Director Xie Jin read Ye Wenling's ** "Heart Fragrance" in 1981, and was deeply attracted by the aesthetic style in **, and decided to adapt it into a movie.
He has determined that Zhu Shimao, an actor from the Fuzhou Military Region Repertory Troupe, will play the leading role, but the candidate for the heroine has not been determined.
After Xie Jin conducted role auditions across the country, he finally decided on Wu Dan, a senior at the ** Drama Academy, as the first choice, while Lu Liping and Cong Shan, who are in their freshman year, became the candidates.
At that time, the junior students of the ** Drama Academy were forbidden to go out to shoot plays, so U Thant was clearly the best choice.
Xie Jin personally communicated with the then principal Jin Shan, and after confirming that 18-year-old Cong Shan was more suitable for the role, he brought her to Shanghai. After the audition, it was found that 18-year-old Cong Shan was more suitable for the role.
In Shanghai, Zhu Shimao met Cong Shan, who was 8 years younger than him, for the first time. The girl in front of her was wearing a school uniform, blue pants and cloth shoes, looking very simple.
Xie Jin told him that she was the one who was going to be his wife.
However, due to various reasons, the film was not ultimately made. Subsequently, Xie Jin chose Zhang Xianliang's ** "Spirit and Flesh" and adapted it into the movie "Wrangler", and still invited Zhu Shimao and Cong Shan to play the male and female leads.
The film won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Feature Film and won Cong Shan the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress, while Zhu Shimao did not win the award, but he met a confidante.
In 1954, Zhu Shimao was born in Yantai, Shandong, and his ancestral home is Linshu County in the same province. Life in that era was already difficult, there was no food, no warm clothes, and Zhu Shimao's parents also gave birth to 10 children.
Zhu Shimao is the sixth in line, and there are 2 brothers and 3 sisters in the family, so you can imagine the hardships of so many people living together.
Zhu Shimao and his siblings were unable to make ends meet after the outbreak of the three-year famine in 1960, and had to rely on eating leaves to sustain themselves.
Occasionally you can get a little sweet potato noodles, and you have to divide it evenly among everyone. Watching the children of other families eat tortillas with relish, they all feel very envious.
In order to taste the delicious taste of cornmeal, there was a lot of work, and the children could not do the heavy work, so they were asked to help peel peanuts.
They hand over the peeled peanut kernels to the production team in exchange for work.
Because of their young age, peeling peanuts can hurt their hands, so some children get together to play with glass balls, and those who lose have to peel peanuts.
Three years passed, and the hard days finally improved, but after another three years, my father died of illness, and the pillars of the family no longer existed, and the burden of life fell on my mother's shoulders.
To ensure that the family was fed, my mother would either work in the fields early in the morning, help with sewing clothes, and make peanut oil and peanut cakes.
She gets through every day with a lot of work, never resting, and it's her tireless efforts that keep the children thriving.
During his study period, Zhu Shimao only had two cents of pocket money a week, and could only use 2 cents a day to buy vegetables to eat.
The moment he looks forward to the most is the Chinese New Year, and only on this day can he enjoy the long-lost delicacy at home.
Sixteen-year-old Zhu Shimao responded to the country's call in 1970 and enlisted in the army.
During the recruit training, he performed well, so he was discovered by the leadership and assigned to the Fuzhou Repertory Theatre as an actor. It was here that he met the love of his life, Fan Xuxia.
Fan Xuxia is a lively and lovely girl, 2 years older than Zhu Shimao, also from Yantai, Shandong. It is really fortunate that they can be assigned to the same troupe thousands of miles away.
Since they are fellow villagers, these two young people have many topics in common in a foreign land, and slowly their hearts are getting closer to each other.
At that time, soldiers were forbidden to fall in love in the army, so the two could only hide their ignorant love deep in their hearts.
Two years later, Zhu Shimao showed excellent acting skills in the repertory troupe, so he was promoted and became a cadre.
