In 1991, China's film market was full of masterpieces. Zhang Yimou filmed "The Big Red Lantern Hangs High", Huang Jianxin filmed the star-studded "New Year's Day", and Jiang Hao and He Qun filmed "Agni Golden Steel", all of which were well received.
But none of these films can be compared with a set of epic blockbusters launched by Bayi Factory.
This set of epic blockbusters is "Armageddon".
If someone asks me, what was the best movie to watch in 1991? My answer is absolutely: Armageddon. There is no one that does not accept rebuttals.
This movie made me understand what a real "epic movie" is.
"Armageddon" includes the "Battle of Liaoshen of Armageddon", "Battle of Huaihai of Armageddon", and "Battle of Pingjin of Armageddon". I think it has brought the theme of war in our country to a climax. Later, many big directors have made grand war films, but they have not surpassed the old movies of 30 years ago. And I think that "Armageddon" is also difficult to surpass in many ways. For example, the two-and-a-half-minute long aerial shot of "Huang Wei's 12 corps rushing to cross the Xun River" embodies the marching team that stretches for several kilometers, and its unprecedented large scene is hailed as the "most spectacular" marching scene in the history of cinema.
The perfection of "Armageddon" is reflected in the shaping of historical figures and the treatment of various details. As large as the long aerial footage of Huang Wei's corps marching toward Su County, to the bench sitting upside down when Su Yu looked at the map, they were all so meticulous. It can be seen how serious and rigorous the filmmakers led by Li Jun were at that time.
In order to shoot this set of "Armageddon", the Bayi Factory at that time can be said to have lifted the strength of the whole factory, and after several years of painstaking efforts, it finally completed this set of masterpieces.
The reason why this set of "Armageddon" has become a classic, I think there is another very important reason, that is, the performance of the actors. Especially those special actors, their performance can be called "both gods and shapes". Not only let us feel the charm of the performance, but also in the whole film, it also played a role in "finishing touches".
So, after 30 years, do you remember those old actors who appeared in "Armageddon"? What kind of changes have they had over the years? What is their current and current situation?
Today, let Yaqing, together with everyone, seriously explore it.
I think the special actors who appeared in Armageddon were, first of all, like. The appearance is very dominant, which allows the audience to accept the characters they play at the first time.
Secondly, the performances of the actors can also stand the test of time. Looking back now, we feel even more that their interpretation is evocative.
1. Gu Yue plays Mao Zedong
Gu Yue is a special actor personally selected by Marshal Ye Jianying.
In his lifetime, he only created one role, that is, the great Mao Zedong.
When a person only does one thing in his life, then in the end, it is difficult for him to think unsuccessfully.
In 1981, Gu Yue played Mao Zedong for the first time in the Xi'an Incident. Initially facing the camera, he was nervous and couldn't find any feelings. Later, inspired by the director, he gradually entered a better state. But he was not satisfied with the experience, believing that his performance did not show the characteristics of the great man. After that, he began to observe and analyze the photographic data of the great man in various periods, carefully studied the historical materials, and carefully simulated the calligraphy of the great man, from which to feel and experience the heart of the great man.
The so-called "kung fu pays off". It is precisely in this kind of careful study day after day that he has a deeper understanding of Chairman Mao, and when he reappears in front of the camera, he is even more handy.
"Armageddon" gave Gu Yue a chance to fully display her acting skills. At this time, he had already played Mao Zedong in various periods in films such as "Four Crossings of Red Water", "General Peng Da", "Founding Ceremony" and so on, accumulating a lot of experience and becoming more and more mature in his acting skills. However, in order to play Mao Zedong well during the three major battles, he still consulted a large number of materials and humbly consulted every person who had worked next to the chairman. Finally, we saw a military strategist on the screen full of heroism. Gu Yue vividly embodied Mao Zedong's extraordinary boldness and foresight during this period.
