In the 86 version of "Journey to the West" directed by Yang Jie, a large number of opera actors and artists participated in the filming, adding a lot of color to this mythical drama adapted from a classical masterpiece. Director Yang Jie was an opera director before, and he knew many opera actors. Another thing she believed was that only opera actors could have the most classical attitude and charm. It is a great event for the Chinese nation to be able to move classical masterpieces to the screen, and many people are willing to give their help. However, the selection of this role was not smooth at the beginning of the filming and even caused a lot of trouble to the crew.
filmed in 1982 in the first episode of "Extinguishing the Demon Black Chicken Country" (trial episode). After director Yang Jie selected Li Weikang of the National Peking Opera to play the role of the black chicken king, Li Weikang was dignified and elegant, very suitable for this role. When the filming started, Li Weikang's unit temporarily changed his mind. Li Weikang is the pillar of the National Peking Opera Theater. She is now a leading figure in Peking Opera and has created the glory of Peking Opera. At that time, the unit said nothing about letting people go. At that time, they were all state-owned units. It was not Yang Jie's decision to hire anyone. The actors themselves could not be the masters, and the actors' units must agree.
Li Weikang could not come to the crew and filming brought too much trouble to the crew. Yang Jie had no other way to choose another actor temporarily. At that time, the crew was in Yangzhou and could only find actors in a nearby troupe because time was really tight. So she mobilized the crew to search for Yangzhou and Nanjing, and finally found Zheng Chuqi, a drama actor of Nanjing Repertory Troupe.
Yang Jie is not satisfied with her, but it will be, other actors are not as good as her. There were a lot of problems in the trial episode. Yang Jie decided to remake it a few years later, in which she changed her role as the queen, and found the dignified, rich and beautiful film actor Xiang Mei, who was deeply satisfied and loved by the audience.
