Cheng Taishen, who played Mi Zhendong in the hit drama "Circuit Prosecutor Group", was often shouted "Dong Brother" by the audience, but Cheng Taishen "had a lingering palpitation": "But don't call me 'Dong Brother', how good it is to shout 'Liu Qing'." ”
The biographical film "Liu Qing" starring Cheng Taishen was released on May 21, which reviews the life of writer Liu Qing, telling how he struggled to seek and create towards the future, how to adhere to the life principle of "if you want to write, you must first live; if you want to shape a hero, you must first shape yourself", and reach the commanding heights of the spirit of the times in the depths of life.
Cheng Taishen, who has dreamed of being a writer since childhood, and Liu Qing have a tacit understanding of the soul, he integrates himself into Liu Qing's heart, allowing the audience to feel the great personality of Mr. Liu Qing on the screen, in front of the simple wooden house desk in Huangfu Village, and in the grand scene of the wind blowing wheat waves.
In addition to the movie "Liu Qing", Cheng Taishen played Zhang Zuolin in "Revolutionary", which began to be released on July 1, and chen Duxiu in the TV series "Big Wave Taosha", which was launched recently. Every time he creates a character, he has his own ideas and insights. A few days ago, in an exclusive interview with Beijing Youth Daily, Cheng Taishen told the behind-the-scenes story of filming these works, and told his understanding of life's observation and performance.
You can't play the bad guy who pollutes himself and smears his soul in order to make money
In 2001, at the age of 30, he won the Best Actor Award at the Three Continents Film Festival in Nantes, France, with the movie "Seafood", so he was favored by directors such as Jia Zhangke and Wang Xiaoshuai, and took over many literary and art films. This award made Cheng Taishen's acting path a smooth one, but it made him feel some "remorse" many years later, "I actually played a rapist, before 2005, I was an angry youth, especially wanted to express myself, played some angry, gray, desperate for the world role, now think it is terrible." 」 ”
The basic requirements for Cheng Taishen's current role selection are: roles without conscience and moral bottom line will not be played, absolute dark characters will not be played, "I first think that my children and grandchildren can see the role I play, they will not blush, otherwise, I am a sinner." 」 I can't play the bad guy, pollute myself, and smear my soul in order to make money. Art cannot transmit negative energy, art transmits truth, goodness and beauty. ”
However, there are two exceptions to the roles broadcast by Cheng Taishen this year, one is Mi Zhendong and the other is Zhang Zuolin. Cheng Taishen admitted that he had concerns about playing "Mi Zhendong", "When I read the script of "Circuit Prosecutor Group", I was indeed attracted to Mi Zhendong, and the character biography called him a jianghu chivalrous guest, if in ancient times, he was a chivalrous guest who robbed the rich and the poor and punished the wicked, he was benevolent and filial, had a conscience, and could avenge his adoptive parents, but, unfortunately, in modern society, he was a legal illiterate, and he should not do things in a jianghu way. ”
After starring in "Circuit Prosecutor Group", Cheng Taishen deliberately did several interview programs, the purpose is to tell the audience about Mi Zhendong's "bad words", "Many girls like Mi Zhendong, saying that he has feelings and righteousness, to find such a person to be a 'husband', I said no, he is a lawbreaker, it is not right." Some people also said to me on the Internet: 'Jianghu my brother Dong, I want to learn from you and take revenge!' I said you must not do this, when you hurt others, you also put yourself on the guillotine, you have many legitimate ways to solve the problem. Therefore, I cherish every interview opportunity, I have the responsibility to explain to you the characterS I play, especially the villains choose the cause and effect of life, the more successful the actor is, the easier it is to affect others, the actor gets fame and profit, but also bears the cause and effect, can not mislead the audience. ”
Playing Zhang Zuolin in "The Revolutionary" also made Cheng Taishen a little "resistant", "I just finished playing Mr. Chen Duxiu in "The Great Waves and Sands", South Chen Bei Li is like a brother, Zhang Zuolin is the murderer of my brother. However, Cheng Taishen still took over the play after thinking about it, mainly because of Teacher Li Xuejian, "I admire Teacher Li Xuejian, and I have always wanted to interact with the audience through his roles." Teacher Li Xuejian has played Zhang Zuolin, and he has also played Li Dazhao, so he has also contradicted. ”
And in Cheng Taishen's view, Zhang Zuolin also has his own advantages, such as he is patriotic, not giving way to land, so he was killed by the Japanese, "Therefore, I still hope to show the complex personality of this tyrant in "Revolutionary", his inner entanglements, gray areas, but because he has just finished acting Chen Duxiu, he has not yet fully played, so there is a moment of shaking god when acting. ”
In "Circuit Prosecution Group", Cheng Taishen and Yu Hewei have many rival plays, while Yu Hewei starred in Chen Duxiu in "The Age of Awakening", and Cheng Taishen starred in Chen Duxiu in "The Great Waves and Sands". Cheng Taishen revealed that when cooperating with the "Circuit Inspection Group", he knew that Yu Hewei filmed "The Age of Awakening", but did not know that he played Chen Duxiu, so the two did not compete for Chen Duxiu, "I played "Circuit Inspection Group" is to run to Teacher Yu, the actor is like Huashan on the sword when filming the opponent scene, it needs to be stimulated, sometimes, Mi Zhendong and Feng Sen are not playing face to face, but in the back of the competition, the invisible aura has been encountered, like the internal force competition without weapons. ”
