Chapter 539 Double male protagonists Shang Yang and Qin Xiaogong
The second female lead was Yingyu. It was rare for Zuo Le to use an artist from Shanhe, so he chose a second-tier actress from outside. She had a heroic image and temperament, which met Zuo Le's requirements.
And the reason why we didn’t use Shanhe’s internal female artists.
On the one hand, the character's personality is ordinary, but the benefits to the actor are actually limited.
On the other hand, all female artists in Shanhe are now big names. Even Mao Tong, who has the smallest status, has successfully risen to the top in the past two years with her role as Ruyan in "Detective Di Renjie" and Jingwei in "Jingwei Reclamation".
After all, "The Great Qin Empire" is not a palace battle drama like "The Legend of Zhen Huan". The role of female characters is limited, and there is no need to accumulate so many first-line actresses to enrich the lineup.
After all, the heroine Bai Xue has a lovable "good wife and confidante" character, and in the end there is a climactic plot where she and Shang Yang die together in love.
In addition, the first part of the "Qin Empire" series needs some heavyweight and popular stars to join in to increase the popularity, so Zuo Le asked Shui Miaomiao to play Bai Xue.
Of course, Shui Miaomiao herself also wanted to use this to consolidate her popularity and at the same time attack her competitor Liu Yan'er.
As a result, the two parties hit it off immediately, and Shui Miaomiao's first drama after her coronation was cast in "The Qin Empire - Fission".
With Shui Miaomiao, a popular sister in the entertainment industry, the other female characters of similar ages are the foils.
Therefore, many Shanhe female artists are not willing to come over and set up a stage for them.
If the character is good, then that's it. The character of Ke Yingyu is a bit like a tool. One sentence can best describe it. It's tasteless to eat and it's a pity to abandon it.
Shanhe dramas are popular, but that is to outsiders. Internally, the desire for many non-key roles is not that great.
Everyone was very indifferent. If this drama didn't happen, they would just wait for the next drama. Anyway, Zuo Le would not treat them badly.
Zuo Le announced that he was casting from the outside, and there was a little noise inside, and then disappeared.
Instead of worrying about this winning star, more people are focusing on the heroine Mi Bazi of "Zong Heng" and "The Rise" and the heroine Zhao Ji of "Eastern Exit". These are the real drama meat.
This is the biggest reason why female artists from Shanhe did not compete for the role of Yingyu.
With a lackluster second female lead and two key female leads in the series, any fool knows what to think.
Moreover, the "Qin Empire" series has been confirmed, and there will be no cases where the same actors will play roles.
In other words, one person can only play one role.
Shui Miaomiao, the first sister of Shanhe, played Bai Xue, which meant that she was eliminated from the battle between Mi Bazi and Zhao Ji.
Without this most powerful competitor, the female artists of Shanhe are all more confident than anyone else.
They just look down on a mere Yingyingyu...
………
The female artists of Shanhe were silent collectively, which made the second-tier actress feel so confused that she almost died of joy.
As for the other Queen Mother of Qin, Zuo Le invited her old friend Gao Wa to play the role. This person is a well-known professional Queen Mother in the circle. She has played many versions of the Queen Mother such as Cixi, Xiaozhuang, and Empress Dowager Zheng. She has rich experience.
Gao Wa is very picky about scripts, but she has collaborated with Shan He on many dramas in the past few years and they get along very happily.
Although I felt that the role of the Queen Mother of Qin was not challenging, due to Zuo Le's face, I still happily accepted it.
In "Fission", in addition to Bai Xue, Ying Yingyu, and the Queen Mother of Qin, there is actually another important female character named Xuan Qi.
Xuan Qi is set as a disciple of the Mohist family, a descendant of Baili Xi, and later fell in love with Qin Xiaogong.
This character has three key plot points in the play.
First, his grandfather was Baili away, and formulated a strategy for Qin Xiaogong to recruit talents, and traveled thousands of miles east to Wei, and finally persuaded Shang Yang to enter Qin.
The second is to help the Mohists establish contact with the Qin State. When the Mohists entered the Qin Dynasty, the Qin Mohist branch emerged.
Third, falling in love with Qin Xiaogong made the relationship between Qin Xiaogong and Shang Yang less ambiguous.
Strictly speaking, this character is more instrumental than Ying Yingyu, and the relationship between him and Qin Xiaogong is a bit inexplicable.
Let's put it this way, delete the emotional line between her and Qin Xiaogong, and then replace him with a man, and it will still not affect other plot points.
Zuo Le sometimes strongly doubts whether the original character was forced into it by the investors.
Of course, this is just a joke, but Zuo Le really feels that there is no need to add such an insignificant emotional scene to Qin Xiaogong.
The prince Yingsi is now an adult, and he is allowed to fall in love with a girl.
It's okay to fall in love, but don't marry the person back to the palace, leave him outside and let him go freely, and only call him back to get married when he's about to die.
emmm…………
In fact, this is also a routine of ancient historical love themes.
