China Entertainment 1981: Starting from Journey to the West

In my previous life, I celebrated the Spring Festival. After visiting relatives on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the year was considered over. By the second Lunar New Year, the flavor of the New Year was basically gone. Nowadays, the Lunar New Year is obviously much more solemn.

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Gu Bei saw off Ma San'er and Ma Gan'er who were going south, and also wanted to pick them up at the station.

It was agreed years ago that the Zhang family and his son would come to the capital today.

Wrapped in a military coat, I waited in the square for an hour, my lips almost turning purple from the cold. Finally I saw the Zhang family and his son walking out of the platform. There was a young man with them. If I looked carefully, I saw that it was the same man as last time. Zhang Jinyuan, a seven-year-old boy whom I met in Shaoxing.

Originally Teacher Zhang recommended Zhu Bajie to Yang Jie as a candidate, but unfortunately now he has Ma Dehua, so I can only regretfully say sorry.

"Three Teachers Zhang, this way, this way."

Gu Bei rubbed his face hard twice and shouted loudly. The train station was noisy and he shouted several times before finally attracting the attention of the Zhang family's father and son.

"It's been a long time!"

Although Teacher Zhang is a national treasure-level opera artist, he has no airs at all, and his angry words are polite.

"No, I just came here too."

If Gu Bei didn't tremble when he spoke, the Zhang family and his son might have believed him.

"Teacher Zhang, Director Yang has important meetings this morning and afternoon. I have arranged for me to pick you three up. Director Yang will meet with you again tomorrow."

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Teacher Zhang was smiling and didn't seem to be worried about the character at all.

The weather was too cold, so Gu Bei helped carry the luggage, and then they got on the bus together. The station had issued certificates, and the three of them were arranged to stay in the third guest house, which was a cooperative unit of CCTV.

The actors who came to audition before all lived here.

After helping everyone get settled, Gu Bei just left. He was supposed to have a day off today, but he was delayed for most of the day picking up people.

Seeing that it was still early, Gu Bei went to the courtyard of Baihua Hutong. Since buying it, Gu Bei has only been here a few times and cleaned it inside and out.

It's really not possible to leave the house unoccupied for a long time, and Gu Bei can't move here now.

I originally thought about recruiting a tenant to help look after the house, but I was afraid that I would end up occupying the magpie's nest. This kind of thing is not uncommon nowadays, so it is better to be careful.

I can only think of a way later.

The next day when he arrived at the work unit, Gu Bei was captured by Yang Jie and went to entertain the Zhang family's father, son, uncle and nephew.

Just after registering at the door and preparing to go upstairs, Gu Bei turned around and saw Teacher Zhang walking upstairs carrying four thermos bottles.

"Teacher Zhang!"

The old man turned around and saw Yang Jie and Gu Bei. He smiled and nodded: "Director Yang, Comrade Gu, you are here so early!"

Yang Jie looked puzzled: "Teacher Zhang! Didn't the waiter here fetch you water?"

The old man smiled and shook his head: "Hi, I am giving Jin Lai a bath. It is a habit developed since childhood. I have to take a bath as soon as I wake up."

Uh……

Hearing this, Gu Bei was also speechless.

Yang Jie's heart skipped a beat. Zhang Jinlai, who is in his 20s, actually still needs his 60-year-old father to fetch bath water?
"Teacher Zhang, can you give Jin Lai bath water? How many times do you have to run like this?"

The old man was still smiling, as if he didn't notice anything was wrong with Yang Jie's expression.

"No more, no more, just two trips is enough."

"Two times, then he..."

The old man finally came to his senses and explained quickly: "Jin Lai has been weak since he was a child and was favored at home. He basically doesn't know how to take care of himself. After work, his clothes have to be brought home from Hangzhou for his mother to wash. "

That's pretty cool!

He is clearly a young master!
Regardless of anyone, as long as she comes to the preparation team of "Journey to the West", the first thing Yang Jie will do is to inoculate the other person and be prepared to endure hardships.

If Zhang Jinlai can't even take care of himself, will the crew have to hire someone to take care of him for several years?
Gu Bei was also stunned for a moment. He didn't expect Brother Monkey to be so cute.

Just when she was thinking about how to talk to Teacher Zhang, Yang Jie blurted out: "If he can't endure hardship, he can still..."

Teacher Zhang seemed to understand what Director Yang Jie meant, and said quickly: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, his brother is here and will take care of him!"

After hearing this, it took Yang Jie and Gu Bei a while to figure out that the brother Teacher Zhang was talking about was Zhang Jinyuan, a little seven-year-old boy!
It's a shame that he still has the responsibility of taking care of his cousin's life.

After Teacher Zhang finished speaking, he went upstairs with the thermos bottle, but Yang Jie stayed where she was, looking at Gu Bei and asked: "How can you play Sun Wukong if you are so delicate?"

These words were not so much a question to Gu Bei as a question to herself. "Director Yang, it's better to take him back to the stage first and let the leaders have a look. Then we can make a decision after reading it!"

Gu Bei could tell that Director Yang Jie was already shaken.

The crew can't afford to keep such a squeamish monkey.

