When Zhang Ran was on the phone, Li Xuejian opened the movie script in front of him and looked at it slowly.

Before Zhang Ran answered the phone, Li Xuejian had been talking to Zhang Ran for almost an hour. Zhang Ran elaborated on the ideological idea and practical significance of the script, as well as the characters in the play. After listening to Zhang Ran's explanation, Li Xuejian felt very shocked, this story has some similarities with "A Man Puts on the Lights", which is an allegorical way to present an old man's struggle against the harsh living environment, the struggle against the fate of suffering, and then extend to the thinking about the ultimate fate of human beings.

The script is not only very ambitious, but also the story is very exciting, after opening the script and reading a few lines, Li Xuejian was deeply attracted and couldn't help but continue to read, and finally the whole person was immersed in this extremely tragic, but extremely shocking story. So much so that when Zhang Ran finished the phone call and was about to continue chatting, he didn't notice it, and he was still engrossed in reading the story in his hand.

The script is based on Yan Lianke's eponymous "Years, Months and Days", which is arguably one of the best writers in China right now, and Gu Changwei's film "The Favorite" is adapted from him. "Years, Months and Days" is his masterpiece novella, is the winning work of the Lu Xun Literature Award, it is about a certain year in the rake of the mountainous area, the crops were not harvested, the villagers collectively fled the famine, and the ancestor because of his age, unwilling to die in a foreign land, at the same time, in order to protect a corn seedling stayed.

The ancestor moved to the side of the corn seedling and guarded it day and night, just like taking care of his own child. Soon the grain was gone, so the ancestor went to plow the field and sowed the corn seeds, but could not germinate due to drought. There was almost no water in the well, so the master threw the mattress into the well, let the mattress suck in the water and squeeze out the water. After the seeds in the field were plowed, the ancestor went to plank the grain in the rat hole, and there was a man-rat war with the rats for food. The rats did not fight the ancestors, and eventually migrated in large numbers, but the rats burned the corn seedlings to the spot, and the ancestors had to go dozens of miles away to fetch water. At the edge of the small pond, the ancestor encountered a pack of wolves, and in the confrontation with the wolves, he overcame his own hunger, fatigue and drowsiness with his tenacious willpower, and also defeated his opponents. When the food was exhausted, the ancestor took the blind dog to eat rat meat, and when the rat meat was almost eaten, he drank rat soup.

At the end of the story, the ancestor found that the corn seedlings lacked fertilizer, and at this time, the lack of fertilizer made the corn seedlings unable to bear fruit. So the ancestor decided to sacrifice himself and use his body as fertilizer. In the end, the corn seedlings relied on the nourishment provided by the ancestors' bodies to survive the drought and produce a corn, most of the corn kernels on it were shriveled, and only seven of them were extremely full, as translucent as jade grains.

"Years, Months and Days" reminds Li Xuejian of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea", but "Years, Months and Days" is fuller in details, richer in connotation, and closer to his own life than "The Old Man and the Sea". He was born as a farmer, has encountered droughts, and has also seen famine escapes, and he has experienced many things in "Years, Months and Days". In his view, "Years, Months and Days" is a national fable, a clear proof of the tenacity and unyielding of the descendants of Yan and Huang, and the ancestor is to a certain extent a symbol of the spirit of the Chinese nation and the embodiment of the Chinese nation.

After closing the script, Li Xuejian, who was fluctuating in his heart, saw Zhang Ran looking at him, smiled embarrassedly, and said, "I'm sorry, I'm fascinated by the script." ”

Zhang Ran smiled and waved his hand, "It's okay." What do you think?"

Li Xuejian immediately said: "Okay, it's really, really good." I must be asked to play the role of the master, and I think I can play it well. ”

Zhang Ran chuckled and said: "I don't think there is a more suitable actor than you, otherwise I wouldn't have invited you over, I'm only worried about one problem, that is, whether your body can bear it!"

Li Xuejian didn't want to miss the role of the ancestor, so he hurriedly said: "I'm in good health!"

Zhang Ran explained: "At the beginning of the movie, the grandfather's physical condition was okay, but as the story developed, the ancestor was definitely getting thinner and thinner due to lack of water and food, and in the end, the whole person was very thin. There must be a contrast between the front and the back. If the actor is in the same state at the beginning and the end, it is more fake. I hope that in the process of acting, the actor will gradually lose weight, and by the end of the day, the person will be thinner. You've lost weight for the role many times, but that was when you were healthy, and now you're not in particularly good health, I don't know if your physical condition allows you to toss like this!"

As an aspiring actor or artist, Li Xuejian hopes from the bottom of his heart that he can leave a few more roles that are alive and liked by the audience, and he doesn't want the characters he created to become a passing one, and the ancestor is definitely a role that can be remembered. After hearing that Zhang Ran was worried about his body, he immediately said, "You don't have to worry, I'm in good health now." Last year, I acted in the movie "Yang Shanzhou", which tells the story of a retired high-ranking official in Baoshan, Yunnan Province, planting trees. Yang Shanzhou is very thin, in order to get close to the character, I lost weight, it's really no problem. ”

Zhang Ran heard that Li Xuejian was still losing weight for filming last year, and he also felt that it was not a big problem, so he said: "At that time, we will arrange special doctors and nutritionists to guide you and monitor the whole process to ensure your health." ”

Li Xuejian waved his hand and said: "You don't have to spend that unjust money, I have experience in losing weight, just eat cabbage every day." ”