The female protagonists are more arrogant than the other, yearning for freedom. Today they make a brother, and tomorrow they become a boss. The male protagonist is also big-hearted and doesn't care at all. He just lets her play as she pleases.
To put it bluntly, it is a modern love story disguised as history. It goes against historical common sense in every aspect. The male protagonist also thinks that the female protagonist is special and likes her very much.
Nowadays, as everyone's historical knowledge increases, there are very few scenes that violate historical common sense. Even if they do, they will find good reasons.
Of course, there are exceptions for some die-hard authors and screenwriters...
For this role, Zuo Le changed the role of Xuan Qi without too much hesitation.
The female is transformed into a male, and the background and character remain the same. A disciple of the Mohist family, grateful for the charisma of Qin Xiaogong, helped the Mohist family to connect with the Qin State. Later, he served as the bodyguard of Duke Xiao. After the death of Duke Xiao, he obeyed the order of the princess to win Yingyu.
As for whether Qin Xiaogong's relationship with Shang Yang would appear too gay without his love line, Zuo Le didn't care at all.
The original version has added emotional lines, Bai Xue, Ying Yingyu, Xuanqi, there are three women, it still doesn't stop everyone from saying "Qingshan Songbai CP".
Therefore, Zuo Le doesn't want to waste that much effort. He can just think whatever the audience wants. Anyway, he can just do the filming himself.
For the role of Xuan Qi, Zuo Le found a young actor who had just become famous. His acting skills were acceptable, but the key was that he looked good in costume and had a chivalrous air, which was very suitable for Xuan Qi.
One girl, two girls, and three girls are solved, and four girls turn into boys. The remaining female characters in "Split" are not of any heavyweight.
Although there are a lot of maids, madams, queens, palace concubines, peasant women, etc., their roles are not many, so there is no need to list them all.
The male characters are the real highlight of "Fission".
…………
There are many important male roles in "Fission", and there are more than ten in the Qin Kingdom alone.
In addition to the Wei State, which plays a large role in "Fission", there are seven or eight more to be added. South Korea's King Han and Shen Buhai, as comparative references for Shang Yang's reform, are quite important in the play.
The other five countries and the Mohist family also have certain corresponding roles.
Even though they don't appear much, some of them are still involved in the second "Zong Heng" and are even the main characters in the second film.
Let’s first talk about the main perspective of the plot, the Kingdom of Qin. The two male protagonists, Shang Yang and Qin Xiaogong, are the most important.
Especially Shang Yang, who is directly the core character of the drama "Fission".
Without him, the reform cannot be established, the Qin State's strengthening cannot be established, the internal struggle cannot be established, and the drama "Fission" cannot be established.
Putting aside historical prototypes, let’s just talk about the drama “Fission”.
Shang Yang, of course, called Wei Yang in the play, is a typical idealist.
We insist on building a country by law, enriching the people and strengthening the country, and insisting on equality before the law. In the play, the most common word in Shang Yang's mouth is "law".
Because of the "law", he led the Qin State to become rich and powerful, but also because of the "law", he offended the Qin clan and the old clan forces, suffered enemies from both sides, and finally died to protect the law.
Frankly speaking, Shang Yang in "Fission" underwent a lot of artistic processing, and his image has improved a lot compared to the historical prototype.
The personal characteristics, ideals and original intentions, some events of the reform, and the friendship between the emperor and his ministers with Qin Xiaogong have all been beautified to a certain extent.
These are actually not bad, most of them can still have historical origins, so handling them this way is not considered arbitrary modification.
The really big change to the character of Shang Yang is his final ending.
According to historical records, Shang Yang's fate was very embarrassing. The King of Qin was not happy when he succeeded to the throne and offended all the forces within the Qin State.
In desperation, he had no choice but to rebel and protect himself. As a result, he was defeated and fled to Wei State for help, but was rejected. In the end, he was caught and his car was broken and he died.
In the drama "Fission", although Shang Yang also offended many forces, under the protection of Qin Xiaogong and the aura of his own protagonist, Shang Yang had enough strength to protect himself.
But for the sake of the overall situation, he did not want the Qin State to fall apart because of this, and finally chose to die on his own initiative, more like a martyr.
As a literary and artistic worker, Zuo Le liked this treatment very much and directly sublimated the character of Shang Yang.
Although historical dramas must respect history, they cannot be filmed entirely in accordance with historical records.
For example, if Shang Yang's car breaks down in history, then Zuo Le cannot let him live. This is to respect history.
But before the car cracked, why did Shang Yang get cracked? This part can be added and done with some artistic processing.
Of course, you can make changes, but the things you change must satisfy the audience and cannot be changed randomly.
Some adaptations are so exciting that people call them wonderful and stunning.
Some adaptations make people sneer at them and make them unable to hold their heads up.
The difference lies in the skills of the screenwriter and director.
Based on the original version, screenwriters Zuo Le and Shan He specially sorted out the script for Shang Yang's ending of "Fission". In addition to connecting it with the second "Zongheng", they also wanted to make the plot look more rounded and logical.
