Huang Zhenzhen gave Zhou Dongyu a play and had to practice Mandarin well

Huang Zhenzhen said that according to the direction of each movie, to decide where to use the actors. Photo/Visual China

From Zhang Wanting, Luo Zhuoyao, to Xu Anhua... Once upon a time, Hong Kong female directors supported their own piece of film sky: even if the big screen was full of men who fought and killed and killed, the delicate perspective of female directors still occupied a territory. Among them, Huang Zhenzhen is a relatively alternative existence, eye-catching punk style, flamboyant personality, and unsurprising film attitude, which completes her sharp works.

Since 2004, when he was nominated for the Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards for "The Backseat on the Sixth Floor", Huang Zhenzhen, who had short hair and leather pants, spoke harshly and rebelled on the set, taking the film out of his personality and injecting a strong "femininity" into the mainland market.

20-year figure

Highest-grossing work: 2014 "Girlfriend" 205 million

Most Mainland Actors:

Wang Luodan Yang Zishan Bai Baihe Zhou Dongyu 1 time each

Most hong Kong actors: Xue Kaiqi 4 times

The most cooperative mainland companies: Fujian Hengye 5 times

Looking

Raising money to make films, he once handed out flyers to work as a bartender

Huang Zhenzhen was a rebellious "female man" who went to a girls' school, but liked the whole male teacher, and grew up happily in the punishment of the principal. In 1993, before the return of Hong Kong, Huang Zhenzhen studied in the Film Department of New York University in the United States, and his self-written and self-directed graduation work "HUGO" won the Best Student Work Award of New York University. But this did not allow her to smoothly step into the film circle, in order to raise money to make a film, Huang Zhenzhen cut bangs, wear a cheongsam on the street to send insurance leaflets have done, she took all her savings to speculate in stocks, within three months became a negative asset of six or seven hundred thousand failed shareholders, can only rely on being a bartender to make money to pay off debts. It can be said that Huang Zhenzhen's original film foundation was established in the United States, and he even opened a production company in New York between 1995 and 1998.

Two years after the return of Hong Kong, Huang Zhenzhen returned to Hong Kong to shoot her women's documentary "Women's Words", which became a hit. Through interviews with more than 60 women of different identities, ages and encounters, from female director Hui Anhua to special professions such as mistresses and stars, this work deeply explores the appearance of Hong Kong women.

The stunning appearance of "Woman's Words" made Huang Zhenzhen a topic figure, which led to the pure Hong Kong film "The Back seat of the Sixth Floor" that was later applauded and sold. Speaking of the birth process of this film, Huang Zhenzhen still remembers it vividly: "In 2003, I concentrated on this film all year, and the result exceeded my expectations, because the box office in Hong Kong was very high, which became a topic of discussion. After its release in 2003, I made a second episode, and recently there was a company investment that wanted me to supervise the production of the third episode. In addition, "The Back seat on the sixth floor" is really a very magical project, in fact, at that time, my inspiration was from a magazine in Beijing, called "Eight Singles and One Home" is to say that there were many young people from other places in Beijing at that time, and there were eight young people who rented a suite to live together and live together. It is indeed this Beijing article that inspired me to make this Hong Kong film.

It is this Sixth Floor Backseat series, with the plot of eating and the analysis of young people's real life attitudes, that Huang Zhenzhen was nominated for a new director at the Hong Kong Academy Awards. In 2004, she put a "pure grandfather" drama "Six Heroes" on the big screen, and was nominated for the Academy Award for New Director. Since then, Huang Zhenzhen's road to the north has also adhered to the maverick belief, opening the door to a new world for women's films.

Way

The next one is to shoot soft science fiction themes

Huang Zhenzhen's first work in the north is technically "Mulan" in March 2011 with Starlight International, but before that, her "Perfect Wedding Dress" and "Break Up and Say I Love You" have actually been considered co-productions, and its theme has always revolved around the two sensitive elements of "leftover women" and "post-80s". In "Tears of the Fallen City", which was released in December 2011, Huang Zhenzhen used a group of mainland actors such as Zhou Dongyu.

