Last night (the night of May 24), the high-profile Chinese blockbuster "Soy Sauce Lane" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The next day, the director Chen Kexin, together with the leading actors Zhang Ziyi, Wang Chuanjun, Lei Jiayin, Yang Mi, Dapeng, Li Xian and Zhisha, made an appearance at the official press conference, and organized group interviews with Chinese media. For the first time since the project was announced, he disclosed some of the behind the scenes production stories of the film in more detail.

It was sunny in Cannes that day, and the main creators also put on fresh clothes in plain colors. In the relaxed atmosphere of sharing, we can see that "Maoyuan Nong" is an open and free play group. The director spent half of his time rehearsing and discussing with the actors, and the actors also sympathized with each other. Everything focused on shaping the role, and jointly completed this grand group image epic.

The crew of "Maoyuan Lane" appeared in Cannes

　　 From the beginning, I wanted to make a movie, but I made a choice because of the length

Director Chen Kexin said that the killing of husband in the soy sauce garden was a famous story in the Republic of China. He first learned the story in 2015, and then read Jiang Feng's novel. Jiang Feng also participated in the script writing of the soy sauce garden garden. The original novel reads much like a script. The most impressive thing in the book is the changes in the background of the times and how these changes affect Zhan Chou's fate. This will be a type of film he has never done before, so he decided to shoot it.

At the 2022 Busan Film Festival, Chen Kexin once disclosed this project. At that time, some netizens guessed that "Soy Sauce Lane" would be a streaming media series. At today's press conference, Chen Kexin made it clear that what he wanted to do from the beginning was to make a film, but because of the background and many characters of the times, this film was destined to be long, and the middle team and actors were also constantly giving him many ideas. In the middle of the swing, whether to make two, whether to have a break is better.

Chen Kexin revealed that the team has been making trade-offs in terms of length, and has been cutting since the shooting in early March. Before the final banquet, he had seen a complete three hour ten minute version and was satisfied. But considering the release, it was cut to two and a half hours, which is the current version of Cannes. All the color mixing and sound mixing were finished four days before the premiere in Cannes.

The adaptation of the film is basically based on the context of the original novel, but with some additional lines. Chen Kexin hopes that a more complete version can be seen in the future shear guide version, and more roles can be fully developed. Zhang Ziyi revealed that there was a play related to pigs that was not in Cannes, but the domestic audience may see it, which seems to mean that there may be slight adjustments after the premiere of "Soy Sauce Lane" in Cannes.

　　 Chen Kexin, the film with the most roles and the longest shooting time, wants to leave the comfort zone

Maoyuan Nong is Chen Kexin's film with the most characters and the longest shooting time. It has been shot for 90 days, and half of the time is spent on rehearsal and discussion. The screenwriter has been changing the script on the spot. In the past, his film shooting cycle never exceeded 50 days.

Chen Kexin also joked with Dapeng, who was also a director, that only a director who did not write his own script could do this. Dapeng said he was envious. He also wanted to find someone else to write, but could not find it.

On the issue of film style, Chen Kexin discussed with the team and hoped to leave the comfort zone this time.

"My things are very warm and emotional. This time I want to try something hard and cruel. I feel very excited. It's my own change or progress," Chen Kexin said.

The front part of the film uses color pictures, and the flashback part uses black and white pictures.

"I want to do something with a sense of form. I have seen many old movies and thought a lot. We originally thought about using false colors of old photos in the memory part, made many attempts, and also cut a version. However, it is easy to confuse black and white colors with normal colors. Finally, we use black and white pictures to express memories, making it easier for the audience to distinguish."

A lot of stage drama elements are also used in the film. From the creation of Miss Xi Lin, played by Zhao Liying, it turns into a funny play, and then into a civilized play, which connects the progress of the case and even gradually integrates with the plot.

Chen Kexin revealed that this was due to his personal family complex, because his father had made stage plays, and he talked a lot with his father when he was young, but he did not really know the theater. His father passed away last year, and Chen Kexin learned something about his father's Paiwenwen Opera from his old friends and family members, so this time he added a lot of drama elements to the film.

　　 Zhang Ziyi spent eight years becoming Zhan Zhoushi. Wang Chuanjun was afraid of being scolded

At the premiere of "Maoyuan Lane" last night, Chen Kexinte introduced to the audience that the film was the best actor from the 60s to the 00s. The characters in the film are not black and white, and each character is three-dimensional and complex.

Previously, Chen Kexin said at the event that from 2015 to this year, Zhang Ziyi has always been loyal to Zhan and Zhou, the characters in the "soy sauce lane". Eight years later, Zhang Ziyi has grown and changed again. It took eight years to really come to Zhan and Zhou. Zhang Ziyi said, "Everything is the best arrangement.".

