The movie "Sidu" selects the cast and combines the new expression of god and shape to make the legendary battle more vivid

As a blockbuster to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March, the large-scale epic film "Four Duties" released a full lineup of character posters, featuring the images of revolutionary ancestors such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Liu Bocheng, as well as Red Army soldiers such as Zhao Defa, Guo Chuang, and Zhu Huiyong. From casting with both form and spirit to studying and restoring historical details, behind each character is the creator's understanding and respect for that period of history. The film focuses on the decisive strategic battle of the Four Crossing Chishui River during the Red Army's Long March. It reproduces the miracle of the Central Red Army, surrounded by heavy enemy troops, using its superb strategic wisdom to defeat the many and turn the situation. It will land on June 26. National theater!

Liu Ye: Interpreted the great man three times, changed his image and refined his acting skills to suit Mao Zedong during the four crossings of Chishui River

When it comes to Liu Ye, many people remember that in 2004, he became the youngest Golden Rooster Award winner with his movie "Beauty Grass". This record will be maintained until 2025 and will not be broken, which shows the value of his acting skills. The screen fate between Liu Ye and Mao Zedong spanned fifteen years. From the premiere of Young Mao Zedong in "The Founding of the Party" on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Party in 2011, to the re-shaping of a great man in "The Founding of the Army" on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Party in 2017, to the "Four Duties" on the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March in 2026, three "90th Anniversary", creating the same great man role three times is rare in the Chinese film industry.

However, this time, Liu Ye almost missed the role. When the crew extended the invitation, his first reaction was to decline it, feeling that he needed to settle down. Until he completely read the script of "Four Crossing" and studied in depth the magnificent history of the Four Crossing Chishui River, he was deeply moved and finally made up his mind to take over this extremely important role.

Many years ago, Liu Ye had been suspended for three years due to his wife's illness and devoted himself to taking care of his family. His figure was once extremely thin. After taking over "Four Duties", he lost another 17 kilograms during the filming in order to keep up with Mao Zedong's thin image during the Long March. When director Xu Zhanxiong met Liu Ye for the first time, the director was stunned: "He was so thin that he was especially in line with the image of Mao Zedong during the four crossings of Chishui. The light in his eyes exudes a lot of energy and strength."

At the beginning of the Long March, Mao Zedong was suffering from malaria. He was thin and haggard, and his body was very weak. This was the dark night of Mao Zedong's life: far away from the decision-making center, his body was weak, and he was riddled with diseases. This time, what Liu Ye presented was no longer the scholarly spirit of young Mao Zedong, but a revolutionary leader who was carrying forward with heavy burdens in the desperate situation of the Long March. When filming "The Founding of the Party", Liu Ye believed that Mao Zedong had a "free and easy" attitude that was informal and composed. In "Sidu", he has a deeper understanding of "free and easy":"When people are comfortable and safe, free and easy is a normal reaction; but when they can remain free and easy in extremely difficult and dangerous situations, that is really free and confident." In the desperate situation of 30,000 versus 400,000, surrounded by iron buckets, Mao Zedong was still able to strategize. This kind of power deeply shocked Liu Ye.

There was a scene that impressed Liu Ye deeply. After the bloody battle in Xiangjiang River, red flags were burning on the devastated battlefield. Mao Zedong stepped forward to extinguish the fire with his bare hands. During filming, Liu Ye's hand was accidentally burned. He said that the physical sting at that moment made him understand the characters better: "The red flag is the spiritual totem of the Red Army, and the flag is in the position. Mao Zedong was in a great rage at that time, and all perceived pain and physical pain were no longer important to him." So without hesitation, he reached out and put out the fire.

The film insists on live-action shooting, which gives the actors a more personal experience of that period of history. Once a night drama was filmed on the top of a mountain. The wet and cold winter weather in Guizhou was unbearable for actors wearing modern warm clothes. Cao Bingkun, who played Liu Bocheng, said a sentence that made Liu Ye remember to this day: "Our four or five hours are just the daily life of the Red Army back then." Liu Ye said that at that moment he thought of what strong willpower the Red Army soldiers relied on to persist under such conditions.

Wang Lei: The role of Zhou Enlai is leapfrogged, unexpected but extremely suitable

For actor Wang Lei, participating in the movie "Four Crossing" was an unexpected but extremely suitable role leap. Previously, Wang Lei had twice successfully performed Mao Zedong in film and television works. When the "Sidu" crew was invited to come, the new role waiting for him was another key figure in the Red Army's core leadership team-Zhou Enlai.