After that, he successfully shaped Mao Zedong's image in films such as "The Story of Mao Zedong", "Chongqing Negotiations", "The Great Turning Point: Fighting Southwest Lu", "The Great March: Liberating the Great Northwest", "The Great March: The Great Pursuit of the Southern Front", "The Great March - Sweeping the Great Southwest", "The Great March: The Great War in Ninghuhang", and "Out of Xibaipo".
However, what everyone did not expect was that when his acting career was at its peak, he suddenly died on July 2, 2005 due to sudden myocardial infarction and ineffective rescue, at the age of 68. Before that, he had just starred in the image of Mao Zedong in "The Wind and clouds" directed by Chen Guoxing. This is the last time he appears in the film.
In this life, Gu Yue has not played other roles. I think it is precisely because of this that he concentrates on doing only one thing, which makes the Mao Zedong he portrays so real and vivid and ready to come out. Later, many stars have played great people, but to be honest, compared with Gu Yue, there is still a gap.
Second, Su Lin plays Zhou Enlai
Su Lin is not the most like Premier Zhou's special actor.
The "Armageddon" crew originally wanted to find Wang Tiecheng to play Zhou Enlai, but Wang Tiecheng's age was relatively old, and he was shooting the movie "Zhou Enlai" at the time, so he replaced the actor candidate with Su Lin.
In fact, Su Lin played the image of Premier Zhou for the first time, and the time was quite early. It was 1979, and he portrayed Zhou Enlai in the movie "Big Dipper". Then he played Zhou Enlai in different periods in films such as "Four Crossings of Red Water", "Baise Uprising", and "Weiwei Kunlun".
In "Armageddon", his performance is calm and introverted, which better shows the character of the prime minister and is recognized.
After that, he played the image of Zhou Enlai in film and television dramas such as "July 7 Incident", "Yihai Alliance", "Mao Zedong and Snow", and gradually formed a natural, implicit, emotional and sincere performance style.
However, it is also surprising that not long after Gu Yue's death, Su Lin also died on December 1, 2005 due to a sudden myocardial infarction that was ineffective, and like Gu Yue, he was only 68 years old when he died.
Third, Liu Huaizheng plays Zhu De
Liu Huai is an actor from the Guizhou Repertory Theatre. The first time I saw him play Commander-in-Chief Zhu De was in 1980, when he starred as Mr. Zhu in "Dadu River" shot by Changchun Film Studio. However, he portrayed Mr. Zhu on the stage earlier, in 1978, he successfully played the image of Zhu De in the drama "Nanchang Uprising", which attracted the attention of film directors, and since then he has become the chief special actor who shaped the image of Mr. Zhu on the screen.
Liu Huai is in appearance, very similar to Mr. Zhu. Moreover, he has accumulated rich performance experience on the stage of the Guizhou Repertory Theatre, so the Zhu Boss he portrayed is so rich and layered and seems real and credible. Especially in "Armageddon", we see his pure performance, as well as the wisdom and belief of Mr. Zhu that he showed, which is unforgettable.
However, what is also heart-wrenching is that Liu Huai has not been portraying Mr. Zhu on the screen for a long time, only a short period of more than ten years, starring Zhu De in film and television dramas such as "Four Crossings of Red Water", "Zhu De and Smedley", "Weiwei Kunlun", "General Peng Da", "Founding Ceremony", "The Great March - Sweeping the Great Southwest", "Zhou Enlai", "Zunyi Conference" and other film and television dramas. He died in an accident in 1997 at the age of 65.
Fourth, Guo Fa once played Liu Shaoqi
Guo Fa was the first generation of special actors to play Liu Shaoqi on the screen. He is from Cobain. He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 1967 and was soon assigned to the Guangxi Repertory Theatre. His first appearance on screen was in "Extra High Class in Action", in which he played an underground party member who had penetrated into the enemy's interior. Then he participated in movies such as "The Mist of the Goddess Peak" and "Chunlan Qiuju".