"How many eight years are there in my life? I have experienced many interesting, boring, meaningful, and worthless things in these eight years. If this play had been shot eight years ago, it would not be the same as it is today. Every step of life is a life, maybe the fate has been written, and so is the movie. When we finish the film, the fate of the character has been completed. On the editing platform, what is left in the minds of the audience will be left to everyone. Everything is the best arrangement today. " Zhang Ziyi said.

Zhang Ziyi did a lot of homework for this role, including reading a lot of materials, and went to the slaughterhouse alone without telling the director.

"I have no way to experience life, right? (Laughter) I can only go to the slaughterhouse to feel it. On the bloody floor, the shock is still very strong. Although there is no direct expression in the film, the experience is still needed as an actor. I am not a person who is used to designing in advance when performing live, but our actors are very professional. We spend a lot of time rehearsing every day to find a way, but after starting up, all the ways are lost, and we return to the role itself. This process is very enjoyable. "

Chen Kexin does not advocate that actors do too much homework, and he is afraid that actors will fall into a certain fixed situation. "But it's strange that as soon as Ziyi stood in the camera, she forgot all the lessons in front of her. The most important thing between actors and directors is trust. Just like teaching swimming as a child, relaxation can help her to float to the surface."

Zhang Ziyi said that the habit of thoroughly sorting out roles and understanding roles came from directing My Father and I, and she found that as a director, she should think clearly about all roles and scenes, which is beneficial to performance. "After arriving at the scene, no matter what lines your opponent gives you, you will be able to catch them, and you have become her. I used to think that acting is feeling and experience, but this time I have a new experience, not only feeling and experience, but also it needs methods."

In the film, Zhang Ziyi has many scenes that have been violently treated by Lei Jiayin and Wang Chuanjun. Zhang Ziyi's recorder said that before each shooting, he can hear the radio receiving Zhang Ziyi's rapid heartbeat. Hearing the scene where her husband's severed head was found, she was frightened from the bottom of her heart and trembled.

Wang Chuanjun has worked with Chen Kexin before. This time, Chen Kexin is hesitant to find him because he is afraid of being scolded for playing a man who is addicted to domestic violence and gambling. Later, he continued to discuss the role with the director, and understood the source of the role's lack of confidence, his feeling of being offended and provoked, and why he would abandon himself.

The puppet deputy police chief played by Lei Jiayin is Zhan Zhoushi's biggest confrontation force in the film, but Chen Kexin and Lei Jiayin think that the role of deputy police chief is not a villain, he just did what he thought was right in that era.

"The director contacted Ziyi, and I was very impulsive. What attracted me most was not the character, but the mentality of participating in the team to learn. Then I knew that I was playing such a role. After the director told me, I also liked it. Before joining the group, I kept talking to the director about the role." Lei Jiayin said.

Yang Mi said modestly, "It's a great honor to participate in this film. Thank the director for trusting me and giving me the role.

Li Xian also cooperated with Chen Kexin in "Winning the Championship". After receiving the invitation for the first time, Li Xian once wanted to dismiss the role. Zhang Baofu, played by him in the film, is a philistine and cunning villain, which is quite different from the image of "current boyfriend" known to everyone before. Li Xian also admitted that such a contrast poses a great challenge to him.

In the film, Shi Sha plays Chen Kaizhou, a returned overseas student. Originally, this character had a special role, but in order to make the narrative rhythm more smooth, he was deleted. However, the audience can still learn about the character's past experience from Chen Kaizhou's actions, and can see that he was a progressive youth who once held idealism. This Sha said that he was lucky to get this role in a chance audition on a business trip to Shanghai, which was a dream fulfillment process.

Dapeng said with a smile that Director Chen is a very tolerant director who gives full trust and support to actors. He never denies actors, "It's better to cut them off in pieces"

　　 Actors sympathize with each other. Zhang Ziyi has been sending messages to encourage Yang Mi

The cast of "Maoyuan Nong" has attracted much attention since the project was established. When the full cast was officially announced, the super luxury card "half of the entertainment industry" also shocked netizens.

"Soy Sauce Lane" also launched a new picture of the Chinese blockbuster: actors do not distinguish between primary and secondary, regardless of the position, each actor carefully shapes his own role. During the Cannes trip, we were also impressed by the loving interaction between the actors.

For example, Yang Mi said that she was very nervous before joining the group. Although she knew her sister (Zhang Ziyi), she had never filmed with her sister. Before filming, she always sent WeChat messages to her sister, and Zhang Ziyi encouraged her until yesterday's Cannes premiere.

