1905 movie network feature In the Spring Festival stall full of comedy elements this year, there is a comedy with a completely different temperament from the traditional happy comedy of the Spring Festival stall – directed and starring.
This is the precipitation after Ning Hao’s "madness", the form and style are simplified, and the story and characters are like "elegantly crazy".
The film takes the film and television industry as the theme, with Liu Weichi, a big star played by Andy Lau, as the core, focusing on a series of absurd and humorous stories triggered by his cooperation between the best actor and the director played by Ning Hao to make rural films. Star character fraud, the "unspoken rules" of film festival awards, and employer intervention in creation… Ning Hao and Lau Dehua boldly played "self-deprecation" together.
In this fiercely competitive Spring Festival, the maverick "Mr. Red Carpet" has received different word-of-mouth reviews, with some saying it has the best schedule and some calling it too profound. The Spring Festival file five years ago also faced such feedback, and Ning Hao responded to the 1905 movie network:
"For a slightly more complicated question, some people are definitely interested and some people are not, but this doesn’t prove that either one is better, and which one is not good can be good. So comments are not something I particularly care about."
Recently, Ning Hao watched two new films and was very inspired. One was the Iranian film "World War III", which told the story of making movies, and the relationship between reality and drama brought him new feelings; the other was a French film, which was eloquent, stable and comfortable.
It just so happens that "Mr. Red Carpet" is also a film scene, and there are thoughts about the death of a pig falling from a building.
From these two works, it can be seen that Ning Hao’s pursuit of film quality and his personal taste can be seen. He still retains the uniqueness of an author and director in domestic commercial cinema films. In the busy Spring Festival, the slow and humorous "Mr. Red Carpet" also needs to find a suitable audience.
Let Ning Hao tell you the secret of this movie and the confusion after watching it.
01. "Andy Lau"
In 2006, with the support and funding of the "Asian Rising Star Guide" program led by Andy Lau, Ning Hao successfully filmed it, and it has been an instant hit since then. 17 years later, Ning Hao returned the "kindness" to Andy Lau with "Mr. Red Carpet".
Ning Hao drew his creative inspiration from Andy Lau and wrote those things in the film and television industry between the real and the fictional around his role as a big star. Regarding the feeling of working with Andy Lau for the first time, Ning Hao said:
I have wanted to work with Andy Lau for a long time, but I have been unable to find a good point. Because I used to shoot more street and blue-collar movies, his temperament is not particularly suitable for the characters I shoot.
At that time, I was going to ask him to play the male lead role, but there were some scheduling issues that didn’t take shape at that time. He quite liked that project. Later, it was all about local themes and realism like this, and there was some distance from him. At that time, he was still practicing Mandarin, and now Mandarin is very good.
I was thinking, I can only be realistic, how can I let him play? I thought of playing myself and a star, so that there would be no such problem.
I hope this is a gift for Andy Lau. He used to play more characters in the theater world. Sometimes when I watch some big stars play particularly down-to-earth subjects, I feel that he is still the star, because your concept and understanding are all about him. If you have the opportunity to create characters in life, it is a particularly happy thing.
Andy Lau is the most experienced actor in acting. I was originally worried about communication problems, but later found that I didn’t need to. After giving him this script and this scene, he knew how to deal with it. And he is very accurate in his balance, and he is really an experienced artist.
This character is not the same as Andy Lau in all aspects, but there are still different aspects, and he needs to be shaped. When to bring out a particularly simple side and when to create a little bit, he still controls it very well, a little vague, breaking the line between true and false.
The next time we work together, "Mr. Red Carpet 2"? Actually I haven’t come up with a particularly complete story yet. He’s a particularly good actor, and I’m also a pretty good director, so I’m sure we’ll have a chance to work together.
02. "I hold on"
"Mr. Red Carpet" satirizes the various chaos within the film and television industry while delving into the dilemma of big star Liu Weichi’s communication with the outside world, including his discomfort and confusion in the face of PR crises, public relations processing, short video marketing, and the development of intelligent technology.
Why did you take the various forms of beings in the film and television industry as a question and focus on the issue of "communication"? Ning Hao said:
In today’s era of Internet and short videos, I am also thinking about what kind of subjects to shoot? Why can’t I show my life like an Internet creator? Show what the ecology around us is like?
It must not be simply extracted from life. Once a dramatic relationship is established, it is necessary to respect the direction of drama, so only some characteristics of the archetype are selected, and the rest is a fabricated story.
Is the irony of this story very sharp? It’s okay, leave room for it, it’s not too much. Many people have asked if you are reflecting the problems of the film and television industry? I say no. If it’s just to reflect a few phenomena, but to make the creation particularly stingy, it’s not right. For me, this is just a feeling in life. For example, I have met the management, but I don’t know about other circles. I have seen almost no management like in the movie, very rare.
