China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 653 Interview
As "The Night the Comet Came" hits theaters, Wang Shu promotes the movie to attract more people to buy tickets and go to theaters.

At this moment, he once again accepted an exclusive interview with the Sina Entertainment reporter.

Sina reporter asked: "How did the idea of ​​'The Night the Comet Came' come about?"

Wang Shu: "At the time, I was in Los Angeles and wrote the script for Pacific Rim. Then I wondered how to make a movie that was different from the thousands of independent films that talked about clichéd relationships. So I thought of Time Traveler and The Ship, and combined these two films, I came up with the concept of this multi-dimensional reality world. After that, I began to design the gags, draw the relationships between the characters, and make them stick to the theme."

Sina reporter: "The scripts you wrote before were all high-investment and high-cost projects. But this time, you used the least resources to make this film. Haven't you ever thought about seeking other sources of funds?"

Wang Shu: “No, I deliberately don’t do that. The purpose of making those blockbusters is to accumulate start-up funds for my crazy independent experimental films, and then try to make independent films. Especially after “Travel to Taipei” and “Pacific Rim”, I deliberately chose to return to simple and pure things.”

Sina reporter: "So regarding casting, how did you decide who would play these roles?"

Wang Shu: "They are all people who trust me enough to come to my house even if they don't know what to do and even if there is no script. And they don't know each other. I assign roles based on each person's characteristics and how well they match the characters in the script."

Sina reporter: "What information did you tell the actors during the filming?"

Wang Shu: "We shot for three days in total. Every day, each actor was given a piece of note paper with a list of what they were going to do that night, as well as some situational conditions and action goals, such as 'If X happens, you have to do X' or 'Try to leave this house today'."

Sina reporter: "Do they know the tone and plot of the movie? Because the plot quickly took a sharp turn from a happy and harmonious atmosphere."

Wang Shu: "I don't want them to know, that's why we don't tell them the specific role settings."

"I just try to tell them: 'You are the most ordinary people at a dinner party of people who think they are the elite.'"

"If they tell it all, they will just be thinking about how to interpret these characters in a surreal situation, which will be unnatural and not attractive enough."

Sina reporter: "So, you just need to keep scaring them, right? Were they really scared at the end of the filming?"

Wang Shu: "Of course. The first day was the scariest for them because there was a sudden power outage and knocks on the door. When the note appeared, they really realized: 'Okay, this is really a horror fun house. We are not doing an improvised experiment, but are locked in a horror fun house designed specifically for us.' And when they found out that there were more horror fun houses waiting for them outside, they were really excited."

Sina reporter: "Have you thought about the exact ending of the film?"

Wang Shu: "I have a rough idea. What I am sure of is that this is a story about Sun Li, and it has to be a story in which the protagonist gradually emerges. I hope that at the beginning, everyone will think it is a group play and they are not sure who the protagonist is. Of course, if you watch it a second time, it will be clear at a glance. From the first scene, you can find that everything is about her. In addition, I am also sure that Sun Li must experience some unusual things and make a key choice."

"I have thought of another version of the ending, where she is with Chen Kun from the last world - even though he is not the original Chen Kun."

"At the same time, they decided to accept this outcome with joy, and they probably looked at each other and said, 'Is this... okay?'"

"But this ending seems more realistic. After all, if you choose violence, there will naturally be no good results."

Sina reporter: "When I was watching the movie, I noticed two conversations about the vase. Is this the first clue that Sun Li entered another room?"

Wang Shu: "This is indeed the first clue."

Sina reporter: "Let's talk about this wrong house. In the end, how many people from the original house stayed in this wrong house?"

Wang Shu: "You mean the house that Sun Li decided to escape from, not the one at the end of the film?"

Sina reporter: “Yes.”

Wang Shu: "It should be Sun Li, Zhao Liying and Chen Kun. Because they were the three who went out with Deng Chao to check the other house."

"When they said, 'We have to go check out that house,' the camera was following them. So the four of them went out and came back into a new house. Then Deng Chao left again, so the later Deng Chao was not the same Deng Chao, right? And Deng Chao later said, 'What I saw was a napkin.'"

"So at the end of the film, when they're arguing with each other and someone asks 'what's that random thing you saw in the box,' you can clearly tell who belongs to which house."

Sina reporter: "How many of our own 'marks' did we see? Finally, Sun Li also took out a monkey doll from a box somewhere."

Wang Shu: "Yes, this is just to prove their guess, that is, many houses have chosen the same "marking" as them - by picking a random object to mark their rooms for quick identification. So, since we saw the monkey doll that has never appeared before, it means that this guess is correct."

"You might guess that there are at least 50 random objects. But their choices are actually limited by what's around them: what do they have in their dining room or living room to put in the box?"

Sina reporter: "Do moviegoers need to pay attention to that useless door?"

Wang Shu smiled and replied: "That useless door has been used many times. Sun Li came in from here, left from here, and finally came in from here again. Of course, all these processes were explained very obscurely."

"In addition, Jiang Wu and Yang Wei also went through that door when they took the box."

"Speaking of which, I have to warn you that if you look closely, you'll see that when they take the box away, they put a microwave mitt in it."

Sina reporter: “Oh my God!”

