In 1994, the eighty-four-episode TV series "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was filmed over a period of five years. Once it was broadcast, it was a crowd-pleaser! It is still an eternal memory that lingers in the memory of the Chinese people!
This film used more than 30,000 sets of costumes , more than 60,000 props, a total cost of 170 million yuan, built a city in Wuxi ! A military region was mobilized, more than 400,000 extras were mobilized, and it took 5 years to film.
In fact, it has faced difficulties such as actor strikes, casting struggles, lack of funds, etc. Just the controversy over Cao Cao's role change made the director very angry! In today's story of
, let us walk into the behind-the-scenes filming story of this masterpiece!
In the 1980s, with the popularity of the TV series Journey to the West and Dream of Red Mansions filmed by CCTV, CCTV and the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television agreed that classics should continue to be popularized at this time, and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which had not been mentioned before, was put on the filming schedule.
But because the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is long, the scenes are grand, and there are many characters!
The final producer job fell to Wang Fulin, who once served as the chief director of Dream of Red Mansions!
Wang Fulin
When the news came, Wang Fulin was frightened to death because the estimated filming cost of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was more than 100 million. In those days, all of this money was allocated by the state.
It costs such an astronomical figure. If it fails, the result will not be as simple as being scolded, but an extremely serious political mistake!
Wang Fulin kept resigning from CCTV for this reason, saying that his ability was limited, but the leadership had made up his mind and there was no room for change! In the end, Wang Fulin was forced to put
on the shelves, and he began to form a team and the first step of casting work.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there are more than 400 named characters in history, and there are more than 50 main characters with a fixed length.
In the discussion among everyone, the actors who played Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei were quickly determined.
But when it came to Zhuge Liang, it began to have dystocia. Although the world was divided into three parts: Wei, Shu and Wu, the soul of this TV series was actually Zhuge Liang.
If such a key figure cannot be decided for one day, the filming of the TV series will not be started for one day.
Just when the director team was in trouble, someone suggested that Tang Guoqiang should try it out. However, this proposal was immediately opposed by many people because Tang Guoqiang's nickname at that time was , cream niche, , which is equivalent to today's little fresh meat!
Most people don’t believe that he can play such an important role well!
Tang Guoqiang
Speaking of the nickname "Butterboy", Tang Guoqiang was also disgusted at that time. Because of this nickname, his acting career failed to recover for more than ten years.
The origin of this nickname is closely related to one person, that is the famous actor Chen Chong.
Chen Chong
The 1979 movie "小花" starring Tang Guoqiang became a hit on the screen! Tang Guoqiang also won the Ministry of Culture's Youth Outstanding Creation Award for this film, and became the top idol in the hearts of countless girls at that time!
During the later discussion of the movie, it happened to be Tang Guoqiang’s birthday. Chen Chong, who played his sister, sent a cake and smeared the cake on Tang Guoqiang’s face in full view of everyone!
and said: I am a brother, his skin is tenderer than mine, and he also likes to eat cream cakes , I might as well just call him a cream boy from now on.
Such a joke was the biggest taboo in that era, because the society at that time advocated hormones and heroes!
The nickname "cream boy" is tantamount to describing Tang Guoqiang as a delicate woman!
Eventually, the nickname Tang Guoqiang spread throughout the country, and he could no longer get roles as heroes or positive figures. In the following ten years, he once became a negative example for actors!
When he was about to give up his acting career in depression, he was unexpectedly invited to audition for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms!
Tang Guoqiang was overjoyed after receiving the notice. He hurried to Wang Fulin's office. The crew first asked Tang Guoqiang to play Zhou Yu instead of Zhuge Liang. But after changing into costume, Wang Fulin felt that it was not the same. Tang Guoqiang on the side was also disappointed!
When he thought he had failed! Unexpectedly, Wang Fulin suggested that he try again by pretending to be Zhuge Liang!
But in the end, the directors still did not give a definite answer on the spot. They just gave Tang Guoqiang a few pages of lines and asked him to go home and read them thoroughly.
After the Spring Festival in 1990, the director team asked Tang Guoqiang to come to the crew to audition again. However, the results were not ideal. At that time, someone proposed on the scene that Tang Guoqiang should be replaced!
