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Since the second day of the Chinese New Year, "This Killer Is Not Too Calm" has quickly become the second place in the Spring Festival box office and scheduling from a flat voice. In the Spring Festival stalls where stars, big directors and big producers gathered, little-known actor Wei Xiang and newcomer director Xing Wenxiong broke through with a comedy of small characters that made the audience laugh continuously.
On the screen, the dragon set actor "Wei Chenggong" won the first male lead in his life. Off the screen, 42-year-old Wei Xiang, after playing a supporting role for twenty years, played male number one for the first time. He was one of the earliest actors in "Happy Twist" and was once a roommate with Shen Teng. He has long been a "meritorious actor" in stage plays, and has appeared in many comedy movies - but in the Douban network's filmmaker page, his profile is blank.
Song Yang, who entered the twist at the same time as him, said that they started acting all the way from the dragon set, playing countless security guards, fools, and massage girls, "Everyone saw Wei Xiang's sense of comedy in "Killer", but what I saw was the process of Wei Xiang's accumulation in his heart for so many years, eager for his style to be accepted and let more people like it. I saw the shadow of Wei Xiang's growth in the film, which is the reproduction and sublimation of his persistent performance. He said. This is a film tailored for Wei Xiang. When relatives and friends screened, Shen Teng, Chang Yuan, Wang Chengsi and others all came to the scene, and Wei Xiang deliberately went to the audience and brought these friends to the stage one by one. Ma Li, Huang Cailun, Allen and other creators let Wei Xiang go to the middle and stuffed the microphone into his hand, and everyone had to say a sentence "Brother Xiang should have been red earlier."
His college classmate Wang Chaowei said the film was dedicated not only to the audience, but also to Wei Xiang himself: coming to Beijing from Mianyang, being admitted to film school at an older age, making cameo appearances everywhere, and staying up for a day with a burden. "I think it's not easy for everyone, but it's even harder to dream about it." Chatting with Wei Xiang was a pleasure, and the laughter was continuous. He says he's not a humorous person in his life, but he's mastered the art of comedy. We talked about Zhou Xingchi, which was Wei Xiang's comedic enlightenment. He recreated Wu Mengda's performance at the end of "Truant Weilong", and the scene was full of laughter. In 2018, Wei Xiang once caused a small discussion on the Internet because of the supporting horse coach in "The Richest Man in Xihong", and netizens thought that he had the shadow of Wu Mengda, who did not steal the scene but was impressive, and was called a gold medal green leaf.
Coach Ma in "The Richest Man in Xihong" has long become an emoji in internet forums
"The longer I work, the more I don't want to think about the male number one thing, but I can't ask for it." He told "Your Circle", "My old friend took me to play so many supporting roles that were liked by others, and I was satisfied." In the film, the frustrated Wei Chenggong sees a small crab trying to climb forward against the waves, and his voice is dumb to cheer for it. The little crab fell into the waves, and Wei Chenggong on the shore cried his heart and lungs. That was Wei Xiang's last scene in "The Killer", and he cried and said, "Thank you all." Here's what comedian Wei Xiang said:
1
The first time I knew movies could be funny to that extent was when I watched "Truant Veyron" in elementary school. Our home is mianyang to support the construction of the third line, which belongs to a military factory. The unit has its own channel, and every Sunday, it will play a video tape for everyone to see. One day when "Truant Weilong" was broadcast, my family still wouldn't let me watch it, saying something messy. Later, the whole family was as happy as a fool, and the impact on me was huge. I seem to be born with a relatively high laugh point, and others think that coke things are not very coke, but Stephen Chow's movie really makes me laugh.
"Truant Veyron"
Three years ago, Yan Fei and Da Mo said that they wanted to supervise the production of a male number one work for me, and I was flattered. I don't have any box office appeal, but people really smash it up, this is gambling. We grew up together in Happy Twist for many years, let me play the male number one, there is a trust in me, there is also a helpful component. Of course I understand that. So I think this thing must not make people lose money, I have to go up to the top, and the movies made can at least not embarrass my good friends. Being the male number one is really stressful, it is the most difficult role I have encountered in my life, and I have to concentrate on two hundred percent to cope with the requirements of one director and two producers. This feeling is like going back to more than a decade ago, when the teacher in school asked: "Can you act like this?" Can you act like that? Can you be different? From preparing the script to shooting, we worked for three years. We've prepared other genres before, but we all think the comedy part isn't funny enough. Later, Zhang Lebin said, you go to see a movie called "Magic Moment". We watched that night, very excited, called and talked until four or five o'clock in the morning, and thought that this project was very suitable.