As I get older, I like to observe more and more. I find out why it is always difficult to communicate? Why do you quarrel without saying a few words? There are often conflicts in the world, and there are often quarrels online for no reason. Everyone’s hostility has become heavier, and there may be some problems in communication.
There is a saying called "long live understanding", which is to understand others. The premise of understanding is to think from the perspective of others to understand. We all mention "empathy", but can it be done? Very difficult. Each of us cannot grow without you as the main body in our life. How can it be possible to change positions? There are many different conditions, men and women are different, different ages, different occupations, and different family environments. How can it be possible to think from another perspective.
Everyone forms their own path dependence, and everyone’s human nature has their own path of affirmation. If you are not sure of yourself, you will live too unhappy and have to self-realize. So we become more and more individualized, and this over-concentration of individual will is the expression of very ego, everyone is very ego, and they don’t care about others. The problem with this excessive ego can lead to the "self-clinging" part, which if it continues to develop is arrogance – I am right, others are wrong.
In the fragmented information age, we don’t have time to understand all the information. If you know a little bit, you may start to discuss or express your attitude, and it is easy for everyone to turn into emotions. So I am thinking about these communication issues.
How to solve it? Life has to go on for me.
What can you do when you know that life is already like this and you have no choice? You can only be forced to learn new skills, just like Liu Weichi finally learned to balance the car and continue to walk. We can only follow this era. As for what position you are in on it, you may sometimes be in danger of falling, and sometimes you feel quite free and comfortable for a moment, that is our attitude, and that can only be so.
I am willing to give the audience the right to interpret and leave space. I also don’t think artists can provide answers. Artists are not responsible for this. Sometimes it’s good to ask a question. If you can find a question, let’s talk about it.
03. "Minimalist"
From "Crazy Stone" to "Crazy Alien," Ning Hao said that his "crazy" movies are like oil paintings, rich, intense, boiling, restless, giving people a very full sense of fullness. "Mr. Red Carpet" is a light color painting, the content has not changed fundamentally, but the atmosphere has changed a lot, and it is a minimalist style.
In fact, this kind of lens language can be seen in Ning Hao’s earlier shooting. Why is there such a transformation and return to basics in "Mr. Red Carpet"? Ning Hao explained:
The minimalist style is more suitable for the performance of a star character like Liu Weichi. I am not particularly unfamiliar with relatively simple movies, and I have had such an exploration. But I haven’t made a movie with very few shots for a long time, so I want to give it another try.
Shooting movies in this style feels very familiar to me, just like the previous "Incense". The footage is very stable here, and I try to find scheduling internally, which is quite enjoyable.
The composition of on-site creation is higher, rather than being handed over to the post-editing stage. Of course, it is also difficult to cut, because it is very slow, the amount of footage is very small, and the amount of information cannot be less. The choice is very important. So it is a different force, a bit like playing Tai Chi.
I can’t say if the next movie will be in this style. It may have to be chosen according to the situation of the next movie. If it is a very noisy thing, it may still need to be "mentioned" a little more.
To say 72 changes, I am only the second change now, and there are still 70 times. The times are changing, and the requirements for creation are also changing. What style can combine my theme with the current era is the most important. Creation needs freshness, and I need to adjust it myself, so I can’t stay in the same state.
04. "Bad Monkey"
Since Ning Hao launched the "Bad Monkey 72 Movie Project" in 2016, he has assembled a group of outstanding young filmmakers, including two popular films with both high box office and good reputation, and won the summer box office championship in 2018 and 2023 respectively.
As the promoter and producer of Bad Monkey, Ning Hao continues to promote the plan, and he has many directing projects in the pipeline. What new films will Bad Monkey Film bring in 2024? Ning Hao revealed:
This year, we will have about four movies, "Mr. Red Carpet" is one, I have finished another movie, and there are two movies that young directors have finished filming. Director Wen Shipei’s "Negative Negative Positive" is more stylized, and director’s "I Know My Mom" is related to reality and is also more stylistic.
Many directors have found a path that they may be able to take. It is a good start for young directors to pay attention to reality and society to create. Of course, there can be other explorations in the future.
I am always thinking of new creations, and I am thinking of several stories at the same time, but I can’t find a good cut. Which one is closest to maturity, I will take out first. Because I am a factory child, I know a lot about factory life, so I am writing a story about the factory recently.
As for whether the theme is absurd or not, it may not be. But absurdity is already in my body. If not, I may not be too irritating, just like I always like to put a little pepper when I eat, and it is difficult to get rid of it when I get used to it, so it may still taste the same.
