Zhang Yimou, the industry leader, always makes a sound in the silence, bringing shocking works, and soon after the completion of "Article 20", Zhang Yimou immediately plunged into the intense filming of another project, "Snow Labyrinth".
The crew kicked off in May 2023 and completed all the filming work in October of the same year, which lasted four and a half months, during which it partially overlapped with the production period of "Article 20", showing Director Zhang's courage to challenge the "cross-drama awkward shooting".
After the low-key completion of "Snow Labyrinth", it was not until March 4, 2024 that the show officially announced the luxury lineup, and Zhang Yimou's name ranked first, followed by director Lu Xing and screenwriter Zhang Yuanying, showing the high respect and expectations of the drama party for Director Zhang's "cross-border" TV series. As expected, as soon as the news was announced, the number of reservations for the show soared to more than 40,000 in an instant.
At the same time, Zhang Yimou's generation of peers have also set foot in the field of TV dramas and show their style. Feng Xiaogang's urban drama "North and South" inherits his "poor mouth" style, using film-level shots and slightly suspended plots to interweave a surreal romantic picture.
Wong Kar-wai sharpened a sword for three years and spent 500 million yuan to create a masterpiece like "the old dream of flowers on the sea", which lived up to expectations, and the topic was still hot for three months after the broadcast.
Now, Zhang Yimou has set foot in the field of TV dramas for the first time, and wisely chose the realistic theme he is good at, even if anti-drug is not his usual theme, but his ability to profoundly depict realism has already been demonstrated in works such as "Ju Dou" and "Alive".
Entering the era of commercial blockbusters, Zhang Yimou's works have been criticized for the decline of the "altar" while leveraging the box office, and the outside world thinks that he is like a donkey who only knows how to grind and does not know the direction.
However, Zhang Yimou himself does not accept this view, and he claims to be one of China's most diligent directors, never satisfied with his work, and always has a fervent anti-vision for the next one.
Now at the age of 73, he still adheres to the word "diligence", goes to the front line, and shows the vitality and passion that surpasses his peers, "Snow Labyrinth" is his first test in the field of TV dramas.
It is reported that "Snow Labyrinth" was originally called "The First Shot", and it was changed to this name in order to successfully pass the trial, and the online style is similar to the movie "On the Cliff", but the time and space background is set in the Northeast in the 90s, telling the story of the temporarily assembled elite police team tracking and arresting drug dealers.
The whole drama has a total of 24 episodes, compact and powerful, the crew traveled to Jilin, Guangdong, and Hunan to shoot in three places, with Zhang Yimou as the producer, and director Lu Xing has successfully directed the word-of-mouth work "Undocumented Crime".
As for whether the producer is just a fictitious position, considering Zhang Yimou's rigorous work attitude, it is obvious that he will not be easily perfunctory. In this play, not only the three male protagonists Huang Jingyu, Wang Ziqi and Zhang Yu joined in the play, but also the new generation of Mou girl Lin Boyang, who was personally excavated by Zhang Yimou, participated in the role of the second female Zheng Nan.
is different from Liu Haocun's youthful atmosphere, although Lin Boyang is also a post-00s, he has a mature and enchanting beauty, and his role creation is completely different from Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi.
In terms of casting, Zhang Yimou accurately grasped the characteristics of the Internet era, not only using Huang Jingyu and Wang Ziqi, who have traffic appeal, but also providing opportunities for powerful actor Zhang Yu to emerge.
Huang Jingyu plays the role of criminal policeman Zheng Bei with his tough and masculine image, as if he was born for this kind of role; Gu Yiran, played by Wang Ziqi, is a sunny and righteous young policeman, and it can be seen from the propaganda stills of ** that his eyes are resolute, and the three-dimensional sense of the character's personality is revealed between light and shadow.
Zhang Yu's role is mysterious, and the current official information points to him as the key figure in the "chess opponent" in the play, whether good or evil, as long as Zhang Yu exists, the viewing of the series will undoubtedly be greatly enhanced.
Zhang Yu's unique charm lies in the fact that he can play all kinds of low-level little people on the screen, even if he has a rough shape in "I Am Not the God of Medicine", he can instantly exude a stunning handsome charm with a simple side head action.
In Zhang Yimou's film and television works, there has never been a shortage of superstars, and the same is true for TV series.
In addition to several leading actors, "Snow Labyrinth" also invited the veteran actor Liu Wei, well-known actor Liang Guanhua (who played an important role in the "Di Renjie" series) and Ding Jiali to join in to jointly build a group portrait with rich layers.
The overall production style is biased towards darkness, which alludes to the characters in the play to explore the truth in a labyrinthine and complex environment.
Zhang Yimou has interpreted what it means to be a "model worker" with practice, and "Snow Labyrinth" is not his only TV drama attempt. The TV series adapted from Shaanxi writer Chen Yan's ** "The Protagonist" is also in full swing, and it is rumored that the heroine will be Qin Hailu, but the exact news has not yet been confirmed.
Perhaps, before everyone noticed, Director Zhang had quietly completed the filming of the new work.