On December 22, 1995, the largest armed robbery case since the founding of New China occurred in front of a bank in Panyu District, Guangzhou City. Seven people committed the crime and stole 15 million in cash. Nine shots were fired in less than 2 minutes. One of the escorts was killed and another injured. After the incident, although the five fugitive robbers were arrested and sentenced to death, the main culprit remained at large for 21 years.

In 2019, Chen Xunmin, who had been arrested for three years, was granted a suspended sentence. In the same year, filming of the movie "The Eighth Suspect" based on the case began. It will not be until September 9, 2023, that the movie "The Eighth Suspect" is released, 4 years have passed since the filming of this movie was completed. The film was shortlisted for the main competition section of this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, and the lead actor Dapeng even won the Golden Goblet Award for Best Actor for his "plastic surgery" performance.

As a crime-themed movie shot by a Hong Kong director, there are no ups and downs of suspenseful plot design, nor many big scenes of explosions and car chases. The whole movie still follows the ups and downs of people's hearts and is gripping. "The Eighth Suspect" talks about people's evil, and at the same time, surrounding this evil, it also shows the various aspects of life that go hand in hand with it.

"The Eighth Suspect" poster

"The distance between man and sin is not as far as imagined"

The investors initially gave director Li Zijun several different cases, but this shocking robbery case spanning 21 years made Li Zijun never forget it. "Twenty-one years is really a long time. I really want to explore the character's life and changes during this period. He went to work in Myanmar and then fled to Yunnan. How did he get to this place?"

Director Li Zijun and screenwriter Zhou Wenru are both Hong Kongers whose ancestral home is Guangdong. Although they were born in Hong Kong, they would return to their hometown during festivals when they were young. They have particularly deep memories of the customs and customs of Lingnan in the 1990s. In the Guangdong region, where the economy has just begun to take off, the city's appearance is changing with each passing day, and people's desires are also expanding. Because of their deep feelings about that era, Li Zijun and Zhou Wenru decided to show this shocking case spanning 21 years and the human struggle behind it.

Director Li Zijun

"It's actually not easy to write this story, and it's even harder to turn it into a movie after writing it." Screenwriter Zhou Wenru said that this is not a very traditional commercial movie. It seems to have none of the elements that a typical commercial police film should have. "Since it is based on a real case, the direction of the entire script is roughly determined. The film needs artistic processing to be more dramatic, but how to reflect this drama?" When I was changing it, I didn’t want to simply turn it into a tense chase scene or a shootout, which would be useless. I had to know what this person would do and what he had experienced to have such a reaction.”

Screenwriter Zhou Wenru

The balance between being close to reality and making the film rich in dramatic tension is no small challenge for the creators.

"At the beginning, I collected all the information about this case. Frankly speaking, there was not much, and the reports from different media were relatively simple. In addition, after all, this is a major case, and the public security department will also maintain a certain degree of confidentiality. So many stories still require us to add flesh and blood." Zhou Wenru gave an example. For example, the design of using wedding invitations to target people in the film happened very directly in reality, but it would appear too simple in the movie. "I will Keep the wedding invitation element, but add two batches of different printing to make it more difficult for the police to solve the case. For example, the information we have seen is that the two brothers fled to Myanmar and then returned to Ruili to live. So what did they go through, how did they live along the way? After they came back, they got married and had children, and how important their so-called 'family' is to him. These are all things we discuss and then use creation to support. Get up."

In fact, the first half of the robbery case benefited from his experience in creating Hong Kong films. Li Zijun has a way of filming a robbery case that makes people gasp for breath. "But if it is just about stealing money and solving crimes, This is an ordinary police film." Li Zijun and Zhou Wenru wanted to capture the good and evil in people's hearts.

In real cases, an intriguing fact is that Chen Xunmin was not a desperate and violent gangster who went out to rob. He came from a well-to-do family, was well-educated, and had a successful career before committing the crime. After living in anonymity, everyone around him agreed that he was a good person, sincere and eager to help others. And "the distance between us and evil" is also what the creator is trying to explore.

There was once a version of the script that was written from the childhood experiences of the protagonist criminal brothers. When they were teenagers, they robbed a taxi. As they grew up, they failed to restrain their greed and evil thoughts again and again. Many specific growth processes were not shown in the movie, but were revealed one by one in some lines and details. Inadvertent small evils eventually grow and expand beyond the boundaries, but the good and evil in the human heart always accompany each other. "The distance between people and evil is not as far as imagined. Everyone may make a wrong step."

"At that time, each of us was holding back our energy."

