In 2021, writer Zhang Jiajia was experiencing the darkest moment of his life, with repeated somatic symptoms of his emotions. "It felt like cement was pouring into your mouth, and a heart attack could come at any time." He recalled the writing state of "Heaven Tour Group" at the time, which was almost blank. "I have forgotten how this story was written. I only remember that I would shrink into the corner of the room for a long time after writing a chapter." Because he wanted to continue writing the story with the most authentic emotions, he insisted on finishing the entire novel before receiving treatment.
This almost self-destructive creative state makes the novel full of the "smell of medicine" of depression. The protagonist Song Yili's life collapse trajectory - restaurant closure, marriage breakdown, mother's stroke - is a mirror projection of Zhang Jiajia's spiritual world. However, the works born during this dark period have become a "spiritual band-aid" for millions of readers after publication.
Movie poster of "Heavenly Tour Group"
Four years later, Zhang Jiajia served as producer and screenwriter, and the movie of the same name, "Heaven Travel Group", starring Peng Yuchang, Yang Enyou, Wei Daxun, Li Xueqin, Wu Jinyan and others, was released in theaters nationwide. During the roadshow, readers who had been silently broken told him about their pasts that were healed by the kindness between the lines.
During the release of the movie, Zhang Jiajia and lead actor Peng Yuchang accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper, sharing their journey of “patching up” themselves through creation.
Zhang Jiajia (right) and Peng Yuchang were interviewed by The Paper.
Every character has a prototype
In the story of "Heavenly Travel Group", the protagonist Song Yili (played by Peng Yuchang) met Yu Xiaoju (played by Yang Enyou), a seriously ill but optimistic and strong little girl, at a dark moment in his life. In order to help Xiaoju, the two embarked on a journey full of unknowns.
Song Yili and Yu Xiaoju met all kinds of people during their journey. They each had different stories and troubles. These vivid characters are also important in Zhang Jiajia's world. "Every character has a prototype. It is difficult for me to create a brand new character out of thin air. I hope to let the people I have experienced meet in the story."
Eddie Peng as Song Yili
The prototype of Yu Xiaoju came from a piece of news that made him burst into tears: a girl with cancer shared social donations with fellow patients. The photo of her and her mother sharing the money became the starting point for this angelic character in the movie. "I couldn't hold back my tears when I saw the photo. Such a young child may not even understand what death is. Because of this news, I vaguely had the shadow of the character Xiaoju."
Yang En plays Yu Xiaoju
Another important character in the film, Li Shu, is a friend of Zhang Jiajia who went to the mountain village to teach and stayed there forever. In the film, some sentences in the letter he left behind are distant echoes from real time and space.
The prototype of the character 7 played by Wei Daxun is a college classmate, the prototype of Jingjing played by Li Xueqin is a colleague at work, and the prototype of singer Chen Yan is Zhang Liangying who made a friendly guest appearance in the film. "For me, a large part of writing a novel is to record or restore, and sometimes I even feel that I have turned my life into a novel." Zhang Jiajia also revealed that when he saw Peng Yuchang and Wei Daxun performing the brotherhood on the scene, "it was so natural that I felt as if I had returned to my youth and college days. This was the surprise they brought me."
Wei Daxun as Cube 7
Li Xueqin as Jingjing
Peng Yuchang challenges the decadent uncle
Last year, another movie starring Peng Yuchang, "A Small Shop at the Edge of the Clouds," adapted from Zhang Jiajia's novel, was released. In fact, "Heavenly Travel Group" was the first movie they worked on together. Zhang Jiajia described Peng Yuchang as "the person who knows this work best," and Peng Yuchang commented, "In fact, there is a part of himself in every character he writes."
Peng Yuchang is a good friend of Zhang Jiajia, who has accompanied and witnessed Zhang Jiajia's difficult times. Peng Yuchang described his relationship with Zhang Jiajia as "like Song Yili and 7 of Diamonds in the movie". "He is usually smiling and joking around us, but sometimes when I wake up in the morning and see his Moments, I realize that something is wrong with him."
If you meet a friend like Song Yili in your life, what would you do? Faced with this question, Peng Yuchang said, I won't say anything, I will just go to him for dinner often. This is how he and Zhang Jiajia got along before.
Peng Yuchang changed his image of a teenager that the audience was familiar with in the past, and became a decadent uncle that Yang En chased and called "uncle". For Peng Yuchang, this was a "process of breaking himself up and sticking himself together again", "I know very well what he was going through during that time and how he felt."
Regarding the role of Song Yili in the film, Peng Yuchang introduced, "When he met Xiaoju, he had already experienced a lot. The death of his relatives and the departure of his lover caused him to no longer be attached to this world." During the filming, he was immersed in the spiritual world of this very sad character, which also made Peng Yuchang ignore the age difference between himself and the character. "Sometimes I see myself in a state of drooping and looking very sad, and I am 100% sure that I am Song Yili."
Stills from "Heavenly Tour Group"
During the interview, the two friends talked about how they see each other. Zhang Jiajia commented, "You can't feel his vicissitudes from his daily life, but you can clearly feel that he has become mature in the way he handles things." Peng Yuchang jokingly "translated" on the side, "He means that my face is young, but the soul in my heart is old."
Talking about the changes and feelings in his mentality at this stage from the role of Song Yili, Peng Yuchang said that although on the one hand, "actors serve the plot, and we act as the plot requires us to act", he also felt that "as life experience increases, while gaining something, you may also lose some of the youthful vigor. For example, when I look back at my first movie "Flash Girl", the vigorous feeling at the end may have been taken away by age."
Accompany the broken ones to hold on
Zhang Jiajia said in an interview that the despair and rebirth of the protagonist Song Yili in the book is actually a true portrayal of his reconciliation with himself. When writing, he was more immersed in his own emotional quagmire, and when the story entered the film and television adaptation, he hoped to retain the core of warmth and hope in the original work.
"The original novel is very depressing. We don't want the audience to smell the smell of medicine in the cinema. Therefore, we agreed with the creative team from the beginning to reduce the element of suffering." Regarding this choice, Zhang Jiajia said, "I know too many ordinary people have experienced so much suffering. I don't want the audience to experience it again in the cinema." From text to image, he has different definitions. "If the novel is my own disease and medicine, then for the movie, I hope it is a Band-Aid that can cover some small wounds on the body of the audience. If we can do this, we will be very satisfied."
As the movie was released, Zhang Jiajia met many people who were once "broken with a bang" as he wrote in his roadshow. Some people showed Zhang Jiajia the scars on their wrists, and some told him that they mustered up the courage to stay in this world because they read his books. "I have been writing for more than 10 years, and I rarely face my readers directly. Ten years later, I found that some people were supported by a novel or their own words. These people really shocked me." Zhang Jiajia said with emotion, "I used to think that the meaning of writing a book was for myself, but it turns out that it has another meaning. In addition to literature, words also have meaning in life."
The film abandoned the more realistic heaviness and chose a somewhat "fairy tale" plot, which is exactly the "warm realism" that Zhang Jiajia insisted on. Because for those who are experiencing silent shattering, Zhang Jiajia hopes that his films and novels can accompany them to continue to "stick to it". "Maybe this is how I perceive the world. I have never thought about becoming a great writer or leaving a place in literary history. I just think about how I should tell my readers and go on with those who need me."
