Hunting finds its target
A TV series about bringing to justice financial criminals who flee overseas reconstructs heroic accounts of elite police who track down and apprehend them, Xu Fan reports.
On an early morning last September, director Liu Xin waited alongside hundreds of cast and crew members of the TV series
Hunting in a large parking area in a Tianjin airport.
They weren’t flying to a filming location. They were already there. And they were only able to use the space for about two hours.
Liu gave the order to start shooting as soon as an airplane they’d borrowed from China Southern Airlines began taxying on the runway.
“There were several police officers who’ve participated in the Fox Hunt campaign standing next to me,” Liu tells China Daily by phone.
Fox Hunt is China’s massive campaign to extradite suspects involved in bribery or financial fraud who’ve fled overseas.
“They gave me detailed instructions about the procedures for escorting a fugitive from a plane,” Liu recalls, referring to the scene filmed at the airport.
“That moment was sort of like a dream that came true. I feel proud to be part of the drama, which displays China’s determination and strength to crack down on financial crimes.”
The 44-episode Hunting has been showing on Beijing Satellite TV, Dragon TV and streaming giants Youku, iQiyi and Tencent Video since April 14.
Liu is a veteran, who has worked in the film and TV industry for more than two decades.
The latest official figures show China has extradited over 6,000 suspects, including 60 on Interpol’s Red Notice list, in over 120 countries and regions. It has recovered over 17 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in illicit assets.
Spanning from 2007, a turbulent year for China’s securities market, to 2014, the year the country launched the Fox Hunt campaign, Hunting follows a police officer’s yearslong pursuit of a tycoon who manipulates the stock market and flees overseas.
A-lister Wang Kai, who’s followed by around 22 million fans on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo, stars as the protagonist cop, while veteran Liu Yijun plays the tycoon.
The stellar cast also includes actress Wang Ou, who plays a police officer specializing in financial fraud, and actor Hu Jun, who portrays a veteran policeman, who loses himself to his desire for money.
Liu Xin reveals that he’d wished to helm such a story in 2016, but the project failed to launch.
So, he was excited when Beijingbased production company Linmon Pictures contacted him last April.
He likens the Fox Hunt campaign theme to “an old friend I hadn’t contacted in a long time who reached out to reconnect with me”.
Scriptwriter Zhao Dongling and other major creators had already worked for three years to prepare the story. They’d traveled to Beijing, Tianjin and Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, to interview nearly 100 police officers who’ve joined Fox Hunt.
Liu Xin says he also talked with some police to seek inspiration.
One such discussion inspired a scene set in the United States in which the protagonist shows up at a meeting with the fugitive tycoon.
“A gun is pointed at the police officer when the villa’s gate opens. The fugitive holding it says: ‘At home you are the one who points a gun at me. But now it’s my turn’.”
Liu Xin explains Chinese police’s overseas missions are often more challenging and dangerous because of different firearms laws and extradition’s complexity.
He learned a lot from speaking with police who’ve brought to justice fugitives who’ve fled overseas.
“I heard that police officers usually wrap a blanket around suspects’ handcuffed hands and sit with the person in the last row on an international
flight. When the plane lands, they remove the blanket and escort the suspect to armed colleagues waiting on the ground,” Liu Xin says.
Actor Wang Kai says in a WeChat interview that it was enlightening to learn about the lives and jobs of these special police, who must master finance, speak English fluently and have tactical-combat skills.
“I view them as unknown yet great heroes, who face unknown dangers in foreign lands. They use their wits to exhaustively fulfill their tasks.”
Wang has previously played police officers in four TV series, including the 2013 drama, All Quiet in Peking.
But Hunting is his first portrayal of a cop specializing in extraditing financial criminals.
“A police officer I spoke with recalled his experience pinpointing the location of a suspect in Southeast Asia. The weather was very hot. He was the only agent dispatched there,” Liu Xin says.
“He had to figure out many ways to keep the suspect from fleeing again, given that Chinese police don’t have law-enforcement authority overseas.”
Around half the scenes were shot in foreign countries, mostly Kenya and the Czech Republic, over 59 days.
Wang studied English intensively for the film.
Liu Xin says the fact Wang could sometimes assist in translating for locals proves he’s a quick language learner.
“The overseas schedules were tight, making the shooting sets like ‘battlefields’ every day,” Liu Xin says.
One scene that particularly impressed Liu Xin was shot in Prague last October. Over 100 local extras were hired to play residents in a low-income neighborhood.
“It was a cold and windy day. But I was surprised to see most of the extras were very professional and displayed commendable acting skills. I was so moved by their professional spirit,” he says.
“When the shooting finished, I ran onto the set in an abandoned stadium and bowed to all the extras to express my appreciation.”
About 80 days were spent shooting in Beijing and Tianjin with assistance from local law enforcement.
Liu Xin says actress Wang Ou worked intensively on the set and slept fewer than four hours a day to memorize lines riddled with finance jargon.
“Actor Hu Jun’s father passed away when he was shooting, so he applied for a break to go home,” Liu Xin recalls.
“When he returned, I worried his grief might affect his acting. But he’s a very dedicated actor and hid his sorrow. We really respect him.”
Liu Xin sees a bright future for the Chinese TV drama industry that’s increasingly moving online while still broadcasting on television.
Good stories will never be outdated, he believes.
“You shouldn’t try to follow audiences but rather try to make them follow you,” he says.