The plot of the drama "Mao Liang" is complex and there are many characters appearing in it.
Therefore, in addition to script creation, casting for "Mao Liar" is Zuo Le's top priority.
Of course, after all, Zuo Le has been writing the script of "Mao Liang" for more than half a year. He already has ideas for the basic roles in it, and he even has many of them already in hand.
This time, he wants to create an all-star lineup.
In the past two years, the Shanhe drama has been astonishingly powerful, beating other TV dramas to a pulp and dominating the TV drama field.
But in fact, strictly speaking, in many Shanhe dramas, outside actors take the lead.
Not to mention, in this year's four dramas, "Detective Di Renjie", "Mansion Gate", "Lotus Lantern Prequel" and "Latent", the male protagonists and some of the female protagonists are not Shanhe actors.
The same goes for the well-received mountain and river dramas "Bright Sword", "Crossing the Guandong", "Da Ranfang" and "Xilai Le".
The reason for this is that in addition to the inconsistent image conditions, there were also not many male artists in Shanhe at that time who could take on important responsibilities.
Zuo Le would rather let outsiders be the protagonists and Shanhe artists be the supporting actors, but he also wants to prioritize ensuring the quality of the TV series.
Female artists are in full bloom, and first-line actresses are emerging in large numbers, while male artists have always been lagging behind and are almost in danger of being discontinued. The above is also one of the important reasons.
Fortunately, now Shanhe has reacted in time and is increasing its support for Shanhe's male artists.
Shen Teng and Duan Long have begun to hit the front line one after another, effectively supplementing the male stars of Shanhe.
Below, Cen Kun, Lei Jiayin, and Guo Jinfei also performed well. Their basic popularity is solid and they will take off if given the right opportunity.
In Zuo Le's mind, "Mao Liang" was his "opportunity".
Unlike "The Mansion", "Bright Sword" and "Guandong", the level behind "Mao Liang" is not that deep, and the acting requirements are not particularly high.
The protagonist group is a group of smart and bottom-line liars, and they are all young liars.
In this way, Shanhe and this group of artists are very suitable.
Therefore, Zuo Le plans to use Shanhe's own people as much as possible in "Mao Liang" to promote newcomers to the top.
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Among the main characters in "Mao Liar", let's start with the male Xiaobao, who has a slippery and clever personality, a bit of a gangster spirit, and is particularly charming at critical moments.
Zuo Le likes to find a handsome guy to play the role, such as Shanhe artist Cen Kun.
Cen Kun's image is definitely acceptable, he is cool, handsome and deep, but Zuo Le suspects that his acting skills may not be able to hold up.
Xiaobao is the core character and the first male protagonist of "Mao Liar". This character is involved in almost all important plots. Whether the actor is chosen correctly or not is directly related to the quality of the entire TV series.
Prior to this, except for a few roles such as Yuan Hua in "Charlotte Trouble", Cen Kun had few truly representative works.
He himself prefers the popular fan route, and has not really shown a performance as an actor that could impress Zuo Le to let him be the male lead in "Mao Liar".
In contrast, the other candidate Zuo Le had in mind was much more reliable.
Although Guo Jinfei has not played the leading role alone as the male protagonist, as an excellent drama actor, his acting skills have always been deeply recognized by both internal and external audiences at Shanhe.
In addition, he has participated in many supporting roles in Shanhe dramas. Over the past few years, his popularity is not lacking. Although he is not as good as Cen Kun, he is not far behind.
The only disadvantage is that Guo Jinfei is much inferior to Cen Kun in terms of image.
Zuo Le wants to find a top handsome guy to play Shao Zhuang. As Xiaobao is as famous as him, he is afraid that he will be robbed of the limelight if he is not good-looking.
Of course, Guo Jinfei's appearance is not bad, but he is not that handsome. Zuo Le is now torn between Cen Kun and him, who to choose to play Xiaobao.
But no matter who is chosen, Xiaobao's choice is basically decided between these two people. The winner will be the male one, and the loser will probably get a supporting role, such as the leader of the Fox organization, or the "victim" of a certain case of the protagonist group.
After Xiao Bao, there is Shao Zhuang, the second male lead, who Zuo Le privately thinks is the most outstanding role in the drama "Mao Liang".
He has a persistent personality and his thoughts are divorced from ordinary interests. For a promise, he came out from the grave robbers. He has been planning for many years and toyed with the five major companies in applause.
His IQ, EQ, memory, psychological quality and planning methods are top-notch. He also has extraordinary cultivation and culture. He has all kinds of allusions and secrets at his fingertips, which is a living dictionary for the team.
That is to say, Xiaobao, a growth-oriented protagonist, gets stronger when he is strong. In the end, he is evenly matched with Shaozhuang. If he meets his opponent in chess, if he were an ordinary person, he would have to be suppressed by him even if he has the halo of the protagonist.
In addition, the "Yonghe" scene, which is closely related to the main plot line, has been manipulated by various gods, which is more cheating than cheating.