WANG Shu: "Some people need to watch the movie several times before they discover the clue. They want to leave the house, so they put the photo back in the box and put the microwave mitt in the box too, because this house is the microwave mitt house."

"However, Sun Li, Chen Kun and Zhao Liying were completely unaware of this."

"If you just look at the table and ask, 'Why did the ping-pong paddle become an oven mitt?' the story might have turned out very differently."

"But they didn't do that because they didn't notice it at all, not even the actors themselves. They didn't question why there was an oven mitt on the table."

Sina reporter: "So, which one is the coaster house?" Wang Shu: "I just said this house is the microwave mitt house, referring to the box they received containing a microwave mitt. When Jiang Wu and Yang Wei brought back a box, they opened it and asked: 'Why is there a microwave mitt in it?'"

"So each house received a box and then made their own box. For this house, they received the box with the oven mitts in it and then chose the coasters when they made their own box."

Sina reporter: "Can you count how many different houses we see in the camera?"

Wang Shu: Of course. It’s not complicated because we follow Sun Li’s perspective throughout the film. We just follow her actions. At the beginning, she is in the house where she receives the box of table tennis rackets.

"After she entered the dark zone, she unknowingly ended up in a new house, the one that received the box of microwave mitts. Finally, she decided to change her reality and chose a house that never received the box."

Sina reporter: "So, as long as we keep following her perspective, we can distinguish the different houses?"

Wang Shu: “Yes, no matter how many knots we weave in the middle, as long as we follow her perspective from beginning to end, everything will be simple.”

Sina reporter: "Are there any small details like Band-Aids hidden in the film that have not been clearly pointed out?"

Wang Shu: Of course. A lot of the details are like Where’s Waldo?, so I don’t want to reveal them.”

"At one point we wanted to say, 'If there are 450 contradictions in this movie, 450 of them were intentional.'"

“Also, there were some clues that only I knew. The actors were very surprised and didn’t understand why we made these subtle changes. So even if you watch it many times, it’s still very interesting.”

Sina reporter: "Are there any details that you hope viewers who have watched it multiple times will notice?"

Wang Shu: “Yes. The most important point was told to me by some people who have watched the show more than twice. They said that when they first watched it, every conversation between the characters seemed to be random small talk, but when they watched it the second time, they suddenly realized that these conversations were actually closely related to the theme.”

Sina reporter: "I really like all the themes about the various possibilities of life that are interwoven into the plot: including Sun Li and her understudy work and Zhao Liying's changing boyfriends. It's as if their other lives had already appeared on the screen before everything happened."

Wang Shu: Exactly. That’s the theme of the film. It’s all about the conflict and struggle between you and yourself or with another possible you.”

“Every detail expresses a central idea: we are always inevitably caught in a situation that conflicts with our self-awareness, and always inevitably fall into the fantasy of multiple possibilities for our own lives.”

Sina reporter: "I hope this film can be made into a TV series."

Wang Shu smiled and said, "That's a good idea. However, I would like to shoot another version of this film in the United States, Europe, India or Russia, South Korea, or Japan. It must be great to see six different versions of this film around the world!"

"Kun'er, congratulations! The movie 'The Night the Comet Came' grossed 3536 million yuan on its first day. It's going to be a big hit. As the leading actor, you're going to be famous all over the country soon."

Zhao Yanzi made a teasing sound.

"The Night the Comet Came" was released, and Chen Kun got some movie tickets and invited Zhou Xun, Shu Qi, Yao Chen, Zhao Yanzi and others to go to the cinema to watch the movie.

After watching the movie, several people gathered at a barbecue restaurant for dinner.

Chen Kun heard Zhao Yanzi's ridicule and shook his head, "The movie has just been released, how can it be as outrageous as you say?"

Shu Qi smiled and continued, "I think Yan Zi is right. It has grossed 3536W in just half a day. Not only has it set a new first-day box office record, but the film is also very interesting."

"Plus, the entire film from beginning to end revolves around the eight of you as the lead actors."

"In my opinion, not only will it be a box office hit, but you will all become very famous because of it."

"As the leading actor, you are bound to be more popular than the supporting actors."

Chen Kun was flattered by his friends, and he felt comfortable in his heart, but he said, "Stop flattering me, I haven't even started yet."

After a pause, he looked at Zhou Xun and said, "However, if this really makes me famous, I have to thank Xun'er."

"If Xun'er hadn't recommended me to Director Wang, I wouldn't have gotten the leading male role in Comet."

At this point, he raised his glass and said, "Xun'er, without saying anything else, I'll toast you a glass."

Zhou Xun responded with a smile on his face and raised his glass.

Chen Kun took a sip of wine and then said, "Of course, I have to thank Director Wang. If Director Wang hadn't agreed to use me, I wouldn't have had this opportunity."

"To be honest, we finished filming Comet in three days. I was actually confused and had no idea where the story was going. I just followed the script and Director Wang's instructions step by step."

"After the performance, I even felt that the movie was not very reliable, but I never said it out loud."

"After watching the movie, I admire Director Wang from the bottom of my heart. It only took three days to shoot the movie, but it's so interesting."

"At this moment, I dare not say anything else."

“When it comes to making science fiction films, Director Wang is definitely the best in China, and even on the world stage!”

After saying that, he gave a thumbs up to everyone.

(End of this chapter)