Huang Jianxin: The road to typology of main theme films should become wider and wider

From "The Founding of the People's Republic of China","The Founding of the Party", to "The Founding of the Army", Huang Jianxin's position in this main theme series has also shifted from a director closer to creation to a producer who needs to control the overall situation. Such changes are not only the creator's personal wishes, but also an experiment in terms of "typology of major revolutionary historical themes."

Talking about the first two series of works he participated in directing, Huang Jianxin admitted that the two works,"Founding of the People's Republic of China" and "Founding of the Party", are closer to "chronology" and have little room for typology. Indeed, the history behind these two plays is stretched too much in time and space, and the clues are numerous and complex. Moreover, there are too many "historical statements that are conclusive" that cannot be played at will. The natural possibility of genre adaptations that pursue extreme drama is too small.

Returning to today's "The Founding of the Army", Liu Weiqiang, who has been immersed in the world of commercial genre films for many years, has undertaken the task of making a main theme story more like a "genre blockbuster." From the card, such a choice is precise and clear. Huang Jianxin's "army building" is in line with the premise of typology adaptation such as "focusing on time and space, with core events", which is Liu Weiqiang's best skill.

As the producer, Huang Jianxin's more important thing is to look up at the overall situation. Although "The Founding of the Army" is not a big step towards typology, it can at least open up some space for later "main theme genre films", which is also a market.

Liu Weiqiang and Huang Jianxin

on "The Founding of the Army"

"Liu Weiqiang filmed the emotions of his characters during the war, which was also very powerful"

Reporter: Director Liu Weiqiang has made many urban police and bandit films like "Infernal Affairs". This time, he made a war film. It is also a big step forward. What do you think?

Huang Jianxin: No, we were quite calm when we looked for him, because he is a director with strong professional ability and has rich camera expressions. I have no concerns in this regard. I have been questioned many times when I asked Hong Kong directors to make mainland mainland-themed movies. I have to question "Taking Tiger Mountain"(directed by Tsui Hark) and "Operation Mekong"(directed by Lin Chaoxian). Is this the third time I have to question it? This time, we are telling history head-on, not joking, and we have to question this. The director is a bit like the conductor of an orchestra. He can conduct in London or Berlin, but if you say that China composers want to write British classical music, it cannot be written, but the conductor can transcend it. Director Liu Weiqiang is a very suitable candidate.

Reporter: Are there any trade-offs between "following historical facts" and "how to take pictures better"? How to balance?

Huang Jianxin: This time it went smoothly. In my opinion, everything went smoothly after the script was finalized.

Reporter: For example, is there any historical evidence to support the division of labor and cooperation between He Long and Ye Ting in the war drama?

Huang Jianxin: Yes, for example, who will fight where, who will seize the station, who will hide where, and who will bomb who are divided. A lot of work was done before shooting, and the script was discussed many times during the writing stage, and it was written very specific. The director's plan is also very specific. In the past, movies filmed the command headquarters first, and then the scene exploded, but no one could be seen. Now you can see how Ye Ting was fighting and how He Long was fighting. Everyone's methods are different. We also see how Zhou Yiwei resisted and what character. It is important to see characters in war. The director was also very powerful. He divided four "heads" in the chaotic war. The shots were very clear and the emotions of the characters were also captured. For example, Liu Haoran (played) Su Yu attacked the city gate and looked back. Ye Ting was lying underground. Lying on the ground, Ye Ting smiled and put in a very modern emotional method, which solved the echo between film and literature.

Reporter: Ye Ting left a deep impression on me. Many people have been fancied. They are not as calm and passionate as traditional generals. Did you specifically go in this direction when taking pictures?

Huang Jianxin: Yes, because I started telling him that Ye Ting was the American Patton, a war genius. The director said that this character is the kind of person who will avoid him, the god of war. Ou Hao is very handsome in shape, which is very consistent with the temperament of modern young people. He is not the kind of "handsome" in the past. He acted steadily at first, but later he asked him to shoot in a different way. For example, the scene where he took out a piece of paper and wrote orders could completely show the style of a soldier, and it felt good when it accumulated there.