The comedy film Magic Moment, written and directed by Yuki Mitani, was released in Japan in 2008 and was nominated for Best Picture at the 32nd Japan Academy Awards
Adaptation is a propositional composition, the space is limited, and it must be more localized. The adaptation of "Magic Moment" must be recognized by Yuki Mitani himself, a national treasure director who values quality. When we adapted, the friend in charge of copyright did not tell us about it at all, afraid that we would be too stressed. Fortunately, we passed it all at once, and we got the approval of Sangu very smoothly.
2
The first time I officially watched the film was at the pre-Spring Festival movie theater with many viewers. I know that you can't predict the true value of a movie by watching a movie. I have experienced countless times on the drama stage, the field and the field are not the same, and the viewing effect of each scene is different. For me, I have no regrets about having so many people to help and have this play. On the way home after watching the film, I looked at the traffic on the road, and I remembered that when I first came to Beijing, I didn't have any friends, and I didn't know what the future would be like, so I felt particularly grateful to this city. In this city, I realized the fantasy of that time, and I also met a group of happy twists.
In June 2018, the "Richest Man in Xihong" Beijing "Special Laughter Blockbuster" press conference, Shen Teng, Wei Xiang (second from the left) and other main creators made a fuss
When we first met, we were all in our early twenties, both single, and the money we earned was renting and eating. If you are tight, save up for some years to buy a car, it is already good. Many of my classmates have changed careers, but I still have dramas, and I can still make so many people happy every day, which is extremely happy. At that time, our gang was together almost every day, after rehearsals, or after performances, just on Gui Street, a group of actors took turns to invite them to dinner. The performance gave me a great sense of satisfaction. I ask myself to always maintain an objective judgment of my personal professional ability. Someone praised you today, are you really as good as he is? Someone scolded you today, are you really as bad as he scolded? You always have to maintain an objective judgment about yourself to decide whether you want to go on. My judgment is that I can continue. Even if I didn't play the male number one, I was as happy as I am now. My old friend took me to play so many supporting roles that were liked by others, and I was satisfied.
When I first entered Nortel, a brother-in-law came to the dormitory with two woven bags of movie CDs to sell. I saw a cover, a very dark scene, a man with his shirt in both hands screaming in the sky, there was light, there were raindrops hitting him. I thought that cover was particularly good, so I asked my brother what kind of movie it was. His look was a little interesting, he said you are all in film school, I don't know what kind of movie this is? Brother Shi gave it to you, this is called "The Shawshank Redemption".
Later, I watched this film very carefully. Over the next twenty years, I watched it six or seven times. This is probably the movie that touched me the most. When you were young, you felt that "The Shawshank Redemption" brought the power of struggle, no matter what kind of desperate situation you were in, it did not have the strength that dreams brought you. Later, when I got older, I felt that the process of pursuing my dreams was better and more worthy of cherishing than the results. At the end of the film, Andy writes to Reid: If you've come that far, you can go a little further. In fact, success is only lasted once more than unsuccessful. In that sense, it's not too late for me to play male number one. When I was in my twenties and thirties, my personality was not very mature, people were a bit of a two-dimensional, and the only thing I could praise was sincerity. This point is more similar to Wei Chenggong, that is, it is a bit of an axis. If you think that one thing has to be done, black and white, that's another kind of narrowness. "Wei Chenggong" is a very lonely person, with no parents and no friends. He loves acting, but he has been making things behind closed doors, and the performances he has figured out by himself are very inaccurate. I am much luckier than Wei Cheng, I have family, I have friends, they are very tolerant of me. Wei Chenggong later had friends, and he was able to go out of his own world and think from the perspective of others.
"The Killer" is the summary of my 24 years of work. But that doesn't mean I'm going to have to play male number one in the future. Teng Ge or Ma Li, Ellen, Chang Yuan, who told me That Xiangzi would do me a favor, I went. At any time, our group would be together, and I would give Teng ge a carrying knife afterwards.
3
In 2003, the day I reported to the film school, the security guard came to me and said, "Classmate this is the acting department, you are in the wrong line." Because the security guard didn't think I looked like an acting department.