Zuo Le had been thinking about the role of Shang Yang for a long time. He originally planned to let Gu Xiaoge play the role, but then he remembered the upcoming "Rise" and changed it to someone else.
Finally, Zuo Le selected two people.
Wang Fei and Chen Shouming.
The former is not very famous, but he is also a national first-class actor with outstanding abilities. He is very good at playing elegant and dignified characters.
Zuo Le didn't know this person personally, but a producer from CCTV recommended him. Zuo Le specially tried out the role with him and made him the number one candidate.
As for Chen Shouming, he is a national first-class actor, chairman of the Chinese Actors Association, and has won the Golden Dragon Award for Best Actor and the Golden Phoenix Award for Best Actor. This mainland Chinese male artist can be ranked among the top three.
To be honest, when preparing for the "Qin Empire" series, Zuo Le had thought about who would play Qin Shihuang, and the first actor that came to mind was Chen Shouming.
It's a pity that this person is a bit old. He put on makeup and tidied up, and it was okay to play the thirty-year-old Shang Yang, but to play the young Qin Shihuang, he looked a bit old.
Needless to say, Chen Shouming's popularity and acting skills need not be said. Although, in many people's minds, he is good at playing emperors, in fact, Chen Shouming has played many elegant literati roles.
Zuo Le believed that Chen Shouming could play the role he thought of as the great legal scholar who led Qin to greatness.
However, Chen Shouming is not easy to hire. In recent years, he has rarely filmed movies and has been more involved in behind-the-scenes or administrative work.
As the chairman of the Chinese Actors Association, Chen Shouming has a strong official color and has a high status in the circle.
Zuo Le, another actor, was confident. It was hard to say whether he could hire this one. He came to the door in person with the script and got a seriously considered answer.
I can only put aside the character of Shang Yang and consider the other of the two male protagonists - Qin Xiaogong.
From Zuo Le's own opinion, he admired Qin Xiaogong more than Shang Yang.
Qin Xiaogong in "Fission" is simply a perfect person.
As a son, be filial to your mother and uphold your father's aspirations; as an elder brother/younger brother, love your younger sister and respect your elder brother; as the king of the Qin State, always keep the people in your heart, strive for strength with all your heart, and lead the Qin State to become stronger.
The most touching thing about the play Qin Xiaogong is the trust in Shang Yang.
In the play, Shang Yang's reform can be successful, and half of the credit goes to Shang Yang, and half of the credit goes to Qin Xiaogong.
Without Shang Yang, Qin could not change the law, but without Qin Xiaogong, Shang Yang could not change the law.
After agreeing to fully support Shang Yang's reform, Qin Xiaogong became Shang Yang's most solid backing, always standing by Shang Yang's side no matter when and where.
The son made a mistake and was expelled from the country.
The elder brother was guilty. Even if he knelt down and apologized afterwards, he still supported Shang Yang's execution.
No matter how others attacked and hurt Shang Yang, Qin Xiaogong always protected Shang Yang and dealt with Shang Yang's enemies at the same time.
Even before his death, in order to fear that those enemies would bully Shang Yang after his death, he prepared to hold a banquet at Hongmen, but unfortunately Shang Yang stopped him.
To find the prince and win the throne, he tried every possible means to test whether he had any intention of harming Shang Yang. He even said "he can replace him" hundreds of years before Liu Bei.
After his death, he left a secret edict, allowing Shang Yang to command the military power and rebel to protect himself in times of danger.
A scholar dies for his confidant, and when his lord deserves it, it is no wonder that Shang Yang said the oath: "The public is like a green mountain, and I am like a pines and cypresses. I will be shattered to pieces, and I will never betray you."
Later, for the sake of the overall situation of the Qin State, he would rather die than cause internal strife, ruin the good situation of the Qin State, and let Qin Xiaogong's life's hard work be in vain.
Such a monarch and his ministers can be regarded as role models, so many people go crazy and say "Qingshan Pine and Cypress CP".
It’s so sweet!
For this role, Zuo Le hopes that the image will be resolute, simple, majestic and kind.
He searched the circle several times and finally selected two candidates.
Hou Yong, who has collaborated with Shan He in "The Great Random House", and Zhang Ruijin, who played the role of the leader of the Demon Cult in "Seven Swords".
Both of them are undoubtedly powerful.
In the former, Hou Yong has a loyal face and simple temperament, and can perform Qin Xiaogong's simplicity and kindness.
The latter, Zhang Ruijin, can be considered a half-emperor professional, with a majestic image that is in line with the resolute and majestic king of Qin.
Faced with Zuo Le's invitation, both parties responded very positively. Zuo Le liked both of them very much and planned to wait for Chen Shouming's reply.
If Chen is willing to play the role, then whoever is more compatible with him, Hou or Zhang, will be chosen.
If Chen doesn't play, then the role of Shang Yang will be cast by Wang Fei, and his partner will be selected based on Wang Fei's acting style.