Reporter: The Nanchang Uprising started with a start, there was also Mao Zedong's line, and there was also a hidden line. It continued to fight down, with many defeats, and there was no special climax in the latter stage. How do you consider this?

Huang Jianxin: This must be respected for historical facts and cannot be changed. (Nandu: Can we just film the Nanchang Uprising?) That won't work. That's not an army building. Because the Nanchang Uprising was instigated by the Kuomintang army, Mao Zedong's Soviet Red Army was the real predecessor of the Red Army. These two troops were called the Red Army of China Workers and Peasants. The previous one was only the Nanchang Uprising on August 1, which fired the first shot, not the army building. Mao Zedong insisted on starting the most basic organization in the countryside, where the millions of troops in the future would come from; Zhou Enlai said it should start from the cities. Finally, the two together form the Red Army of China Workers and Peasants, which is called building an army. (History) Therefore, why the Gutian Conference is so important must be written there, because it determines the nature of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants in China.

Regarding the "Great Cause Trilogy",

"The Founding of the People's Republic of China can't find the central event, but the founding of the People's Republic of China does."

Reporter: Looking back at "The Founding of the People's Republic of China", the time span is very long. The whole presentation is very different from "The Founding of the Army".

Huang Jianxin: If the movie has 200 characters, we can only find some interesting details, such as Chiang Kai-shek's father-son relationship, the lament that the Kuomintang will lose, and the joy we felt when we won. It records the events that happened in the chronicle., so that everything moves in this direction. The Nanchang Uprising ("The Founding of the Army") is very similar to the battle of wisdom and courage of the "Infernal Affairs". It has the core of a feature film. However, the "founding of the country" cannot find the central issue.

We have been looking for the direction of the genre of China blockbusters. The good thing about this "Army Building" is that it is a story with core events, and it happened within a year. Unlike chronicles, it is relatively scattered and requires a lot of preparation to capture the subtle things, because the plot and story are actually not completely available from the perspective of the film and it is difficult to relate to the genre. "Army building" can still constitute a complete story. I have been working hard in this direction since I wrote the script.

Reporter: In "The Founding of the Party", I personally feel that it has made some attempts in genre, such as the emotional drama between Cai E and Xiao Fengxian, and Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui watching fireworks in the snow, bringing in genre elements.

Huang Jianxin: Yes, I hope there are some paragraphs that can write emotions and change the judgment of the complete political pattern, but the whole thing still expresses directly opposed political relationships. When it comes to "The Founding of the Army", why do we keep writing about Zhou Yiwei, a man who defended Nanchang? We want to establish an opposite. Otherwise, if we can shoot a few shots, the entire Nanchang Uprising will not be well photographed.

Reporter: This trilogy has invited many stars, which really sets a precedent.

Huang Jianxin: When filming "Jianguo", we felt that the characters were all very good and we had to find 30 stars. Later, everyone called to say why they didn't look for him/her, so there were more than 100 people later on.

Reporter: There are still changes in the actors in this trilogy. In the first generation, there were also special actors such as Gu Yue, Wang Wufu, and Liu Jin; when it came to the "founding of the Party", they became Liu Ye [Weibo] and Zhu Yawen; in the third film, many popular stars appeared. Over the years, the main theme films and genre films have been closely integrated. Do you think this path will become wider and wider?

Huang Jianxin: It should be getting wider and wider, because movies in the mainstream market must reflect mainstream values and match the values of most people. If they don't match, even if the critics score high, the box office will not be able to go well. This kind of thing is also common. The biggest problem is that values are not the same as ordinary people. The director has the ability to handle the rhythm well. Hong Kong directors have been learning hard.

Reporter: Major historical themes. Are there any other plans after this trilogy?

Huang Jianxin: The Anti-Japanese War can definitely be photographed very well. Look at how many times Americans have filmed World War II,"Blood Battle of Hacksaw Ridge" is still touching. Isn't director Guan Hu going to film the Battle of Songhu soon?

Editor: Mary