I used to practice sports, long-distance running and football, and I can add 10 points to the college entrance examination! How precious it is, but adding 10 points is not very useful to me. In my third year of high school, I went to the only art examination teacher in Quanmianyang to make up for tuition. The first time I went to the teacher, I was asked to take a shower, which was a physical performance. The teacher thought I was acting well and praised me, and that was the first time I felt like I could do anything else besides running. Later, I went to Nortel, and the teacher of the first exam was Wang Jinsong (currently the vice dean of the Beijing Film Academy Acting School). At that time, his expression was very happy, and he asked me if the impromptu exam questions had been prepared before, encouraging me to cheer for the next exam.
At the end of the day, it's time to perform talent. I didn't show any talent either, and the whole person was very frustrated. At the end of the exam, Teacher Jinsong suddenly told the examiner that a student named Wei Xiang had great potential, could he give him a chance to show and read a poem. I was so touched that a teacher I never knew could do this to you. But I was so excited when I went up, I couldn't control my emotions, and I didn't read well. After the main examination teacher listened, the look was also, I think you are not inexplicable, this is not so good, why let him read it again? When the exam was over and all the students were done, I went over and bowed to Mr. Jinsong. I said that no matter whether I can do this in my life, whether I can pass nor noretel, I will remember you for the rest of my life.
Later, I did not get admitted, so I went to become a soldier and became the first batch of literary and artistic soldiers of the Chongqing Armed Police. At that time, the regimental commander told me that you were a soldier and not a cadre. I don't understand what this means, only care if it's an actor or not? The leader said it was an actor, and I said yes. When I was a soldier, we did a lot of performances for the soldiers, and I was more and more certain. Every time one more person affirms you, you realize that you seem to be good at it. Performing in the army is still relatively relaxed, because it is not easy for soldiers to watch a performance and are very supportive of the actors, so your "little teeth" (toothless smile) are "big thunder" (explosion-level hilarity) there. But when you are faced with the market selling tickets, people spend money and time, it is not so easy to buy it.
4
After leaving the army, I was quite confused, so I went to nortel again. This time I was admitted. Our class is the worst appearance of the six acting classes, the teacher is good for us, just say that you practice for comedy, after going out to be competitive, otherwise with your image conditions, how to compete with handsome men and beautiful women.
Beginners are very vulnerable, especially afraid of no applause and laughter in the audience. The pressure to do comedy is relatively large, and the used baggage cannot be made, and I have to rethink. After the three baggage rings, the next thing you want to make the audience laugh must be more funny.
2019 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Wei Xiang and Shen Teng, Ma Li, Allen, Chang Yuan performed the skit "Occupying a Seat"
The exercise in supporting roles is enormous. I learned a lot of dialects, because sometimes there are several people in a play, and the easiest way to distinguish the characters is through the accent — we call it inverted in the jargon. When you play seven people, is it easy to distinguish between seven mouths? But if you always use this trick, others will look at you as if you don't have any tricks. In that line, I will speak four of the seven people, three of whom speak Mandarin, and then use personality habits and behavior habits to distinguish and give each person a characteristic. If I can break open six or seven roles in a scene, it is equivalent to playing six or seven roles, and the memory of character shaping in my brain is much larger. Later, when I took over the film and television work, the director said what role to play, I looked for it in memory, and put together the two or three people I had played. So don't say I have any style, this is people kindly praising me, I can't take it seriously. The one that can inherit the past and the future is called style, and the star master is called style.
In the comedy movie "My Girlfriend is a Robot" starring Bao Bell and Xin Zhilei, Wei Xiang played Pug
I have also carefully considered "Magic Moment", and people have acted very, very well. But after all, that is a movie from more than ten years ago, can you still act in comedy like this? It's like Star Ye's movie, which is very funny, but now the comedy performance that the audience likes seems to be not the kind of extreme, exaggerated look. The performance is developing, and the audience's aesthetic is changing. It's a tougher thing to do from start to finish, it's really hard, it's super hard. Sometimes people think that the past is good, maybe it is a kind of nostalgia, nostalgia for old friends. But if the current comedy still uses a particularly exaggerated expression, I don't know if the audience can still accept it. As for whether my performance is good or not, I have to let the audience comment. My biggest hope now is that the play "The Killer" can stand the test of time, and after five or even ten years, when I take it out, this film is still funny, which proves that our gang has not worked hard in vain.
(Source: Tencent News)
* Some images are from the internet