The chief actors and actresses of the movie, transcripted from a 17-year-old boy's first novelette that depicts the life of the schooldays from a cute but somewhat queer boy's eyes, have been set by the director, Jiefang Daily said.
Jin Chen, director of the movie, with the same title of its original work "Three Layers of the Door(or San Chong Men)", said he was satisfied with the heroine and the hero.
Since Susan, the heroine of the novelette, should be a young and energetic pretty schoolgirl, with some miraculous hue, Jin said it took him quite a long time to decide which girl to be the most appropriate.
And the hero, Lin Yuxiang, a boy with special skills in Chinese literature and sees the world from a unique angle, is also hard to depict.
Finding the right guy is of uniquely importance to the movie, Jin said. For one time, readers had expected that the novel's author Han Han, now a high-school graduate, could act in the movie. However, Han Han, just as unique as the hero of the book, refused to star in the transcripted movie. He even objects to the idea of letting other people transcript his novel.
A Sichuan boy then hit the director's eyeball in the role deciding competitions. Wu Yunan, now the hero of the movie, said he was lucky but there is a lot of things he should do before the picture shooting starts. Wu, a Sichuan native as the novel requires, still needs to improve his Putonghua skills.
Dong Jie (Angel Dong), a beautiful girl starring in last year's hit movie "Happy Time", is the heroine of the movie. Different from the novice actor Wu, Dong is more experience in acting. She is director Zhang Yimou's new favorite.
Director Jin said that the thing still bothers now is how to get the transcript of the novel. Han Han insists that only he himself is capable of the playwrighting, but the investors of the movie have other ideas. They are still in talks.
On the photo is Angel Dong, the heroine of the movie.
(eastday.com February 7, 2002)
