Just after the filming of the 1994 version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms " was completed, a strange thing happened!
After receiving the news, Japan's NHK TV station immediately rushed to buy the overseas broadcast rights of the 1994 version of "Three Kingdoms".
However, at that time, Chinese TV stations had no concept of copyright at all, so they quoted a sky-high price of of US$10,000 per episode for .
But who would have thought that when Japanese TV station heard the producer's quotation, they didn't even pay back the price and asked to sign a contract on the spot, as if they had gotten a big deal. This reaction almost made the crew regretful!
Facts have proved that Japanese TV stations have a good vision. When this classic was released in Japan, it quickly became popular on the streets. After the broadcast, Japanese audiences even asked for it to be broadcast again.
The audience cried and signed a petition to the TV station, and even once alarmed Japan's "Three Kingdoms fan" Emperor Akihito, so the 1994 version of "Three Kingdoms" became the only Chinese TV series in Japanese history that was broadcast twice in a row .
In fact, the Japanese have always been very attached to the "Three Kingdoms Culture". Japanese cartoonist Yokoyama Mitsuki 's "Three Kingdoms " has been serialized for 15 years. Japan has also produced a series of Three Kingdoms based on "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" The theme of the game has far-reaching influence to this day.
And when CCTV announced the filming of the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Japanese TV stations rushed to China to request co-production, and even proactively announced that they would bear all the investment.
But they made a request, expressing their hope that Japanese actors should be cast in Zhuge Liang .
It is indeed very expensive to shoot a historical masterpiece like "Three Kingdoms", but this masterpiece has far-reaching influence. It is absolutely impossible for Japanese to play heroes in Chinese history, so CCTV decisively refused. This TV station later put the show on hold due to financial problems.
It was not until 1989 that "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" finally restarted filming, and Wang Fulin , who had made the successful "A Dream of Red Mansions", was selected as the director.
However, what all the viewers did not expect was that the director actually chose the author of "The Girl Picking Mushrooms" to compose the theme song.
As soon as the news came out, it aroused nationwide opposition. After all, it was unthinkable to let a woman who wrote children's songs set the tone for the "Three Kingdoms" where heroes competed:
But I didn't expect that it was this woman who everyone disliked. Although he is a composer, he created the heroic "Rolling Waters of the Yangtze River East".
One song directly eliminated all alternative male composers, making those who were opposed to it feel ashamed!
What's interesting is that not only did she compose the music for "Three Kingdoms" herself, Gu Jianfen also invited her best friend Wang Jian, and the two of them created more than 10 songs for "Three Kingdoms" together, completely making those who look down on female composers completely The people at home have nothing to say.
When the crew of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" went to Thailand to perform, they were treated like Thai state guests. The uncle of the King of Thailand even personally met all the creators in a wheelchair!
However, what they didn't know was that just before the creative team left, the leading actors of were warned not to steal corn in Thailand because they had a "criminal record".
When filming "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", although a huge amount of 170 million was invested in this magnificent production, when the remuneration was actually distributed to each leading actor, the average was only 250 yuan, which was the lowest remuneration among all the crew at the time.
Therefore, the people who rented cars, raised horses, and sold box lunches around the crew all made a fortune, but the actors in the crew were extremely poor. Because the food at that time was so "shabby", "Cao Cao" also suffered from lack of money. Lose temper after eating meat.
At that time, everyone on the crew, from the director to the actors, received the same treatment. But one day, when the crew was serving a meal, because they did not recognize the leading actor Bao Guoan, they threw out the meat that was supposed to be given to him. , causing Bao Guoan to feel aggrieved for a long time.
Not only that, sometimes he had to think of ways to give himself a dental sacrifice when he couldn't eat enough. One night, in the dead of night, Bao Guoan came up with the idea to let the three brothers "Liu Guan and Zhang" go to the cornfield behind the crew to steal corn.
After arriving at the cornfield, the three hungry people broke and ate at the same time. However, after a while, the fellow villagers heard the news and came with several dogs to arrest them. In the chaos, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei ran away, leaving only Sun Yanjun, who played Liu Bei, alone holding corn messy in the wind.
