar with them, and everyone is too familiar with them, but in a movie, it is not enough to fully explain where they come from and where they go. We just passed by and saw these fragments.
Screenwriter Xiao Rui, who has collaborated with Zhang Dalei on "August", "Blue Train", "Moses on the Plains" and "The Stars Are Waiting for Us", believes that "Zhang Dalei's ideas are divided into two types: one is reality. On the other hand, it is full of romantic and poetic feelings, such as "Blue Train" and "Moses on the Plains". "The Stars Are Waiting for Us". "The Stars Are Waiting for Us" is a film about ideals and life in the desert. It is also a very important work in his second line of thinking. Next, about this. He may continue to film the series, about this group of people, about ideals, and about romance."
