Play bone

It's not hard to imagine how "wonderful" Shen Xingze's expression was the next morning.As a result, Lu Li received three long-winded texts all morning, asking him to continue what he didn't finish last night.

However, considering the intensity of Shen Xingxuan's work, Lu Li made up his mind after eating the weight, and never agreed to those various and weird adult games.

Before I knew it, it was the first ten days of June. The main creators of the "Eternal Life" crew gathered in Beijing and set off for the location in Inner Mongolia.

It was a long journey. The crew first took a plane to Xilinhot, then took a train to a certain banner under the Xilin Gol League, and then changed cars to arrive at a small town under the banner.In the next two weeks, they will stay in the cultural center in the village to experience life and receive basic guidance and training from local literary and art workers.

A total of 15 actors joined the group at the same time as Lu Li, most of them were Han Chinese from big cities.Only Qiqige, the most important actress in the play, is a 17-year-old Mongolian girl.She is from the military art troupe, and she has not been in the army for long, and she is still full of the innocence and wildness of a little girl.Standing among a group of gray old men, it is as bright as a red flower on the evergreen grassland.

In addition to Qiqige, there are several other main actors who soon became familiar with Lu Li.Among them, the one with the best relationship is Lu Li's "father-in-law" Lin Gan.

The blind date of the two black cats finally produced a wonderful result - Lin Gan's little female cat gave birth to two black cats, a tabby cat and a white cat.The two in-laws who don't know much about feline genetics are inexplicably a little embarrassed, but it doesn't matter, anyway, as long as the cat is cute enough.One of the little black cats has been handed over to Shen Xingxuan, and it is estimated that it is currently thriving under the careful care of the Shen family's nanny.

Speaking of serious matters, Lin Gan played the second male lead of "Longevity", the shepherd Balth.Balsi means "tiger" in Mongolian, and the character image is also full of wildness and strength.For this reason, Lin Gan has undergone three months of muscle and strength training.Originally following a melancholy literary route, he tried "Longevity" as a very important transformation attempt.And the seriousness he felt from him made Lu Li more and more hopeful and confident about this film.

During the period of living in the township cultural center, everyone mainly learned some local customs and simple Mongolian language, songs and dances, and visited some local educated youth spots (most of them are now local cultural protection units).

The living conditions in the village are relatively simple, and the relative schedule is not tense.Lu Li even had time to roam the streets and call Shen Xingze to report his safety.

After two weeks, everyone gradually faded the vigor brought by the big city, and the crew held the opening ceremony at the local educated youth spot.Taking advantage of the fact that all the actors were still quite tender, the first filming started was a few scenes in which Lu Kaifeng and his partners came to the ranch to jump in line and settle down.Nostalgia and reluctance for his hometown, ignorance and apprehension about fate - Lu Li doesn't need to expend too much effort to accurately grasp the character's psychology, and quickly enter the state, even more handy than many "old actors".

The scenes at the station and the educated youth spot lasted for two weeks, and then the crew moved to the most important location—the pastoral area.In order not to disturb the normal life of the local herdsmen, the crew rented an abandoned tourist facility on the edge of the collective pasture away from the summer camp as a temporary outdoor attraction.To put it bluntly, this is a dilapidated yurt. The biggest advantage is that it is connected to electricity. In addition, there are occasional big nights, and you can barely sleep in it.

Most of the time, the crew members live in the Sumu Guest House, which is half an hour's drive from the location.The conditions here are much more difficult than those in the township cultural center.The most important thing is that there are a large number of crew members and limited rooms, so personal space is forced to be compressed.An important actor like Lu Li also had to share a room with others, and his roommate was none other than Lin Gan.

Of course, all this material deprivation is to be expected.Those who are truly passionate about creation will not be deterred by these small episodes.While the art team was working overtime to tidy up the yurts, the actor team also started the second round of more in-depth learning experience.

Riding horses, harnessing ox carts, making butter, learning about various pastures and wild vegetables, and even lighting fires with cow and sheep dung.Basically, the actors are familiar with the daily work of herdsmen.The hardest part is herding the sheep. At three o'clock in the morning, the actors will leave for the herdsman's home, and help drive the sheep to the summer camp at four o'clock.Then go to take care of them twice at noon and afternoon, and drive the flock back to the sheepfold in the evening.

Lu Li's luck was relatively "good". On the day when it was his turn to graze, he also helped to deal with a wounded lamb. When he found out that the wound was festered and infested with worms, the herdsman used a red-hot needle to remove the writhing maggots from the wound bit by bit. Pick it out and burn it on the fire. The burnt smell lingered on Lu Li's nose for a long time and couldn't go away.

The lamb's wound was determined by the herders to be caused by the bite of a wild wolf.Out of safety considerations, the crew also consulted the cadres of the local forestry bureau about the wolf pack, and the reply they got was: I heard that before the middle of the last century, there were still many wild wolves on this grassland.Later, the development of pastures led to the migration of wild wolves, and no wolves have been seen for decades; moreover, there is sufficient food source in summer, so there is no need for wolves to take risks to challenge human authority.

