"Mr. Red Carpet" is director Ning Hao's second entry into the Spring Festival file after the movie "Crazy Alien" (2019), and it is also the second collaboration between Ning Hao and Andy Lau, the producer of "Crazy Stone", 17 years after the release of the movie "Crazy Stone". It's just that this time, in addition to being the producer, Andy Lau also played "himself" on the big screen, and Ning Hao not only directed and acted himself, but also had a lot of rivalry with Andy Lau. Only once in 17 years, Ning Hao said with a smile: "Let's go back to the starting point of my dream, I especially want to shoot an Andy Lau who has never been filmed, at least everyone has never seen him play himself!" ”
"Mr. Red Carpet" has always been regarded as the "excellent stock" of this year's Spring Festival.
"Mr. Red Carpet" is based on the theme of the film and television industry, through the story of Andy Lau's award-winning film and encountering various absurd stories in the process of going to the countryside to experience the film, peeling off the appearance of the prosperity of the film industry and the entertainment industry, and finally focusing on the universal issue of "communication". Such a bold choice of subject matter, in Ning Hao's view, this is the attitude that he must show as a filmmaker, and he thinks it's time to go to the problem of communication; Andy Lau also revealed his heart, shooting this movie by himself, he has an unprecedented sense of magical interlacing, often can't tell whether he is filming or experiencing some kind of real life, he said: "In this scene, I communicate with myself, reconcile with part of myself, and some parts have no answer yet." As an elegant comedy film with a unique temperament during the Spring Festival, Ning Hao said that the definition of "elegant" in his heart is to make "a film that does not force the audience, and tries to leave the right to choose and think to the audience". After the film was screened at the Pingyao International Film Festival last year, the publicity once talked about the plot without hesitation, and when asked if he would be afraid of being spoiled, he sincerely told the Beijing News reporter: "I'm not too worried about spoilers (laughs), I have always thought that good movies, even if the story is finished, the audience will still watch them again." ”
Ning Hao said that his original intention of filming "Mr. Red Carpet" was very "simple", that is, he wanted to film with Andy Lau.
The original intention was to film with Brother Hua, but he had never acted himself
Talking about the original intention of the creation of "Mr. Red Carpet", Ning Hao said that the reason is very "simple", that is, he wants to film with Andy Lau: "When filming "Crazy Stone", Brother Hua funded me, and I thought at that time, that kind of story let Andy Lau play, it seems that it can't fit in, this idea has been shelved for more than ten years. Brother Hua once asked me, 'I've been in my 40s and almost 60 years old, don't you still shoot me?' I've actually been thinking about it, we've met on many occasions over the years, every time he asks me how to shoot, I'm embarrassed to take a detour, and then I think Andy Lau has never lacked projects, he seems to have played everything, all kinds of professional roles, but he hasn't played himself. ”
Ning Hao said he hoped the work could be presented as an elegant comedy.
In Ning Hao's view, in the current era of short **, everyone can express themselves through social **, record life, and even say that on the short **, the works taken by people from all walks of life far exceed his understanding and imitation of other industries, so it is better to shoot yourself, shoot your own circle, and shoot this "superstar" Liu Weichi. Andy Lau plays a star, and tries to use a minimalist way to shoot his identity and living environment, and he is playing a person who is like himself, but not really himself, this must be a very interesting idea. I know hesitant hesitation, but I think I really want to take on this challenge, to reassure him, to let him know that I'm not bad (laughs), so we both (divide) equally, I will play the director, I will throw myself in, face it together, tease me if I want to tease, and complain about myself if I want to complain. Ning Hao said that the original intention of filming "Mr. Red Carpet" was born, and he hoped that this work could be presented as an elegant comedy. There are comments on this interpretation, elegance represents Andy Lau, comedy represents Ning Hao, this is a new attempt at comedy, but in Ning Hao's eyes, such a match is actually not novel at all, "I jumped to his point of view to think, his world may not be the same as ordinary people, stars should be a very elegant class, may not be as noisy as the 'crazy' series, you need to calm down and experience his world, minimalism is more suitable for him, elegant comedy, elegant thinking about some problems." ”
A play within a play] Many of the scenes in the film are from the entertainment industry, and it is impossible to distinguish between truth and falsehood.
