Chapter 174 Premiere and Extras

Back in the room, Liu Zhou also took out the script for the role of Zhou Yu.

Although Liu Zhou had been filming before, he would still take out the script and memorize his lines when he had time in the evening.

Although this is Liu Zhou's first time as an actor, he cannot regard himself as a new actor.

Some basic requirements still need to be met.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember your opponent’s lines, but at least you must memorize your own lines.

After nearly a month in Hong Kong, Liu Zhou has now memorized all of Zhou Yu's lines.

But memorizing lines is just the basis, you also need to understand the role.

Although Zhou Yu is a historical figure, the movie has been artistically processed after all. If you want to understand this character well, you still have to think more about it in combination with the script, novels and history books.

It just so happens that Liu Zhou won’t have any scenes for the next week or so, so he can use this opportunity to prepare.

After that, Liu Zhou was busy with crew matters while trying to figure out the role, and sometimes even had to discuss shooting plans with Zhang Yimou.

As for how to shoot, Zhang Yimou also wanted to discuss with Liu Zhou, but was rejected.

Every director has his own style and ideas. Since the director of this project has been handed over to Zhang Yimou, Liu Zhou will not interfere in any matters related to the filming.

Although Zhang Yimou may not have thought so much and just wanted to discuss it briefly, Liu Zhou did not want to express any opinion on this.

I had already expressed my opinions to Zhang Yimou before the filming.

In addition, Liu Zhou would occasionally visit the literary and martial arts groups and say hello to the actors.

Apart from a few battle scenes, Liu Zhou basically stayed in the literary drama group and belonged to two armies, and had almost no interaction with the actors in Cao's camp.

Everyone says they are from the same film crew, but they are not filming in the same place, they don’t have any scenes together, and their entry and exit times are different. If you’re unlucky, it’s hard to see each other.

But Liu Zhou is not only an actor, but also a film producer, and he needs to deal with most of the actors. If he doesn't know them now, he is worried that he won't have time to greet them when filming starts.

The play "Red Cliff" of the Three Kingdoms begins with Liu Cong's surrender, Cao Cao taking Jingzhou, and Liu Bei being forced to evacuate from Xinye, and retreating with his people.

According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms or historical books, what happened next was that Cao's army pursued Liu Bei, and then Liu Bei's army was dispersed.

After a pursuit battle, Zhao Zilong went in and out seven times to snatch A Dou from the chaotic army, and Zhang Yide shouted and broke the Dangyang Bridge, showing his might at Changbanpo.

The situation then temporarily stabilized, but Cao Cao prepared his troops and horses, ready to march south to annex Jiangdong in one fell swoop and completely unify the world.

The situation in Jiangdong, which had been relatively stable, suddenly became critical. The surrender faction and the pro-war faction were arguing fiercely, and Sun Quan, the lord of Jiangdong, was caught in a dilemma.

Then, after Liu Bei had established a firm foothold in Jiangxia, he arranged for Zhuge Liang to go on a diplomatic mission to Jiangdong, hoping to form an alliance with Wu to fight against Cao.

Zhuge Liang debated with many scholars in Soochow, and then persuaded Zhou Yu, the commander-in-chief of Soochow, by using straw boats to borrow arrows.

In the book, Zhou Yu appears at this time, but the movie certainly cannot be filmed like this.

As the biggest selling point of the movie, he didn't appear for more than half an hour, which made the audience go crazy.

Therefore, Zhou Yu will appear shortly after the beginning of the movie, that is, after Jingzhou is taken.

By the end of May, Liu Zhou finally had his first show.

In order to express his importance, Zhang Yimou actually came to the drama group this time and personally filmed Liu Zhou, which can be said to be a great show of respect.

Eastern Wu, Chaisang Naval Camp.

Liu Zhou was dressed in plain clothes, with his hair in a bun on his head, a handsome face, an upright figure, a jade pendant hanging from his waist. He sat upright on the main seat, playing the piano contentedly.

At this time, Lu Su, played by Wu Gang, came hurriedly, holding a piece of silk in his hand, and said anxiously:
"Gongjin, Jingzhou has surrendered."

The sound of the zither became chaotic, Zhou Yu pressed the strings, took the silk cloth from Lu Su's hand, glanced at it, and couldn't help shaking his head and laughing:
"Liu Jingsheng had guarded the foundation for half his life, but it was handed over to someone else by his son. I wonder how he would feel if he knew about this."

Zhou Yu's words were full of sarcasm, because Liu Biao and Eastern Wu were sworn enemies.

Sun Jian, the founder of Jiangdong, died at the hands of Liu Biao. For many years afterwards, there was constant fighting between Jiangdong and Jingzhou. Otherwise, Zhou Yu would not have been stationed in Chaisang, which is now Jiujiang.

"Gongjin, Jingzhou has now fallen into the hands of Cao's army. The advantage of naval warfare is no longer exclusive to us. Jiangdong is in danger now. The fate of my lord and Jiangdong depends on your decision."

"Jiangdong was entrusted to me by Bofu before his death. Even if Cao Cao has millions of soldiers, we Jiangdong warriors will never surrender without a fight. There is no other choice but to fight!"

"With Gongjin's words, Jiangdong has no worries." Lu Su stood up and saluted.

According to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was Lu Su who advised Sun Quan to ally with Liu Bang to fight against Cao Cao. Some artistic processing was done here to add this part of the plot to Zhou Yu.

Even as the leading male character in the movie, if the battle of wits among scholars was not so classic and deeply rooted in people's hearts, this part of the plot would have been added to Zhou Yu.

