In 2006, Wu Xiao, head of Beijing Times Spring Company, said in an interview with reporters.
Li Baotian's behavior was called "despicable and shameless."
In a statement by Times Spring, the company argued that Li Baotian's allegations against the company were premeditated traps.
The person in charge said: Li Baotian is deliberately designing the company to default,
That way, he'll get paid $3 million plus $1.9 million.
On the eve of a lawsuit, actor Li Baotian was pushed to the cusp of the storm.
The defendant, Times Spring Company, referred to all of Li Baotian's actions as "the evil man sues first."
After this lawsuit, Li Baotian took fewer and fewer plays until it faded out of the public eye.
Some people say that he was banned, but is this really the case?
1 The stubborn boy's dream of an actor
In 1946, on the eve of the founding of New China, Li Baotian was born into an ordinary family in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province.
At that time, being able to read was a very fortunate thing for most people, but Li Baotian did not have the heart to read.
Li Baotian was very troubled by learning, and he liked to have fun more when he was a child.
Any mischievous team must be able to see his figure.
Because of his mischievous play, Li Baotian often skipped school, which led to his poor grades.
Over time, Li Baotian became estranged from his classmates, and he became the object of ridicule by everyone.
As a result, he does not like campus life even more, and only wants to escape the shackles of learning and find new pleasures.
Li Baotian, who skipped school, often ran to the theater to listen to the play, and he liked the actors in the stands to sing and play.
The joys and sorrows of the people in the play touched the hearts of the teenagers, and Li Baotian gradually developed a strong interest in singing.
In his opinion, he can also play the characters on the stage, even better.
The young Li Baotian had no money to buy tickets, so he could only sneak behind the door to watch the play.
Sometimes some viewers don't see the last and throw the ticket stub on the ground when they come out.
So Li Baotian would run to pick up the ticket stub, and then go into the theater to enjoy it at close range.
The days passed in a flash, Li Baotian's academic performance did not improve at all, and he no longer wanted to study.
At the age of 13, Li Baotian asked his father to drop out of school and hoped to change to study drama.
For Li Baotian at that time, he had already missed the best age to learn drama.
What's more, his father let him read for five years, and it was unacceptable to say that he wanted to change his studies.
His father was furious about this, beat Li Baotian, and threatened him with father-son relationship, warning him to study well.
But Li Baotian, instead of flinching, made a cruel heart, and he "declared war" on his father in his diary:
"Dad, don't look down on me, when I become a big actor in the future, I want my father to take the big actor Li Baotian home."
Later, my father saw the diary in Li Baotian's room.
In the face of his son's pledge, the father angrily said to Li Baotian: "You can't become a big actor!" ”
Li Baotian was very dissatisfied with his father's evaluation, and he decided to run away from home with a gamble.
At that time, there were many local theater troupes of various kinds, and it was not difficult for Li Baotian to find a theater troupe to learn drama.
However, for the students, if they want to learn, they must suffer hardships, and it is the basic homework to bring tea and pour water to clean up and do miscellaneous work.
And there is no money to earn, and sometimes people have to be blindsided.
But where can the stubborn boy who is blocked with his father take care of these things, Li Baotian left the house and plunged into the Zizi Troupe in the blink of an eye.
In 1960, Li Baotian studied clowns in the troupe, because he entered the industry late, he studied very hard.
But Li Baotian has been holding his breath in his heart, he wants to become a role, he wants to act, and he wants his father to see that his decision is not wrong.
Hard work has allowed him to make progress in the play, but his life is terrible.
When he first entered the troupe, Li Baotian even had a problem eating, and he was often bullied.
At that time, Li Baotian was very thin, and his long-term inability to eat enough caused him to be malnourished.
Li Baotian recalled that time in an interview and said:
"When you are too hungry to bear it, you will steal some tofu milk and rinse your stomach with boiling water."
But even so, Li Baotian did not want to lag behind others, and he often practiced with hunger, resulting in swelling of the whole body.
One time he contracted a wind chill but continued to practice, and as a result, he was overwhelmed and went to the hospital.
The sleep in the hospital was a rare and stable sleep, and when Li Baotian opened his eyes, he entered the father he had not seen for a long time.
It turned out that when Li Baotian was sick and sleeping in the hospital, his father had always been carefully cared for by his side.
Seeing his son wake up, the father didn't say anything, turned around and left silently.
Li Baotian did not know that his father was already suffering from liver disease at that time, and he was most taboo about exertion.
But looking at the back of his father's departure, he had mixed feelings and finally cried on the hospital bed.
After that time, Li Baotian did not reconcile with his father, they always loved each other, but they both gambled and refused to admit defeat.