After learning about this incident, Cao Cao and Bao Guoan quickly took the money to redeem Liu Bei, but he was also very poor at the time, so he had to ask Wu Xiaodong, who played Sun Quan, to collect 50 yuan, and finally "ransomed" Liu Bei back. .
However, this incident eventually reached the ears of the director, and the three brothers were immediately reprimanded. However, considering that the actors were suffering too much at the time, the crew ultimately borne the money.
After this incident, the three brothers were often teased for it. Even when they went to Thailand, the three brothers were warned in advance by the crew.
However, despite the hardships during the filming of this drama, it achieved explosive results when it was broadcast. It was not only popular in Japan, but also achieved the same effect in Southeast Asia.
The King of Thailand has included "Three Kingdoms" as a must-learn method of governing the country for the royal family, and the Ministry of Education has also added "Three Kingdoms" to its textbooks.
In addition, ordinary fans are even more enthusiastic about "Three Kingdoms".
When the main creative staff of the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" came to Thailand for promotion, a Thai female fan was obsessed with Wu Xiaodong, the actor of Sun Quan, and launched a crazy pursuit of him. However, at that time, Wu Xiaodong had already been with the actor in "Dream of Red Mansions" Ping'er's actor Shen Lin got married, and the fan gave up.
The precise casting of the TV series is a very important reason why the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is so successful!
When filming the 1994 version of "Three Kingdoms", director Wang Fulin encountered a big problem. At that time, other actors in the crew had been selected, but only Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang could not find suitable candidates.
At that time, Wang Fulin found a well-known actor named Li. However, when the crew invited him to audition, the actor arrogantly refused the director's request, so Wang Fulin couldn't bear it and replaced him directly.
Without Cao Cao, "Three Kingdoms" lacked a soul figure. Just when Wang Fulin was anxious, other directors on the crew recommended to him Bao Guoan, who was still teaching at in .
In fact, Bao Guoan has been eyeing the role of "Cao Cao" for a long time, but he just suffered from lack of opportunities. He thought it would be difficult to cast the role by himself, but he didn't expect that after Wang Fulin met him, he just chatted with him and decided. Come down.
As expected, Bao Guoan lived up to expectations. Ever since he decided to cast him as Cao Cao, he studied on the set like an obsession, studied literature and consulted experts and scholars from all over the world. Just one laugh from Cao Cao made him think about half of it. Months long.
After filming "Three Kingdoms" alone, Bao Guoan wrote 4 papers. It can be said that he has completely understood this role. This level of dedication has also led to the fact that no one can surpass this role.
In addition to Cao Cao, it is also difficult to choose an actor for the role of Zhuge Liang. The drama has been filming for half a year, and Zhuge Liang still has not found the right person.
At that time, Tang Guoqiang was also on the crew, but the role he played at that time was still Zhou Yu, because at that time he was handsome and a proper little boy, and he could not get along with Zhuge Liang at all, so he became Wang Fulin When he was asked to play Zhuge Liang, there was a lot of opposition.
Radio and television at that time alone received a sack of letters of opposition. Many viewers said that if Tang Guoqiang was allowed to play Zhuge Liang, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" would be ruined!
But despite widespread opposition at the time, director Wang Fulin was still very persistent.
Faced with the director's objections, Tang Guoqiang was also deeply moved. He also urgently needed a drama to change his image as a naughty boy, so he tried his best to play Zhuge Liang well.
In order to reflect Zhuge Liang's ability to stand out from the crowd, he studied all the famous works such as "Spring and Autumn" and "Historical Records". He also learned from the traditional Chinese opera fans' practice of shaking fans to optimize Zhuge Liang's image from the inside out. .
So with his efforts, he performed the first scene vividly, and the opposition within the crew stopped abruptly.
Nowadays, the heroes in "Three Kingdoms" have aged one after another, and the story of "Three Kingdoms" is also constantly being remade. However, it is difficult to surpass the classics of the year, because if you want to make a good drama, you cannot just rely on the director. And investment, the actor's acting skills and character are equally important.
