The Chinese language drama Flourished Peony, starring Yang Zi and Li Xian, has concluded amidst excessive recognition in China. Lately, the present’s screenwriter, Zhang Yuan Ang, sat down for an interview with Sohu Leisure to speak about the behind-the-scenes tales, the drama’s message, and extra.
Q: Flourished Peony is at the moment airing [interview conducted before the drama’s conclusion]. Have you ever been watching it in actual time?
Zhang Yuan Ang: I tune in day-after-day at 8 o’clock sharp. It feels fairly magical. Regardless that I do know the story, I nonetheless eagerly anticipate every day to see how the manufacturing turned out.
Q: Whereas watching, is there a explicit remark that left a deep impression on you?
Zhang Yuan Ang: The remark that struck me probably the most was, “I’ll construct a ladder to the sky with my blood, serving to all girls surmount the tallest of partitions.” One other one is the current dialogue about Sheng Yi [character played by Shao Yun], the place somebody mentioned, “She’s simply strolling just a little slower. Let’s look ahead to her.” I can really feel how deeply invested the viewers is within the story, and as a creator, I discover that very transferring.
Q: Some screenwriters think about particular actors of their minds whereas writing, and even tailor the dialogue and plot for them. When you had been creating this drama, did you ever take into consideration Yang Zi and Li Xian taking part in the lead roles?
Zhang Yuan Ang: By no means whereas writing. I designed the characters and dialogue purely primarily based on inventive logic. After I came upon that they had been confirmed because the leads, I used to be pleasantly stunned.
Q: What’s your analysis of Yang Zi and Li Xian’s performances within the drama?
Zhang Yuan Ang: They’re completely wonderful. For instance, I’ve collaborated with Yang Zi thrice to this point. Through the first two initiatives, I did not have the possibility to take part within the script studying classes with the actors on account of varied causes, which I all the time discovered regrettable. For Flourished Peony, each the director and producer paid particular consideration to the script-making [process]. As quickly as the forged was confirmed, they organized for us to fulfill face-to-face with the actors to debate the story.
I nonetheless keep in mind Yang Zi remarking on the time, “We have labored collectively a number of occasions, and that is the primary time we’re truly assembly.” Speaking with Yang Zi in particular person concerning the script made me really feel that she is an extremely mature {and professional} actor. She has her personal distinctive insights into the story and has a powerful understanding of it. I recall that despite the fact that there was nonetheless fairly a while earlier than filming started, she was already very accustomed to a big portion of the storyline and dialogue. That’s spectacular.
Throughout filming, she would all the time talk her ideas and strategies with us promptly, always refining issues. I consider that this sort of shut communication performed a vital function in getting the drama to such a stage of high quality.
I am additionally following the drama in actual time, and to this point, I really feel like you’ll be able to’t see traces of Yang Zi’s previous roles in her efficiency. She is a contemporary, flesh-and-blood picture of He Wei Fang from the script by way of and thru. This character is definitely very layered and difficult to play, however I believe Yang Zi has vividly introduced the heroine’s development arc. She captures each the vigorous and crafty facet of the character and her traits of being mature and succesful as properly. He Wei Fang is courageous sufficient to battle [for what she believes in], but she additionally exudes a fragile tenderness. The actress’s efficiency is sensible.
Li Xian’s portrayal of Jiang Chang Yang additionally introduced me many surprises. The character, because the Flower and Hen Envoy, has a twin identification, and capturing the nuances of his persona is especially difficult. If he comes throughout as too roguish, it might really feel tacky; if too severe, he could be seen as being stiff. It requires the actor to strike an ideal stability, and I believe Li Xian nailed it.
The scene that left the deepest impression on me was the one within the Luoyang courtroom. Initially, the Flower and Hen Envoy is teasing the Liu household with a mischievous smile. However when he turns to strain the officers, Li Xian’s expression and tone turn into heavy, making a palpable sense of oppression. I may really feel it strongly as a viewer. But, within the subsequent second, when he turns again, he effortlessly shifts to his smiling face. That second captured the essence of Jiang Chang Yang. He was extraordinarily exact.
Q: Within the earlier episodes, He Wei Fang goes by way of a number of challenges. When adapting this a part of the story, did you ever really feel hesitant or conflicted?
Zhang Yuan Ang: He Wei Fang goes from being a product owner’s daughter fleeing a fraudulent marriage to turning into a rich businessman who serves her nation. Such a metamorphosis naturally signifies that she endured a tough time. Nonetheless, He Wei Fang isn’t a tragic determine. She is introspective, by no means wallows in pitying herself [for all that she’s been through], and sometimes turns others’ assaults on her into her weapons.
When audiences watch these plotlines, I hope they do not deal with the struggling, however as a substitute, discover the power in He Wei Fang’s breakthroughs and each time she is reborn [into a better version of herself] to battle in opposition to difficulties.
Q: Within the drama, He Wei Fang saves herself from hazard many occasions, and lots of viewers really feel her mindset is kind of progressive.
Zhang Yuan Ang: [Sometimes,] it is not that our pondering is forward of the occasions. However it’s seemingly that many individuals share related ideas. Nonetheless, a narrative is not all the time fully primarily based on the screenwriter’s concepts.
One of many lucky issues about Flourished Peony is that the concepts we wished to convey resonated with the viewers. We did not add extra melodramatic scenes or change our plotlines only for business concerns. Everybody labored collectively to protect the essence of what we wished to specific.