Zhang Ran said solemnly: "That's not good, you must arrange doctors and nutritionists to guide and monitor the whole process to ensure your health." Otherwise, your body will have a problem and delay the filming progress, and the loss will be even greater. By the way, there is another question, Yan Lianke is a native of Rake District, Song County, Henan, and the story of "Years, Months and Days" takes place in Rake District, so you must speak Henan dialect when performing, and you have to practice your accent. ”

Li Xuejian nodded and said: "Before the movie starts, I will take some time to go to the local area to experience life." ”

Zhang Ran smiled when he heard this: "Then let's go together then! After the official release of "Future Apocalypse" in July, I am also going to stay in the local area for a while to experience life. ”

Li Xuejian knew that Zhang Ran went to the mine to work as a miner for two months before the start of "One Man Makes a Lantern", but this time Zhang Ran was not an actor, but a director, so he couldn't help asking: "You also want to experience life?"

Zhang Ran spread his hands and said helplessly: "No way, I grew up in the city, and I haven't lived in the middle of the environment, so I may not be able to grasp the characters, the state of their existence, and many details." If I don't go to the local area to take a look and live in that environment for a while, I don't have enough confidence when shooting!"

Li Xuejian sighed slightly, in fact, in the past, many directors would go to the place where the story happened to take a look and experience life in the script creation stage, but now it is rare to see directors do this. Everyone is busy making money, and they don't want to waste too much time on creation, and there are really fewer and fewer directors like Zhang Ran!

After sighing, Li Xuejian raised his own questions: "The blind dog in the script is too smart, too spiritual, and human-like." If it's a normal dog, you should be able to find that kind of circus dog. But this dog is still blind, and there is no way for the circus to domesticate blind dogs. Then I'm afraid this scene will be very laborious to film!"

"It's hard to say, it's easy to say!" Zhang Ran sold a pass, and said with a mysterious smile, "I'll take you over to see it in the afternoon." ”

Li Xuejian didn't ask more, and said with a smile: "Okay, I'm looking forward to your solution!"

Zhang Ran was chatting with Li Xuejian all morning about the script, his own ideas, and his requirements for the analysis and image shaping of the ancestors. Li Xuejian listened quietly most of the time, but sometimes he would put forward his own ideas, after all, he knew the elderly and farmers much more deeply than Zhang Ran.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Ran took Li Xuejian to Studio 10 in the Century Film Capital. Most of the shots of the movie "Years, Months and Days" will be completed here, because there are a lot of special effects in the movie, and it will be shot in 3D, which is more convenient to shoot in the studio.

At this time, there are many staff members in the studio, and the staff of the lighting, photography and special effects teams are busy debugging the equipment and preparing for the upcoming test shoot.

Li Xuejian had heard of blue-screen shooting, but he was still a little surprised when the entire studio was blue, and even the ground was blue, like the scene in front of him: "This is blue-screen shooting? It's the first time I've filmed this kind of scene!"

Zhang Ran smiled and introduced: "This is the world's largest virtual studio, with an area of 1,000 square meters and a height of about 14 meters, which is larger than the largest universal virtual studio in Hollywood. You can make any Hollywood movie here, and here we can really achieve the same level as a Hollywood movie. ”

Li Xuejian was very happy to hear this: "This is a good thing!"

"Most of the scenes of our film will be done in this studio. Zhang Ran picked up the script and flipped through it, handed it to Li Xuejian, pointed to the script and said, "Let's try shoot a section." That's it, the first master finished their food, and after they came back from carrying water, the first master was ready to eat the last mouse, but he found that the mouse was gone, there were blood stains in the pit, and there were footprints of a blind dog, he thought he was eaten by a blind dog, so he started acting from here!"

Li Xuejian looked at the script in his hand, looked around again, and said suspiciously: "What about the dog?"

Zhang Ran chuckled lightly and beckoned to the staff of the special effects team, one of whom immediately brought a blue toy dog over and put it on the ground, and the person stood next to the toy dog.

Li Xuejian was a little surprised: "You won't let me play against this toy dog, right?"

Zhang Ran laughed and said: "That's how Hollywood blockbusters are made. You can just treat it as if it was a non-physical performance, and the staff will control the rag doll to cooperate with you. ”

Li Xuejian has been a drama actor for many years and has won the Plum Blossom Award, the highest award for Chinese drama. However, there are a lot of lines in this scene, and it is the first time for him to act in such a play, so it takes time to prepare, and at the same time, he needs to design some of his own performance.

Half an hour later, Zhang Ran's command to "start" sounded, and Li Xuejian began to perform. He sat down on a stool, took off his shoes, and shook in the air as if he were about to pour out the sand from his shoes. He put on his shoes, stared at the wall that was not there, then coughed, looked at the toy dog on the ground, and said softly, "Blind, come here." At this time, the staff gently picked up the toy dog on the ground, pushed it forward, and put it on the ground again.

At the same time, Zhang Ran was staring closely at the monitor screen. The monitor in front of him is a little different from the past, not one monitor, but two monitors, one shows the blue screen picture of the scene, Li Xuejian is acting in front of the toy dog, and the other monitor has a background, Li Xuejian is sitting in a yard, there is a hole in the ground of the yard, there is a stove next to it, and there is a blind dog made of CG not far in front of the stove, and the toy dog and the staff standing next to it have disappeared.

When Li Xuejian said, "Blind, come here", the blind dog shrank slightly in the moonlight, stood up with difficulty, took a step forward timidly, and lay down on Li Xuejian's stomach, trembling slightly.