Exploring the ＂behind the scenes＂ of casting： he chose actors for Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

Special feature of 1905 film network I want to shout "mom" when I see it!Played the tenderness and self-confidence of young women in the 1980 s.along withHi, MomThe box office broke through 4.3 billion and became the champion and heroine of the year.ZhangsmallFei’s popularity has also skyrocketed.

　The young Li Huanying she plays in the play is gentle and kind, always with a healing smile like warm sunshine, and is affectionately called "national mother" by many fans. The popularity of "Li Huanying" can not be separated from the exquisite acting skills of Xiao Fei, but also benefited from the director’s eye-catching knowledge, so that Zhang Xiaofei, who debuted for 15 years, finally met the high-light role that made him shine.　

Good casting results in works, and "confusing" casting often causes controversy. For example, the film was caught in the whirlpool of public opinion because the temperament of the male and female protagonists did not match the original work, and the hit drama "My Husband-in-law" was also questioned to be unable to support the male leading role.

　How to "choose one in a million" to find the most suitable director, what casting stories are behind such blockbusters, and what preferences do famous directors have for actors? Let’s follow Kuroko, a senior casting director in the industry, and explore the "behind the scenes" of casting.　

1. Zhang Yimou "Is this actor loose in acting?"　

From, to, Zhang Yimou’s choice of heroine is unique. The new "girl-seeking" was selected by him from 3,000 art school students. Zhang Yimou commented on her: "The eyes are big and talkative, smart and understanding, and it is a blank sheet of paper."

　One Second, Liu Haocun’s first work, is also the first work of Kuroko and Zhang Yimou. Zhang Yimou’s first requirement for actors is that they must be "loose". "No matter the body or the lines, they must live a special life and have no traces of performance." In the movie, several children bullied Liu’s niece. In order to meet Zhang Yimou’s requirements for "children", Cangzi found a remote rural area outside the fourth and fifth tier cities. "Those children are unkempt, not that the children are not good in nature, but that he must be a child in a big city, which is consistent with the movie."

They stayed in school for a week, and every day, they selected children with high birth and image from each class, and then they gave a play and tried it out. After several rounds of screening, they finally selected two young actors, Chen Qishan and Su Zhiguo. Their performance was also recognized by director Zhang Yimou. "Especially the child Chen Qishan, he didn’t know how big a director Zhang Yimou was, and he was very relaxed at the scene. The director also jokingly called him’ Shan Ge’ and said that Shan Ge was a good shot."

　There are many "sea of people" scenes in One Second, and how to schedule a group performance of nearly a thousand people is no small problem. Kuroko recalled: "We will gather all the extras together and tell them stories first. What are you doing here? What are you doing? Then you must tell him what to do and what not to do, what to see and what not to see at the scene. For example, you can’t look at this black hole (lens), you have to look at it, and all our efforts are in vain. "

This is the job of casting directors, ranging from male and female leading actors to small guest actors, extras and even "animal actors", such as White Horse in The Sacrifice, all within their scope of work.

During the cooperation of One Second and other plays, what impressed Cang Zi most about Zhang Yimou was his enthusiasm for work and his affinity on the set. He didn’t put on airs just because he was a well-known director, which was "worth learning by all young people".　

2. Chen Kaige　"Difficult" and"Bitter"　

From 2005 to the filming of The Battle at Lake Changjin, the Cangzi team has cooperated with director Chen Kaige for nine plays for more than ten years. He affectionately called Chen Dao "Kai Ye". "My love for him is too deep and sincere." In Cang Zi’s view, director Chen Kaige’s characteristic is his obsession with art and his pursuit of the all-round harmony between actors and roles from appearance to temperament, which has often made him "collapse".

　For example, in the casting process of "The Orphan of Zhao", the role of Zhao Shuo became the biggest problem. "We turned the suitable middle-aged actors in China upside down. After more than a dozen rounds of reporting, every time we reported 180 people, the director didn’t meet his eyes, and the time was getting shorter and shorter, and the whole person collapsed."　

In Cang Zi’s impression, his age and feeling are bigger than his role, so he was mentioned by chance only after he reported hundreds of people. I didn’t expect to be selected by Chen Kaige. In addition, Chiu Man-Cheuk’s image management is very good, and there is no age difference between the real person and the role, which finally shows Zhao Shuo’s heroic spirit.