At the same time, Fan Xuxia still guarded the identity of a soldier, which made Zhu Shimao feel anxious.
He longs for Fan Xuxia to also get promoted, so that the two of them can fall in love openly.
At this time, the leader should have guessed Zhu Shimao's thoughts, so he arranged for him to help Fan Xuxia improve.
This arrangement made Zhu Shimao very happy and eager to try, and he was happy in the courtyard of the repertory troupe.
Although Zhu Shimao did not receive a higher education, his writing was brilliant and his handwriting was particularly excellent.
He was in charge of the blackboard newspaper of the repertory troupe, so he asked Fan Xuxia to write some small prose and hand it to him, which was then carefully revised by him and published on the blackboard newspaper.
During this time, the relationship between the two has also been improved, and Fan Xuxia has received help from Zhu Shimao and has made significant progress.
Three years later, she was given a promotion, and finally the two could legally come together.
In 1975, Zhu Shimao was selected by the director of Beijing Film Studio to work with Li Xiuming, who became popular for "Spring Miao", to shoot a color feature film "Children of Xisha".
This movie is Zhu Shimao's ** work, which could have officially entered the film industry.
However, when the film was filmed on Hainan Island for more than half of the time, it was stopped for various reasons, and Zhu Shimao regretted missing this opportunity.
With Fan Xuxia's comfort and encouragement, Zhu Shimao did not lose confidence, and then joined the filming crew of the war movie "Blue Sky Defense Line" directed by Wang Weiyi.
After the movie was released, the response was very enthusiastic, and Zhu Shimao's deep eyes also attracted the attention of director Xie Jin.
In 1979, director Xie Jin invited Zhu Shimao to audition in Shanghai. After learning about this, Fan Xuxia was a little reluctant.
During the troupe's dinner, she drank a few more bowls of rice wine brewed by the army, but she unexpectedly got a little drunk, and even the evening performance was forgotten.
By the time she took the stage, she didn't even have time to put on makeup, and completely messed up the performance.
After Zhu Shimao learned about this, his heart was full of anger, but he couldn't vent to Fan Xuxia, so he chose to fight with her silently.
Fan Xuxia knew that she was wrong, so she took the initiative to find Zhu Shimao to explain that the reason why she was drunk was because she was reluctant to let him go, and promised him that she would never drink again.
Zhu Shimao's status suddenly improved after this incident, and Fan Xuxia completely obeyed him, as if she had become an obedient little sheep.
In 1980, on the eve of Zhu Shimao going out to film, he and Fan Xuxia held a simple wedding, and the ten-year relationship finally came to fruition.
Zhu Shimao has become a strong support in her heart. In the following long period of married life, whenever family trivial matters caused conflicts, Fan Xuxia was always the first to admit her mistakes.
Zhu Shimao began to participate in the filming of "Wrangler" less than a year after marriage, and spent more than a year with the young and beautiful Cong Shan, and the two became close friends who talked about everything.
Zhu Shimao's mature and steady appearance once made Cong Shan admire him, but because she was still a student at the time, she was embarrassed to confess to him.
And Zhu Shimao, as an active soldier, did not dare to act rashly for the behavior of crossing the thunder pool by half a step, especially the beautiful wife Fan Xuxia at home, a childhood sweetheart.
After the release of "Wrangler", Xu Lingjun played by Zhu Shimao and Li Xiuzhi played by Cong Shan became the prince charming in the eyes of ladies and the dream lover in the hearts of men.
The couple's performance in the film is enviable, and they have become the most beautiful example of love in the minds of countless viewers, as if they were destined to be together.
However, after the filming was completed, the two went their separate ways.
Cong Shan continued her studies, and after graduation, she was assigned to work at the China Youth Art Theater, and then married and had children while studying in France.
Zhu Shimao became famous because of this movie, and was transferred to work in Bayi Film Studio, and his wife Fan Xuxia also came to Beijing.