Zhang Ziyi also said that she was very grateful to the director for choosing such excellent actors this time. Everyone was very concerned about this cooperation, all out of respect for the director. For example, the play with Yang Mi in the prison, and the last paragraph of Lei Jiayin's very brilliant lines. Although playing this role is very painful and depressing, the process of filming is very beautiful.

Dapeng recalled that he came to Europe with Zhang Ziyi more than ten years ago when he was a website reporter. He had wonderful memories. Ten years later, he did not expect that he could appear in the same picture with Ziyi and play a play together.

"Over the years, my relationship with Ziyi has been very good. She has given me a lot of trust and often encouraged me. She has given me support since I started making movies. Then one day, I have the opportunity to stand in the same picture with her and perform a scene. I think this is a very big reason for me to make movies. So I not only participated in a movie, but also seemed that my life has become a movie. I hope I can continue to work hard and have the opportunity to cooperate with so many excellent actors next time. "

Li Xian also said: "From the very beginning, when I was free, I communicated with the director about the script, and discussed it with Ziyi and Rego on the spot, and quickly reached a tacit understanding. There was a scene in the car, and everyone left. Only the camera and Ziyi and we shot it for more than ten minutes, and silently felt the state of going to court immediately. That moment was beautiful, and there was something pure of actors slowly revealed. I am very happy and honored to have this opportunity. "

Wang Chuanjun played husband and wife with Zhang Ziyi in the film. He told some interesting stories during filming: in one scene, Ziyi washed his feet. At first, the props were cold water, but there was no heat. Then he changed to boiling water, and when his feet were put down, he ran away crazily

There is also the scene of domestic violence. Wang Chuanjun is a shy and gentle person in private. He is embarrassed to attack Zhang Ziyi, but Chen Kexin complains that "he is not strong enough to shoot, and can't borrow a seat". In one scene, Zhang Ziyi was smothered with a pillow. Wang Chuanjun thought that the pillow was very soft and free, so he dared to exert himself. Zhang Ziyi was too pressed to move. After hearing this, Wang Chuanjun repeatedly said, "Sorry!"

In the film, Wang Chuanjun walked home wearing only one pair of underpants and barefoot in the coldest season in Shanghai. Wang Chuanjun laughed and said that the temperature on that day perfectly reflected his mood when performing.

　　 PUA is also violence, not making films from the issue

Chen Kexin's films have always been able to keenly catch some social hot spots and trends of the times, with a strong humanistic color.

Although it tells the story of domestic violence and husband killing in the Republic of China, "Maoyuan Nong" is still very contemporary today, and will certainly cause a heated discussion after its release.

There are many golden lines in the film, such as only women understand women, women's "brain, milk, stomach", and "the world tells women to marry chicken and dog, but does not tell women what to do if they marry a bastard". I believe that it can trigger many people to agree.

The relationship between Zhang Ziyi and Wang Chuanjun in the film is thought-provoking. They always "quarrel at the end of the bed". The husband also has some seemingly sincere and affectionate moments when treating his wife, but in the face of long-term violence, such a short warming moment is alarming.

Zhang Ziyi said that the harm of domestic violence to women is not only physical, but also the PUA in language is terrible.

Chen Kexin said that in the discussion with Wang Chuanjun, a lot of new cognition about marriage has emerged. Because the film doesn't want to portray "Big Man" as a simple and rude villain of domestic violence, they need to find out the root cause of each action. Wang Chuanjun revealed that Zhang Ziyi would send him all kinds of content about domestic violence every day to help him with his homework.

Chen Kexin said frankly that the basic reason why he had an impulse to create the story of "Maoyuan Nong" may be that there are things he has always liked, such as tough female images, not black and white characters.

After the Cannes premiere, Chen Kexin was asked many times about the relationship between "Soy Sauce Lane" and the current issues and ideological trends.

Chen Kexin denied that the topic of film making will be considered in the first place: "The script that attracts me is the characters and the times. I really don't think much about the contemporary. During the shooting process, the team around you will certainly discuss some more contemporary things with you. I can only say two words. One is from this sand. Only women know women. I have no right to speak on behalf of women. The second is my team. 90% of them are women for so many years. I don't know why

I didn't think about LGBT in 1994's "Golden Branches and Jade Leaves". I just made a romantic comedy in the entertainment industry, which is a tradition of old Hollywood movies. I never dare to talk about gender issues. It's hard to say that "Maoyuan Nong" has not been affected by the topics around, but my original intention is not to shoot for it. There are many women around me, and I will see the reaction of the female creators around me. Sometimes there will be some contradictions between the topic first mentality and values and my story, character and emotion first mentality. It is always to find a balance point in the contradictions.

I think my movies are about human condition. The women's issue is inevitable, but I still think I should stand in the human perspective to see a person's situation in an era. Maybe the era is more important to me in this matter, but I know I can't avoid it, because this film appears at this time. "