Because he wanted to create an elegant comedy, Ning Hao changed the "boiling" and "restlessness" of the crazy series in the past, chose to "precipitate", and spent three years contemplating the script. Many scenes in the film are from the entertainment industry, such as when the Best Actor was revealed at the awards ceremony, the host mistakenly called the name, which made the candidates nervous and embarrassed; For example, crazy Internet celebrities rushed on the red carpet, hugged the stars and began to take pictures; Another example is that celebrities really go to the countryside to experience life for their roles, but there is always an assistant around them, bringing dozens of suitcases to "take care of" the originally poor environment; Another example is that a celebrity has a marital emotion and tells his family members to keep ...... secretSuch a "dare to shoot" made Ning Hao always asked, are these episodes real? Are you so daring to shoot without fear of offending people? "People are real, you have to ask how much is true, I can say 100% true, I can also say 100% unreal. It depends on the dimension of your **, the scenes in it may or may not exist, and art is actually like this. In fact, Andy Lau is too unique an existence, I had to grasp his characteristics when writing this script, he worked hard, he was perfect, but no one in the world would say that I was not angry in my life, and no one said that I did not have seven emotions and six desires. Therefore, human nature is the same, but it will behave differently in different contexts, so I used this real idea to get close to Andy Lau, and then create the virtual symbol of Lau Weichi to build the virtual world in the movie. ”
The Internet celebrities in "Mr. Red Carpet" rushed to the red carpet and other bridges are all from the entertainment industry.
Ning Hao said that the core issue of "Mr. Red Carpet" is still about communication, people from different perspectives will always have all kinds of conflicts together, although everyone communicated, but they couldn't communicate, they quarreled with each other there, "Originally, the two sides fought, and the quarrel was messy, but there was another thing, and the chaos was solved, and this matter became unimportant, because other things came out again, and the world is often so chaotic." The interesting plot also happened on the set, because the actors in the crew in the movie are almost all the people in the real crew, and the "play within the play" is made to the extreme while making the shooting full of difficulty, Ning Hao said with a smile: "Everyone is wrapped up in acting, and the problem is that everyone can't tell whether they are acting or shooting." When I often call the card, the photographer doesn't know whether it should be stuck or not, this shooting is really chaotic, I (in the film ** acting director) when I was playing the scene of watching the monitor, I always thought that this actor should enter the painting, why hasn't he come yet? only then did I realize that this actor was me, so I could only jump over immediately, and there were quite a lot of oolong situations like this. ”
Dialogue] Movies are not meant to give answers, but to look in the mirror.
Beijing News: The movie vividly recreates the scene of the entertainment industry awards ceremony, as well as the cameos of Leung Jiahui, Miriam Yeung and others, how was this filmed?
Ning Hao: The red carpet scene is truly represented, and everyone was organized to restore it, when we were filming in Shenzhen, it depends on who is filming in Guangdong, "shake people" to help.
Beijing News: Andy Lau has a lot of classic shots on the screen, why do you want him to reproduce the gun-playing action in the 1991 movie "Five Tigers Will Break Up"? Does he still need to practice restoring this action now?
Ning Hao: When I was a child, I felt that the gun in "Five Tigers Break Up" was a special moment for Andy Lau, and there were several moments when I rode a motorcycle in "Heavenly Love", which was particularly impressive. But the gun-playing action is the closest to this movie. And it's very funny that Andy Lau used to play guns at action scenes or gunfight moments, but this time this gun has become a prop for shooting short, which is very funny. He definitely needs to practice again, because the weight of each gun is different, he needs to master it again, he is really dedicated, he practices over and over again, and he still plays very well like he did at the beginning.
"Mr. Red Carpet" has Andy Lau paying tribute to the gun-playing scenes in "Five Tigers Break Up".
