In the show business world, special actors are a special and indispensable group of beings.
To some extent, the special actors are the soul of the main theme of the movie, and it is their interpretation, intuitive, that satisfies the audience's imagination of these influential figures.
For example, the great mao zedong of a generation first appeared in the image of Mao Zedong in "The Great River Rushing" in 1978, and since then, in hundreds of different film and television works, Mao Zedong has been interpreted and interpreted by different actors.
Among all the actors who played Mao Zedong, the most deeply rooted in the hearts of the people are undoubtedly Gu Yue and Tang Guoqiang.
From 1981 when he starred in Mao Zedong in "Xi'an Incident" until his death in 2005, Gu Yue's 27-year acting career was only for playing the chairman, just like Gu Yue said, playing the chairman has become a mission and task.
Tang Guoqiang, who is not a special actor, played Mao Zedong for the first time in "The Long March" in 1996, and is now a "professional household" of Mao Zedong, and he also said in an interview that such a great figure as the chairman needs the actor's life's work to shape.
But there has long been a great debate about the question of "which of the two plays Mao Zedong more like" about.
In Pigo's view, Gu Yue and Tang Guoqiang have their own advantages, and the two have accurately captured a certain aspect of the chairman and vividly interpreted it.
One: The ancient moon version of Chairman Mao Zedong
For Gu Yue, the high fit of appearance with the chairman is his biggest advantage.
In 1979, Ye Jianying, then vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, picked out Gu Yue's photographs from several photographs of Actors with Mao Zedong's image, and praised him as "like, too much like" while looking at the photos.
As an old comrade-in-arms who has worked with Mao Zedong for decades, Ye Jianying is undoubtedly very familiar with the sound and appearance of the chairman, so he can be affirmed by Ye Shuai, which shows that Gu Yue is indeed very similar to the chairman in form.
According to the selection criteria at that time, one of the things that must be possessed for the "first generation" special actors was "like".
When starring in "Xi'an Incident", when Gu Yue put on makeup and put on Mao Zedong's costumes, everyone at the scene was shocked and felt like standing in front of Chairman Mao.
But relying solely on the similarity in appearance is not enough for a special actor, especially to play a pivotal figure like Mao Zedong.
In order to create a good role, Gu Yue, who had no previous acting experience, paid a lot of effort, humbly asked for advice from the senior actors around him, and consulted a large number of books and repeatedly watched the chairman's video materials.
From the external shape, the walking posture, the small speed of speech, the action of smoking, Gu Yue almost does not let go of any details, and strives to achieve "true restoration".
For example, the waving action of Mao Zedong when he got on the plane in "Chongqing Negotiations", Gu Yue practiced no less than 100 times to perfectly restore this historical moment in the movie.
Especially at the end of the movie "The Founding Ceremony", when Mao Zedong, played by Gu Yue, announced the founding of the People's Republic of China on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square, it was even more exciting.
At that moment, Gu Yue overlapped with Mao Zedong in the historical record, making people feel that this was a historical reproduction, not a scene interpretation in the movie.
In Pigo's eyes, Gu Yue's most unique charm is not only the external similarity, but also because he shows the soft side of the chairman very delicately and movingly.
Mao Zedong, played by Gu Yue, has a high affinity, he gets rid of the inaccessible sacredness of the great man, but with a kind smile and humorous conversation, people are deeply infected by him.
"Chongqing Negotiations" fully demonstrated the chairman's strong appeal, in the face of aggressive female reporters, he always has a calm attitude of not being anxious and not annoyed, listening to female reporters spit that they are like "rural teachers" Haha laughed, completely dismissive.
After fading the aura of "leader", the "common feelings of people" embodied by Mao Zedong in his daily life are the key to impressing Pi Ge.
Like every father, he would be troubled by his son's marriage, and he would complain like a child because the guards had disturbed a rare afternoon nap.
Pi Ge still remembers that in "The Battle of Liaoshen in The Great Armageddon", Mao Zedong and his friends accidentally "boned" into the ditch while walking on the slope of the soil, and the scene where the two laughed after looking at each other suddenly narrowed the distance with the audience.
Under Gu Yue's gentle but delicate interpretation, such details as Mao Zedong's ordinariness hidden in greatness are extremely moving.
Two: Tang Guoqiang's version of Chairman Mao Zedong
Unlike Gu Yue, Tang Guoqiang was questioned by the outside world when he first played Mao Zedong.
Before playing Mao Zedong, Tang Guoqiang had been in the show business circle for more than 20 years, and his image had long been familiar to audiences in the north and south of the river.
Not a special actor, from the appearance point of view, there is not much similarity with Mao Zedong himself, so it is not easy for the audience to abandon the previous role and quickly replace Tang Guoqiang into the image of the chairman.
But the reason why it can now be recognized by more and more audiences is that Tang Guoqiang does not seek similarity in character shaping, but "god-like".
Tang Guoqiang once said in an interview that what he pursues is not to copy and restore at a glance, but to carefully speculate on the inner emotions of the characters and artistically "process" the characters.
For example, when playing Mao Zedong, he will consciously change the chairman's Hunan accent to Mandarin with a straight and round character, rather than imitating it like the previous actors.
In addition, he also mentioned that in different era backgrounds and different age stages, mao zedong's interpretation will also have different emphases.
For example, during the Long March, Mao Zedong's performance focused on the psychological portrayal of him under heavy pressure; while Mao Zedong in the Chongqing negotiations should focus on his "silent" and "rigid and soft side".
Contrary to Gu Yue, Tang Guoqiang's most unique charm is to fully interpret the chairman's heroic and domineering side.
His speech is always so calm and powerful, every step is so determined and resolute, and his speech and style exude a kind of awe-inspiring but can't help but be attracted to the front.
As a "professional household" who has starred in Zhuge Liang, Yongzheng, Tang Taizong and other imperial generals, Tang Guoqiang's strong and confident "domineering" when playing Mao Zedong can almost be easily done.
Under the powerful aura, he will also exude a bit of frankness and cuteness that people can't help but be funny, such as a clip in the movie "Decisive Moment", which left a special impression on Pigo.
After watching Mei Lanfang's play, the disguised chairman and the soldiers ate old Beijing snacks at the street stalls, and when they were ready to pay the bill, the soldiers helplessly said that they did not bring money.
At this time, the little soldier quietly reminded the chairman, didn't you say that you wanted to entertain?
And the chairman said calmly in his voice, when did I bring money? Then he turned his face to the guard Chen Youfu to borrow money, and instructed him to go back to Jiang Qing to ask for money.
The clip of the food stall seems to be an insignificant "idle pen" in the whole film, but it just excavates the humane side of Mao Zedong, just like Tang Guoqiang quoted the chairman, who played the chairman as "seven points of tiger qi, three points of monkey gas".
For Tang Guoqiang, his portrayal of Mao Zedong pays more attention to the transmission of Shen Yun, which is the plump portrayal of the chairman's image in the details.
In general, Gu Yue and Tang Guoqiang are one soft and one rigid, one pays more attention to authenticity restoration, one emphasizes artistic processing, and the performances of the two have their own advantages, and there is absolutely no distinction between high and low.
But as Tang Guoqiang said, trying to interpret Mao Zedong well is not overnight, but requires actors to use his life's skills to shape.
I salute the two great actors and thank them for their interpretations, so that the image of a generation of great people can be preserved forever in film and television works!
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Ah Zhi
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