Within a few years, my father died of liver disease.
The stubborn Li Baotian felt regret at this time, because he never gave in to his father.
He carried the dream of being a big actor in society, but his father did not die until the day he became a big actor.
This became a wound on the tip of Li Baotian's heart, and it also became the motivation for him to continue to strive to become an actor.
2 Entering the science class to become a "drama bully"
In 1966, Li Baotian ended his groping in the troupe and transferred to the Xuzhou Local Literary troupe as an actor.
Because of his experience in opera performance, Li Baotian, who debuted on the stage of the Literary troupe, was very confident.
Unexpectedly, he opened his mouth, but he failed to say a line, which seriously hit Li Baotian.
After that, Li Baotian studied harder in the literary troupe, and in addition to learning acting, singing and dancing also became a compulsory course for him.
Ten years of experience in the troupe made Li Baotian more mature, and he was also promoted from a small actor to the deputy head of the cultural troupe.
With the steady rise of cultural undertakings, TV drama shooting has become a fashionable industry.
The cultural troupe was no exception and began to prepare for filming, and Hoda, as the deputy head of the troupe, also became one of the leaders.
In 1975, the literary troupe wanted to shoot a play, but the casting of the heroine could not be finalized.
After several twists and turns, the director sent a young and beautiful newcomer actor.
How new is this actor? It's that she's never acted.
The leader understood the director's appeal and directly asked for the use of the actress.
But Li Baotian could not stand this kind of confused "paratrooper", in his opinion, this actor was not capable of playing the leading role.
At that time, Li Baotian was very strict with the requirements of the work, and he did not care that this was the leader's arrangement, and directly rejected the actor.
The leader has nothing to do about this, and the director can only find another heroine.
After this incident, Li Baotian won the title of "drama bully".
This title seems to mean that Li Baotian is domineering and does not know how to change,
But in his own opinion, this is a guarantee of quality.
In an interview much later, Li Baotian responded to this title, saying that he was only a drama bully when filming.
Outside the play, Li Baotian is still an ordinary person, but for work, the attitude of dedication is to be carved into the bones.
In 1978, at the age of 32, Li Baotian worked in the local cultural and labor corps for more than a decade.
But he didn't become the big actor of his dreams, and then the opportunity came.
At that time, the Central Academy of Drama was recruiting students from the director cadre training class, and Li Baotian immediately seized the opportunity to register.
Li Baotian, who is not highly educated, played a drum in his heart, will the Chinese opera accept a "primary school student" like him?
But after all, if you want to be a big actor, you have to learn more acting knowledge, so entering Chinese opera is very important for Li Baotian.
In order to improve his cultural level, Li Baotian soaked in the library every day during the preparation period.
The kung fu paid off, and Li Baotian's serious efforts were rewarded, and he was eventually successfully admitted to the Chinese opera.
During the training period, Li Baotian participated in some drama rehearsals and left a lot of vivid stage images on the drama stage.
In his spare time, Li Baotian was not idle, and he began to cultivate his sentiments and enrich his artistic life.
Painting and poetry became his hobby, and Li Baotian, who had some talent in painting in the later period, also studied sculpture.
These hobbies seem to be assisting Li Baotian's main business of acting, so that he can further understand drama.
In 1981, Li Baotian graduated from the refresher course and stayed in The Chinese Opera.
At that time, Li Baotian was already moving towards the year of confusion, but he could never go to the screen and realize his dream.
Until he was 37 years old, director Cen Fan was struggling to cast for the movie "Breaking into the Rivers and Lakes".
One of the most difficult to find is the actor of the clown Zhang Tianle.
At that time, Li Baotian's appearance was full of old age, the figure eight eyebrows were horizontal at the brain gate, and the image of small eyes and big nose was in the middle of the director's arms.
Because Li Baotian's acting skills are solid, after the audition, he successfully won this role and officially entered the show business circle.
3 Big instruments become big actors later
In 1987, Li Baotian received a life-changing role.
Played the father of female artist Qiu Yun in the movie "Human Ghost Love".
This character is paranoid and competitive, and the complex character personality is extremely difficult to grasp,
But Li Baotian played this role perfectly.
Li Baotian's superb acting skills have impressed many audiences, and he also won the first Golden Rooster Award in his life with this role.
Since then, Li Baotian has entered the rising period of his career, and he has only emerged in the show business circle in his forties, which can also be regarded as a late success.
In the years that followed, Li Baotian was mainly active on the big screen.
Because of their appearance, they often play roles that are one round older than their actual age.
The age difference did not affect Li Baotian's acting skills, and he still perfectly showed the image of many old people.