Some people say that "The Eighth Suspect" is this year's "European Emperor" movie. Judging from the lineup, Dapeng, Lin Jiadong, Zhang Songwen, and Sun Yang, this combination is extremely tough. Dapeng and Lin Jiadong are the double Best Actors of Golden Goblet. Zhang Songwen and Sun Yang became popular this year with "Hurry" and "Desperate".

Dapeng as Chen Xinwen

Lin Jiadong as Wang Shouyue

In the early stage of collecting information, Li Zijun and Zhou Wenru also had in-depth exchanges with the public security officers, hoping to dig out as much information as possible about the cases that were solved that year. "The biggest impact on us from the police's sharing is not the case itself, but as police officers, what are they thinking?" What touches the creators even more is that many police officers told them that if a case is not solved for a long time, they will always worry about it. In my heart, even if I retire, I still want someone to take over. This has also become a heart-wrenching and moving experience from the perspective of the police over a long span of 21 years.

Lin Jiadong made his first appearance as a mainland police officer, and his performance in Mandarin allowed him to achieve a new breakthrough; Zhang Songwen shared his memories of growing up as a Cantonese in the 1990s with the whole group, carefully polishing everything from living habits to language details.

"One of my requirements for myself is that the movie should not be a one-size-fits-all, and the police do not have to be 'tall, powerful.'" In Zhou Wenru's design, "Wang Shouyue, played by Lin Jiadong, looks colder and more reserved. The kind who can't overcome their inner grudges; and Zhang Songwen is a so-called "warm man", a policeman in a small place. He is concerned about the relationship between his colleagues, and getting along with the residents is like an old neighbor. The two of them are I originally wrote a lot about interaction, but in the first three hours of editing, there had to be some trade-offs. In the end, there were some things that I had to reluctantly part with, which might also have an impact on other things." As for the parting of the police scenes, When Zhou Wenru talks about it now, he still feels that it is a big regret of the film.

Stills of "The Eighth Suspect"

The most amazing thing in the movie is undoubtedly Dapeng. His interpretation of a desperado can be described as "reborn". As a desperado who has been on the run for 21 years, Chen Xinwen had a high-spirited youth. As a "big boss" in the business world, he single-handedly led a shocking case that has gone down in history. On the way to escape, he was disgraced and collected money in Myanmar. The stone field "hidden in the dust and smoke"; after returning to China, he changed his appearance, married a wife and had children, and became an ordinary person in the market... In addition to the changes brought to the actor in makeup and styling, Dapeng's "transformation" of himself has also brought great changes to the character. The establishment of provides the most intuitive visual basis.

In order to explain the changes in the male protagonist's body and appearance over 21 years, Dapeng gained weight quickly and then lost weight. Before filming started, he promised the director that he would gain 30 pounds, but the actual gain was 20 pounds. Because the body's short-term changes bear too much burden, Dapeng also went into shock after the filming process, which made the director team very worried.

Stills of "The Eighth Suspect"

When this work made a stunning debut at the Shanghai International Film Festival and achieved great success, Dapeng said, "It would be too simple to just understand the character as 'fat, thin,'" and he believes that image is only a foundation, and more important It is to understand this role psychologically, "Everyone is a very complex individual. When making choices, there are many things that will interfere with us and lead us in another direction."

Li Zijun recalled the scene when he first met Dapeng, "It turned out that he was not as funny as we imagined. He was very steady, polite, and polite. This state inspired us, and we felt that he and Chen Xinwen's state could be integrated. stand up."

Zhou Wenru was also deeply impressed by the contrast, "Originally I thought he was a comedy star, but the contrast in real life was huge. It made me think it would be very suitable for such a gentle person to play a cold-blooded robber. When he also reported that he was interested in this role, I did something very different from before. In the past, when making movies, I would write the script first, and then show the director which actor is closer to the story. But this time, when I only had a one-page outline, I first sought the actor’s approval, and then I started to think about how to portray this character. In the process, I compared myself to Dapeng when I met him. Some of the feelings he gave me, or some of his little actions, including his way of thinking, some expressions, were all put into the imagination of the character, thinking about him to create a robber. So in the end he successfully created this character, and I I'm very happy, because this is indeed a role tailor-made for him." Zhou Wenru said.

Stills of "The Eighth Suspect"

In 2017, director Dapeng's second film "The Sewing Machine Band" was released. Compared with the huge attention received by the director's debut "Pancake Man", Dapeng believes that "Sewing Machine Band", which has made more progress and improvements in production, has been ignored. "The competition was fierce at the time, and the market's feedback was lower than what I felt about it. The original expectations of this work. Since then, I seem to have entered a long period of unconfidence, feeling that I can never do better, or that I have tried my best, but I do not believe that there will be better results."

When Li Zijun enthusiastically described the future to Dapeng with the idea of "The Eighth Suspect", Dapeng felt an absolute encouragement and trust, so he devoted all his energy to Chen Xinwen in this role.

