At the beginning of 2021, "Detective Chinatown 3" was released after a full year of delay. The box office of 4.5 billion yuan not only accounted for nearly one-tenth of the country's total box office that year, but also made this film "trilogy" one of the most popular in China. One of the most successful commercial series in film history. Since the release of his first film directorial debut "Beijing Love Story" in 2010, Chen Sicheng has grown from a well-known actor and "new director" to the director with the most box office appeal in China. After creating "Tang Detective Universe" in one hand, what will be his next work?
The answer is revealed in "Mozart in Outer Space," which will be released on July 15. Such a summer family carnival movie that focuses on intergenerational relationships, is full of father-son warmth, and has alien sci-fi elements, seems to have brought a big reversal to Chen Sicheng's past professional people who love natural reasoning - the audience is in this laugh In the movie with tears, I saw Chen Sicheng's innocence as a director and screenwriter, and read out his softness and sincerity as the father of a six-year-old boy.
Aside from the impact of epidemic variables, at the beginning of 2019, with the great success of "The Wandering Earth" directed by Guo Fan, Chinese films ushered in the first year of science fiction films. The foundation of the works of "Big Liu", the blessing of heavy industry visual effects, and the rapid progress of China's national strength and aerospace industry as endorsements seem to show the bright future of domestic hardcore science fiction movies. However, if we further subdivide within the sci-fi film, people cannot help but ask: In addition to the hard core, combined with the current China's national conditions and refracting real problems, in a more "down-to-earth" story text, the imagination of sci-fi cannot be unleashed. And then create a multi-faceted picture of Chinese film "science fiction +"?
This is also the proposition and significance of "Mozart in Outer Space" in addition to the director's personal creative experience, but also in the exploration of a slightly delayed and single Chinese commercial genre film. "I have always felt that film is an art that draws on time and space. At the same time, its value cannot be determined by only one dimension, such as the box office. I hope that I can create a film that can withstand the polishing of time, which grows with the audience, and even can I have followed them for a long time. I just want to make such a film, even if it is an adventure, it is worth it." Recently in Beijing, Chen Sicheng accepted a face-to-face interview with The Paper.
"It's like asking how did I write this script, and why do I make it into a movie? This thing is in my head, and I can't go back to the source, or even deduce a methodology. I think, Behind all 'why', the first must be the sincerity of the creator. At least I can tell you that I express and create with great sincerity. I sincerely show my youngest, most innocent, and most imaginative That part is shown to everyone, and some viewers may think that the imagination in the film should be more ambitious, but at least, the state of my creation this time is very sincere." Chen Sicheng said.
"Every creator is reconciling himself with his works"
The Paper: About the same age as you, watching this movie will remind me of many sci-fi and fantasy movies when I was a child. For example, "Thunderbolt Babe" and "ET Alien". I heard that you also like to watch "Thunderbolt Beibei" (1988, directed by Song Chong), can you recall the memory of seeing this movie in Shenyang when you were ten years old?
Chen Sicheng: When we were young, we watched movies. I remember that they were organized by schools, and we usually watched them during the day. The cinemas back then were different from now, they were all workers’ clubs, yes, that kind of big theaters, the kind of theaters that could hold hundreds of people and have two floors up and down. When I watched "Pili Beibei", I remember that the whole school had a very good atmosphere for watching the movie. There was a traffic jam in the movie. When Pili Beibei was in a hurry, he took off his gloves and kept rubbing his hands to turn the red light into green. The driver also When I was wondering, I came up with a sentence - I remember it was still a Beijing film, it's really smooth today! Seeing this, hundreds of classmates cheered and clapped excitedly.
Chen Sicheng: Eel Treasure, Eel Treasure... (humming softly), we remember this point too deeply. I can still sing the children's song "Eel Treasure" in the advertisement, but you have to say that it stimulates me When I grow up, I want to be an actor and a director, but that's not true. A lot of the episodes in this movie have stayed with me and have given me a generation of fond memories that are particularly lasting in our hearts. Now that I'm in my 40s, I'm still thinking, I can sing it to you when you mention it, and I think it's going to affect my life.
The Paper: Reviewing the films you directed and acted in in the past, except for your personal film debut, "The Judge's Mother", it rarely involves children's themes. What else motivated you to decide to make this film?