Q: How did you stability portraying the feminine lead’s independence whereas highlighting the male lead’s charisma within the drama?
Zhang Yuan Ang: There isn’t any must stability the 2 as a result of feminine independence and male charisma usually are not in opposition. They complement one another. If we had been to focus on the male lead’s allure by forcibly diminishing the [element of] feminine lead’s independence, then, within the context of the drama, this may imply each time He Wei Fang faces a problem and has to cope with it, Jiang Chang Yang descends from the sky [to save her], interrupting her efforts. That will sign mistrust and disrespect for the feminine lead’s capabilities.
The best way we designed the plotline between the leads follows this logic as properly. Their story does not actually start till a lot later as a result of they are not portrayed as naïve or ignorant youths. Each characters have already skilled the complexities of human relationships and the cruel realities of the world and would not simply entrust their feelings to others.
On the very starting of the story, it is made clear that they every have their very own targets and issues to do, and easily residing to perform these is already an immense problem. They do not have the time or power to take pleasure in romantic issues. So, our setup was that the female and male leads should first be impartial, distinctive people in their very own proper. Solely after that may they regularly get to know and perceive one another, and that will finally result in the potential for growing emotions.
Q: Many viewers say that Flourished Peony could be very unconventional and that there are numerous issues that break the viewers’s expectations. Was that intentional?
Zhang Yuan Ang: I hoped that viewers would really feel a way of novelty whereas watching, so in the course of the making-of course of, I consciously included some setups that defy expectations. Nonetheless, this wasn’t completed only for the sake of twists or novelty. It is simply that some tropes, although quite common, aren’t completely logical. Audiences have grown accustomed to those tropes as a result of they’ve simply seen them so usually, making a sort of customized. I wished Flourished Peony to interrupt out of that customized and current a narrative that’s logical.
Take, for instance, the scene the place Mu Dan helps Sheng Yi receive her divorce. The male lead, wealthy and highly effective, was keen to assist, so viewers might need instinctively assumed the feminine lead would flip to him for assist. However we instantly dominated out that choice. Writing it that means would have its advantages — it may spark emotional pressure between the leads — however the draw back is that it could go in opposition to their characterizations.
From Mu Dan’s perspective, Jiang Chang Yang was, at that time, virtually a stranger. She had simply obtained her family registration by way of an unequal settlement, so she had no motive to take his assist. Then again, Yun Niang was totally different. She had her eyes on Mu Dan’s jade pendant however failed to purchase it, and he or she was concerned with an trade. Plus, as a lady, she sympathized with Sheng Yi’s plight. So she was a extra logical alternative than Jiang Chang Yang in that scenario.
Q: Many of the plotlines exhibiting girls serving to one another within the drama have deeply moved the viewers. When creating these particulars, what sort of thought and consideration went into them?
Zhang Yuan Ang: To start with, as a lady myself, I am surrounded by many wonderful girls who usually assist and encourage each other. The so-called ‘feminine rivalry’ that folks speak about is one thing I see extra on the web than in actual life.
From my observations and experiences, I consider girls are stuffed with knowledge and power. Whether or not in historical past or in on a regular basis life, there are numerous touching tales of girls supporting one another, and, to a sure extent, a few of these tales have made their means onto the display. However I believe there nonetheless aren’t sufficient of them, as a result of many individuals cannot come to consider within the existence of this sort of mutual help amongst girls.
By these plotlines, I hope to indicate individuals a way of ethical integrity [that exists] between girls. I wish to provide some power to extra girls and encourage them to bravely pursue no matter it’s that they wish to do and to not belittle themselves or endure in silence.
Particularly with the character of Qin Sheng Yi, I poured a number of emotion after I was creating her. Some facets of her story are primarily based on the real-life experiences of some girls I do know. She has a powerful tragic undertone, and lots of feminine viewers’ feedback present that they see components of themselves in her. By Flourished Peony, I wish to convey the message to those ‘Qin Sheng Yis‘ that the struggling and oppression they face usually are not issues they need to bear. The issue isn’t with them however with outdated shackles of societal guidelines and absurd conventions. I hope they’ll have the braveness to withstand.
Q: There is a phenomenon on-line referred to as ‘fragmented judgment,’ the place some viewers choose a complete present primarily based on a single clip they’ve seen. What’s your perspective on this, and the way do you reply to it?
Zhang Yuan Ang: This is not simply occurring with dramas. These days, individuals eat data in bits from the web. There’s nothing we will do about it. Everyone seems to be underneath nice strain from work and life, so individuals don’t have the time to know the complete image of issues. So it is regular for them to observe brief clips or view screenshots. If sure clips from our drama handle to draw individuals, that is nice. However as somebody working in tv, I hope that viewers can settle down and provides extra time and alternative to the exhibits they’re concerned with and watch them until the top.
I’m additionally pondering whether or not, in future initiatives, even a single clip could possibly be crafted in a means that enables the viewers to appropriately interpret the storyline. However it’s a tricky problem as a result of it might deliver in additional visitors but when individuals fall in misinterpretation, then it [the consequences will be] onerous to keep away from.
Q: What are your expectations for the post-broadcast efficiency of Flourished Peony?
Zhang Yuan Ang: I hope it is not the sort of TV collection that’s simply passing by, however relatively work that may depart a long-lasting impression on the viewers.
Supply: Sohu Leisure