In the final analysis, it is because Tang Guoqiang's image as a naughty boy makes everyone feel inconsistent and think that he cannot support the heroic Zhuge Liang!
is just like asking Lu Han and to play Yue Fei now. Not many people can accept it!
In the endless debate, Wang Fulin decided to give Tang Guoqiang one last chance! Let him shoot the first scene where Zhuge Liang sheds tears in the rain and later dies of illness Wuzhangyuan !
In just ten minutes of footage, Wang Fulin saw Tang Guoqiang's endless potential! Wang Fulin made the decision on the spot and decided that the role of Zhuge Liang must be Tang Guoqiang!
But who would have thought that as soon as the decision was issued, a snowstorm of complaint letters would fly to the room of the leader of the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television!
In addition to the producer Wang Fulin, a group of people including the deputy director, screenwriter, etc. all boycotted Tang Guoqiang's casting as Zhuge Liang!
There was nothing we could do. The leaders of the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television talked to Wang Fulin and asked him to act with caution! But at this time, Wang Fulin patted his chest and promised that if he hired the wrong person, he would be willing to bear all the consequences! When the news of
came, Tang Guoqiang was also inexplicably moved!
The final facts fully prove that Wang Fulin's decision to cast Tang Guoqiang was extremely correct. Even to this day, you can make fun of Tang Guoqiang's excavator commercials, but no one will ever think that he played Zhuge Liang poorly!
Wang Fulin's move not only allowed Tang Guoqiang to completely get rid of the title of "little boy", but also made Zhuge Liang in the version of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms broadcast in 1994 a peak that no one could surpass.
After Zhuge Liang's role was decided, Wang Fulin felt relieved. But at this time, a new situation arose on the crew. It turned out that , the popular actor surnamed Li, who played Cao Cao, , was unwilling to come to audition and got into trouble with the crew! In anger, Wang Fulin directly informed the actor that you don't need to try the play anymore, and you won't be used in the future!
As for who the actor named Li is, netizens have guessed a list, namely, Li Xuejian, Li Chengru, Li Youbin, and Li Baotian! Of course, who exactly is ? Wang Fulin did not answer in person!
Since the people in front are no longer here, the next step is to re-select the actors. At this time, someone proposed that a professor from the Central Academy of Drama should play the role. This professor is none other than Bao Guoan !
After many communications, Bao Guoan readily accepted the role and successfully created an unprecedented image of Cao Cao.Due to the difficult conditions during the filming of
, everyone received a fixed salary instead of a salary. Therefore, all actors, regardless of their fame, lived in a four-person room. For example, the three brothers , Liu, Guan, and Zhang always slept in the same room!
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in addition to Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao's roles that have gone through many twists and turns, the most difficult choice is Zhou Yu. The TV series has been filming for several months, but there is still no suitable candidate!
Just when Wang Fulin was having a headache, one day Shen Haofang from the directing team came to Wang Fulin and asked Wang Fulin, I have an actor here, should I let him try it?
The person Shen Haofang is talking about is Zhang Guangbei who eventually played Lu Bu in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
At that time, Zhang Guangbei was already a relatively famous actor in the industry by starring in movies such as Furong Town. After he came to audition, the result was very unsatisfactory. He pretended to be Zhou Yu, but he looked like Zhao Yun.
This gave everyone present a headache. In the end, the directors’ discussion was to let him play the role of Lu Bu!
In the following days, production director Hao Pengyun recommended Hong Yuyu to Wang Fulin to play Zhao Yun!
After Ke Hong came to the crew, Wang Fulin insisted that he play Zhao Yun!
At this time, Hong Yuyu was very reluctant and got emotional. As a result, he even missed the role of Zhao Yun, and finally had to play Yuan Shao!
Hong Yuzhou was extremely disappointed. For this reason, he kept asking Wang Fulin to tease him, and secretly memorized almost all Zhou Yu's lines himself! In addition, he used a box of cigarettes and used the props to dress him up like Zhou Yu, and went directly to Wang Fulin's office! Zhou Yu’s lines were recited on the spot!
