Feng Yuanzheng: Good people, bad people and weird people

(Feng Yuanzheng was born in Beijing in November 1962.) Vice President of Beijing People's Art Theatre, national first-class actor. ）

Reasons for awarding

He is an absolutely powerful actor on the screen and an indispensable backbone on the drama stage. He has portrayed many wonderful and classic characters, he is An Jiahe in "Don't Talk to Strangers", and he is also the second master of Song in "TeaHouse". Today, he is not only focused on acting, but also dedicated to discovering and developing young actors. He pays attention to tradition and is also bold and innovative, and his love of acting and theater can be described as obsessive and crazy.

Cultural Figure of the Year 2021

Feng Yuanzheng: Good people, bad people and weird people

Reporter/Ni Wei

Published in China News Weekly on December 27, 2021

Seven-year-old Feng Yuanzheng was thrown into the saline field of Tianjin's military grain city, and his father, who served in the army, was branded a "counter-revolutionary", and the family moved from Beijing to the military grain city. It was 1969, and he was in the second half of first grade, and a classroom was filled with children from first grade to sixth grade, all descendants of "counter-revolutionaries." The uncles and aunts around me were all "counter-revolutionaries", even the kind teachers. He wondered, "Are they all bad people?" ”

Many years later, Feng Yuanzheng became an actor, he played a lot of good people, but also played some "bad people" and "weird people", he played very realistic, people can't tell whether it is the role or himself, and even caused a lot of trouble. But he never played the role as a "bad guy" or a "weirdo," and his early childhood experience made him doubt this simple judgment.

So there are those classic performances that are both good and evil. Passionately playing revolutionaries, smiling ordinary people, making people creepy when their eyes are cold, turning their heads and cocking their orchid fingers, and making people laugh. He was never limited by one type, like a chameleon. Among male actors of the same age, this kind of personality that is always seeking change and getting rid of labels is rare. In his eyes, this is the true color of a professional actor.

New director

On the evening of September 2, 2021, the drama "Sunrise" premiered at the Cao Yu Theater, and Feng Yuanzheng, as a director, stepped onto the stage to lead a group of young actors to thank them. Behind him, a huge picture of Mr. Cao Yu gradually emerged. Feng Yuanzheng turned around and bowed deeply to Mr. Cao Yu, and the young actor's eyes were moist.

This is the way he specially designed the curtain, and it is also a scene full of human art: the soul of renyi, the classic drama of renyi, the new theater of renyi, the director and actor of renyi, and the hardcore audience of renyi is offstage. Feng Yuanzheng breathed a sigh of relief, the performance of this batch of "post-90s" and even "post-95" actors made him satisfied, "Some people say that renyi is now 'green and yellow', but you look at these young actors, how great! "This is the moment that gives him the most sense of belonging, even if the public awareness is mostly from film and television, but the theater is his home."

The most enjoyable things for him in recent years have happened on the stage. With his main career as an actor, he directed two major plays: "Du Fu" and "Sunrise". When he first became a director, he was not afraid of the stage, and used a lot of bold and innovative techniques in directing techniques, such as using multimedia in classic plays. "A lot of things written by Mr. Cao Yu can't be shown on stage, and I changed the whole perspective relationship through stage design, showing some behind-the-scenes things on the stage," he rarely did not have modesty, "from my point of view, I think this is the closest style to the original." ”

Feng Yuanzheng has another expectation for "Sunrise". He served as the captain of the Beijing Renyi Actors Team a few years ago, and last year he became the vice president, and has been worried about cultivating a new generation of actors. "Sunrise" is his acting class classroom, and he specifically applied for an additional month of rehearsal time to train new actors. Lu Lu, the actor who plays Chen Bailu, said, "Rehearsing this play seems to have taken another acting class. "At the end of the last century, the older generation of actors collectively retired, and Feng Yuanzheng's group of actors provoked the beams. Because the classic version of Zhuyu was in front, when the new team of "TeaHouse" took the stage, it encountered a lot of scolding. In recent years, Renyi is facing the replacement of old and new, and Feng Yuanzheng hopes that the new actors will not experience the dilemma of his time, "Don't let us bow and give up, we hope to help them when we can still act."

He often told young actors that there was nothing to read more, how could you read the script without reading? There are many texts in the lines of "Du Fu", and before rehearsal, he took the actors to read the script 24 times in 12 days. Halfway through the book, many young actors don't quite understand. There is a line "Career rubbing", the actor feels very awkward, planning to change it to "Career bumpy", but when he opens his mouth on stage, he reads "Career Rubbing". Feng Yuanzheng asked him, why didn't he change? The young man smiled, or the word was elegant and good.

