On March 16, the human-pet movie "I Will Be Fine" held its premiere in Beijing. Director Dong Hongjie, producer and screenwriter Xue Xiaolu, Zhang Zifeng, Wang Jingchun, Zhang Zixian, Zhang Jianing, Hao Shuai and other main creators attended the post-screening exchange. It is particularly worth mentioning that the six Border Collies who played "Zhao Xiaoyi" in the film also appeared on the same stage. The film will be released nationwide on March 22, and March 23 happens to be "International Puppy Day".
Group photo of the main creators
The film tells the story of a girl named Zhao Xiaoman (played by Zhang Zifeng) who repeats her life of doing odd jobs. The intrusion of a stray dog (played by Tata) makes her gradually let go of her family pain. She names it "Zhao Xiaoyi". The inseparable day and night life warms the hearts of two equally lonely souls. When farewell is inevitable, Xiaoman chooses to respond calmly with actions. Compared with previous human-pet movies of the same type, "I Will Be Fine" not only shows the companionship of humans and dogs, but also focuses on the hospice care of humans for pets for the first time.
I'll be fine poster
As we all know, whenever animals are involved in a movie, the difficulty of filming will immediately increase. "I'll Be Fine" is the first big screen work by director Dong Hongjie. At the scene, she introduced with interest that the main image of "Zhao Xiaoyi" in the film is played by a Border Collie named "Tata", "Just like a line in the film, 'Dogs are dogs, Border Collies are Border Collies'. Border Collies are very smart dog breeds, but our investigation found that in real life, Border Collies are the most abandoned dog breeds by humans. Choosing this dog breed as the leading role is also to call on everyone to be cautious in raising dogs, and once adopted, you must take lifelong responsibility."
"Like 'Tata', it loves riding in cars very much. Most of the car scenes and scenes interacting with Xiaoman in the movie were performed by it. But on the set, we also have to take into account the rest needs of animal actors and their concentration, after all, cannot be the same as that of humans. Moreover, each dog has different personality traits, so there are five puppies with similar images participating in the film. For example, there is a scene in which the father, played by Mr. Wang Jingchun, sprains his foot and walks with a limp, and a puppy is needed to imitate his walking. This 'Pulse' was the one who performed the scene. It has a very strong ability to imitate," said Dong Hongjie.
Director Dong Hongjie
"'Xiaoman' and 'Xiaoyi' are one person and one dog. I split the word 'satisfied' into two parts to give them a sense of intimacy as a family," said Xue Xiaolu. "The theme of the movie is farewell, and it is also about how we face farewell. I hope to tell everyone through the movie that farewell is an inevitable part of life, but how to accept farewell and then reconcile with life with a smile is a lesson that each of us must learn in this life. Whether we are together or not, we must be fine. This is a movie that is sentimental, warm and healing at the same time."
Screenwriter and producer Xue Xiaolu
When talking about the most impressive part of the filming, the lead actress Zhang Zifeng said that Tata was the smartest on the set. "He is very lively and clingy, and he has his own little thoughts. There was a scene where I had an emotional outburst because Xiaoyi refused to take medicine after falling ill, and I sat there crying. No one expected that Tata would improvise beyond the script, and he actually ran over to lick the tears on my face to comfort me. So I performed very well in that scene, crying and laughing, all because of the acting with him."
Zhang Zifeng
Wang Jingchun shared his tips on getting along with animal actors: "I carry some dried meat with me on the set and give them bribes from time to time to build relationships. In fact, dogs understand human nature. In the scene where Pulse imitated my limping, it ran very fast at first and couldn't keep up with my pace. I yelled at it, and it turned around and looked at me with a look of grievance. At that moment, my heart melted."
During the post-screening interactive session, Zhang Ji, vice chairman of the China Film Association and screenwriter, said that "I Will Be Fine" is a film that is full of true feelings but does some subtraction. "In the movie, there is a mirrored farewell relationship between Xiaoman's mother and her pet dog. I saw the consistent humanistic care and thinking of screenwriter and producer Xue Xiaolu since "Ocean Paradise". Zifeng's performance this time can be called "Miyun Reservoir", and she cried at different levels in more than a dozen crying scenes. Teacher Jingchun's performance now no longer needs a "handle", and the simple interpretation shows the waves of emotions in silence."
Stills from "I'll Be Fine"
Shi Yifeng, vice chairman of the Beijing Writers Association and writer, said: "As a film about the love between man and dog, you may have seen Hachiko and 10 Promises Between Dog and Me before. I Will Be Fine captures the unique emotional charm of Chinese society and shows the complex dimensions of multiple layers of emotions. I especially like the scene where Lao Xiao, played by Wang Xiao, bids farewell to his pet dog Xiao Si. He hides a lot of things. From a literary point of view, this reflects the author's blank space."
In the writer Zouzou's opinion, dogs have been with humans for more than 15,000 years. "We often say that pet dogs become more and more like their owners, which actually means that pets will become a reflection of human nature. This movie tells us that we should love well and say goodbye well. It captures the sense of ritual when people and dogs part, which is very rare in previous similar movies."
Stills from "I'll Be Fine"
