Some intimate scenes in The Hawthorn Tree Love are bold, but there is not even a kissing scene in the movie. Zhang Yimou said that the descriptions in the original work are still quite explicit. "I think China movies have their own unique expressions, and I still follow the traditional expressions. In addition, if you deliberately work hard on the intimate drama, you will also encounter a lot of trouble. "

The entanglements and conflicts between some characters in the original work are also wonderful, and they were all deleted in the film. Zhang Yimou explained: "When the film was filmed later, I felt more and more that the two leading actors entered an ideal state. To some extent, they were guiding our shooting. In addition, from the plot point of view, it is necessary to delete the complexity and simplify it, and put more pen and ink on the two protagonists, so the scenes including some old artists have been deleted. "

There are many subtitles in Love with Hawthorn Trees. Zhang Yimou explained that before the film started, the sentence "I will wait for you all my life" in the book was set as the subtitle at the end of the film, so the previous subtitles were also regarded as an echo. In addition, because there are many deleted contents, subtitles are needed to explain the plot. Zhang Yimou said that he didn't like making movies for too long.

For the original casting, Zhou Dongyu, who is not yet eighteen, said with a smile that he thought he had met a liar, but he didn't believe it when he saw director Zhang Yimou himself. She was embarrassed to recall: "When I first met the director, I felt like a body double sitting in front of me, not a real director. It should be that (they) found body double to lie to me."

Zhang Yimou also admitted that Zhou Dongyu had been recommended by the deputy director in the first round of casting, but because she was in a bad state and her face was not good at that time, she didn't have much impression. "After watching thousands of people, the responsible deputy director recommended her again, and she decided after many tests such as essays and exams." When I first met Zhou Dongyu, Zhang Yimou felt that "she looks smaller than I thought, and I thought she was mistaken."

Zhou Dongyu is a complete novice. What Zhang Yimou does is not to teach her how to act, but to let her be herself. Everything is close to her, and she should be confident to adapt. Zhou Dongyu is unique, much like an amateur actress, but she is smart and savvy, and many things are unexpected.

In the middle of filming, the two actors began to get better and better, and there were still surprises without Zhang Yimou's too much effort. Strictly speaking, in the second half of the film, their performances are no longer lost to professional actors. It's not that professional actors are incapable, but that professional actors can't copy some instinctive things. Therefore, professional actors Xi Meijuan and Xue Jian watched their performances and said, "We can't perform yet". Some feelings are only available for the first time in a movie. These things are like first love. So after watching them get better, Zhang Yimou thought that if the film was too long, he should cut more rural parts, because the second half was better.