Beijing News: The scene in the film that hit the capital almost caused the audience to burst into laughter, you shoot like this, are you afraid that the real capital will not be satisfied?
Ning Hao: It's okay! There are good and bad things on the management side, not all of them are like this in the movie. I think the more critical problem is that we are often affected by capital, and a lot of pressure does not come from the outside, but more from the inner desire. You're thinking in your heart that I want the box office, and I want a movie. Everybody has this kind of struggle, especially with many young directors nowadays, whether I choose the box office or go to the film festival, and if the box office doesn't work, I'm out of the show, but in fact, they are fighting their own inner values, and externalizing it is just trying to beat up the investors (laughs), but maybe it's anger at myself.
"Mr. Red Carpet" has no shortage of scenes that ridicule the management.
Beijing News: The movie is interspersed with reality and fiction, and it also vividly incorporates a lot of stalks and bridges, which seem to be easy for you, so what challenges do you face this time?
Ning Hao: Overall, it's okay, but I'm a little unsure, I don't know if the audience can accept this rhythm. I actually want to do a kind of exploration of minimalist films, in fact, Nordic films, do more in this regard. I did two of these kinds of movies at the beginning, such as "Incense" and "Green Meadow", and then I have come to this day, because the number of shots this time is very small, about 400 shots, for example, in the past, "Crazy Racing" was more than 2,000 shots, and "Crazy Aliens" compressed a lot of things, which is very complicated. This time it's very simple, I'm afraid that the audience may feel a little confused, or not very acceptable, because it may be different from what the audience imagined.
Beijing News: When "Mr. Red Carpet" premiered at the Pingyao Film Festival last year, everyone's acceptance was quite high, after all, this is an innovation in film creation, and it also made Andy Lau that everyone has not seen.
Ning Hao: Yes, but the presentation of the film is indeed different from what the audience imagined. For example, watching Ning Hao's "crazy" series, for example, those who are used to watching Andy Lau movies, everyone imagines that the film is an entertaining work, Andy Lau is very handsome and stylish, but "Mr. Red Carpet" does break everyone's previous habitual thinking.
Ning Hao: "Movies are not to give answers, movies are actually looking in the mirror." Photo by Beijing News reporter Guo Yanbing.
Beijing News: The movie gives a completely unexpected ending, as if these problems can't be solved, but this kind of skinny feeling is very real, is this set at the beginning?
Ning Hao: The movie is not to give an answer, the movie is actually looking in the mirror, how good it looks, the mirror doesn't count; If you can't solve it, you can only find a way to fix yourself and make some other choices. In fact, there used to be a definite ending, but I cut it out very willfully (laughs). I think this is true now, everyone's life is very difficult, it is not easy for everyone, we are looking for communication, and in the end, he (Liu Weichi) seems to know that he has a problem, but what is the use? It's already happening, it's useless to change, it's useless to communicate.
Beijing News: So when Liu Weichi shouted helplessly, "Is there anything wrong with diligence?" "Does the film want to redefine what it means to work hard? What do you ultimately want to express through this work?
Ning Hao: In this world, all kinds of things are adjusting and changing, such as values that we once thought were particularly correct, but today they are in doubt. In the past, he was dedicated to filming in person, but now he has a different interpretation; In the past, the pursuit of lying flat is now the pursuit of lying down to win, there are many conflicts and fights everywhere, and the noisy Internet is actually a problem of communication. Sometimes our expressions are actually invalid, and if everyone has a problem, then it is useful to come out and explain or clarify, it is not effective. The essence of communication difficulties is that everyone has their own opinions, everyone stands on their own side, and will naturally carry a kind of arrogance, always thinking that "I am good, you are wrong, you have to listen to me". If everyone thinks this way, then you can't communicate. So everyone is Liu Weichi, and they will have similar confusion, and the point is to know how to empathize.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Hui Xiaowan.
Edited by Huang Jialing.
Proofread by Liu Yue.