The Paper: I remember that when we did an interview with "Tang Detective 3", when you mentioned "Mozart in Outer Space", it was still defined as a science fiction film, but in this promotion, I think it is positioned as a fantasy film.
Chen Sicheng: The reason why it is called a fantasy film now is because I am afraid that some hardcore sci-fi fans will think that the sci-fi part in the movie is not enough, and they will simply downplay the concept of sci-fi. After all, many scenes in the movie are more like fairy tales, and we don't want to say that we use string vibration theory, we have to rely on science. Of course, the film incorporates a lot of research in the field of cutting-edge science. I think science fiction fans will also smile knowingly. At the same time, more young audiences can be inspired and inspired by science in the laughter, which is enough. I never expected movies to change the world, but maybe at some point in your life, a movie can change your life.
Chen Sicheng: Actually, we started this project four years ago, almost together with the script of "Tang Detective 3". "Mozart in Outer Space" comes from something inside me, from my personal experience and observation of intergenerational relationships. My relationship with my father has troubled me for a long time, and I want to show it with such a film. In fact, each of our creators is reconciling with himself through his works.
Not just for me personally - you should have seen a video of a boy who made a small mistake in class and the teacher called his parents. After the mother arrived, she slapped the boy in the mouth without saying a word. This kid jumped off the building as soon as he turned his face! There is also a video on the Chongqing Crossing the River Bridge. It is also a child who quarrelled with his parents, opened the car door and crossed the road, and jumped into the Jialing River... So unexpected and so shocking. I just thought what happened. The family should be the shelter for the children, and the parents should be the last support for the children. Why are many bullied children reluctant to tell their parents in the current school bullying incident? How can the gap between them be so big?
If parents don't give children a sense of dependability, room to talk to, where do you let your children have problems? They can only wander and make more dangerous choices. So I think education is a very serious topic, it affects the future of a nation, a country or all mankind. What kind of education should we adopt? In the movie, I used a light and fantasy story to show it, but the topic is actually very serious and not easy.
Chen Sicheng: Before I knew Lang Lang, I had heard many parents, whether they forced their children to learn piano, art, or dance, they would use Lang Lang as a banner. To a certain extent, he is a model of this kind of adaptive education, conforming to the will of the parents, serving the will of the parents, and then succeeding. In fact, in reality, many parents "chicken baby", Lang Lang will be used as a benchmark to talk about things, just like Wang Baoqiang's success, Hengdian's group performance surged. In a sense, their success has the symbolic meaning of totem, but we all understand that people are different, each child is an independent individual, and there are too many factors for success, uncertainty also Too much. We can't just see one Lang Lang and one Wang Baoqiang. We haven't seen so many children who have failed in training, and have not seen such rude people and rude children.
Chen Sicheng: If I have to talk about something deeper in the film, I actually have some reflections and reflections on the influence of patriarchy under Confucian culture. This film can be said to be anti-patriarchy. The monarch guides the subject, the father guides the son, the monarch, the subject, the father and the son are deeply rooted in our society. The Chinese are the most particular about the concept of family. What is the foundation of a family? The elders are orderly and the seniors are distinguished. Of course, it’s right to be old and old and old, young to be young, and young to be young, but if my will, I can’t help but say, it should also be your will, which is actually incompatible with modern civilization, and this set of things It can be said that from the feudal society to the present, it has always been in our blood. It's like in the film in the name of the father, "I am your father, can I harm you?" We may have heard similar words when we were children.
The Paper: Let’s change the topic a little more lightly. Has your son Duoduo watched this movie?
Chen Sicheng: Duoduo has watched the movie, but his reaction is very strange (laughs). To be honest, he's only 6 years old, and I didn't plan to train him to be a director in the future, but he kept dismantling it while watching it, and kept saying how it was filmed? Mom, is this fake? I was really wondering why he took the film apart so seriously, but he was super excited, excited the whole time. Maybe my son is one of those performative types, and he knows it's a dad's movie.
The Paper: In 2014, the State Film Administration launched the "China-US Film Talent Exchange Program" and sent you and five young directors, Guo Fan, Ning Hao, Xiao Yang, and Lu Yang, to the United States for exchange and study. Fan and Ning Hao simultaneously released science fiction films in early 2019, and Lu Yang also released "Assassination of Novelists". Among them, "Wandering Earth" is known as the first year of domestic science fiction films. In my opinion, although "Crazy Alien" continues Ning Hao's "Crazy" series, it also shows another path for domestic sci-fi films in the future. In a sense, "Mozart in Outer Space" is similar, what do you think?