In Beijing Film Studio, Zhu Shimao and Chen Peisi became colleagues and began to collaborate on the creation of the first sketch "Eating Noodles" in the real sense of the Spring Festival Gala, which marked the beginning of the 16-year tacit cooperation between the two.
The subsequent works such as "Lamb Skewers", "Pepper Noodles", "Protagonist and Supporting Role", "Police and Thief" have all become classic sketches in the history of the Spring Festival Gala.
Zhu Shimao has become a popular sketch actor all over the country in 1991, and after his wife Fan Xuxia came to Beijing with him, he chose to stop filming after filming a few films, and wholeheartedly became the woman behind Zhu Shimao.
Zhu Shimao found that his wife's 39-year-old eyes had some looming wrinkles at the corners of her eyes this year, so he discussed with his wife whether she should consider having a child.
Fan Xuxia has always longed to have a child, and she has tentatively proposed this idea to Zhu Shimao twice.
However, Zhu Shimao is usually busy with work and has always asked her to wait for the right time. Hearing Zhu Shimao take the initiative to speak this time, she was naturally very willing.
A year has passed, Fan Xuxia's due date has arrived, and Zhu Shimao asked for leave to accompany her to the hospital for examination. After examination, it was found that the child showed no signs of birth.
At the request of Zhu Shimao, the doctor performed a caesarean section for Fan Xuxia, and a lovely boy came into this world like this, he is Zhu Qingyang.
Zhu Shimao has absolute decision-making power in the family, including deciding on matters such as the time and method of childbirth, while Fan Xuxia, as a mother, does not have any right to speak.
This is a clear reflection of the power structure in the family.
After the age of one, the child has grown up, and Fan Xuxia feels bored at home, so with the encouragement of Zhu Shimao, she decided to go to Beijing Film Academy to study Xi film and television drama production, and began to work behind the scenes after graduation.
After Zhu Shimao and Chen Peisi collaborated on "The King and the Postman", they started a lawsuit with CCTV's subordinate units because of the copyright issue of the sketch, and although the two finally won the lawsuit, they also bid farewell to the CCTV Spring Festival Gala stage.
During this time, their cooperation was quite successful.
While the lawsuit is entangled in lawsuits, Zhu Shimao plans to send his 7-year-old son, Zhu Qingyang, to the United States for a Western education. However, Fan Xuxia believes that the child is too young and should stay by her side.
Because of this incident, the two had a big fight. This is also the first time Fan Xuxia has tried to stick to her ideas, but she still can't convince Zhu Shimao.
She finally said a word to Zhu Shimao:
You can plan my life however you want, because it was designed by you.
Accompanied his son to the United States, where they spent 8 years. During this period, the couple lived their own lives across the ocean.
Fan Xuxia took care of her son wholeheartedly and did not disturb Zhu Shimao's career development, while Zhu Shimao was busy running the company and filming film and television dramas, working hard to make money for the family.
Fan Xuxia chose to return to China and wait for her son to be able to live independently when he was 16 years old. After 8 years of living in the United States, her personality has also undergone some changes.
Once, a friend of Fan Xuxia invited her to do a show on the TV station, and at first she refused, but after being persuaded by her friend many times, she felt a little embarrassed, so she went to participate without Zhu Shimao's consent.
Fan Xuxia, no one thought that Zhu Shimao would be so angry when he learned about this, and he scolded sharply
From now on, anything like this will have to be approved by me!
This sentence made Fan Xuxia feel deeply painful, and the grievances in her heart for many years suddenly came to her heart, and she and Zhu Shimao had a big quarrel. After the quarrel, she impulsively said to Zhu Shimao:
We can't go on anymore, let's end the marriage!
Zhu Shimao was also a little uncomfortable with the changes in his wife, and said indignantly
Whoever leaves, will live alone.
After a period of time, their relationship fell into a long cold war, and the marriage faced a serious crisis. In the end, under the persuasion of her friends, Fan Xuxia let go of her knot.
