Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

The day the first draft of the script for "Low IQ Crime" was completed, Luo Jinnian sent it to Director Qin and received a reply shortly afterward. Director Qin only replied with one sentence: "Is this a comedy?" Luo Jinnian replied with one word: "Yes."

Director Qin remained silent for a while before sending a second message: "I thought you could only write the kind of stuff that keeps people up at night."

Luo Jinnian looked at the message and thought for a moment, then typed a line: "After writing too much about things that keep me up at night, I need to take a break."

A balance of relaxation and tension is more appealing to the audience.

The original work of "Low IQ Crime" is a very special one among Zi Jinchen's works. It is not as dark as "Bad Kids" nor as heavy as "The Long Night". It is a crime comedy.

The story is about a bumbling thief named Ye Jun who, along with a group of even more bumbling accomplices, plans a perfect jewelry store robbery. However, due to a series of mishaps—the wrong license plate, the wrong door, and the surveillance cameras not being turned off—the "perfect crime" turns into a series of chaotic farces.

Meanwhile, a young policeman named Zhang Yi'ang, whose chaotic investigative style led to his demotion to a lower-level position, inexplicably became embroiled in the case. A bumbling thief and a bumbling policeman chased each other in the same city, neither of them significantly more intelligent than the other, yet fate kept them missing each other by a twist of fate every time they brushed past each other.

Luo Jinnian's mood was completely different when he wrote this book. When he was writing "The Hidden Corner", his mind was full of dark things. When he was writing "The Silent Truth", he often stopped and remained silent for a long time before continuing. But when he was writing "Low IQ Crime", he couldn't help but laugh in certain passages.

It's a bit like when he read "Spare Me, Great Lord" during a special period.

He wrote the part where Ye Jun rode his accomplice's motorcycle by mistake several times before he managed to stop Ye Jun from hitting someone else on the way; he also wrote the part where Zhang Yi'ang was analyzing the case in the police station while looking at a map, but ended up holding the map upside down, and he had to stop laughing halfway through writing it.

Zi Jinchen is truly a genius at writing social mystery novels.

After reading the complete script, Director Qin made a long phone call. He mainly raised two issues: First, the pacing of this script is completely different from before. Previously, it was like simmering soup over a low flame, but this is like stir-frying. Each scene has to resolve a joke or misunderstanding within a few minutes.

Secondly, the cast also needs to be replaced. The actors we've worked with before are all serious drama actors, and they might not be able to handle the rhythm of comedy.

After listening to Director Qin's opinion, Luo Jinnian said, "Director, I plan to have Zhao Bo direct it."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. Director Qin asked, "Why him?" Luo Jinnian said, "After 'Crazy Stone' was filmed, he had been waiting for a script that suited him. This is a script that suits him."

The next day, Luo Jinnian called Zhao Bo. After listening, Zhao Bo laughed several times on the other end of the phone, "You wrote a comedy? Are you sure you wrote a comedy?" Luo Jinnian said, "Read it first," and then sent the script over. That evening, Zhao Bo replied with only two words and a punctuation mark: "I've read it. Film it."

Zhao Bo personally handled the casting. The role of Ye Jun required a "seemingly shrewd but actually quite foolish" quality, a bit of comedic talent, but not overly exaggerated acting. Zhao Bo ultimately cast a middle-aged actor who had played many minor roles but hadn't achieved mainstream success. During the audition, this actor performed the "perfect plan but the license plate is wrong" scene three times, laughing each time for different reasons—not because he messed up, but because he felt his character was so stupid that he couldn't help but laugh himself. Zhao Bo immediately decided: "He's the one."

The role of Zhang Yi'ang was played by a young actor who had acted in a few web dramas before. He wasn't very well-known, but Zhao Bo said he had "a natural sense of unreliability." That unreliability was innate; it couldn't be acted out or hidden. The other bumbling thief roles were all played by actors with comedic backgrounds. Each person had a different comedic rhythm, and Zhao Bo spent an entire afternoon at the reading session working with them to get into rhythm. No matter who spoke first, who responded, or who added a finishing touch to whose sentence, the intervals between each person had to be precise to half a beat.

If drama is the art of actors, then the presentation of film and television works is actually determined by the director.

Zhao Bo must take responsibility for the performances of all the actors in the entire TV series.

On the day filming officially began, Luo Jinnian didn't go to the set. He was in class at a school in Langya City. During a break, his phone lit up; it was a photo from the set sent by Zhao Bo—the clapperboard on set read, "Scene 1, Take 1 of 'Low IQ Crime'." After looking at it, Luo Jinnian put his phone back in his desk drawer and continued copying the chemical equations from the blackboard.

People in the front row were passing notes, while others in the back were dozing off. The ceiling fan in the classroom was whirring overhead, and the school had air conditioning but didn't turn it on, even if it were, it wouldn't make a difference.

Luo Jinnian didn't look at the photo again, but the image of the clapperboard remained in his mind.

During filming, Zhao Bo would occasionally send over clips. After watching them, Luo Jinnian would offer brief suggestions, such as, "The pacing of this scene could be a bit faster, and the intervals between jokes shouldn't exceed five seconds," or "When Ye Jun discovers his accomplice has gone to the wrong door, the change in his facial expression should be delayed by half a beat, making the audience anxious for him before laughing." Zhao Bo's reply was always "Received," and the change would be incorporated into the next clip he sent.

On the day filming wrapped, Luo Jinnian received a video. In it, Zhao Bo held up a clapperboard on set and said to the camera, "The script for 'Low IQ Crime' was produced by Early Spring Tea. Early Spring Tea products are always top-notch."

You're such a smooth talker, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. I thought you were honest and straightforward, but you're such a good flatterer.

Luo Jinnian watched the video, the screen light shining on his face, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved into a smile. He replied with a message: "Okay, just get your homepage fixed, our company doesn't do this." Zhao Bo replied instantly with a laughing emoji.

When Luo Jinnian closed her phone, the view outside the window was of Zhanjiang in summer—the kind of sticky, incessantly chirping summer that makes you not want to move.

In "Low IQ Crime," Ye Jun and Zhang Yi'ang are two people who are never in the right place at the right time. Every mistake they make seems like a carefully designed coincidence, both a trick of fate (the author's divine intervention) and a trick of their own intelligence.

There are many fools in this world, but their foolishness makes you want to laugh, and after you laugh, you find their foolishness somewhat endearing.

Who says criminals are all highly intelligent? This show is a great response—we don't film bad guys doing bad things, we're afraid of bad guys who are both stupid and hardworking.