Text | Wu Yinan
Edit | Wu Yanyu
Duan Yihong seems to have not appeared in the public eye for a long time. The most recent appearance is that the road crime movie "One Knife Heaven" starring and supervised by Jia Zhangke has just been completed, and the "Double Detective" produced and starring in it has also released a trailer, which will be broadcast on Tencent Video soon. In these two works, Duan Yihong's role has a common criminal element in genre works, which basically continues the audience's consistent understanding of him.
Unlike this public perception label, this summer, Duan Yihong showed another side at FIRST. As the performance consultant of the 14th FIRST Youth Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as FIRST) training camp, and the final judge of the venture capital conference, compared with the labels of wild and male on the screen, he showed more gentleness and relaxation in Xining.
"In fact, I have been loose for nearly ten years," Duan Yihong's expression was somewhat surprised when asked by poison eyes whether it was slack. After all, for actor Duan Yihong, this is a side of him that is difficult to be seen by the audience.
After the two-week training camp, on August 1, the day of the premiere of the training camp work "Far Island", the scene was full, and almost all the stars and creators in Xining came to watch the seven short films of the movie "Far Island". After the ceremony, everyone was still unsatisfied, and they came to the hotel room of director Cao Baoping for a small gathering.
Cao Baoping, Duan Yihong, Huang Xuan, Zu Feng (in no particular order, in alphabetical order)... Several guests attended the premiere, as well as seven young directors who participated in the bootcamp. For a moment, the room seemed a little crowded, and everyone sat in a circle on the ground, drinking and talking until late at night.
In this kind of innings, Duan Yihong looks like the one who is restrained, but he did not expect that he is the most lively and "considerate" on the scene. The 7 directors faced this occasion for the first time, and when they saw Zu Feng, Huang Xuan and other predecessors, they were somewhat shy, and Duan Yihong acted as an "intermediary" and "throwing" to talk to each other more. Duan Yihong's intention is to let these young people seize the precious learning opportunities this night and listen to the opinions and feelings of their predecessors. Such a Duan Yihong has a "temperature difference" that is not the same as the screen image.
The contrast between the coldness in the play and the gentleness and relaxation outside the play may be that Duan Yihong returned to his original intention at FIRST, and the atmosphere of freedom and "wildness" softened him; it may also be that his inner nature is so. Why does Duan Yihong have such a "temperature difference"? Poison Eyes chatted with Duan Yihong with such a question.
Always rejecting, not wanting to be restricted
Although he has been debuting for more than 20 years, Duan Yihong is not highly prolific. When participating in works such as "Summer Palace" and "Soldier Assault", he also hesitated at first. Whether red or not, the consistent cautious posture is what makes Duan Yihong different from other actors.
Such habitual caution did not begin when Duan Yihong gradually had the right to choose after becoming famous. The refusal began when he graduated from Chinese opera in 1998.
At that time, Duan Yihong, who had just graduated from college, entered the National Theatre of China, in addition to stage drama performances, he "couldn't see other arts", and for film and television performances, his heart was even more of a state of screwing and resistance. "The baptism and indoctrination of me by the four years of stage drama performance (Chinese opera) made me deeply enter the temperament and mental state of a literary and artistic youth at that time. Other forms of artistic expression are not very concerned, and even have some high psychology. Duan Yihong told Poison Eye.
In 1999, the evil qi of the killer Luo Yang in "The True Colors of Criminal Police" attracted Duan Yihong. Although it is the first time to appear on the small screen, Duan Yihong also played his own acting skills when facing Wang Zhiwen, who has become popular for starring in dramas such as "Addiction". Subsequently, the TV drama circle found this young seedling, and many similar scripts were handed to him, but because he was unwilling to repeat the image of a problem teenager like Luo Yang, he consciously chose to avoid it.
Stills from "The True Colors of criminal police"
Although he began to be famous in the TV drama circle, the film circle at that time had not yet noticed this young man. In the next three or four years, Duan Yihong still carefully polished his acting skills on the drama stage. It wasn't until four years later, in 2003, that Duan Yihong once again met a film role of his choice - out of interest in the movie "Second Brother" and trust in Wang Xiaoshuai, actor Duan Yihong had his own film debut.