Du Fu played the role himself, and he played Shi Sheng as a little old man. The script is based on the lowest period of Du Fu's life, but he acted very cutely. "When I was a child, I lived a hard life, and I didn't feel bitter, but I was happy in suffering." He said, "Because you have to move forward in order to live, du Fu is the same." ”

Hard days

The hard days were spent in the military food city. At that time, the family of six was scattered in three places, dad was working in another place, brother was studying in the county, and he and his mother lived in the bungalow of the dry school. In the winter, heavy snow closed the door, and a snow trail had to be cleared to go out, and the snow piles on both sides were higher than his head. In the summer, the saline land became a reed, and he and his friends picked bird eggs and tomatoes to supplement their food. Later, whenever the role needs to learn from the most bitter experience in life, he will reminisce about life at that time.

When he was less than ten years old, he learned to plant seedlings, cut rice, and plant vegetable seedlings. "Do you know what a 'seedling' is?" His eyes lit up, and he fell into memory with great interest: "Seeds are randomly sprinkled into the field, and after the seedlings grow, some seedlings and seedlings are too close, so they have to pull out the weaker seedlings and let the good seedlings thrive, which is called 'inter-seedling'." When filming "Old Farmer", the farm tools on the set will be made by hand, which is the experience of childhood.

He also worked for a year at the lathe side of the lathe pull-up factory. After returning to Beijing in 1974, he completed primary and junior high schools, and joined the school's skydiving team when he was in high school at Beijing 108 Middle School. At that time, the 108 skydiving team was the champion team in Beijing, and the Beijing team was the champion team in the country, he wanted to enter the professional team, but he did not go to the Longtan zipper factory and did a year of zippering. Just as the temp was about to turn right, he ran away.

At that time, he was already in love with acting, and when he was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy in 1984, he was selected by Nortel teacher Zhang Nunxin to star in the movie "Youth Festival", but was eventually rejected by Nortel. Zhang Nunxin inquired about the reason and helplessly told him: "They think you don't look good." I told them that they all acted in my movies, do you still want them? ”

The following year, he was admitted to the Renyi Cadet Class. When he was still in the student class, he played Zeng Wenqing in the drama "Beijinger" directed by Xia Chun, playing against the mature actors in the theater. He was nervous, not asking for praise, but not being scolded.

The first time Zeng Wenqing appeared, there was a curtain pulling action, he did not pass the pass all morning. To ask Director Xia Chun where the problem is, the director did not say anything about the performance, the whole body looked at him, let him keep a back, buy a pair of cloth shoes, and borrow a coat with the costume group, wear it every day. During that time, he always had such a line at home, "Wearing a coat to eat and eat vegetables, the sleeves are easy to get wet with vegetable soup, you naturally have to stir." In fact, it is to tell you that this coat you wear smoothly, like your own, the character slowly generates on you. ”

At that time, the seniors did not tell him how to do his body and how to say his lines, but Feng Yuanzheng realized from their instructions: don't act, but become the role itself.

"Bad Guys" and "WeirdOs"

In late October, Feng Yuanzheng sent a congratulatory Weibo message at the zero o'clock of his wife's birthday, and someone left a message: We are very satisfied if you don't beat her. He watched a piece of music. In the eyes of many people, he is still the Same Anjiahe, but the original fear and hatred have faded.

20 years ago, in the TV series "Don't Talk to Strangers", he created one of the most feared characters in the history of Chinese TV drama, but he did not treat Anjiahe as a bad person in his heart. In order to shape the character's inner circle, he called the women's hotline and asked what the wife beaters thought, and whether intellectuals would beat their wives? The operator said that there were too many intellectuals who beat his wife, and gave him an example: someone tied his wife to a bed and splashed water, and then took an electric fly to shoot the electricity; another doctor tied his wife up, knocked her on the head with the heel of high heels, and finally had a brain hemorrhage. He suddenly realized that Anjia and "had".

"When he beat his wife, he stood in the most reasonable angle, and after the beating, he knelt down and confessed his mistake, which was also sincere. When he fights, he definitely does not think that he is wrong, so he is hated. He recalled to China News Weekly, "I had to love Anjiahe and 'rationalize' all his actions." ”

On today's screen, the show still has a sharp social character that is not outdated. At that time, the producer's original intention was to shoot a commercial scene, look around, find the theme of "beating the wife", and think that this topic may be hot. Found a screenwriter to write, the screenwriter admitted the truth, wanted to use this drama to popularize the concept of anti-domestic violence, and emphasized this concept many times in the play. Many Chinese know for the first time that "beating the wife" is not a family affair behind closed doors. Two months after the TV series hit, the divorce rate in Beijing rose, "If it is really because of this drama, this is a good thing, indicating that many people have come out of the shadow of domestic violence." He said.