Of course, each of us has different ideas about science fiction or fantasy, and it has something to do with our bones. Let's just say Lao Ning, when he filmed "Crazy Alien", he was still talking about the contradiction between urban and rural areas, or in other words, he was good at it in the past, mature thinking in it. "Mozart in Outer Space" is particularly like a part of me, which is the unknown side of Chen Sicheng, his innocence, youth, full of imagination and romance.
The Paper: The experience of studying in the United States must have influenced your subsequent directorial works. Can you give a more detailed introduction to the study at that time?
Chen Sicheng: Our main purpose is to experience the mature Hollywood film industry system and observe and study the production process of others. The mature film market in Europe and the United States has been subdivided for a long time, and only genre films can become popular in the mature commercial market.
We went to Paramount just in time for Fast and Furious 6. I remember it very clearly. I took many classes at that time, including the action director of "The Fast and the Furious". He filmed the car chase scenes in the series of movies. We're talking about what counts as a heavy industry movie? He gave an example. In the movie, there was a scene where a car chase exploded in the parking lot. Nearly 300 cars were parked.
The Paper: As for "Mozart in Outer Space", I noticed that this time after "Tang Detective 3", you used the IMAX camera again to complete the shooting.
Chen Sicheng: That's right, we shot the whole film with an IMAX camera, and I insisted on using 65mm film. This is not a dazzling technique, but to allow the audience to enjoy more details and a more shocking audio-visual experience on the big screen. In terms of music, including this time, I invited the Budapest Art Symphony Orchestra to complete the recording in Europe, and asked Lang Lang to play the piano, and so on. You can only really feel it in the wrapped and embedded environment of the cinema. audio-visual enjoyment. The audience spends a night of driving and traveling to the theater, paying money to watch your movie, and I hope they will find it worthwhile when they come out of the theater.
The Paper: Mozart in the movie is in the shape of a panda, and you can immediately tell that it was you dubbing it yourself. At the same time, the expression of this IP also has your iconic pursed lips and other actions. Let’s introduce the motion capture used in the shooting. technology.
Chen Sicheng: At the beginning, when deciding who would play this character—because this character was written by me, I was definitely the most suitable person to play it. But when I did the facial capture for the first time and actually came to the set for the actual shooting, I found that if I were both a director and an actor, I would be too exhausted, because I had to wear a very thick special shooting costume on the set, and it was worn on the set. The equipment on my face was also heavy, and I found that I couldn’t be both a father and a mother (laughs), so I had to find someone else. At first, Dai Molai, the director of "Manslaughter 2", played the role. He studied acting and was an actor himself. Later, "Manslaughter 2" started filming, and another actor from the company, Chen Hao, was hired to take over. So this time on the big screen, Mozart's expression is actually made up of the genes of three men, because we're all in motion capture.
The Paper: Why is the alien Mozart in the shape of a panda?
Chen Sicheng: Our Chinese paintings and calligraphy are generally ink works, using black and white to extract endless imagination space, and it happens that our national treasure panda is also black and white. In addition, when designing, we also considered overseas audiences to watch this movie, and the panda is undoubtedly a more acceptable image for them.
"Now I am more willing to try new things"
Peng Mei News: The cast of the film focused on the strongest comedy lineup in the country at present. Let’s talk about the father-son combination of Huang Bo and Rong Zishan. How did they finalize them?
Chen Sicheng: When we started shooting, Rong Zishan had already completed his famous work "The Hidden Corner". In fact, I had already noticed his performance in "Old Man of Mountains and Rivers". Brother Bo (Huang Bo) has similarities with Ren Dawang in the film. For example, they both used to be singers. The two of us had a chat, and he told me that he had a similar breakup with his father back then. Brother Bo is also a young man in literature and art. Since he was a child, his father did not believe that he could eat literature and art in his life, and always forced him to study hard, so he was also very rebellious and chose his own life. So this performance, he can be said to be at your fingertips.
Chen Sicheng: I would have liked to make this film into a series if possible. This one is the story of Ren Xiaotian and Mozart in junior high school, the next one is high school, and then the university. Of course, this time we are talking about intergenerational relations, and the theme of the next part will also change. In the easter egg of the movie, the audience will see four "dissidents" from the α-18 planet exiled to the earth, wanting to team up with the liar played by Yao Chen to deal with Ren Xiaotian, and Mozart, will he come back to protect his friends? This is another story.