"Second Brother" gave Duan Yihong a certain degree of popularity in the film circle, and many people around him advised him: "When you go to the big screen, follow the second and third film works, and you stand in the three films", and Duan Yihong chose to "not hurry" to return to the theater for two years.
Part of the reason for returning to the stage is that Meng Jinghui's "Rhinoceros in Love" moved him, and for the next two years, he immersed himself in this temperamental and crazy work. As the second generation of "road", Duan Yihong's interpretation of this role is infectious. At its peak, 21 days before the show, all 27 shows were sold out. To this day, this drama is still one of the most rehearsed works by college drama clubs in the country.
Stills from Rhinoceros in Love
With the success of the "road" corner, Duan Yihong also maintained caution in selecting film and television scripts. In order to ensure the performance quality of the drama, Duan Yihong even declined the opportunity of the male number one of "Coco Xili".
In 2005, director Kang Honglei wanted Duan Yihong to play "Soldier Assault", and Duan Yihong was initially a little nervous. After that, at several invitations from the director, he still decided to play the role of Yuan Lang.
"Soldier Assault" was a huge success, with more than 120,000 people rating on Douban, with a rating of 9.4, and was repeatedly replayed by various David TV. The old A "Yuan Lang" brought Duan Yihong a wide range of popularity, becoming his first role that was truly known to the public.
In 2010, "My Regiment Leader My Regiment" (hereinafter referred to as "My Regiment") played a role in the Dragon article, and added a fire to Duan Yihong. But Duan Yihong, who has more achievements and reputations, still chooses the role carefully in order to "avoid homogenization". "After filming "My Group", I can't surpass my own performance in it, so I have never made an anti-Japanese drama again, so am I very willful? Or is it an option as an actor? Maybe a little bit. Duan Yihong told Poison Eye.
Stills from "My Regiment Leader My Regiment"
Until now, Duan Yihong has been a mature film actor, but he is still very cautious about choosing roles, "because he likes it too much, so he is nervous."
Talking about how he chose the role at the moment, Duan Yihong said that he would often give himself half a year to repeatedly think about which role to play, and then finally make a choice. At the same time, once Duan Yihong identified a role, he would go all out. On many occasions he mentioned that once it was promised to do something, "I must be worthy of myself and the person who asked me to do it."
If the careful selection of works is his A-side, then to a certain extent, a deeper understanding of the question of whether it is limited by genre films is his B-side.
With starring in movies such as "West Wind", "Scorching Heart of the Sun", "Blizzard Is Coming" and so on, over the years, Duan Yihong has a lot of labels on him, tough guy, stubborn, clumsy, screw, etc. In Zhihu's "How to Evaluate Duan Yihong's Acting Skills?" In this question, many viewers have the impression of him as cold, neurotic, "wild", hormone-bursting - as if he has been "framed" by some kind of impression.
Duan Yihong and the people around him also realized this, so many people around him began to hope that he would not be restricted: "Old Duan, you don't play a soldier anymore, you don't play a tough guy anymore." ”
And the "twisting" in creation may come in part from Duan Yihong's personal experience when he was young. "I've always been defensive, born in a remote city, and then I came out to study and work hard, [these experiences] will make my life less open." 」
On the question of whether to worry about being stereotyped by genre films, Duan Yihong admitted to Poison Eye that every actor who has requirements for himself is not willing to be stereotyped by the audience, but actors need to go through this stage in their acting careers, but "in fact, from another perspective, it is also a recognition of their professional ability."
That is to say, although in the eyes of some viewers, Duan Yihong's screen image has not changed substantially for the time being, he does not mind the labels on his body now. This kind of not mind is also another manifestation of relaxation.
In addition to accepting the temporary "stereotyping" and the "homogenization" of the role, Duan Yihong also gave another dimension of the solution, which also reflects his leniency. Even in the performance framework of genre films, he is constantly innovating, hoping to perform similar roles with different textures and achieve "one work after another". In a previous interview with the media, he mentioned that the same type of role does not mean that there is no room for excavation. "[Some people] don't find this difference and don't have the ability to present it."
In addition, after more than 20 years as an actor, he is also seeking a change of identity. In "Two Detectives," he first tried his role as a producer, exploring the possibility of his upward extension outside of the performance—his mass image is moving towards a different imaginative space outside the limited space of the audience's cognition.
