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Under Wu Mingxuan's guidance and instruction, while Liu Yifei's Ren and Du meridians weren't exactly completely opened up, her performance was undoubtedly much more down-to-earth than before.
Especially since Li Qin had finished filming there and rushed over, the two sisters often went shopping together, experiencing the down-to-earth lives of ordinary people. They quickly got the hang of the role, allowing the crew to wrap up filming smoothly in late January.
However, "Monkey King" is different from previous domestic films. It is a true special effects blockbuster. Shooting was relatively short, less than 60 days in total, but the earliest it will be released is next year's Spring Festival holiday, a production cycle of at least eight months. These eight months are the most expensive period, costing more than the filming itself.
Filming for "The Chinese Zodiac" was scheduled to begin in early June and wrap up around early August. This coincided with the Beijing Olympics and the subprime mortgage crisis, so Wu Mingxuan had a four-month hiatus from late January to late May. He didn't plan to film any films, opting for a break and, at the same time, honing his two goddaughters' acting and dialogue skills.
The often underestimated world of drama actually holds many hidden talents. It's safe to say that many of the industry's rising stars in the next decade will come from this field.
Notable figures include Guo Jingfei, Lei Jiayin, Jin Dong, Shen Teng, and Xu Zhen. Many film and television stars, including Xia Yu, Hu Ge, Yuan Quan, Gao Yuanyuan, and Wu Jing, are now also acting in dramas, which is why their acting and dialogue skills are so different from before.
The domestic drama scene is primarily divided into the Northern and Southern schools. The Southern school, centered around the Shanghai Repertory Theatre, and the Northern school, centered around the Beijing Repertory Theatre, offer significant differences in performance style.
The Northern school focuses on serious drama, often based on classics and critical themes.
This style emphasizes dialogue delivery and the precise delivery of lines. The lines must be delivered with clarity and clarity, their rhythmic rhythms and rhythms conveying a powerful intensity that can be felt even with eyes closed.
The Southern school, on the other hand, is more urban and has a lively, down-to-earth feel. Breaking away from the strict rules of the original text, it incorporates numerous innovations, particularly the unique Shanghainese forms of Qingkou and xiaoshuo. These styles significantly enhance the actors' acting skills in light comedy and urban drama, while dialogue proficiency is generally less important.
This is evident in actors born in the northern and southern schools of drama. For example, Jin Dong, already a hugely famous figure in the northern school of drama, has always been reserved and stereotyped even after transitioning to film and television. It's not that his acting is bad, but it gives the impression of a narrow range. Guo Jingfei and Lei Jiayin also suffer from this issue to some extent.
Southern-school actors like Shen Teng (either from Beijing or the northern school) and Xu Chen, while they rose to fame in comedy, actually have a much broader repertoire, capable of portraying both elites and ordinary people. Their skill in delivering punchlines is truly exceptional, with no trace of the usual punchlines left.
So Wu Mingxuan considered for a long time whether to choose the Southern School or the Northern School, and finally decided on the Northern School. After all, he didn't plan to let Yifei and Qin'er go the comedian route, and basically didn't talk much about the opportunity to play pure comedies. At most, they would cooperate with other actors to make jokes, similar to the Black Widow and Scarlet Witch in Marvel, and just be beautiful.
Upon learning of Wu Mingxuan's purpose, Tan Shaoyuan, director of the Beijing Drama Troupe, was surprised to ask, "Director Wu, you're also interested in drama?"
"I'm somewhat interested, but primarily I want to train my two goddaughters. Their dialogue and acting skills are terrible, and this filming nearly drove me crazy. So, could you please help me, Director Tan? It would be best if they could perform 'Thunderstorm' for a while first."
Thunderstorm is a play by playwright Cao Yu, published in the July 1934 issue of Literary Quarterly. With its gripping plot, refined and subtle language, and distinctive characters, it stands as "the cornerstone of Chinese dramatic realism" and a milestone in the maturity of modern Chinese drama.
This play places extremely high demands on actors. Many of the top actors who have established themselves in mainland China's drama world have played the role of Thunderstorm. If you can't even play Thunderstorm well, your career is doomed to be limited.
Thunderstorm also features many young female characters, with complex and profound relationships and numerous hidden plots and twists. This demands extremely high dialogue and acting skills from young female actors, making it far more challenging than even a Qiong Yao opera.
But Director Tan was reluctant to use her. This is a serious actress. Li Qin is a better choice, but she's still a newcomer with little fame and a strong backing.
Liu Yifei is different. She is the most popular and influential female star of the new generation. She just finished filming "The Monkey King", the most powerful Chinese-language film in history with an investment of over 100 million US dollars. How can they afford to offend such a young lady? She is definitely a big trouble.
Wu Mingxuan directly wrote out a check for five million and said, "I'm just here to learn. I'll come over often when I have time to keep an eye on it. We will provide assistant agents, bodyguards and other things ourselves. As long as they are not unreasonable or excessive, they will cooperate with the work of the drama troupe. Do you have any questions?"
"Can you give me some time? I'd like to discuss it with the other two founders of the troupe."
"No problem, I should. I'll ask those two to take care of it more."
The Beijing Repertory Theatre was independently founded by Jin Dong, Han Jiang and Tan Shaoyuan under the organization of the former Beijing Contemporary Ballet. Like the Beijing Contemporary Ballet, it is a private non-profit social organization.
The three had a clear division of labor. Jin Dong was the top star, primarily responsible for acting. He was the mainstay of the stage at the time and one of the top names in the entire mainland Chinese drama world. It's just that his name recognition in the current drama world is too low,
so no one pays attention to him, a leading figure in the world. Tan Shaoyuan was the troupe leader, responsible for operations and management. While this was considered a positive development by others, it was seen as a constraint by people like Wu Mingxuan. As a result, Tan Shaoyuan's income and influence were the lowest among the three, and he never broke through.
Han Jiang was a screenwriter, producer, and stage designer, a rare talent in the industry. Although he lacked influence online, he was the most successful of the three and a rare talent in the industry.
However, Wu Mingxuan's reason for coming here this time was not to recruit talent, but to train the abilities of his two goddaughters. He even spent 5 million yuan for this purpose. In other words, not only did he not charge any money, but he also gave money.
If we really calculate it based on the market price, Yifei alone cannot be afforded by their troupe. The appearance fee of one person is more than their annual operating investment. However, such a big star is often a big trouble.