When you passed by the roadside pancake stall recently, did you think of Pancake Man? Director Dapeng's debut film has become a big dark horse in this summer's file, with a box office of 9 million yuan at present. It is estimated that it will be certain that the box office will break through the 1 billion yuan mark. In fact, the film won nearly 13 million yuan at the box office on the first day, and the investment cost was recovered on the first day.
It's hard for ordinary people to think that the behind-the-scenes pusher of this film is a beauty born in 198s-it is producer Chen Zhixi who helped the birth of "Pancakes" and won a full house.
Looking for opportunities to make guest appearances
As the director of the online drama "Mr. suspension spring", the Pancake Man directed by Dapeng can be described as a sword after three years.
Dapeng once revealed that he had been invited to star in the film version of "Mr. suspension spring" as early as 212, and then the online drama was filmed for two more seasons. He gradually became confident in his directing level before proposing to make a big movie. But Dapeng wanted to make a film, but the project was difficult to take shape, and many producers were not optimistic until they found Chen Zhixi. "Although the online drama sparrow is small and complete, the process is the same as making a movie, but the technical requirements of the movie are higher." Chen Zhixi said that he had more confidence in Dapeng's transformation as a director.
Chen Zhixi and Dapeng also agreed on the idea of filming. The online drama "Mr. suspension spring" is a hodgepodge of jokes, with no complete story and low overall interest. But "Pancake Man" abandoned the story structure and has a complete story, which tells the inspirational story of suspension spring's counterattack. Dapeng personally wrote the script, and Chen Zhixi invited Shu Huan, the screenwriter of "Sorry for Thailand", to check and integrate the story, and the script was very solid.
A large number of stars have been invited to make guest appearances in the film, and they have played themselves, such as Deng Chao, Wu Junru, Han Han and Kenny Lin. At first, the agent didn't update Yilin's participation, and felt that the scenes were not funny enough. Dapeng quickly wrote several scenes at the shooting scene, allowing the agent to pick at will, and the other party agreed to make a guest appearance.
The cast also asked Stephen Chow to make a guest appearance, but was rejected. Finally, four people, including Ekin Cheng, the "young and dangerous", were invited, which became a highlight in the film. And Hollywood action superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme happened to come to Sohu to record the program, so the crew asked him to squeeze out a day to film. "Looking for stars everywhere to shoot a scene is sometimes hard to come by." Chen Zhixi said with a smile, this is also very similar to the plot in the movie.
the investment cost of "pancake man" is about 5 million yuan, of which the publicity cost accounts for half. In today's movie projects with hundreds of millions of yuan, the production cost of Pancake Man is really not high. "It is not difficult to find investment in this project. Sohu will definitely invest in its own project, but it is very troublesome for big companies to go through the process. The movie is about to start and the funds are not in place." Chen Zhixi said that the projects he had identified would be promoted as soon as possible, so he paid 3 million yuan in advance, and Pancake Man only started after 45 days of preparation.
As Dapeng is the new director, Chen Zhixi has found the best team to help him, such as the music team of "Sorry". "People are friendly, discounted, and I also maxed out my personal card." She admits that in order to make a good film, the production cost of about 25 million yuan is still quite tight, and sometimes the budget has to be saved. But she still tries to satisfy the director's creative space. There is a highlight in the film, where Dapeng takes a fancy to Xuxianlou in Sanlitun as the shooting scene. "The cost of shooting Xu Xianlou is very high, and it is charged by the hour. At that time, it was said that it was taken for two days. But unfortunately, when it rains, the lens can't reflect the surrounding scenes, and Dapeng feels that the picture is not beautiful. " In the end, Chen Zhixi gritted his teeth and asked the crew to shoot for two more days, which doubled the budget.
The audience who saw the film knows that the five people who secretly filmed in Pancake Man are almost active at night every day, which also requires the film crew to shoot night scenes. The film was shot for more than 6 days, of which more than 5 days were night shows, almost setting the highest proportion of domestic films. "Dapeng's endurance is particularly strong. He often turns around for more than 2 hours without sleeping, and filming is particularly hard." Chen Zhixi revealed that there was a scene in which Dapeng and Sanger Van Dun fought each other. Jean-Claude Van Damme's leg skills were so powerful that Dapeng's arms were swollen.
There are a lot of jokes in the film, both designed in the script stage and improvised on the shooting scene. Comedy scenes like Yun-peng Yue and Wu Junru are all designed from the beginning. The "Northeast F4" composed by Song Xiaobao, Xiao Shenyang, Liu Neng and Liu Xiaoguang is very funny in the film. The performances are all improvised and there are no lines.