He first played Liu Shaoqi in the TV series "Ancient City Love Hate", in 1987. Guo Fazeng's image and temperament have been recognized by everyone, and then he received many invitations from the film crew, and then starred in Films such as "Weiwei Kunlun" and "Founding Ceremony". In order to create this character well, Guo Fa has made a lot of efforts. He is not satisfied with the imitation of appearances, but strives to dig into the inner world of the characters and get rid of the pattern of facialization.
In Armageddon, the other special actors spoke in dialects, and I was impressed by his fluency in standard Mandarin.
After starring in "Armageddon", Guo Fazeng shaped Liu Shaoqi's image in many movies such as "Zhou Enlai", "Chongqing Negotiations", "Great War of Ninghuhang", "Shaoqi Special Train" and so on. Today, the veteran artist is 76 years old and still cares about the development of China's film and television industry. His wife's name is He Ling, and she is also a very familiar actor, who starred in films such as "Ten Days" and "Chunlan Qiuju" in the 80s.
5. Lucy plays Ren Bishi
Lu Xi is a national first-class actor from Tianjin Renyi. In 1945, he became an underground party worker. After the liberation of Tianjin, he became a member of Tianjin Renyi and retired in 1988. The audience's understanding of him is more from the screen, and he has created the image of Ren Bishi in films such as "The Founding Ceremony", "Weiwei Kunlun", "Armageddon", "Chongqing Negotiations" and so on. Outside of the play, he is also an excellent Communist Party member, and in 2007, he was awarded the title of "Artist with Outstanding Contribution to the State" by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Personnel.
Lucy acted until he was in his 70s. His lifelong pursuit is to make the people happy and let the audience watch it. He did this in both plays and movies. Lucy died of illness on 21 February 2012 at the age of 82.
6. Zong Liqun plays Peng Dehuai
I think Zong Liqun also has an advantage in appearance —he looks a lot like General Peng da when he was young. And it is precisely by virtue of this advantage that he has won the favor of the director group of "Armageddon".
It is said that in 1990, when Bayi Factory filmed "Armageddon", other special actors were in place, but Peng Dehuai's actor was not found for a long time. At that time, in fact, there were already two actors who had portrayed General Peng on the screen, they were Ding Xiaoyi and Lei Fei. Someone on the crew suggested choosing one of the two of them. But the general director Li Jun disagreed. Because he wanted to find an actor who was more like Peng Zong in appearance and had to have a military temperament and a general demeanor.
It was in this situation that Zong Liqun entered the sight of director Li Jun. Moreover, Zong Liqun's natural and smooth performance in front of the camera also made everyone overjoyed. I didn't expect this Zong Liqun to look so much like Mr. Peng and be so good at acting.
In "Armageddon", Zong Liqun deduced the courage and courage of General Peng Da, who has courage and strategy, wisdom and courage, and has been unanimously praised by the audience. Subsequently, he starred in many film and television dramas such as "The Great Turning", "Taihang Mountain", "The Destiny of the Country", "Five-Star Red Flag Fluttering in the Wind", "Dongfang", "Mao Zedong" and many other film and television dramas, which was unforgettable.
Today, Zong Liqun is 71 years old and is still active in front of the film and television camera. The latest work is to play a role in "Grandpa China" and "Never Change Defense".
7. Fu Xuecheng plays Liu Bocheng
I think Fu Xuecheng is one of the best actors in Armageddon. He is from the Air Politics Repertory Theatre. Like Liu Huaizheng, the first time he became a special actor was in the movie "Dadu River", he starred in the role of Liu Bocheng, which was very affirmed. Immediately after that, he was out of control, and successively starred in the film and television dramas such as "Four Crossings of Red Water", "Weiwei Kunlun", "Founding Ceremony", "Great Armageddon", "Great Turning", "Great March", "Thousand Miles Leap into Dabie Mountain" and other film and television dramas.
Fu Xuecheng had his own knowledge and understanding of Liu Shuai by carefully reading Liu Shuai's military works and understanding Liu Shuai's life experience. He believes that Liu Shuai is a person who is familiar with military books, and he has studied military affairs in the Soviet Union, he has the overall situation in mind, he has a million male soldiers in his heart, and he has a kind of elegant temperament in his body. I think it is precisely because Fu Xuecheng has a deep understanding of the role that the Liu Bocheng portrayed is so vivid.