Even in Zuo Le's opinion, this character nicknamed "Shao Banxian" cannot be overstated with the word "perfect".
To be honest, when Zuo Le was drafting the script of "Mao Liang", he wanted to play this role himself more than once, but in the end he held back.
From a business perspective, having such an outstanding character played by a top-notch handsome guy will be more conducive to the TV series' popularity.
From a creative perspective, if the "perfect" Shao Zhuang is a handsome guy, it will be easier for him to gain fans, and it will fit the character's characteristics. On the contrary, it will easily cause flaws in the character.
Zuo Le feels that his looks are definitely good enough to fight, but there is still a slight gap between him and the top handsome guys.
Adhering to strict standards, Zuo Le reluctantly gave up the opportunity to star in the role himself and prepared to find Gu Xiaoge to star.
In the minds of Zuo Le and even other directors of Shanhe, for any role of a handsome guy in Shanhe dramas, the first choice is always Gu Xiaoge, followed by other actors.
At present, although Gu Xiaoge has left Shanhe, he still has shares in his studio Shanhe, so everyone is still considered one of our own, not to mention Zuo Le himself has a good personal relationship with him.
It is rare to have such a brilliant role that suits Gu Xiaoge. There is no reason for Zuo Le to leave it to others...
Speaking of which, although Gu Xiaoge, as the former Shanhe brother, has participated in many Shanhe movies, he has never been the leading male lead.
Some of his most representative roles, such as Dugu Xiao, the young master of the Demon Cult in "Seven Swords", Zhu Chuanwu in "Enter Guandong", and the third son of the Ji family in the movie "Wulin Gaiden", are all the second male leads, and this time in "Mao Liar"
Shao Zhuang is still the second male lead.
A top figure in the entertainment industry, the former No. 1 brother of the company, turned out to be the second male lead for ten thousand years. He has a touch of magical realism.
There are many rumors from the outside world that Gu Xiaoge left Shanhe to set up his own studio because Zuo Le deliberately suppressed him.
This is definitely nonsense, but it does show that Gu Xiaoge's treatment at Shanhe is unfair in the eyes of outsiders.
This time, Zuo Le gave Gu the most outstanding role in "Mao Liang", which was somewhat compensatory.
After the first and second male lead, there is the third male lead, Xing Dongdong, a tough and tough thief with a somewhat reckless personality and a lot of funny and unlucky qualities.
Without much thought, Zuo Le cast the role as Jiang Chao, the company's prime supporting actor.
He is also the one with the most consistent comprehensive index among Shanhe artists, but his image is a little bit fatter, but no one stipulates that fat people cannot be thief.
As for Li Wei, the technical leader of the main cast, Zuo Le personally strongly prefers Yu Entai to play the role, but given his status, the role of Li Wei is a bit incompatible with him.
Zuo Le was not sure whether Yu Eun Tai would agree to play the role, so he made two preparations.
It would be best if Yu Entai agrees. If not, let Yuan Ye come.
Yuan Ye is the actor who previously played the male lead Hong Miao in "Seven Swords". He is very popular with good looks and good acting skills, but he doesn't like to hang out in the film and television industry. His career focus is on drama.
In his own words, he looks down on the bad scripts and irresponsible production attitudes outside.
Zuo Le is one of the few people who can easily ask him to come out. No matter how big or small the role is, as long as the script is good, Yuan Ye is willing to sell face.
For such a good actor, Shanhe had the intention to sign him to his company. Unfortunately, Yuan Ye preferred to develop freely and declined Zuo Le's invitation.
However, this did not affect the personal relationship between the two parties. Sometimes when the role was suitable, Zuo Le would often think of Yuan Ye.
Xiaobao, Shao Zhuang, Xing Dongdong, Li Wei, that’s all the male characters in the protagonist group.
If we have to do the calculation again, we have to add "Brother Bao".
There are two cheating characters in "Mao Liang", one is Shao Zhuang, who is as smart as a demon, and the other is the omnipotent Brother Bao.
The role of Brother Bao is very interesting. He is an excellent foreign aid for the protagonist team. He never makes mistakes when playing as a support. He is very funny and particularly magical. He is the soul of the play.
When Zuo Le first saw the character of Brother Bao, the first thing that came to his mind was his second uncle.
In his opinion, no one is more suitable to play such a magical role than his second uncle.
Of course, the second uncle is getting older, and Brother Bao doesn’t fit the image of an actor, so Zuo Le changed his name to Lord Bao.
The background setting is that Xiaobao's elder is an old man in the world. Occasionally he comes out and is saved by Xiaobao. He cooperates happily with the protagonist group, and then cooperates frequently.
He works quickly, pays for the work and leaves, he is extremely chic, and his witty sayings and tricks are constant, making people shout from the bottom of their hearts - Mr. Bao is awesome!
Protagonist group + Brother Bao, decent male protagonists Qi Huo, as for the female characters, Zhao Ning, An Ning, Tiantian and later Yao Shutong.