Director Xu Zhanxiong commented on Wang Lei this way: He has a temperament of "elegance and tenacity coexisting", which is highly consistent with Zhou Enlai's spiritual core during the Long March. Wang Lei said that while sitting in the dressing room, facing old historical photos of Zhou Enlai during the Long March, watching the stylist modify his eyebrows little by little, paste his beards, and restore the characters 'appearance, he gradually felt that he was slowly integrating with the characters. "Shape is the external entrance. The core of true character creation lies in carving the spiritual world of the character from his demeanor to his tone." During the Long March, Zhou Enlai had a big beard. Wang Lei designed a detailed action for Zhou Enlai to stroke his beard, which was in line with the character's habits and also externalized the character's inner state when thinking, so that every move had warmth and soul.

Wang Lei refined three key words for the character: belief, courage, and sincerity. "Zhou Enlai believed that Mao Zedong was the person who could lead everyone to victory. In the most difficult moments, this belief never wavered. Secondly, he dared to admit mistakes and put forward suggestions at the most difficult time. This was a great courage. The background of all this is his sincere heart towards the party and the people. In his later years, Premier Zhou once said that he was the chief waiter of the people. This original intention was actually there during the Long March." Adhering to this understanding, Wang Lei devoted himself to polishing his performance and comprehensively restored Zhou Enlai's responsibilities and responsibilities.

Yu Shi: An original character, the epitome of countless Red Army soldiers

In "Four Duties", which is almost all historical figures, Zhao Defa played by Yu Shi is a quite special original character. He is a company commander of the Red Army. He does not have a single corresponding historical prototype, but he embodies countless Red Army soldiers who fought bloody battles on the Long March. To apply the "connecting the past and connecting the next" to summarize this character: "Inheriting the past means that as a soldier who led troops to fight, Zhao Defa has been implementing the strategies and tactics of Chairman Mao, Vice Chairman Zhou, and Commander Zhu; starting the past means that during the Long March, he has been developing new revolutionary forces and injecting new blood."

After the film was finalized, some viewers noticed that Zhao Defa's military uniform was newer and his weapons were slightly more sophisticated than others. This is precisely the detailed design made by the main creative team after strict historical research. After the Red Army captured Zunyi in January 1935, it used the seized cloth, cotton and other materials to organize the city's quilt and clothing factory to start work day and night, supplementing each soldier with a new military uniform. The "Flower Mechanism" submachine gun used by Zhao Defa was a German-style MP28 submachine gun widely copied by various domestic arsenals at that time. Through previous battles, the Red Army seized a certain number of "flower organs" and distributed them to the most elite assault forces. As an elite company commander, Zhao Defa's neat military uniform and sophisticated weapons not only reflect historical facts, but also accurately present the spiritual outlook of the Red Army's elite assault forces during the Long March.

* Director Xu Zhanxiong: Use a new narrative to "bring history alive"

The four crossings of Chishui River are a military miracle. Such a magnificent history must be told in the most innovative film language in order to truly touch today's young audience.

The first problem faced by director Xu Zhanxiong was how to condense a complex battle that spanned three months and involved the three provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan, including several river crossings and dozens of battles into a two-hour movie. The creative team conducted a lot of research, and the film finally presented the context of the battle layer by layer based on a clear timeline and spatial transformation, allowing each tactical link to withstand scrutiny. At the same time, it was also profound and simple, allowing all ages to be able to see clearly and understand.

On this basis, the film also uses creative film language to give the plot stronger dramatic tension, and also carries out a number of innovative explorations in shooting techniques, allowing the audience to gain a more immersive audio-visual experience. Take the scene in which Chiang Kai-shek realizes that he has been tricked as an example. Through on-site scheduling design and post-editing, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek seem to be in the same space and conducting operations across a map-Mao Zedong is in the hot red lights, reflecting his open-ended revolutionary romantic temperament; Chiang Kai-shek is shrouded in the cold blue light, highlighting his suspicious and withdrawn character. This "game across space" has also become a "spectacle" scene in the film.

In order to show tactical details more intuitively, the main creative team innovatively used a pinhole camera to shoot a miniature sand table. The camera follows the actors 'gestures and goes deep into the model, leading the audience to "walk" into the mountains and mountains to experience the exquisite layout of the battle.

Director Xu Zhanxiong said: "The story of the four crossings of Chishui is to some extent a metaphor, reflecting how our party, our army, and our entire country have come step by step from then to the present. I hope this spirit of turning the impossible into possible can be felt by all audiences." On June 26, walk into the theater and experience a new presentation of legendary history!