In the end, his behavior impressed Wang Fulin, and he got the role of Zhou Yu as he wished.
As the male actors are getting better one by one, the next step is the actresses! Although there are not many female roles in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms! But each one is a historical figure with unique characteristics!
The most famous among them is Zhou Yu's wife, Xiao Qiao. For this role, Wang Fulin called almost all the beautiful actresses in the industry at that time to audition for the role, but the six audition directors had huge differences every time!
At this time, someone recommended that He Qing, the actor who plays Qin Keqing in Dream of Red Mansions, should be suitable!
For this reason, Wang Fulin notified He Qing to come to audition. After learning the news, He Qing was very resistant because she believed that well-known domestic actresses were not suitable even if they tried it out, and it would be in vain if she went there!
Unexpectedly, the moment she put on makeup and came out! All six directors raised their hands in agreement! This also determines the role of He Qing!
After many twists and turns, all the leading actors in Romance of the Three Kingdoms have finally been finalized.
In order to keep up with the filming schedule, Wang Fulin, as the chief producer and chief director, divided the crew into five parts, and each part had a director who was responsible for the filming independently!
As a result, I did not expect that the crew would face a big problem again, because shooting in groups will inevitably cause overlapping actors, and at the same time, it will also cause changes in the number of props, extras, etc.
In addition to these problems, there are a lot of war scenes in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and there are also many personnel accidents!
For example, the actor who played Hua Xiong fell from his horse and suffered multiple fractures!
Situations like this are not uncommon during filming. When Zhang Guangbei was filming, Lu Bu stabbed Dong Zhuo with the Fangtian Painted Halberd. Since the weapon weighed more than 30 kilograms, he accidentally hit Dong Zhuo's chest when he threw it, causing the opponent to break two ribs!
In order to make the shooting effect realistic, the props of the entire crew used real ones as much as possible. Of course, the result was that everyone was trembling with fear, spending every minute and every second, and bumps and bruises happened almost every day!
In order to film the war scenes, they even coordinated with the People's Liberation Army, and a total of 400,000 people were dispatched to participate in the filming!
In 1992, CCTV started broadcasting the six previously filmed episodes of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the early morning after broadcasting the Spring Festival Gala.I thought no one would watch it at midnight, but the ratings the next day were actually higher than the Spring Festival Gala! So much so that on the streets on the first day of the Lunar New Year, all people were humming was the theme song of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Yangtze River Passes East.
This is known as a classic TV drama theme song. It was also very popular at the time. There were three competitors for the original singing, one was Liu Huan , one was Gu Jianfen , and the last one was Yang Hongji !
Although Yang Hongji was fifty-two years old at that time, he did not have a single work that could be called a masterpiece.
Therefore, during the interview, facing Liu Huan and Gu Jianfen, Yang Hongji seemed very unsure! After singing it hastily, he felt that there was no chance of it, so he returned home first.
Unexpectedly, about a month later, Yang Hongji received a call from the crew. On the phone, Wang Fulin said, if you sing again, if you can sing seriously this time, the song will be yours!
In the end, Yang Hongji got this precious opportunity, and this was the song we hear today, the familiar "Rolling Waters of the Yangtze River East."
and people all over the country love the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The whole crew felt it was worth it.
The complete set of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in 1994 officially appeared on the CCTV screen on October 23.
For a time, almost all of Southeast Asia was aroused by the Three Kingdoms craze. Among them, the Thai audience is also very enthusiastic! For this reason, the local government also specially invited the main creators of the TV series to Thailand for promotion.
Before going there, the creators were still worried about how to dress politely, but they never imagined that when they arrived in Thailand, they would actually enjoy state guest-level treatment, stay in the best hotels, and eat luxurious meals. Even the king's uncle came to see them personally in a wheelchair.
More than 30 years have passed, and all the glory at that time has become today's classic.
Some of them have become powerful actors with the help of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and they are still active in the front line of acting, such as Tang Guoqiang. There are also people who have left us one after another, such as the two brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei who passed away this year!
Although in our eyes today, the production level of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which was broadcast in 1994, was not that good, in the hearts of our viewers, it has become a classic that will last forever.