Chen Sicheng: Ha, did you hear that? Yes, it is the minor tune "Mandarin Duck Tea" in "Escape from the Tiger's Mouth" (1966, a French comedy film). This is also one of our childhood memories, peers.
The Paper: Since "Beijing Love Story", you have transformed from a well-known actor to a director, screenwriter, and producer. In the past 12 years, from a cutting-edge director to a successful commercial director, can you talk about a director's daily accomplishments, or how you learn and think in order to be a good director over the years?
The first thing I do when I wake up every day is to read the news and follow all the current events and the big things going on in the world. I have never felt that things are not isolated. The macro determines the micro, and the micro reflects the macro. So not only as a director, but I think everyone should understand the world in this way, recognize their own inadequacies and loneliness, and cultivate the ability to think independently and ability to digest itself. And I have always thought that fame and fortune are two things that life does not bring or death, they are just a pair of wings for you to experience the world more abundantly, nothing more.
The Paper: Specifically, what other projects do you want to pursue after this movie?
Chen Sicheng: There are films I supervised, musicals I supervised, and the next film I directed. I actually wanted to make a film like "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), espionage and personal growth. Maybe I will still bring you a surprise, a subject that no one expected. For me now, I am more willing to try new things, like the bold attempt of "Mozart in Outer Space".
The answer is revealed in "Mozart in Outer Space," which will be released on July 15. Such a summer family carnival movie that focuses on intergenerational relationships, is full of father-son warmth, and has alien sci-fi elements, seems to have brought a big reversal to Chen Sicheng's past professional people who love natural reasoning - the audience is in this laugh In the movie with tears, I saw Chen Sicheng's innocence as a director and screenwriter, and read out his softness and sincerity as the father of a six-year-old boy.
"Mozart in Outer Space" poster
It seems that such a family-friendly film does not need to explore too many metaphysical meanings behind it. But after all, this is a work stamped by Chen Sicheng as the director, and people have reason to expect it to bring something to the current silent Chinese film market. Due to the repeated impact of the epidemic, this movie, which was proposed four years ago and completed more than two years ago, was selected for release at this time. Obviously, the helplessness and compromise with reality outweighed the marketing and promotion calculations behind it. This is evident from the fact that the discourse of film promotion has changed from the original "science fiction film" to the current "fantasy film".Aside from the impact of epidemic variables, at the beginning of 2019, with the great success of "The Wandering Earth" directed by Guo Fan, Chinese films ushered in the first year of science fiction films. The foundation of the works of "Big Liu", the blessing of heavy industry visual effects, and the rapid progress of China's national strength and aerospace industry as endorsements seem to show the bright future of domestic hardcore science fiction movies. However, if we further subdivide within the sci-fi film, people cannot help but ask: In addition to the hard core, combined with the current China's national conditions and refracting real problems, in a more "down-to-earth" story text, the imagination of sci-fi cannot be unleashed. And then create a multi-faceted picture of Chinese film "science fiction +"?
This is also the proposition and significance of "Mozart in Outer Space" in addition to the director's personal creative experience, but also in the exploration of a slightly delayed and single Chinese commercial genre film. "I have always felt that film is an art that draws on time and space. At the same time, its value cannot be determined by only one dimension, such as the box office. I hope that I can create a film that can withstand the polishing of time, which grows with the audience, and even can I have followed them for a long time. I just want to make such a film, even if it is an adventure, it is worth it." Recently in Beijing, Chen Sicheng accepted a face-to-face interview with The Paper.
"Mozart in Outer Space" stills
During the chat, when he learned that the reporter had watched the movie in advance, Chen Sicheng didn't ask about his impressions in the first sentence, but instead said, "Have you become a father?" Facing the reporter's start, he smiled shyly. "During this time, I invited my friends to watch the movie. I didn't expect these parents to have mixed feelings after watching it. Dong Xuan said to me, Sicheng, you are a father now, why are you still standing by the children? Speaking from a standpoint?!""It's like asking how did I write this script, and why do I make it into a movie? This thing is in my head, and I can't go back to the source, or even deduce a methodology. I think, Behind all 'why', the first must be the sincerity of the creator. At least I can tell you that I express and create with great sincerity. I sincerely show my youngest, most innocent, and most imaginative That part is shown to everyone, and some viewers may think that the imagination in the film should be more ambitious, but at least, the state of my creation this time is very sincere." Chen Sicheng said.
