On May 22, the movie "Trident" held its premiere in Beijing. Director Gao Qunshu, screenwriter Lü Zheng, leading actors Huang Zhizhong, Jiang Wu, Guo Tao, starring Xu Li, and guest actor Cao Weiyu all appeared to share their creative experience and shooting moments with the audience. The film will be released nationwide on May 24.
Group photo of the main creative staff
"Trident" is adapted from the novel of the same name by writer Lv Zheng. The TV series of the same name broadcast in 2020 received a score of 7.5 on Douban. The film tells the story of three old policemen who are about to retire, Cui Tiejun (Huang Zhizhong), Xu Guozhu (Jiang Wu), and Pan Jianghai (Guo Tao), who are accidentally involved in a money laundering case involving tens of billions of yuan. The sharp knife "Trident" composed of the three people goes straight to the deepest part of the criminal group controlled by the evil forces and their umbrellas, vowing to investigate to the end and eradicate all evil.
"Trident" poster
At the premiere, Gao Qunshu talked about the origin of this filming and said, "The initial motivation was for Teacher Lv Zheng, who is an active policeman who started from a grassroots police station and later worked on the economic investigation front, handling many major cases. He created the three vivid characters of the 'Trident', which attracted me first. Secondly, the background of the case involved in the movie is closely related to the experiences of many ordinary people today. In life, many of our friends, including my own mother, have fallen into the experience of putting money into a certain 'financial management' and ended up being deceived."
Director Gao Qunshu
"There is another point that is my personal feeling. There is a saying in society now, 'People born in the 2000s are desperately trying to retire, and people born in the 1960s want to work hard after retirement.' The 'Trident' in the film has been a policeman for more than 30 years, and it is time for him to retire. I am also over 60 years old this year. In fact, I am just like them, a group of people who want to work hard after retirement. This point particularly touched me, and it is also the reason why I have insisted on creating until now." Gao Qunshu said.
"I have been a police officer for 24 years and I am also an old policeman." Lv Zheng recalled in his speech, "When I was writing the novel "Trident", I listed three names on the blackboard very early, 'Big Back Hair', 'Big Stick', and 'Big Sprayer', representing different types of police in economic investigation, criminal investigation and pre-trial investigation. Why did I create 'Big Back Hair'? It was because I heard that there was a detective in Tianjin. When he was young, his nickname was 'Big Back Hair'. When this policeman went out for disguised investigation, he dressed up like a Hong Kong businessman, and the suspects could not recognize him at all. I asked this person where he is now? 'Well, back hair, all the hair is gone.' Tianjin people speak humorously, but it makes me feel indescribable."
Screenwriter and original novel author Lü Zheng
Lü Zheng said that it was at that moment that he suddenly felt a sense of fate. "The reason why the criminal police in the novel are called 'big sticks' is that they are the best fighters in the industry. They are invincible and unstoppable. As for the preliminary investigation, they have a saying that no matter whether the economic investigation or criminal investigation arrests someone, they must be handed over to the preliminary investigation to fix the verbal evidence. Putting these three people together in the movie, there is an innate chemical reaction. The three of them are harmonious but different, and they don't share the same hatred and attack together from the beginning. But when they face the most vicious criminals, they become three sharp knives on a sharp blade, which is the origin of the 'trident'."
Guo Tao, Jiang Wu, Huang Zhizhong
Huang Zhizhong said in his speech that he had discussed with Lv Zheng many times after receiving the script. "Later, I concluded that the 'Big Back Hair' has some wolf-like qualities. Wolves are social animals in terms of their lifestyle. After receiving this major case, he first had to set up a bureau and let the two older brothers join in. From the perspective of plot design, the three of them had barriers and conflicts before. How to establish emotional and friendly connections this time? It takes a lot of thought. When handling the case, he often has to think about the problem from the perspective of the opposite side and consider what we should do from the perspective of the criminals. Therefore, the 'Big Back Hair' has a lot of internal friction. He has to coordinate internally and integrate externally, and mobilize energy to fight together."
"Big Back Hair" Cui Tiejun (played by Huang Zhizhong)
During the post-screening discussion, Chen Shengli, the director of the 1994 "9.18 Major Case Detective Documentary", which was the first crime documentary in China, compared the differences between the film and TV versions of "Trident". "The film is full of a strong and explosive temperament, which is a more prominent feature of the film version. Director Gao Qunshu found a different way and produced different effects." Writer and screenwriter Liu Zhenyun said that the film is very good. "This is also due to its complexity. In the past police and gangster films, the police were the police, and the evil forces were the evil forces. I think this richness is particularly well reflected in "Trident."
It is worth mentioning that the three leading actors of the TV version of "Trident", Chen Jianbin, Dong Yong, and Hao Ping, also sent a collective video blessing after the screening. Chen Jianbin, who plays the "big back hair" in the TV version, told Huang Zhizhong, his other "self" in the film version: "As a viewer, I have to remind you to be careful when you go out to handle cases. This case depends on you."