She heard her friend say:
Although Zhu Shimao is a bit machismo, he is still a man who attaches great importance to his family, works hard to earn money to support his family, and has a prominent reputation, but he has never been exposed to scandals, compared to some star directors in the entertainment industry, he is really stronger.
Fan Xuxia suddenly brightened up after listening to her words, she recalled the bits and pieces of her husband for decades, and tears couldn't help but welling up in her heart.
The fond memories are vivid, and she realizes that her husband has not changed, but that her mentality during her time in the United States is a little unbalanced.
She took the initiative to contact Zhu Shimao, apologized to him and started an in-depth long talk. Since then, they have reconciled and become more emotional.
In the same year, Zhu Shimao and Cong Shan, a couple who were once popular on Asian screens, collaborated again and starred in "A Room for Two", playing husband and wife again after 26 years.
A year later, they collaborated three times to play husband and wife in the military drama "Flying the Military Flag".
In a talk show, Guo Degang asked Cong Shan: "Has Zhu Shimao ever pursued you?"This question made Cong Shan a little embarrassed, but in the end she jokingly replied: the love story between the two has also been brought up again.
Zhu Shimao was still an active military soldier when he met me, so he didn't have the opportunity to do what he wanted to do in the past, but now he can make up for it.
In another talk show, Zhu Shimao also mentioned:
Cong Shan is still celibate, because the law allows men to marry only one wife.
The two were originally joking, but because their image of playing husband and wife on the screen was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the scandal spread.
Although some discerning people know that this is just fake, the scandals about Zhu Shimao have come one after another, making it difficult to distinguish the true from the fake.
In 2011, the heroine Wang Siyi took the initiative to kiss Zhu Shimao at the press conference of the movie "Quit Smoking and Don't Get Married", and Zhu Shimao also showed a happy expression.
However, Zhu Shimao's son Zhu Qingyang was also at the scene that day, so the intimacy between the two may just be to hype up the heat.
In 2012, a video showed 58-year-old Zhu Shimao kissing a young woman passionately in the underground parking lot of a high-end apartment on Xidawang Road in Beijing.
The woman is said to be Du Minglei, who performed on the same stage with Zhu Shimao in 2008 and played the role of Zhu Shimao's daughter in the TV series "Flying the Military Flag".
*called** to Zhu Shimao to ask the truth of the matter, and Zhu Shimao admitted that the person in ** was himself, but claimed that the two just had a normal courtesy hug.
Zhu Shimao's appearance at Du Minglei's birthday party **again** added a new flame to this scandal, but although Du Minglei is widely known for this incident, she has not been seriously affected so far.
In 2017, a *** video showed 63-year-old Zhu Shimao and a young girl kissing in the car. Although part of the picture was blocked by a car in **, the intimate actions of the two still caused speculation.
Subsequently, Zhu Shimao clarified that the two only had a polite goodbye hug.
In 2019, a beautiful and moving picture presented before our eyes: 65-year-old Zhu Shimao sat in the car, poked his head out slightly, put one hand around a young girl in white, and the two hugged and kissed goodbye affectionately.
Recently, the TV series "North and South" invited two veteran artists Zhu Shimao and Liu Xiaoqing to star.
Zhu Shimao plays a retired doctor in the play, while Liu Xiaoqing plays Grandma Bai, who has a love for her but can't bear to disturb her.
This pair of old friends who have known each other for more than 30 years staged a beautiful twilight love in the play.
Their collaboration also evokes many memories of the good times of the 80s and 90s.
However, Zhu Shimao admitted frankly that the "quiet years" in his later life presented in the play are completely inconsistent with his own real life, and the rhythm of life is completely different.
Zhu Shimao never exposed any scandals in his beautiful youth, but after half a hundred years, scandals continued to appear, which also led to a huge challenge to his image.
For 50 years, his wife Fan Xuxia has been walking with her husband through thick and thin, but she never seems to care about this. Maybe it's because of her trust in her husband, or because she's seen through the chaos in the entertainment industry.
Much of the gossip is likely just hype.