Chen Sicheng
【dialogue】"Every creator is reconciling himself with his works"
The Paper: About the same age as you, watching this movie will remind me of many sci-fi and fantasy movies when I was a child. For example, "Thunderbolt Babe" and "ET Alien". I heard that you also like to watch "Thunderbolt Beibei" (1988, directed by Song Chong), can you recall the memory of seeing this movie in Shenyang when you were ten years old?
Chen Sicheng: When we were young, we watched movies. I remember that they were organized by schools, and we usually watched them during the day. The cinemas back then were different from now, they were all workers’ clubs, yes, that kind of big theaters, the kind of theaters that could hold hundreds of people and have two floors up and down. When I watched "Pili Beibei", I remember that the whole school had a very good atmosphere for watching the movie. There was a traffic jam in the movie. When Pili Beibei was in a hurry, he took off his gloves and kept rubbing his hands to turn the red light into green. The driver also When I was wondering, I came up with a sentence - I remember it was still a Beijing film, it's really smooth today! Seeing this, hundreds of classmates cheered and clapped excitedly.
Stills of "Thunderbolt Babe"
The Paper: "Thunderbolt Beibei" has two more sections. One is that Beibei is holding an electric eel by the sea to shoot an advertisement. Has this inspired your future acting dream? In addition, Beibei performed amazingly on the football field after gaining superpowers, and a similar passage appeared in "Mozart in Outer Space". Is it a tribute?Chen Sicheng: Eel Treasure, Eel Treasure... (humming softly), we remember this point too deeply. I can still sing the children's song "Eel Treasure" in the advertisement, but you have to say that it stimulates me When I grow up, I want to be an actor and a director, but that's not true. A lot of the episodes in this movie have stayed with me and have given me a generation of fond memories that are particularly lasting in our hearts. Now that I'm in my 40s, I'm still thinking, I can sing it to you when you mention it, and I think it's going to affect my life.
The Paper: Reviewing the films you directed and acted in in the past, except for your personal film debut, "The Judge's Mother", it rarely involves children's themes. What else motivated you to decide to make this film?
Stills of "The Judge's Mother"
Chen Sicheng: When I was young, I never thought that I would make movies in my life, but this seed has always been buried in my heart. I just wanted to make a movie with teenagers as the protagonist—there are actually quite a lot of movies with teenagers as the main point of view in Hollywood, whether it’s Harry Potter or Back to the Future , as soon as it came out, it was a popular summer file. However, films of this kind are rare in the Chinese market. The last film that everyone can think of may be "Yangtze River No. 7", but it is still mainly "selling stars", so in fact, no one has the courage to go for more than ten years. Do this challenge.The Paper: I remember that when we did an interview with "Tang Detective 3", when you mentioned "Mozart in Outer Space", it was still defined as a science fiction film, but in this promotion, I think it is positioned as a fantasy film.
Chen Sicheng: The reason why it is called a fantasy film now is because I am afraid that some hardcore sci-fi fans will think that the sci-fi part in the movie is not enough, and they will simply downplay the concept of sci-fi. After all, many scenes in the movie are more like fairy tales, and we don't want to say that we use string vibration theory, we have to rely on science. Of course, the film incorporates a lot of research in the field of cutting-edge science. I think science fiction fans will also smile knowingly. At the same time, more young audiences can be inspired and inspired by science in the laughter, which is enough. I never expected movies to change the world, but maybe at some point in your life, a movie can change your life.
"Mozart in Outer Space" stills
The Paper: As the director and screenwriter of "Mozart in Outer Space", talk about how the script was formed.Chen Sicheng: Actually, we started this project four years ago, almost together with the script of "Tang Detective 3". "Mozart in Outer Space" comes from something inside me, from my personal experience and observation of intergenerational relationships. My relationship with my father has troubled me for a long time, and I want to show it with such a film. In fact, each of our creators is reconciling with himself through his works.
Not just for me personally - you should have seen a video of a boy who made a small mistake in class and the teacher called his parents. After the mother arrived, she slapped the boy in the mouth without saying a word. This kid jumped off the building as soon as he turned his face! There is also a video on the Chongqing Crossing the River Bridge. It is also a child who quarrelled with his parents, opened the car door and crossed the road, and jumped into the Jialing River... So unexpected and so shocking. I just thought what happened. The family should be the shelter for the children, and the parents should be the last support for the children. Why are many bullied children reluctant to tell their parents in the current school bullying incident? How can the gap between them be so big?
