Mo Yan gives go-ahead 'Red Sorghum' TV edition

Mo Yan (above) and Zheng Xiaolong speaks at a preparation seminar in Beijing, July 15, 2013. [China.org.cn]

Nobel laureate Mo Yanhas granted Shandong Satellite TV the rights to a TV series adaptation of his classic novel "Red Sorghum", the provincial satellite TV network announced on Monday.

Mo attended the preparation seminar with director Zheng Xiaolong, in Beijing. The author hopes that the new adaption will attract the current TV audience; he also revealed that he once tried to adapt the novel, in 2008, but it was very difficult to do so.

"Red Sorghum" has been adapted into a movie, in 1987, directed by Zhang Yimou. After its release, "Red Sorghum" won international acclaim and was awarded the Golden Bear at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival. The internationally well-known movie positioned Zhang in the vanguard of the Fifth Generation directors.

But the TV edition of "Red Sorghum" was never materialized even when Mo's works were hitting the top selling charts and after he had received a Nobel Prize in Literature. Mo said that he could not remember all his thoughts from 2008, but hoped that the director would pay attention to some minor characters in the book, some characters that Zhang didn't quite portray in the film.

"Zhang Yimou's version of 'Red Sorghum' is so great and influential in the world," said Mo that many TV drama makers don't want to take a try.

"It's not easy," said Mo. "The TV version has waited for decades to come out. People come and go. Some don't agree because of money, some did it halfway and gave up."

However, Mo said it is also a good thing. "If we had done it several years ago, it might have become a low-quality drama about Chinese resistance against Japanese aggression," said the author. "That would be regretful. "

　　Movie scene from "Red Sorghum" by Zhang Yimou. [File photo]

Mo stressed that the story has no strong political ideology, "The story couldn't be published in the 1950s-1960s. Absolutely not, I put it in the right time. 'Red Sorghum' tried to understand all the people involved in the war; it's very human-based. "

Mo said he hoped the TV edition could give him some surprises like Zhang did before. "In recent years, anti-Japanese war-themed TV dramas are messed up," he said. " And it's hard to know the audience' taste nowadays. I'm just thinking, we can add some black humor to it, other than national tragedy. "

Zheng, one of the hottest TV directors in China, said he was greatly pressured because of Zhang's successful adaption and the possible harsh criticism from book fans and audience. But when he read the draft of the script, he felt this could be done.

Zheng is behind many popular TV series including "Yearning," "Beijinger in New York" and recently "The Legend of Zhen Huan", which has been sold to many foreign countries.

Zheng added that Mo has granted him the freedom to adapt as he liked, which relieved him, "It will be very comfortable for me to create, otherwise I would be scared to death," he said.