Contrary to official claims, herders insist that wolves have never been far from the grasslands.It is said that Lu Li and his herdsmen had a wolf in their house, which was taken out of the wolf's den many years ago.Because the policy does not allow wolves to be raised, they are all declared to be dogs.However, some herdsmen revealed in private: In fact, it is a wolf dog at all, and it was just a gimmick of a wolf in order to attract tourists.

Lu Li had also seen the creature in question with his own eyes.There are no cages or chains, so they live freely on the pasture.From a distance, it looked like any other dog in the herdsman's house; but when he got close, especially when he met his eyes, Lu Li could still feel a burst of instinctive fear.

What is the difference between wolves and dogs?Is it the drooping tail, or the always shining eyes?Perhaps the difference only exists in the subconscious of human beings—the memory of being hurt by the ancestors is deeply imprinted in the genetic material, making people unable to cross the threshold of trust.

What about wolves?What is imprinted in its bones and blood, making it wild and cunning; and will it really be tamed by humans, from a bloodthirsty beast to a loyal partner?

Whenever Lu Li saw that "wolf", these questions always popped up in his mind inexplicably.But not once, he never seriously looked for an answer.

After another week, the yurt on the location was completely remodeled.The faded tapestry was replaced with an old rough felt, and mud was splashed on it. At first glance, it really looked like a cultural relic left over half a century ago.The improved wooden platform inside the yurt was also pried away, and the wet soil layer was exposed and directly covered with felt; the furnishings are also very simple, and various slogans and portraits are indispensable.

Without a day's rest, the shooting of the exterior part began immediately.

The original work of "Longevity" tells the story of 16-year-old Lu Kaifeng and a group of educated youth companions who came to the grassland to jump in and settle down.In the long-term hard and isolated life, some people fell ill and had accidents; some chose to escape, some escaped successfully, and some took root here to reproduce.Lu Kaifeng, who is innocent and cowardly by nature, is a low-level person in this group. After encountering a series of insults, blows and injuries, he chooses to take revenge on those who hurt him in his own way, and then disappears into the world together with the herdsman Balth. On the snow-capped Tengger Peak.

This is a sombre, low-key film.Because of the magnificent grassland scenery, it adds a touch of tragic beauty.Regardless of the subject matter or the plot, there are so-called "award-winning appearances". The director Han Weimin obviously has high hopes.Fortunately, after nearly a month of running-in, the crew has been operating efficiently like a perfectly designed machine.

Of course, the high creative enthusiasm is only one aspect of the life of the crew; on the other hand, the long-term close contact with the grassland has also brought many new problems to the surface.

Mosquito bites can only be regarded as trivial matters.The temperature difference between day and night on the grassland in August is quite large, and the temperature difference can even be [-] degrees at the most exaggerated time.There are no forests or large lakes in the area, and water resources are scarce. After filming for a whole day in disgrace, I can only wipe my body when I go back; I take a hot bath once a week, and the time is also limited.

And the most troublesome thing is the problem of eating.

The local area is a remote pastoral area. After the implementation of the policy of returning grazing land to grassland, the business of the whole Sumu has become increasingly depressed.Local people buy vegetables from the city in batches of several months at a time, mostly potatoes, cabbage and radishes that are durable to storage.Therefore, the diet arranged by the guest house for the crew is also mainly meat, with a single and scarce variety of vegetables.After a period of time, many members of the crew began to suffer from bleeding gums and oral ulcers. Actors like Lu Li grinned in pain as soon as they spoke, and vitamins became the most popular medicine.

After negotiation, the Life Producer had to temporarily allocate a sum of money to let people go to the vegetable and fruit shop in the town to purchase ingredients, which barely ensured the balance of the diet.

When material conditions cannot be met, people will start to seek inner peace.

In the first two weeks, during the lunch break, the staff could still be seen taking pictures in twos and threes, picking wild flowers, and looking for mushroom rings hidden in the grass.However, these joys gradually disappeared, replaced by meditators with their mouths wide open and looking up at the floating clouds.

Once upon a time, Lu Li almost became a member of this group of meditators - the mobile phone signal in the location was very unstable, and he could neither browse the web nor maintain a smooth connection with Shen Xingze.Fortunately, Lin Gan brought a guitar with him, and the small-scale self-playing and singing concert became the most important pastime besides being in a daze.Lin Gan has a good voice and has released singles before, but for some reason, he always likes to sing some sad and melancholy songs. After singing, he feels that a layer of dewdrops will condense on the surrounding grass.

Of course, when not singing, Lu Li will always stay with Lin Gan, because this is also the request of director Han Weimin.

In the film, the only person Lu Kaifeng can trust and rely on is Balth.From a certain point of view, the existence of Balth is a call of natural force to Lu Kaifeng.When talking about drama in private, Han Weimin even raised a concept: there may even be a spiritual love relationship between Lu Kaifeng and Balth.Of course, this kind of emotion is a restrained emotion that transcends material desires. How to express it appropriately and avoid vulgarity will be the most important topic for Lu Li and Lin Gan.