If parents don't give children a sense of dependability, room to talk to, where do you let your children have problems? They can only wander and make more dangerous choices. So I think education is a very serious topic, it affects the future of a nation, a country or all mankind. What kind of education should we adopt? In the movie, I used a light and fantasy story to show it, but the topic is actually very serious and not easy.
Ren Dawang (played by Huang Bo)
The Paper: When it comes to education, the main storyline of the film is that Ren Dawang (played by Huang Bo) forced his son Ren Xiaotian (played by Rong Zishan) to learn the piano, and the father's goal was to make his son the next Lang Lang - we all Knowing Lang Lang's childhood experience of learning the piano, and he also played himself in the film this time.Chen Sicheng: Before I knew Lang Lang, I had heard many parents, whether they forced their children to learn piano, art, or dance, they would use Lang Lang as a banner. To a certain extent, he is a model of this kind of adaptive education, conforming to the will of the parents, serving the will of the parents, and then succeeding. In fact, in reality, many parents "chicken baby", Lang Lang will be used as a benchmark to talk about things, just like Wang Baoqiang's success, Hengdian's group performance surged. In a sense, their success has the symbolic meaning of totem, but we all understand that people are different, each child is an independent individual, and there are too many factors for success, uncertainty also Too much. We can't just see one Lang Lang and one Wang Baoqiang. We haven't seen so many children who have failed in training, and have not seen such rude people and rude children.
Ren Xiaotian (Rong Zishan)
The Paper: In the past two years, a lot has happened. What adjustments and reflections do you personally have on the positioning and production of this film?Chen Sicheng: If I have to talk about something deeper in the film, I actually have some reflections and reflections on the influence of patriarchy under Confucian culture. This film can be said to be anti-patriarchy. The monarch guides the subject, the father guides the son, the monarch, the subject, the father and the son are deeply rooted in our society. The Chinese are the most particular about the concept of family. What is the foundation of a family? The elders are orderly and the seniors are distinguished. Of course, it’s right to be old and old and old, young to be young, and young to be young, but if my will, I can’t help but say, it should also be your will, which is actually incompatible with modern civilization, and this set of things It can be said that from the feudal society to the present, it has always been in our blood. It's like in the film in the name of the father, "I am your father, can I harm you?" We may have heard similar words when we were children.
The Paper: Let’s change the topic a little more lightly. Has your son Duoduo watched this movie?
Chen Sicheng: Duoduo has watched the movie, but his reaction is very strange (laughs). To be honest, he's only 6 years old, and I didn't plan to train him to be a director in the future, but he kept dismantling it while watching it, and kept saying how it was filmed? Mom, is this fake? I was really wondering why he took the film apart so seriously, but he was super excited, excited the whole time. Maybe my son is one of those performative types, and he knows it's a dad's movie.
"Mozart in Outer Space" stills
"The reality motion capture we used this time is the first time in China"The Paper: In 2014, the State Film Administration launched the "China-US Film Talent Exchange Program" and sent you and five young directors, Guo Fan, Ning Hao, Xiao Yang, and Lu Yang, to the United States for exchange and study. Fan and Ning Hao simultaneously released science fiction films in early 2019, and Lu Yang also released "Assassination of Novelists". Among them, "Wandering Earth" is known as the first year of domestic science fiction films. In my opinion, although "Crazy Alien" continues Ning Hao's "Crazy" series, it also shows another path for domestic sci-fi films in the future. In a sense, "Mozart in Outer Space" is similar, what do you think?
From left to right: Posters of The Wandering Earth, Crazy Alien, Assassination of the Novelist
Chen Sicheng: After that visit, in fact, each of us had a dream of making science fiction films, or in other words, we all had the idea of making industrial films. You see, a few years after that, Guo Fan released "The Wandering Earth", Lao Ning (Ning Hao) made "Crazy Aliens", including Lu Yang's "Assassination of Novelist", he took a fantasy the way. After this "Mozart in Outer Space", I may also make "Ball Lightning" (adapted from Liu Cixin's novel).Of course, each of us has different ideas about science fiction or fantasy, and it has something to do with our bones. Let's just say Lao Ning, when he filmed "Crazy Alien", he was still talking about the contradiction between urban and rural areas, or in other words, he was good at it in the past, mature thinking in it. "Mozart in Outer Space" is particularly like a part of me, which is the unknown side of Chen Sicheng, his innocence, youth, full of imagination and romance.