Regarding the difference between mainland and Hong Kong actors, Huang Zhenzhen's view is: "Most of the mainland actors are professionally trained, and they have a very accurate grasp of body movements and lines, and it is not difficult for them to have a few pages of lines in costume dramas." Let's say they cry in a scene, and they can get into the role very quickly. Hong Kong actors are sometimes singer-to-actors, so they can't grasp the conversion of many pages of lines and feelings quickly. But in many of the more lifelike plots, the improvisational ability of Hong Kong actors is very good. So I have to decide which actors to work with according to the direction of each film to achieve the best results. ”

The film that really made Huang Zhenzhen gain a foothold in the mainland and proved its market value was "Girlfriend", which was released in 2014. "Girlfriend" is the "leftover woman" theme that Huang Zhenzhen has always valued. The film resonated with many female audiences and earned more than 200 million at the box office. This year, she will also launch "Girlfriend 2: Nothing is Done".

Taking advantage of the "girlfriend" trend, Huang Zhenzhen led a group of Hong Kong staff to the mainland to open a company. Next, she said that she was preparing a soft sci-fi romance film this year, which fully proved that the north was realizing the possibility of various concocted films for her.

Same question and answer

Beijing News: Have you changed significantly in your personal or creative work in the past 20 years?

Huang Zhenzhen: My change is that in the past five years, I have spent a lot of time living in Beijing or different cities in the mainland. My company was set up in Beijing two years ago, and I moved to Beijing. So in the past two years, I have had more friends from the mainland, experienced more life in the mainland, and learned more about the background culture of the mainlanders, which I have enjoyed and broadened my horizons.

The biggest impact on creation is the market, and getting higher and higher box office does not mean that the market is getting easier and easier. Over the past year, I've felt more and more difficult. The high box office shows that the audience is more and more fond of watching movies, but their requirements are also getting higher and higher. 20 years ago, our Hong Kong directors only made Hong Kong-made films, and now we must first understand the market and culture of the mainland. So it's important to pick the subject matter. If the subject matter is too localized in Hong Kong, then the audience on the mainland will not feel it.

Beijing News: What is the biggest feeling about the increase in cooperation with mainland actors?

Huang Zhenzhen: What impressed me was my first film in mainland China, Tears of the Fallen City, when I worked with Zhou Dongyu. I remember once I was on the set and told Zhou Dongyu a lot about the content of the script, she looked at me very blankly and said, "Director, I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you just said." "After that, I felt that I had to improve my Mandarin to better communicate with the actors.

Beijing News: There are not many Hong Kong actors active now, what do you think about the actor fault problem?

Huang Zhenzhen: The problem that Hong Kong actors have few opportunities to co-produce films is really difficult to solve. The first is that hong kong actors have different interpretation methods than mainland actors. Another point is language, hong Kong actors may not pronounce Mandarin less accurately.

Beijing News: How much time do you spend in the mainland in a year now? Are there more co-workers in the mainland or more in Hong Kong? (What percentage of each).

Huang Zhenzhen: In the past few years, because my company is in Beijing, it has spent more time in the mainland, but the cooperative staff can be said to be half and half. Among the colleagues in the director's group, the Hong Kong staff may be in tune with me in terms of work rhythm, but there are also some mainland photographers.

Beijing News: If you can go back in time, what do you most want to say to yourself 20 years ago?

Huang Zhenzhen: 20 years ago, in 1997, I just graduated from the United States. Because I can't find an investor, I can only use my own funds to invest in stocks. Almost went bankrupt, and finally returned to Hong Kong with debts. But now I will not say to myself at that time: "Don't invest in stocks, don't be stupid, you will go bankrupt." I'll just say "work hard and keep going the way you're going". I think life, especially those who create art, needs the experience of failure.

Written by Beijing News reporter An Ying

For more detailed news, please visit the Beijing News www.bjnews.com.cn