Fu Xuecheng is 85 years old this year, and there is a kind of humility and wisdom between his eyebrows.
Lu Qi plays Deng Xiaoping
Lucci is relatively young in the first generation of special actors.
In 1988, he won the Best Actor Award at the 10th Golden Rooster Awards for His successful portrayal of Deng Xiaoping in "The Hundred Colors Uprising", which became a hit. Since then, he has also started his own path as a special actor. "The Founding Ceremony", "The Great Armageddon", "Zhou Enlai" and many other films have come to the door. Suddenly, he became the perfect candidate to play the great Man Deng Xiaoping on the screen.
I think Lu Qi's success is because he is close to a great man in appearance, and second, he also focuses on grasping the spirit of the characters in his performance, and strives to show the experience, thoughts, and temperament of the characters. In the movie "Armageddon", Lu Qi captured the inner temperament of the characters, and the characters created were vivid and vivid.
It is worth mentioning that as a professional actor, Lu Qi also became a special actor who portrayed Sun Yat-sen in the later stage, and his performance was also recognized by everyone. Now that he is 67 years old, he is the best years of a special actor. Recently, in the TV drama version of "Armageddon" directed by Gao Xixi, he still played the role of Deng Xiaoping. It was very intimate.
9. Liu Xitian plays Chen Yi
Liu Xitian is also a good actor. The Marshal Chen Yi he portrayed can really be described as both divine and physical.
He is a national first-class actor from the China Railway Cultural and Labor Troupe, and won the title of "Chen No. 1" for his role as Chen Yi in films such as "Meiling Spark", "Bell Mountain under the Wind and Rain", "Yellow Bridge Decisive Battle", "Weiwei Kunlun", "Founding Ceremony", and "Armageddon".
His performance is simple and natural, true and subtle, and the characteristics of Mr. Chen's ability to write and martial arts, humor and wisdom, frankness and heroism are vividly interpreted. But sadly, Liu Xitian also died on November 7, 2003, like Gu Yue and Su Lin, at the age of 65.
10. Xie Weicai plays Su Yu
Later, Xie Weicai said in an interview that in his life, he and Su Yuda will be related. And the movie "Armageddon", there is also a fate.
In November 1948, the Battle of Huaihai, which shocked China and foreign countries, began. We Chinese the People's Liberation Army to crush the Kuomintang army in a state of decay. Among the scattered deserters, there was a major officer named Xie Degui, who accidentally lost his eldest son because he was in a hurry to escape for his life.
The child who was left behind was Xie Weicai. He was only 7 years old and was saved by his uncle in the People's Liberation Army. And the victorious general who commanded this war was Su Yu.
On May 6, 1949, at the age of 8, Xie Weicai joined the cultural and labor corps of the People's Liberation Army and became a literary and artistic fighter. Later, when performing the Peking Opera "Qin Xianglian", he finally met General Su Yu and felt how happy he was. What he didn't expect was that in his life, he would be famous for playing Su Yu, and he would also find his long-lost brothers and sisters because he starred in "Armageddon". Are you curious or not?
Xie Weicai was selected to play Su Yu in "Armageddon", also because he looked more "like". Of course, his final success is inseparable from his performance. After the release of "Armageddon", everyone felt that he had performed the style of General Su Yu. He became famous and became a professional player who played Su Yu on the screen.
After the release of "Armageddon", a technician at a hydrological station in Shanghai named Xie Weixing noticed that on the subtitle list, the actor who played Su Yu was named Xie Weicai, and he thought to himself, will he be his long-lost brother? Because his brother is also called Xie Weicai. As soon as I inquired, it was. When Xie Weicai finally saw several younger siblings, he couldn't help but burst into tears. And such a reunion, the most important thing to thank, is the "Armageddon" crew, and General Su Yu.
