Why is this Hong Kong director casting like this?, Zhang Songwen Becomes a Police Officer, Dapeng Becomes a Robber Dapeng | Li Zijun | Zhang Songwen
"The Eighth Suspect" is the second film directed by Hong Kong director Li Zijun. At that time, Dapeng was a comedian. Zhang Songwen had just finished his performance in "Clouds Made by a Drizzle in the Wind", and Li Zijun unexpectedly chose Dapeng to play the mastermind of the robbery. Zhang Songwen became a diligent police officer. "A very powerful performance is my casting standard."
On June 16th, at the meeting of the nominated film "The Eighth Suspect" for the main competition unit of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, Li Zijun and screenwriter Zhou Wenru, as well as leading actors Da Peng, Lin Jiadong, and Sun Yang, stated that this is a "different police and bandit film".
The Eighth Suspect is created based on the largest money robbery case since the founding of New China. A group of bandits shot and killed three people in just 2 minutes, and stole a huge sum of 15 million yuan from the savings office. The police led by Wang Shouyue and He Lan quickly launched a search for evidence and arrested five robbers. He Lan unfortunately sacrificed himself during the pursuit of the fugitive, and the mastermind behind the scenes, Chen Xinwen and his cousin Chen Xinnian, disappeared into the vast sea of people. 21 years later, Wang Shouyue retired, and a blurry figure from a news video came into his sight. Wang Shouyue immediately set off alone to the border town where this "stranger" was located, vowing to uncover his true identity.
Li Zijun and Zhou Wenru quickly reached an agreement when studying the plot, "We want to make a different police and bandit film that doesn't rely on big scenes, but excavates human nature for the audience to see." They once wanted to name the film "Dust Settles", "This is more artistic, but later they found" The Eighth Suspect "more suitable."
In "The Eighth Suspect", there are Lin Jiadong, who Li Zijun once collaborated with, as well as Dapeng and Zhang Songwen, who have a fresh face. "Hong Kong actors are sensitive to the camera and shoot quickly; mainland actors perform delicately and coherently. It's certainly exciting to make action movies, but we hope 'The Eighth Suspect' is more realistic and not so exaggerated."
Before inviting Dapeng to play in Beijing, Li Zijun watched his starring films such as "Pancake Man" and said, "This is our first time talking about a scene. Dapeng is like the character of Chen Xinwen in the first half of the film, hidden and not revealed. You don't know what he will do next. The comedian has a sense of rhythm, and Dapeng's performance in the film is very sharp. Zhang Songwen was born in Guangdong, and he heard of this robbery case, acting with empathy. Sun Yang is someone I met while watching" Over Spring "."
Sun Yang was deeply attracted by the first page of the script, which described a scene where Dapeng and Sun Yang treated guests at a hotel. "The first page gave me many images in my mind, and it gave my character a complex life. I rarely have the opportunity to experience it, so I didn't hesitate to take it. When filming, the screenwriter was also on site, helping us shoot better."
"Anything you want to do well is difficult," said Da Peng in "The Eighth Suspect", presenting a completely different style from previous comedy characters. As a Northeasterner, he practiced Cantonese diligently to restore the original appearance of the case. To illustrate the changes in his character that spanned 21 years, he quickly gained weight and then began to lose weight. In 43 days, he lost 30 pounds in one breath. "At first, I thought Chen Xinwen should have been thin when he was young, and gained weight as he got older, but after chatting with the director and screenwriter, everyone believed that Chen Xinwen was originally the boss, should have been fat and imposing. 21 years later, he was devastated by life and became black and thin."
Two months before the start of "The Eighth Suspect", Da Peng gained 20 pounds by eating excessively. "There is too much meat on his stomach, and it becomes difficult to sit down and breathe." After the start of "The Eighth Suspect", Li Zijun focused on filming Da Peng scenes for three months, and then gave him a month to lose weight. "He ate well and lightly, only vegetables on the table, and did exercise four times a day." Sun Yang revealed that Da Peng even fainted at one point on set.
In the 1990s, social development and upheaval unfolded slowly in "The Eighth Suspect", with a simple visual language somewhat reminiscent of a documentary. Li Zijun likes Jia Zhangke's movies, "The Steel Qin", and director Jiang Wen's "The Devils Are Coming" and "The Sunny Days". This explains why his works do not resemble the familiar Hong Kong police and gangster films of the audience.
Li Zijun, whose hometown is Guangdong, went back to his hometown from go home to visit relatives when he was a teenager. He felt that in the 1990s, there were large construction sites everywhere
Like many Hong Kong directors, the setting was the school where Li Zijun grew up. The first director he followed was Er Dongsheng. "I worked on the set in 'Men's Forty', and filming the outdoor scenes on outlying islands was very impressive. I didn't understand it at the time, so I directly sunburned. 'Men's Forty' participated in the Cannes Film Festival, and I went to deliver the film." After recording the set in 'Alien Space', Li Zijun was determined to join the directing team. "Liu Weiqiang taught me how to make and communicate, and Zheng Baorui was my master. He filmed continuously for more than 40 hours without sleeping, and only spent five minutes eating."
"It's not easy to write a story. I hide in my room and think, and I also feel where the prototype of the story has gone." Zhou Wenru said, "The entire script of 'The Eighth Suspect' was created based on a real case, and the direction of the script is actually roughly determined. The movie needs artistic processing to have more dramatic quality. I don't want to simply handle it as a tense chase or gunfight. I must know what this person will do and what they have experienced in order to have such a reaction."
"I didn't have as much inner drama when I used to shoot police and bandit films," Lin Jiadong specially went to the Foshan Public Security Department to experience life. "We watched a lot of crime scenes, and their work pace was very fast. The character played by Zhang Songwen has the same heart as me, maintaining the safety of citizens, and his death dealt a great blow to me." Outside the play, Lin Jiadong challenged his Mandarin lines, "Today I watched the premiere with pressure, and my Mandarin is going to meet the audience."