　Not only the leading role, but also Chen Kaige’s demands on bit part are not relaxed. In the original script of My People，My Country’s "Meteor in the daytime", there is a character who is a Mongolian white-haired old woman, and Chen Kaige puts forward high requirements for appearance. Cangzi and his team traveled all over the Mongolian Autonomous County near Gansu Province, running hundreds of kilometers every day, and finally found a suitable old woman, but finally regretted not being cut into the feature film.

　If the previous cooperation with Chen Kaige was mainly a "difficult" word, then the key word for The Battle at Lake Changjin’s casting was "bitter". "This is a bitter play, and I am worried that the actors can’t stand it."　

For example, some time ago, the filming just happened to catch up with the cold wave, and the temperature was MINUS 19 degrees. All the staff were wearing down jackets and military coats, and the warm babies were freezing, while the actors who played the volunteer soldiers could only wear light clothes.

　"Not all actors can stand this kind of suffering. When casting, many people feel that they will retreat if they can’t persist. They all say that suffering is what actors should do, but the suffering of The Battle at Lake Changjin actors is really multiple."　

3. Guan Hu has tight time and heavy tasks.　

From The Sacrifice, Kuroko and director Guan Hu also cooperated in many films. What impressed him most was that time was tight and the task was heavy when preparing a tribute film like My People，My Country The Sacrifice.

　In order to reproduce the scene of "founding ceremony" in The Night Before, Guan Hu also asked the actors on the Tiananmen Gate to "confuse the real with the fake". Some great historical figures have special actors, which is relatively easy to find. However, it is not difficult to choose roles for those who do not often appear in film and television works such as "Zhang Lan".　

"I can only work overtime and keep turning over the actor’s information every day to screen, filter and compare." Kuroko recalled, "At that time, the budget was still a little tight. The producer asked the actors not only to look alike, but also to bring their own beards, because the cycle was too short and there was no time to make hair."

　The same is true of The Sacrifice’s casting process. Preparations began on July 2, and all the actors were selected on July 15. Because the time is too short, the space for choosing actors is also much smaller. Many actors overcome all difficulties by trusting and loving the director Guan Hu. "Translation brother did it, Jing brother did it, and he did it. Even the whole shooting cycle did not take a day off, and he has been in the film crew."

　No matter The Eight Hundred, who has the longest working cycle, or The Sacrifice, who has tight time and heavy tasks, Guan Hu’s work is characterized by expressing feelings and attaching importance to loyalty. "He is a particularly cohesive director, who can not only make good movies and tell good stories, but also unite all the cast members closely."　

4. "One in a million" How to do a good job in the entertainment circle "Bole"

With the development of industrialization of China film industry, casting director has attracted more and more attention from both inside and outside the industry. A successful casting director is a "Bole" and a "bridge", which enables the right actors to find the right roles as soon as possible.　

In Cang Zi’s view, it is not easy to do a good job in casting directors. Only by having a unique eye, meticulous desk work and rich domestic film and television readings can we continuously improve our ability to appreciate and grasp the role orientation.

Every casting director has a huge database of actors in his mind. After getting the script, the first thing to do is to "understand the script thoroughly". Through repeated research and reading, he can accurately grasp the settings of the writers and directors on the appearance, personality and mental journey of the characters, and then list the suitable actors and submit the list.　

The criteria for choosing actors vary according to the style of the work. For example, the film emphasizes the texture of the actors, and "the actor’s face should be sharp and angular"; The choice of TV actors is beautiful, handsome and durable, "the audience will not get tired of watching it for a month or two"; The casting of hot online dramas needs to refer to the flow of actors, topicality and chemical reactions with each other.

Of course, the most important factors are the matching degree with the role and the professional ability of the actor. "Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared. If your business is good and your character is good, this road will be smoother and wider. On the other hand, the circle of casting and actors is not big. Everyone has passed on word of mouth, and you will soon disappear into the sea of actors who push the waves before. "　

Many people don’t know that the casting director’s work not only stays in the preparatory stage, but also runs through various links such as makeup fixing, makeup fitting, reading scripts around, starting the group, shooting announcements, etc., including many meticulous and tedious work.　

This tests the emotional intelligence and professionalism of casting directors all the time: we should really think about the director and ponder the actor’s positioning; We should worry about the film side, control the budget and deal with various connection problems; We should also think of the actors, protect their self-esteem and let them play with ease.

Finally, looking back on more than ten years’ working experience, Cang Zi said with emotion: It is the highlight moment of casting director that the so-called professional people do professional things and let the actors shine in the right roles.