Xie Weicai later played the image of Su Yu in film and television dramas such as "The Great Turn", "The Great March", and "The New Fourth Army". On May 28, 2020, he died of illness at the age of 79.
11. Ma Shaoxin plays Lin Biao
After watching "Armageddon", everyone feels that the character image of Lin Biao is too impressive.
Ma Shaoxin's acting skills have also been widely recognized by everyone.
I think there are two main reasons for this. One is that Ma Shaoxin has too many close places with the characters in terms of appearance and temperament. He was originally an actor in the Jixi Repertory Theatre in Heilongjiang, and the role he first auditioned for in the "Armageddon" crew was Chen Bray. However, when he stood in front of the camera, the director and many of the staff could not help but take a cold breath: Ah, it is so similar.
Yes, he looks too much like Lin Biao - thin cheeks, some gloomy looks, gloomy and sharp eyes, etc., so that the director immediately made a decision, and he played Lin Biao.
As a result, Masayoshi's screen debut surprised all the audience.
I think the other is that Ma Shaoxin captured Lin Biao's charm, in the shot, he played Lin Biao, not smiling, more often his face was gloomy, and all the movements were slow but determined. Ma Shaoxin vividly embodies lin Biao's majesty when commanding battles and his lonely personality in daily life, so that we can truly feel his meticulous portrayal of the role.
Since then, Ma Shaoxin has starred in lin biao in the film "The Great March" and the TV series "Blood Four Ping" filmed by Bayi Factory. In 2002, he starred in the TV series "Lin Hai Snow Field", which impressed us. He's in his 70s now. But because the media has limited publicity about him, we don't know much about his recent situation.
12. Zhao Hengduo plays Chiang Kai-shek
At the beginning of the filming of "Armageddon", Chiang Kai-shek's actor, everyone was optimistic about Sun Feihu. At that time, Sun Feihu became the perfect candidate to play Chiang Kai-shek because of his wonderful performance in "Xi'an Incident". However, the opinions were summarized to the director group, who believed that Chiang Kai-shek in "Armageddon" could not be as simple as the face of many film and television dramas in the past, but should be a three-dimensional rich screen image that could withstand scrutiny. Therefore, after much deliberation, they selected Zhao Hengduo, who had starred in Chiang Kai-shek in "Blood Battle Taierzhuang".
It turns out that Zhao Hengduo's performance is very good. With his untraceable acting skills, he created the image of a flesh-and-blood Chiang Kai-shek, and showed his personality and multi-facetedness very well.
Since then, Zhao Hengduo has starred in many film and television dramas such as "The Great March", "Liver and Gallbladder", "Shangdang Campaign", "Peking Peace Talks", "The Last Winter" and other film and television dramas, forming his own unique performance style. After he left the Bayi Factory in 1994, he still insisted on acting and gained a lot. But in 2001, he also died of cancer at the age of 71.
From Gu Yue, to Liu Huaizheng, to Ma Shaoxin and Zhao Hengduo, these special actors, with their superb acting skills, vividly and vividly created the image of one historical figure after another on the screen, which is unforgettable. However, when we revisit Armageddon today, we find that they have changed too much. Among them, Gu Yue, Su Lin, Liu Huaizheng, Lu Xi, Liu Xitian, Xie Weicai, and Zhao Hengduo have all died, while the other actors have also become old, only Lu Qi, who is still in his prime. Here, let us pay tribute to the old artists who have passed away, and wish Guo Fazeng, Zong Liqun, Fu Xuecheng, Ma Shaoxin, Lu Qi, etc., good health and good luck.
So, when it comes to Armageddon, do you talk like Yaqing and have endless topics? What was the biggest feeling about watching this movie? Which of these actors has the most memorable performance? Welcome to interact with more netizens through the message area. I am Yaqing, thank you again for your attention, we will meet again tomorrow at the same time.
This article is original by ©the DJ Yaqing team, please do not copy without permission! Violators will be prosecuted!
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