"Okay, I won't go up. You go talk to Teacher Zhang and we will set off later."

Gu Bei agreed, turned around and went upstairs.

By the time Zhang Jinlai finished taking a shower, Yang Jie had been waiting downstairs for half an hour.

On the way back to CCTV, Yang Jie remained silent. Probably the old lady was weighing her thoughts at the moment, so she didn't bother her.

When they arrived at the stage, Yang Jie invited two deputy directors, Hong Minsheng and Ruan Ruolin, to review the monkey moves performed by Zhang Jinlai and a short clip from a stage play together in the conference room.

Compared with the last time in Shaoxing, Zhang Jinlai has obviously made great progress during this period. Teacher Zhang must have spent a lot of effort.

After watching it, Hong Minsheng and Ruan Ruolin also expressed their satisfaction. However, Hong Minsheng said he didn't like Zhu Bajie, the co-star, and the reason given was that he was too thin.

Fortunately, the crew has already chosen Ma Dehua, who will be coming to the capital in a few days.

The monkey was finally settled. Later, Yang Jie told Teacher Zhang the good news in person, and Gu Bei followed. It could be seen that Teacher Zhang was both happy and a little disappointed.

Probably because the original plan to have Zhang Jinyuan join the cast so that someone would take care of Zhang Jinlai when he was on the set was not realized.

Seeing Teacher Zhang's reaction, Yang Jie's expression became solemn: "Teacher Zhang, if Jin Lai wants to play Sun Wukong well, he must not only have excellent professional skills, but also be prepared to endure hardships."

If this problem cannot be solved, Yang Jie would rather endure the pain and replace someone than have a young master in the crew who would ruin the atmosphere of the entire team.

"The most basic thing is that he must be able to take care of himself. It is impossible for the crew to have someone to take care of him."

Although Teacher Zhang felt sorry for his son, he also understood that Director Yang Jie was right. Zhang Jinlai joined the crew to film, not to enjoy life. If he could not take care of himself, he would not be able to stay on the crew at all.

"Director Yang, don't worry, Jin Lai promises to overcome this issue."

Yang Jie nodded. She had already said what she said. Whether she could achieve it would depend on her actual performance. If when she went out to look for scenes this time, when she came back, Zhang Jinlai was still a young man who needed his father to take care of him. Then there would be nothing to say.

"In addition, you have to study harder. What you know now is still far away from Sun Wukong. You need to learn new things. Next, I will go out to collect scenery. You still have some time to prepare. First, try to use your father's things as much as possible. You should learn more, and after joining the group, you can master other things, such as martial arts, performances, etc., and I will arrange someone to teach you."

After returning to work, the work of the "Journey to the West" preparatory team has also entered a new stage. Previously, most of the time was spent discussing and researching, discovering problems, and then solving them.

A lot of things just fall on paper.

In the next period of time, it will be time to get started. Yang Jie will lead a team to go out for location shooting, and the actors who have been scheduled will also come to the capital one after another.

The crew contacted Renyi through the station and invited several old artists to come and give lessons to the actors. Because most of the actors were originally engaged in opera, they needed to be re-taught how to bring performances to life.

In addition to acting teachers, Yang Jie also personally went to Shichahai Martial Arts School to invite two martial arts coaches to teach the actors some basic martial arts moves.

In short, all actors have to start from scratch. All their previous achievements on the opera stage are forgotten, and they have to start a new business with drums and gongs.

After telling Zhang Jinlai, Yang Jie did not forget to tell Teacher Zhang a few more words: "Teacher Zhang, I also have a request for you. You must teach Jinlai as much as possible about all your skills. Don't feel sorry for him." , let him work more on his own in life, so that he can feel more relaxed when he actually joins the team."

Teacher Zhang naturally patted his chest and promised again and again: "Director Yang, we promise to do what you said. When you come back and watch it, it will definitely be different from now."

hope so!
After sending the Zhang family and his son away from CCTV, Yang Jie didn't take Gu Bei back until they got on the bus.

"Xiao Gu, do you think... it can be done?"

Gu Bei couldn't tell whether it would work, but he knew that it was Zhang Jinlai who successfully created the character of Monkey King Sun Wukong in his previous life. Thinking about it, he should have overcome all difficulties no matter how difficult it was.

"I think it's no problem. It's not too difficult. Besides, the Zhang family will definitely be reluctant to give up such a good opportunity. No matter how many difficulties there are, they have to overcome them."

Yang Jie was puzzled: "How do you say that?"

Gu Bei said with a smile: "Think about it, the Southern Monkey King is now heading north. If he can capture the role of Sun Wukong in the TV series "Journey to the West" in the Northern Monkey King's territory, people will mention the monkey opera family in the future..."

Understood.

Needless to say, Yang Jie also understood what Gu Bei meant.

"You kid, why do you always think about people in wrong ways? Just tell me this, but don't mention it to anyone else, remember?"

Looking at Director Yang Jie's half-smiling expression, she obviously agreed with Gu Bei's statement.

"I know, I accept your criticism humbly."

"Slippery, let's go, there are many things to do!"