In fact, in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in the climax of the Battle of Red Cliff, in order to highlight Zhuge Liang, everyone else was blackened, even Liu Bei was not spared.

From the novel, it seems that the Battle of Red Cliff was fought between Eastern Wu and Cao Cao, and Liu Bei only had Zhuge Liang on his side, which was very powerful.

But Liu Bei actually led his army to fight many battles in Jingzhou, tying down a considerable part of Cao's army. He was not just a cheerleader as described in the novel, and frantically grabbed territory after the war.

In fact, there are many parts of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that are artistic processing. For example, the Battle of Red Cliffs was based on Zhu Yuanzhang's Battle of Poyang Lake. Kang Maocai pretended to surrender, and Chen Youliang, who had a great advantage, was killed by fire attack.

Then he sneaked across Yinping, which was a military masterpiece of Fu Youde, a general under Zhu Yuanzhang, but it was also blamed on Deng Ai by Luo Guanzhong.

Even Cao Cao did not think that his defeat at the Battle of Red Cliff was due to Zhou Yu.

In the "Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Zhou Yu", Prime Minister Cao said:
"During the Battle of Red Cliffs, I was ill, so I burned my ships and retreated. This allowed Zhou Yu to gain this reputation in vain." It was Prime Minister Cao who burned the ships himself, not Zhou Yu.

However, many historians have analyzed that Cao Cao's defeat was indeed due to a disease in the army, but it is still a bit far-fetched to say that he burned his own ships.

However, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is so deeply rooted in people's hearts that no matter what the historical facts are, the main framework of the movie is still based on "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

At the same time, in order to highlight the protagonist, Zhou Yu’s shining points will also be enhanced.

"Cut! Good, passed."

Liu Zhou felt relieved when he heard Zhang Yimou's words.

Liu Zhou has shot this scene seven or eight times.

Zhang Yimou did not relax his standards at all because of his identity. On the contrary, he was even stricter because he was the protagonist.

To be honest, Liu Zhou was a little nervous because it was his first time acting, which resulted in seven or eight NGs for the simple scene where Zhou Yu appeared.

And just like that, the whole morning passed.

During lunch, Liu Zhou said to Zhang Yimou:
"Director Zhang, is there anything I need to improve when acting?"

When he was a director before, Liu Zhou was able to explain everything to actors in a clear and logical way. However, when he became an actor himself, he did not have a clear understanding of his own performance.

"It's pretty good, no need for improvement." Zhang Yimou said with a smile.

"Director Zhang, don't joke around. We spent the entire morning shooting a simple scene today. I'm afraid I'll be a drag on the crew."

"Don't worry, this is within my expectations and will not affect the progress of the filming."

"It seems that Director Zhang has long felt that I am not good enough."

"Not really, I just think this is your first time acting, so I need to give you some time to adjust."

"If I still can't adapt by then, you can't blame me. It was you, Director Zhang, who always asked me to play Zhou Yu."

"Don't worry, you have to trust my ability to train actors. They won't be unable to adapt."

During the filming in the afternoon, Liu Zhou still had some difficulty shooting.

But Zhang Yimou was very patient and never tired of explaining the play to Liu Zhou and guiding him on how to perform.

After nearly a week of filming, Liu Zhou's performance began to get better and better.

However, just when Liu Zhou felt that his performance was getting better, Mai Zishan called and told him that "New World" had been edited and asked him to come over and take a look.

At the same time, Liu Zhou also needs to attend the promotional interviews for "Red Cliff".

As a big production, "Red Cliff" will have continuous promotion from project initiation to release.

During the filming period, the actors would be arranged to accept interviews from the media from time to time, along with some interesting stories or gossip from the crew, to keep the popularity of the movie.

As the most well-known and talked-about actor in the entire crew, Liu Zhou will of course have publicity tasks.

So, it is not so easy to get this 5 million yuan salary.

Zhang Yimou couldn't help feeling helpless about this. He also knew that it was impossible for Liu Zhou to concentrate on filming in the crew like other actors.

Although he was reluctant, he still approved two days of leave for Liu Zhou.

Liu Zhou did not delay and immediately rushed back to the capital overnight.

The next day, Liu Zhou, who had slept for less than four hours, came to the editing room of China Film with red eyes. He also saw Mai Zishan, who also had red eyes and panda eyes.

It seems that Mai Zishan has been working on this for a long time, which is also normal for editors at work.

If I'm in a hurry, I may have to stay up for two or three nights in a row.

After saying hello to Mai Zishan, Liu Zhou also began to look carefully at the materials he had edited.

In fact, during this period, Liu Zhou has been in contact with him to communicate and exchange ideas.

After watching the film he edited, Liu Zhou smiled with satisfaction.

"Mr. Mai, thank you for your hard work. I did a good job cutting it."

"Since there is no problem, I will call it a day and return to Hong Kong."

"How about I treat you to a meal?"

"No, let's eat later. I have to go back to the hotel and get some sleep. I'm too sleepy now."

"Okay, then Mr. Mai, you go and rest first. When we get back to Hong Kong, I'll treat you to a celebration banquet."

At this time Mai Zishan also smiled and said:
"Liu Sheng's film is indeed very sharp, and I think it will be a big hit in Hong Kong."

After seeing Mai Zishan off, Liu Zhou continued to contact several other post-production departments of China Film.

After a day of communicating with them, I was finally able to arrange the other post-production work for "New World".

The next day, Liu Zhou, who had had a good rest, came to China Film Corporation in high spirits. The interview was held in a small auditorium of the company.

(End of this chapter)