In the movie "New Year", Li Baotian played a husband and wife with Zhao Lirong, and in fact he was 18 years younger than Zhao Lirong.
In 1991, Li Baotian, who worked with Zhang Yimou for the first time, won the most "comfortable" time in his career.
At that time, Zhang Yimou was not yet an internationally renowned director, but his serious attitude towards filming was very similar to Li Baotian.
Acting under such a director allows Li Baotian to devote himself to it without worrying about other factors.
Later, the two worked together many times, and their films such as "Have Something to Say" have become film classics.
In 1992, Li Baotian met the first representative role in his life, "Ge Laozi".
With solid acting skills, Li Baotian vividly interpreted a septuagenarian.
He also won the Best Actor Award at the TV Series Feitian Awards.
The following year, Li Baotian starred in the movie "Phoenix Qin", and with his performance in the play,
He won the Government Award, the Hundred Flowers Award, the Golden Rooster Award, and the Best Actor of these three awards.
At this point, Li Baotian was one step closer to the big actor he said, and he was almost popular.
When Li Baotian's career was about to reach its peak, his son Li Yu took the Chinese opera admissions exam, but was brushed off during the third test.
As an "old man" in Chinese opera, Li Baotian did not find a relationship for his son.
Ren Ren spent six years to enter the Chinese opera.
Speaking of Li Yu's name, there may not be much popularity, but he has played many roles.
The most well-known of li Yu's recent roles is song xian, a mediocre official in "Son-in-law".
Although he entered the Chinese opera in 2000, his first acting was in an earlier period.
"There is a scale between heaven and earth, and that scale is the common people."
In 1996, the opening song of the TV series "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" was sung in the streets.
Subsequently, li Baotian, the actor of "Liu Luoguo", is also well known to the public.
Liu Yong, the just-in-class prime minister, left a deep impression on the audience,
In the play, his two small mustaches have also become the characteristics of Li Baotian.
In this play, not only Li Baotian was fired, but also Zhang Guoguo, who played the emperor for the first time, and Wang Gang, who played Hezhen for the first time.
However, in the later development of these two, they are more popular than Li Baotian and have higher popularity.
In this play, Li Baotian brought his own son, and Let Li Yu play a small role in the play, Liu An.
This is not because Li Baotian went through the back door, but because during his investigation,
Thinking that his son is indeed competent, he will take him to act.
In the year that "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" was broadcast, it became the reason why young and old women and children stood in front of the TV.
Li Baotian also won the peak of his career and won the Golden Eagle Award for Best Actor in one fell swoop.
This year, Li Baotian finally grew from a stubborn boy to a big actor.
It's just that the father who was supposed to take him home in the diary was long gone.
After the explosion of popularity, Li Baotian received many film and television drama shooting invitations, and Li Baotian, who was about to be overwhelmed by the script, did not "float".
He still carefully screened the script and did not make quick money because of the popularity.
Therefore, after "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", Li Baotian starred in only a few film and television dramas.
At this time, Zhang Guoli had already become popular in half the sky because of "Kangxi Micro Service Private Interview", and became one of the hottest actors in the industry.
Wang Gang also gained great popularity for re-acting Heyan in "Iron Tooth Copper Tooth Ji Xiaolan".
The two did not cooperate with Li Baotian after "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", precisely because the three had different ideas about acting.
Li Baotian once said on the show that he would never cooperate with Wang Gang again, because he thought that Wang Gang was always playing the same character.
In Li Baotian's conception, actors should not repeatedly use the same or similar roles to attract audiences.
Therefore, Zhang Guoguo, who often played the emperor, was also excluded from the scope of cooperation by him.
As an actor, you should try more new roles, be enterprising, and constantly break through yourself.
Geng Zhi is like Li Baotian, and he has indeed not played a very similar role in his life.
In 2003, Li Baotian returned to the peak of his career with the TV series "Divine Doctor Xi Laile".
This time, he still did not immerse himself in the joy of the explosion, but carefully chose to act, but he did not want to have an accident at this time.
4 A lawsuit to watch life
In 2004, Li Baotian was invited to star in the TV series "Chincha Minister".
He played the role of Qian Kui in the play and served as the artistic director of the play.
The contract was written in black and white that the show had a total of 30 episodes, and Li Baotian was paid 100,000 yuan per episode.
That is to say, after the filming of this drama, Li Baotian's income should be 3 million yuan, but he finally took 1.9 million more.
The extra money was due to a lawsuit, a lawsuit that made Li Baotian controversial.
With the development and growth of the film and television drama industry, the number of episodes of TV dramas is increasing, but the length is getting shorter and shorter.