As Zhao Ning said before, there are not many roles, so Zuo Le prefers Wan Qian to play the role. Her image and temperament as an intellectual royal sister is more in line with the role of a liar and a life mentor who will hone Xiaobao's growth.
As for An Ning, there is no special character setting, as long as she is beautiful and smart, she fits the bill.
If nothing else happens, it will be Shui Miaomiao, the first sister of the company, who will play the role, unless Qishui is not willing.
But let me ask you, in today's entertainment industry, how many artists working in the field of TV dramas are willing to reject the female lead in Zuo Le's new drama, let alone the internal artists of Shanhe.
As for the character Tiantian, he was the leader of the Fox Organization at first, but later fell in love with Xing Dongdong, abandoned the dark side and joined the protagonist group.
There is no special image setting, but Zuo Le hopes that the actor who plays her will be petite and cute, so that she can be distinguished from the cold An Ning.
Zuo Le thought for a while and decided to let Mao Tong play the role, which would indirectly increase her popularity and help her rise to the top.
As for Yao Meng, who wants to avenge his father and cooperates with the protagonist group, either Song Jia or Zhang Jiajia can do it.
What Zuo Le means is that one of them plays Yao Shutong, and the other plays the blind girl who has an emotional entanglement with Xiaobao. Their roles are not much different, and they are both supporting roles.
At that time, if Song Jia and Zhang Jiajia are not willing to play supporting roles as top actresses, or cannot spare the time, Zuo Le can also choose two female artists from outside.
Now it is just a casting intention. After all, it is a supporting role. It is not necessary to use a top-notch actress to play the role during filming. Otherwise, the cast of "Mao Liang" will be too spectacular, and it can even be called a luxury.
………
This is enough to list the decent characters. There is no need to list the other supporting roles and unit characters one by one.
Let’s talk about some of the main villains of “Mao Liar”.
The main villain roles are still mainly based on the Fox Organization and the five major companies in the main plot. The unit-type roles should be mostly celebrity guest appearances.
The reason why "Mao Liar" has such a high rating is the excellent high-IQ villain. The protagonist team has to rack their brains to defeat him, and there is a possibility of being overturned and counterattacked at any time.
The two sides battle wits and courage, and use all their methods to make the audience enjoy watching it.
Geng Xiaohui, the boss of the Fox Organization, is a college student and the leader of a liar gang. His IQ is not much inferior to that of Xiaobao.
If the protagonist group wasn't too perverted and Geng Xiaohuihui's somewhat arrogant character weakness, they would never be able to defeat this fox boss with terrifying thinking ability and powerful subordinates.
This role is played by Zhang Ze.
In fact, Zuo Le would rather have Duan Long play the role, but Duan Long's temperament is too mature and cold. He has no problem playing the liar boss, but he can't play the pretended college student identity of Geng Xiaohui.
Although Zhang Ze also looks a bit older, wearing glasses makes him look a bit naive and harmless, which highlights the disguise and cunningness of this character.
Haoran, Geng Xiaohui's henchman and thug, is played by Wu Jinglai. There's not much to say about this, as he is an action star.
In addition, it also means to support Wu Jing's rise to power. After all, the two characters Shu Haoran and Bi Chenxi of the Fox Organization are Geng Xiaohui's right-hand men, and they are also the two people who cause the biggest trouble to the protagonist group.
The second boss of the Fox organization mainly serves as a foreshadowing in the early stage. When a certain plot is reached, he will be automatically arrested and offline, and then the boss Geng Xiaohui will be brought out.
After all, the second boss was arrested, the organizers were panicked, and the boss came out to take charge of the situation. It was natural.
The second leading actor is Fan Min. With his ability, playing a cunning liar is not a problem at all.
And Bi Chenxi of the Fox Organization, the second-best think tank after Geng Xiaohui, the "witch" who brings countless troubles to the protagonist group, is the most difficult female character to play in the whole drama.
Especially the scene of self-sacrifice for Geng Xiaohui at the end, the level of emotional fluctuations that it needs to express, ordinary actresses simply can't handle it.
The actress who played Bi Chenxi in the original version of "Mao Liang" did not interpret the essence of this scene very well. The reason why the effect is not bad is entirely because of the drama's guarantee.
Zuo Le must be more demanding when filming by himself, so he chose Yin Li to play Bi Chenxi.
After the training of "Latent", Yin Li is currently the best acting female artist in Shanhe. Zuo Le gave her this role to further hone and consolidate Yin Li's acting route.
The main characters of the Fox Organization have been dealt with, and the other heads of the five major companies are not difficult to deal with. Just find a few experienced actors who can cooperate well.
The main casting goal of "Mao Liar" is roughly this, of course, the specific work will have to be done step by step.
Zuo Le is not in a hurry. The script of "Mao Liang" is still in the final stage. Even if the project starts in September, various preparatory work will be done, and by the time filming starts, the Chinese New Year will not be far away.
I can't catch up this year anyway, so why not prepare slowly and carefully to give everyone a big surprise next year...