The Paper: The experience of studying in the United States must have influenced your subsequent directorial works. Can you give a more detailed introduction to the study at that time?
Chen Sicheng: Our main purpose is to experience the mature Hollywood film industry system and observe and study the production process of others. The mature film market in Europe and the United States has been subdivided for a long time, and only genre films can become popular in the mature commercial market.
We went to Paramount just in time for Fast and Furious 6. I remember it very clearly. I took many classes at that time, including the action director of "The Fast and the Furious". He filmed the car chase scenes in the series of movies. We're talking about what counts as a heavy industry movie? He gave an example. In the movie, there was a scene where a car chase exploded in the parking lot. Nearly 300 cars were parked.
"Fast and Furious 6" set photos
You can imagine our reaction after he finished speaking. He said that there is no way, commercial films must have a lot of real input, in order to exchange for a sense of cinema. One thing they have been emphasizing, what exactly is a movie? What is the difference between movies and TV shows and TV shows? Why would an audience go into a movie theater to watch a movie if you only have one storyline that makes sense? We all felt at the time that they were using their thinking and methods to defend the uniqueness of a film, or for a commercial blockbuster, it was to build a technical moat, and it was necessary to give the audience the ultimate audio-visual enjoyment . So after we returned to China, we actually tried commercial films, intentionally or unintentionally.The Paper: As for "Mozart in Outer Space", I noticed that this time after "Tang Detective 3", you used the IMAX camera again to complete the shooting.
Chen Sicheng: That's right, we shot the whole film with an IMAX camera, and I insisted on using 65mm film. This is not a dazzling technique, but to allow the audience to enjoy more details and a more shocking audio-visual experience on the big screen. In terms of music, including this time, I invited the Budapest Art Symphony Orchestra to complete the recording in Europe, and asked Lang Lang to play the piano, and so on. You can only really feel it in the wrapped and embedded environment of the cinema. audio-visual enjoyment. The audience spends a night of driving and traveling to the theater, paying money to watch your movie, and I hope they will find it worthwhile when they come out of the theater.
Chen Sicheng on the set of "Mozart in Outer Space"
Only in this way can we slowly rebuild or pull back the audience's confidence in movies and their interest in cinemas. I also hope that through such a film, I can bring back the teenage audience who have been absent from the theater for a long time, because it has not been many years to show the film with their life as the main theme.The Paper: Mozart in the movie is in the shape of a panda, and you can immediately tell that it was you dubbing it yourself. At the same time, the expression of this IP also has your iconic pursed lips and other actions. Let’s introduce the motion capture used in the shooting. technology.
Chen Sicheng: At the beginning, when deciding who would play this character—because this character was written by me, I was definitely the most suitable person to play it. But when I did the facial capture for the first time and actually came to the set for the actual shooting, I found that if I were both a director and an actor, I would be too exhausted, because I had to wear a very thick special shooting costume on the set, and it was worn on the set. The equipment on my face was also heavy, and I found that I couldn’t be both a father and a mother (laughs), so I had to find someone else. At first, Dai Molai, the director of "Manslaughter 2", played the role. He studied acting and was an actor himself. Later, "Manslaughter 2" started filming, and another actor from the company, Chen Hao, was hired to take over. So this time on the big screen, Mozart's expression is actually made up of the genes of three men, because we're all in motion capture.
"Mozart in Outer Space" stills
"Mozart in Outer Space" is not the first time that a domestic movie uses motion capture technology, but this time we use real-life motion capture, which is the first time in China to use the most advanced technology in the world. Let me give an example. In the movie, Rong Zishan and Mozart have a lot of opposite scenes. Of course, we shot them separately - Rong Zishan performed a non-physical performance with a green model in the studio, and the motion capture actors of "Mozart" performed with Rong Zishan while watching the screen in another studio. And the real-time picture I saw in the monitor was Rong Zishan and Mozart performing "together". Their lines, expressions, rhythm and interaction of the performance were all instant. That way, I can spot and fix problems at any time. After all, technology must serve the "play" itself, and play must be polished.The Paper: Why is the alien Mozart in the shape of a panda?