In fact, the shooting time of a drama is basically constant, and it is not the length of time to sell to the producer, but the number of episodes.
This has led to some production companies deliberately cutting content that is not of good quality into the number of episodes of the TV series.
Li Baotian encountered this situation in the crew of "Chincha Minister".
The show was filmed in 2005, but during post-editing, the producers lengthened the series by three episodes.
The 33-episode TV series in total is obviously not the same as the 30 episodes on the contract.
Realizing that the producer was "injecting water" into the TV series, Li Baotian repeatedly reminded the relevant personnel to cut the content.
However, it turned out that the producer Shi Shichun sent the TV series for review without showing him the editing results.
As a result, the show was broadcast on multiple satellite televisions in the length of 33 episodes, and was later released for sale on VCD and DVD.
Li Baotian is very dissatisfied with this, for him to do rigorous art is the standard of his career.
Extending the episode for the sake of profit is really a conscience.
So Li Baotian took the producer to court because the other party did not ask for his consent to change the number of episodes.
In the first instance, Li Baotian demanded that the defendant pay liquidated damages for an additional 3 episodes, each episode was 300,000 yuan.
As well as the unauthorized application for trial, without the consent of the art director of the liquidated damages of 1 million yuan.
Before the trial, the production company poured dirty water on Li Baotian, always claiming that Li Baotian was premeditated.
Fortunately, however, justice still stood on the side of the dedicated Li Baotian, and the court ruled that he won the case in the first instance.
The defendant company also filed a counterclaim, which was rejected by the court.
Although Li Baotian won the case, it seems that after that, he gradually faded out of the public eye, and the drama he took was less and less.
Some people say that Li Baotian moved the "cheese" of many people this time, so he was banned by 13 film and television companies.
This is not the case.
Li Baotian is only because of his personal pursuit of art, and he rarely encounters suitable works in recent years.
Throughout his life, he has upheld a straight character, treated himself and his career with high standards and strict requirements, and often offended some people.
Once, when filming, there were actors who were always late or delayed the shooting progress for personal reasons.
This caused Dissatisfaction from Li Baotian.
To this end, he also had a fight with the director, and he wanted to fire the actor out of the crew.
For Li Baotian, if he is doing work,
That job is the first, and nothing can affect his filming.
In 2009, the wedding of his son Li Yu, Li Baotian did not attend,
Because at that time he was filming in the crew of "Never Look Back".
In order not to affect the filming progress and the feeling of the characters, Li Baotian missed his son's wedding.
Even if the director learned about the situation at that time, he asked Li Baotian to attend his son's wedding.
But he was still rejected by this "stubborn old man".
In 2013, Li Baotian was invited to star in "Doctor Xi Laile" again, and reappeared in this classic role ten years later.
This year Li Baotian was 67 years old.
Since then, Li Baotian has rarely acted, and it seems that many people will ask when they mention him: Where did he go?
In fact, Li Baotian is just old, painting at home to cultivate himself, and incidentally taking his little granddaughter to spend his old age.
It is not that there is no longer a drama to find him, but he still adheres to the principles of his youth and never takes the drama casually.
Li Baotian has never received any advertising in his life, and he has never acted for profit.
The 30th Golden Eagle Awards in 2020 presented the Lifetime Achievement Television Artist Award to Li Baotian.
When receiving the award, Li Baotian said:
"Over the years, there have been fewer services for everyone, not less opportunities, just that the characters don't like it." They are all a thousand people, and they don't want to act without challenge. But when I have a good script and a good role, I will serve you with the same passion as before! ”
Li Baotian has been adhering to his own principles all his life and doing art steadily,
He interpreted the arrogance of an actor with his own practical actions.
Never compromise, dedication and self-discipline.
If young actors can do it, probably the film and television industry will be a different story.
Li Baotian once said:
"In fact, actors are small people, and the audience of film and television dramas is also ordinary people, there is no need to treat themselves as characters."
For young artists, it is necessary to learn from Li Baotian.
Put yourself in a good position and don't rush to make a quick profit.
In 2021, Li Baotian cooperated with powerful actor Ren Suxi to star in the movie "Looking for Han Ji" and appeared on the big screen again.
His steady acting skills still perfectly display the role in front of the audience, which can be described as a sword that is not old.
Now Li Baotian is 75 years old, but he is still carefully picking the script and choosing the role.
As he said when he won the award, he will still serve the audience with as much passion as before.
Li Baotian has done what he says in his life, and he has changed from a stubborn boy to a stubborn old man.
But it is this "stubbornness" that has created the dedicated life of this old drama bone.