"Welcome to the Dragon Restaurant" screenwriter Lang Qun talks about film creation: talking about war and life from a Chinese perspective

China News Service, Beijing, October 2 (Reporter Gao Kai) Lang Qunli, one of the screenwriters of the movie "Welcome to Dragon Restaurant", recently accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Service and talked about the "theme", "concept" and "perspective" in the film. She bluntly said, "The story comes first", and the theme and intention of the film gradually become clear with the characters' experiences and choices.

Regarding the film's "telling of war and life from a Chinese perspective", Lang Qunli believes that it is mainly reflected in two levels. First, the story is told from Xu Fu’s point of view. “What we are telling is the experience of a Chinese person in this context, his joys, sorrows, and joys.” As long as the character is written realistically, “his choices and his perspective” will naturally be established; secondly, the creative team set boundaries for themselves in the creation, “ Everyone in the film, not just the protagonist, but every foreigner, must be written as a real person." Stereotypes cannot be used to replace understanding, nor can they only be allowed to play the role of promoting the protagonist's story. "They must have the kind of character logic that belongs to real life."

She gave an example: Lina, the teacher at the orphanage, chose to save the orphans when danger came, "not to passively accept help." But when Ma Junsheng made a choice, he would think: "If I don't save these children, what should I tell Lina when I see her again?"

"Giving each character a story that has its own beginning and end, and then selectively showing various aspects of the story in the plot is based on the logic of the story and the characters." Lang Qunli said, "Seeing the play I wrote be performed and feeling the impact on the scene, I think as a screenwriter, this moment is the happiest."

"Welcome to Dragon Restaurant" is the first time that Lang Qunli has entered the crew as the second assistant director and participated in the entire process of reading, location scouting, casting, actor rehearsal and on-site shooting.

Talking about the most impressive scene, Lang Qunli talked about what the elderly Xu Fu, played by Shen Teng, said in the small dark room at the border checkpoint, "There is no luck in war." She was huddled in a corner where she could not stand. When she saw Shen Teng say that line, her emotions suddenly overturned, "I wanted to cry, but I couldn't make a sound, so I could only cover my mouth and hold it in."

It is reported that "Welcome to the Dragon Restaurant" has been released in Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia, and then entered Singapore and Japan. According to the previously announced release plan, the film will also meet audiences in many countries in Southeast Asia in October. (over)