After An Jiahe, Feng Yuanzheng once again received attention because of the two small cameo roles. In the 2004 film "No Thief in the World" directed by Feng Xiaogang, he and Fan Wei partnered and played a fat and thin two funny robbers. That Spring Festival, many friends sent him text messages: "Don't laugh, rob it!" 4 years later, still in the film directed by Feng Xiaogang, he played an alternative role, Amore, who appeared in "Do Not Disturb", for just a few minutes, which made him nominated for the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Supporting Actor.

When Feng Xiaogang found him, he only faxed two pages of the script, and Feng Yuanzheng asked Feng Xiaogang, can this be reviewed? Feng Xiaogang said, I don't know, shoot first and then say. On the day of filming, he wore a tight black T-shirt, a pair of black wide-leg pants on the lower half of the film, and fashionable leather sandals on his feet. The makeup artist gave him foundation, double eyelids, red fingernails on his little thumbs, and sparkling diamond stud earrings. After booting, Qin Fen, played by Ge You, came on the field and shook hands with him across the seat, he had a clever move, did not let go, looked at it charmingly, Ge You's face changed, and then he made a little effort before he spread out. In the slightly awkward atmosphere, Amore's feelings for Qin Fen were all filled inside.

For Amore, he also loved it in his heart. "Society is diverse and everyone deserves to be accepted. Literary and artistic works reflect real life, and real life is like this, which requires a variety of characters to appear in the work. ”

Later, when someone said that you played a bad person, he first broke up with people: what is a good person and what is a bad person? "Never differentiate between characters like that, we have to love a character." He remembered that when he was a child, he was surrounded by the children of "counter-revolutionaries", but they had a lot of fun together. "Those uncles and aunts around me are all bad people that everyone thinks, but why are they so warm?" My father was also very kind and loving to me. ”

Freedom of performance

Last year, the movie "Promise" starring Feng Yuanzheng was quietly released, and the box office was dismal. This is a seemingly unpopular film about a scavenger who promises a lot of money, undertakes someone else's dying orphan, and is forced to wander around to make a living as a scavenger in order to provide for his daughter's college. Impressed by the character and dignity of the characters, he took on the role in a huff.

It is often remembered as a cameo role that inadvertently inserts willows, and the scenes that are truly emotionally engaged are not necessarily seen by many people. Which is the most enjoyable character? He didn't even think about it, and gave an unpopular answer: "The Last Prince".

It was a period play, he played the life of the last prince of the Qing Dynasty, from the late Qing Dynasty to the revolution, and then the Republic of China, the Anti-Japanese Resistance, the liberation, and finally the founding of New China. This prince has risen and fallen with the times, and there is no less foreign appearance, but the comedy wraps up the fate of a lifetime. Feng Yuanzheng rarely experienced the feeling of "possession", "how to act is right", and pondered on the set every day what interesting things might happen to the characters. Even the staff is looking forward to when Feng Yuanzheng will come to the set and want to see how he plays today.

"This role allowed me to find the freedom to act, and it's so hard for an actor to come across such a good script, and that's my luck." He said.

The freedom to perform is always present in uncharted territory that has never been set foot in. "I'm such a person, when I think something is good, don't go any further." Just like eating cream cake, the second piece must not be as good as the first one. "After 'Don't Talk to Strangers' went viral, twenty or thirty characters of the same kind came to the door, and he didn't pick up any of them. Because none of them were better at writing than Don't Talk to Strangers, he told the producers that if he wrote more perverted than Anjiahe, he would definitely act. Even when one acting method was popular, he immediately changed his approach to the next play. "I'm not a prolific actor and I'm too picky about the script, but if you look at my work, I'm sure you won't let everyone down."

Although he is in the show business, he has always had a great interest in real life. In his spare time, he does not watch TV dramas much, and he likes to watch documentaries and rule of law programs the most, and he also watches blind date programs. From these programs, he can see life and human nature, "for example, in the blind date program, when facing a person, they have their own attitudes, which is very interesting." "In the rule of law program, neighbors can fight in court because of trivial matters in life, and relatives can turn against each other because of inheritance disputes, so he wonders if he wants to play such people, he can find a basis in them." Observing life is an indispensable lesson for an actor for a lifetime. He said.