Chen Sicheng: Our Chinese paintings and calligraphy are generally ink works, using black and white to extract endless imagination space, and it happens that our national treasure panda is also black and white. In addition, when designing, we also considered overseas audiences to watch this movie, and the panda is undoubtedly a more acceptable image for them.
"Mozart in Outer Space" stills
In fact, the most difficult things to do special effects are smoke, water and hair, and our Mozart this time is in the shape of a plush toy, so it took a long production cycle for special effects, and this time the money was mainly spent on him body (laughs). The cartoon image of a stuffed toy was not seen in domestic movies before, and there are not many in the world. I only remember one "Ted" (teddy bear), but the expression of the teddy bear in it is not as rich as our Mozart. Mozart is actually an alien, projected onto a doll on Earth, so he has to be an alien "human" and should have a richer expression. This is different from the teddy bear. The teddy bear is a living bear, and ours is a toy, living like a human."Now I am more willing to try new things"
Peng Mei News: The cast of the film focused on the strongest comedy lineup in the country at present. Let’s talk about the father-son combination of Huang Bo and Rong Zishan. How did they finalize them?
Chen Sicheng: When we started shooting, Rong Zishan had already completed his famous work "The Hidden Corner". In fact, I had already noticed his performance in "Old Man of Mountains and Rivers". Brother Bo (Huang Bo) has similarities with Ren Dawang in the film. For example, they both used to be singers. The two of us had a chat, and he told me that he had a similar breakup with his father back then. Brother Bo is also a young man in literature and art. Since he was a child, his father did not believe that he could eat literature and art in his life, and always forced him to study hard, so he was also very rebellious and chose his own life. So this performance, he can be said to be at your fingertips.
"Mozart in Outer Space" stills
The Paper: The liar played by Yao Chen is also a highlight of the film. In particular, the Easter eggs of the movie were left to her, what specific thoughts?Chen Sicheng: I would have liked to make this film into a series if possible. This one is the story of Ren Xiaotian and Mozart in junior high school, the next one is high school, and then the university. Of course, this time we are talking about intergenerational relations, and the theme of the next part will also change. In the easter egg of the movie, the audience will see four "dissidents" from the α-18 planet exiled to the earth, wanting to team up with the liar played by Yao Chen to deal with Ren Xiaotian, and Mozart, will he come back to protect his friends? This is another story.
"Mozart in Outer Space" stills
The Paper: I can feel that your mind was very relaxed when you made this film. After Mozart came on stage, Zeng Shun blew a few whistles. Is it "Mandarin Duck Tea"?Chen Sicheng: Ha, did you hear that? Yes, it is the minor tune "Mandarin Duck Tea" in "Escape from the Tiger's Mouth" (1966, a French comedy film). This is also one of our childhood memories, peers.
The Paper: Since "Beijing Love Story", you have transformed from a well-known actor to a director, screenwriter, and producer. In the past 12 years, from a cutting-edge director to a successful commercial director, can you talk about a director's daily accomplishments, or how you learn and think in order to be a good director over the years?
Stills of "Beijing Love Story"
Chen Sicheng: I think not only as a director, but also as a human being, learning, observing, and thinking are the most important things in life. I think it's a very important human instinct to keep your pores open all the time - are you isolated from the world, or do you really love the world and embrace it all the time. This world has been in ups and downs and changes, it has a lot of beauty, but also a lot of dross. I always think that existence is reasonable. The most important thing is that you don't give up your own instinct to observe and embrace this world, and even if we are poor in life , the understanding of the world can only be very superficial and one-sided.The first thing I do when I wake up every day is to read the news and follow all the current events and the big things going on in the world. I have never felt that things are not isolated. The macro determines the micro, and the micro reflects the macro. So not only as a director, but I think everyone should understand the world in this way, recognize their own inadequacies and loneliness, and cultivate the ability to think independently and ability to digest itself. And I have always thought that fame and fortune are two things that life does not bring or death, they are just a pair of wings for you to experience the world more abundantly, nothing more.
The Paper: Specifically, what other projects do you want to pursue after this movie?
Chen Sicheng: There are films I supervised, musicals I supervised, and the next film I directed. I actually wanted to make a film like "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), espionage and personal growth. Maybe I will still bring you a surprise, a subject that no one expected. For me now, I am more willing to try new things, like the bold attempt of "Mozart in Outer Space".
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