"The last ten years have been very relaxing"
Duan Yihong, who entered the second half of his 40s, seemed to have completely relaxed in all aspects. After 20 years, he once again seriously traveled to his hometown of Xinjiang, and was more and more willing to slow down and feel life. "Have these years become loose?" Halfway through the interview, Poison Eyes asked. "I like this question", he offered to express his approval of the topic -
"In fact, when I interview and communicate with people, I am much more relaxed than before. Before I always asked and answered, now I prefer to communicate with you like friends in interviews. In fact, in the past ten years, I have been very relaxed in my life, because I feel that I am comfortable with myself and the people around me. ”
The reason why Duan Yihong can become more relaxed stems from the fact that he has reconciled with the previous mentality of "not letting go of himself", and turned his youthful inferiority into a driving force for creation. "People" once mentioned, "Once Duan Yihong was an island in the water, he learned to reconcile with himself in loneliness, and now he is a dancer dancing in the water."
At the moment, even if it is occasionally more true, he will not need to adjust for too long. In the filming of "Double Detective", Duan Yihong, as a producer, has a lot of things to deal with, but when dealing with some thorny problems, he can always maintain a relaxed state. When Duan Yihong's friend Xing Jiadong cameoed on the scene of "Double Detective", what he saw was the ease of the supervising producer Old Duan at the scene. "He is very stable and calm on the scene as a producer and lead actor. He has a big picture view and is not anxious when things go wrong. Xing Jiadong said.
Slack, but also from time to time in Duan Yihong's sense of humor loomed. At FIRST's Youth Film Festival, Duan Yihong and Hao Lei took the stage at the same time as the guests of honor for best actor. As soon as the two appeared, the audience shouted "Rhinoceros in Love" below. Shunshi, Duan Yihong pointed to Hao Lei on the stage and said, "Mingming", Hao Lei responded with "malu".
At FIRST's training camp, Duan Yihong revealed more of the gentle side of his personality. This gentleness is also a derivative of relaxation.
At the shooting site of the training camp, most people met Duan Yihong for the first time, and the deepest impression he left on the young creators was "Duan Yihong said that the play is so gentle." Duan Yihong chose to communicate softly on the spot because he did not want to hurt and influence the actors, and did not want the actors to have fear and rebellious psychology.
Although he is an acting consultant at the training camp, Duan Yihong has no intention of "looking down" on these young people as an acting teacher, he prefers to be a listener and become a bridge between young directors and actors.
"On the spot, young directors may be more familiar with the technical aspects of the operation and lack the ability to communicate with the actors. So, I listen to what the directors intend to say, and then I have a targeted conversation with the actors. Some people say that the old duan is so gentle and has changed, which is a kind of relaxation. Duan Yihong told Poison Eye.
In the preparatory stage before the start of filming, Duan Yihong had a one-on-one conversation with each director to help them straighten out the character relationship of the script. On the day of the official shooting, Duan Yihong shuttled through 7 shooting scenes to provide advice for some heavy scenes with more complex performance levels.
Duan Yihong was filmed on "Lonely Island"
Among them, "Cave Love", one of the 7 short films of "Lonely Island", has more night scenes, this short film was filmed for three days, and Duan Yihong also guarded the big night scene for three days. There was a scene where the actress fell, and he personally demonstrated how to fall. "Leave a valuable performance in front of the camera", this is where Duan Yihong wants to inspire the actors.
With a relatively humble attitude and a posture of being on the sidelines, colliding ideas with others and helping these young people as much as possible is the main purpose of Duan Yihong's coming to FIRST this year. It is also a more comfortable and relaxed Duan Yihong, who can bring more encouragement and support to young filmmakers.
Duan Yihong himself is still like a polyhedron: excellence in career, expansion of possibilities in performance, gentleness and relaxation in life, are all one of his sides. Perhaps as he said at the opening ceremony of the boot camp: "Freedom, whether high or low, just feel it." "Roughly speaking, Duan Yihong can already shuttle freely in the temperature difference between inside and outside the play.
Resources:
Duan Yihong: Don't be depressed, surging forward