電影《下半場》籃球魔鬼訓練營 改造素人球員變身最強明星演員 Basketball Training Camp for We Are Champions Transformed Basketball Players into Star Actors
以全國高中籃球聯賽(HBL)為背景的電影《下半場》,是曾以《逆光飛翔》榮獲金馬獎最佳新導演的張榮吉與監製陳寶旭再度攜手合作的最新作品,也是今年夏天備受期待的青春熱血台灣電影!為了替電影上映造勢暖身,最近陳監製帶領戲中球員演員們到全台各校進行籃球友誼賽,以球會友,四處征戰,在台中市影視發展基金會的大力邀請下,校園最終場來到了台中青年高中,並加碼舉辦電影講座,還邀來神秘嘉賓,讓身為資深籃球迷的青年高中校長賴建成覺得十分榮幸,並期許未來能有更多類似的活動在青年高中舉辦。
青年高中挾帶全國高中籃球聯賽(HBL)甲級前八強的氣勢應戰,友誼賽打足四節,雙方球員你來我往,進攻、防守、跳投、長傳等等,展現高水準技巧,讓現場400位青年高中的同學,尖叫連連,彷彿重回HBL總決賽現場。《下半場》講述一對親兄弟籃球員,卻分屬兩個不同高中的隊伍,最後在全國大賽中成為對手的故事;兄弟分別由《樂獄》的范少勳和《有五個姊姊的我就註定要單身了啊!》朱軒洋領銜主演。當天於賽後的電影講座,陳監製邀請神秘嘉賓《下半場》籃球顧問賈凡教練出席參與電影講座,暢談海選階段及演員訓練過程的幕後趣事。陳監製談到,以紀錄片出身,向來喜歡以素人做為演員的導演張榮吉,這次拍攝為尋找既有球技又有顏值的演員,舉辦大規模海選活動,從2000位全台各地的籃球好手中,最終選出25位球員演員,再經過賈凡教練四個月完全不藏私的魔鬼訓練,從素人脫胎換骨成為銀幕上的演員。
球員演員同時也是《下半場》隊長張仕達也在講座中分享,接到海選通過的電話時,心情非常雀躍,也提到拍攝現場,雖然沒有戲份,仍舊需要全神貫注。而畢業於青年高中的林睦凱則說,以前和大家一樣坐在台下聽演講,今天以榮譽校友身份在台上分享,感覺很特別。亦有球員演員表示,電影拍攝過程中最喜歡導演喊卡的時間等等;最後,出席活動的11位演員不約而同表示,因為籃球,開啟這段人生意外的插曲,感謝這次電影拍攝的機會,而結識了一群好兄弟。
The movie We Are Champions follows students competing in the High School Basketball League (HBL). It is the latest work under the collaboration of Chang Jung-Chi, a Golden Horse Awards’ Best New Director winner, and producer Rachel Chen. It is also a highly anticipated movie about the youths in Taiwan. To promote the movie before it hits the theaters, producer Chen has been taking the cast members (who play basketball players in the movie) to schools around the island for some friendly exhibition games. Invited by the Taichung Film Development Foundation, producer Chen and the cast members came to Youth Senior High School as their last stop. In addition to the exhibition game, they also held a movie seminar with a special guest. Principal Lai Jien-Chen of Youth Senior High School, as a long-time basketball fan, was deeply honored to have the cast members visit the school and wished for more similar activities to be held at Youth Senior High.
The Youth Senior High basketball team, who finished top 8 in HBL, played all four quarters in the friendly exhibition game. Both sides showcased their high level skills in both defense and offense, including sweet jump shots and long passes. The 400 Youth Senior High students in the stadium were screaming non-stop, as if they were back to the HBL championship game. We Are Champions follows two brothers, who play each other in the national championship game on the opposing teams. Fandy Fan (from Bad Boy Symphony) and Berant Zhu (from How to Train Our Dragon) play the two brothers. During the post-game movie seminar, producer invited the special guest – Coach Jia Fan, who was the basketball consultant for the movie, to share some funny stories during the casting and training of the cast members. Producer Chen said that director Chang Jung-Chi, who started his career by making documentaries, likes to cast amateurs in his movies. For We Are Champions, a large audition was held to find good-looking actors with basketball skills. 25 players/actors were selected among the 2,000 candidates island-wide. After 4 months of strict training by Coach Jia Fan, these 25 amateurs were transformed in to the characters you see in the movie.
11 actors who played the players in the movie shared their movie debut experience. Even though most of them did not have much screen time, they still had to pay close attention during the filming. Their favorite moments were when the director yelled, “cut”. Lin Mu-Kai, who graduated from Youth Senior High, said that he was just like everyone else in the audience, listening to people talk on the stage. That is why it felt very special for him to be able to share his story on the stage as an outstanding alumnus. Finally, the actors shared how they had this special chapter in their lives and made bunch of close friends, thanks to basketball. We Are Champions will hit the theaters island-wide on August 23. Make sure you catch this passionate basketball movie of the summer and watch the players fulfill their dreams on the screen.