“The problem is that there are many
bad stories, investors know nothing
about storytelling, and the market
has not yet matured”
Fan BingbingOn the set of The Hypnotised Hypnotist (被催眠的催眠
师) she gets ready for a knife fight. It’s not an easy one;
a colleague broke into tears after hurting herself in one of the
takes. Outside the replica of a 1930s courtyard house, on a
bitterly cold day with stubborn rain making everything more
difficult, the unit director is losing his patience. The lead
actress has just finished shooting her close-ups and the young
stuntman who has to serve as her double (wearing a funny
wig) can’t get the strikes right.
Yao comes to the rescue as soon as she finishes getting
dressed in her role as a peasant. One take is all she needs, and
the film crew can move onto the next scene.
Not far from this set, yellow lighting bathes a Victorian-era
building in an imitated sunrise. Inside, Jadie Lynn is enjoying
a very different life. She’s one of the lead characters in the
TV drama The Punisher (制裁者联盟), which combines
fantasy elements with a typical love story. At the age of 24,
Lynn is already a success. She won a Sino-Korean TV talent
competition for supermodels, and has starred in a movie.
She is represented by the company owned by Jackie Chan.
“China is a very promising market, but also highly
competitive, so I have to keep studying to stay ahead of the
curve,” she says. To do so, she trains in martial arts and has
improved her acting skills through workshops in the US.
In Hengdian, Lynn is one of the few professionals fluent in
English – a pitfall that has become a problem for the city’s
international ambitions. “But opportunities are in China,
where budgets for films and series are growing fast,”
says Lynn.
The set of War Against Bandits (打土匪) proves her
point. Here, about 100 extras holding all kinds of guns wait
for the narrow street to get filled with the explosives needed
to replicate artillery shells for a scene in which they attack
Communist forces during the Civil War. They’ve rehearsed
twice already, and the unit director doesn’t look happy, but
the light is fading and there are other crews waiting to shoot
at one of Hengdian’s most sought-after stages.
The special effects staff are frantic. On a loudspeaker, the
man in charge of the extras barks instructions: “It’s an action
scene! You need to look furious! Do not stop midway!”
Four cameras, two still and another pair handheld, record
everything from different angles. “There is no second chance
today,” an operator warns.