In fact, when this movie was first launched, these people were all at a low point in their lives. Director Li Zijun's first film "Beasts" suffered a critical mass of reputation after its release, and Zhou Wenru's script "Wind Mountain", which he had been polishing for many years, has not yet been released. "At that time, Zijun and I asked why we chose this subject and why we did this treatment instead of selling something very commercial. It was because we were at a certain low point at that time and wanted to prove ourselves. a state of being.”

"The movies released by Dapeng at that time did not achieve the results he wanted. Jiadong was also holding back his energy. Sun Yang was confused when he first came out. Songwen had been acting for many years and was not too popular. I think everyone They all want to do something to prove themselves.”

Sitting in the cinema and watching this movie four years later, Zhou Wenru expressed a lot of emotion, "When I look back now, I feel like we did it and put all our emotions at the time into this movie. Some of them Sometimes I wonder, if it were now, we wouldn't be able to go back to that time and have that motivation to prove ourselves."

Stills of "The Eighth Suspect"

After more than 40 editions of editing, I found the most suitable expression.

During this year's Shanghai Film Festival, the media were curious about whether the film took four years to be released and whether it experienced some "force majeure" struggles. The main creator said that it was entirely because he strived to improve the story and spent a lot of time on editing. Dapeng said in an interview that he had seen more than 20 versions of the director's edits, and learned from Lin Jiadong that the original director had cut more than 40 versions.

"The initial consideration was to write it all first and not think too much and limit ourselves. But it turned out that the script was too long, so we made different considerations. It is a deeper and slower-paced movie, and we need to strive for it. We want to bring the audience into this world as soon as possible, so we are constantly looking for a balance. We can’t be too literary and the pace is too slow, but we also hope to give the audience a more immersive feeling of life.” Talking about the editing process, Li Zijun said, “I can’t say that I have no regrets at all. In the end, we made a more comprehensive and balanced choice.”

Li Zijun is a typical director who grew up in Hong Kong studios. "I started working with director Er Dongsheng. When I was in my early 20s, I worked as his assistant in Er Dongsheng's company. I didn't even know what movies were at that time, but he introduced me to the world of movies." The project produced by Er Dongsheng was "Man 40". He asked Li Zijun on the set, "What do you want to do?" Li Zijun, who was just starting out, could only reply "I don't know" stupidly.

Later, he successively participated in series of works such as "Infernal Affairs" and "Eavesdropping" with directors such as Liu Weiqiang and Mak Siu-fai. "They taught me how to produce and how to direct actors. I also talked with them about the taste of movies." However, Li Zijun said frankly that the director who had the greatest influence on him was Zheng Baorui, "He really told me how to create and how to be a director. When I followed him, I saw that he had a strong appeal on set, which infected others. Go and follow him. Later, he supervised my film, which did not affect my creative ideas, but every day after I finished shooting the film and showed it to him, he would give some opinions, and I would feel reassured."

Li Zijun said that every time he wanted to make a movie, he would call Zheng Baorui, "I said you can give me a sentence, and this sentence is: 'You can make this movie.'"

Li Zijun's first movie "Beasts" actually has a bit of a flavor of Cheng Baorui's "Dog Eat Dog", with obvious stylization, but the painting of tiger-like cats, the genre and logic are confusing, which makes the whole movie less interesting. After the filming was completed, Li Zijun also realized that it was not yet time for him to understand and practice movies, so he went back to work with Lin Lingdong as an assistant director and participated in the filming of "The Seven".

During the interview, it was mentioned that "The Eighth Suspect" and "Beast" could not be seen as the work of the same director. Li Zijun said that he hopes to try different styles, "Each movie is different, different. The subject matter requires different ways of expression, and different actors will have different textures." When talking about "The Eighth Suspect", Li Zijun hopes to give the audience a real sense of involvement, and for this reason, he implants his own childhood In my memory of Guangdong at that time, I pursued the restoration of the texture of the era in terms of art and photography style. At one point, I even shot in an abandoned space that was too old and small, causing the staff to faint due to lack of oxygen.

This summer, several films that combine realistic textures and crime genres have gained good reputation and profits in the market, which also made "The Eighth Suspect" have high hopes before its release. During this weekend when many new domestic films were released, the preview of "The Eighth Suspect" exceeded 30%, which is much higher than other new films in the same period that also have good reputations. Talking about his expectations for the box office, Li Zijun said, "I have never thought about making a blockbuster commercial blockbuster, nor have I thought about what elements it has to be a blockbuster. The screenwriter and I have the same creative intention, which is to like this script. , if you like this project, just try your best to do it well.”