When cheng taishen was found to play Chen Duxiu in "Big Waves and Sands", Cheng Taishen said that he did not dare to act, because he knew that in addition to Yu Hewei, there were several very good actors who starred in Different Works chen Duxiu, "I was particularly entangled, and later they told me that in this play, I wanted to act until the end of Chen Duxiu's life, which was to interpret the complete life process of Mr. Zhongfu, and my interest came." ”
Bit by bit, he shattered himself and completely melted into Mr. Liu Qing's spiritual world
Cheng Taishen is a literary youth, sensitive to life and death since childhood, when interviewed, he recalled a scene from his childhood: "I was about 10 years old, one evening, I saw the sky cloud low, suddenly opened a crack, instantly I was afraid, felt that the sky was going to collapse, I was going to die, ran home and drilled under the table. Since then, I have awakened to myself, wanting to unravel my fears, and being very sensitive to heaven and earth, life and death. ”
Cheng Taishen's solution to the confusion of life is to enter literature, "I have always believed that literature can answer a hundred forms of life, can enter life. In wenhao's pen, the joys and sorrows of life can be expressed in art form, so I have infinite respect for Wenhao. Because of this, when my own writing cannot reach that level, I feel extreme disappointment and despair, feel that it is not interesting to live, and have the idea of taking my life. Once I even wanted to jump off the shelf, but when I saw the stars in the sky, I felt that the starry sky was too beautiful, and I was so young and had a chance, so I set myself a five-year plan, a ten-year plan, hoping to get close to literature through a lot of reading, relying on sister art, and even thinking of getting married in the future to cultivate children and make him a writer. ”
The movie "Liu Qing" made Cheng Taishen once again review the dream of literature. Liu Qing is a famous contemporary novelist, and his representative work is the first part of the "History of Entrepreneurship". Cheng Taishen admitted that the only work Liu Qing had read before was the "Liang Shengbao Buying Rice Seeds" in the high school Chinese textbook, "I read more Russian literature and Chinese classical novels before. When director Tian Bo came to me to play Liu Qing, I was very nervous. As a literary youth, I am well aware that the spiritual world of literary masters is infinitely broad, while the inner world of our ordinary people is relatively limited. ”
Starring in Liu Qing's character biography, Cheng Taishen was very happy, but did not directly agree, "When director Tian Bo showed me the 21st draft of the script, I thought it was good and ok. But how to touch Liu Qing's spiritual core, still let Cheng Taishen's pressure is very large, after that, Cheng Taishen read the biography written by Liu Qing's daughter Liu Kefeng "Liu Qing's biography", "The last 9 years of Mr. Liu Qing's life were accompanied by his daughter, the information in it is very precious, this book has temperature, there are details of life, help me into Mr. Liu Qing, look at his last 9 years of mental journey, I can feel the maturity and transcendence of Liu Qing's thoughts." ”
In addition, Cheng Taishen also read Mr. Liu Qing's works "Biting through the Shovel" and "Copper Wall Iron Wall", etc., "I read his aesthetic notes, looked at his advice to young writers in his later years, and looked at his life feelings." I felt the direction of Mr. Liu Qing's heart, which enabled me to break myself bit by bit and completely melt into Mr. Liu Qing's spiritual world.
Cheng Taishen said that the spiritual world of a great writer is something that an actor cannot enter with skill, and it is ridiculous to want to use technique to express his inner world and spiritual feelings, "I can only eliminate myself, crawl in the master's spiritual world, let all his information be recombined under the script, give way to my body and mind to Mr. Liu Qing, and let him reappear in the present." ”
After playing Liu Qing, Cheng Taishen said that his "writer's dream" knot was also dissolved and relieved.
In order to promote "Liu Qing", he spent money to buy tickets to book a hotel
Although "Liu Qing" was filmed three years ago, Mr. Liu Qing's brand on Cheng Taishen is eternal, and now when he brings it up, he is still very excited: "I have received a thorough baptism, Mr. Liu Qing's poem - 'Embrace a hundred rivers, Zhiyue Wanlingshan, look at the thousand years of things, a plain of heart', it is really great, encourage us not to give up in the face of any wind and rain, and everyone's 'entrepreneurial history' is still continuing." ”
Unfortunately, this movie that moved many viewers to tears did not appear "miracle", the current box office is only more than 3 million yuan, the filming process has also experienced many twists and turns, and even because of financial problems, fortunately in time to meet new investors to rescue.
The release version of "Liu Qing" made Cheng Taishen cry, "I was not satisfied with the early edited version, a little disappointed, I felt that it took so much effort, but the result was not satisfactory." But when I saw the final release version, I watched it in tears. I didn't expect this movie to be so powerful, more powerful than all the versions I've seen before, and I was deeply impressed. I think this is Liu Qing's own play. This version removes the subjective preferences of many creators, returns to the perspective of objective purity, and shapes The course of Mr. Liu Qing's open-minded life. History is a melting pot, everyone's life is a moment, in the melting pot of history, can we adhere to the original intention and adhere to the pursuit of the true color of truth? Mr. Liu Qing did. After watching this movie, I feel that the traditional Chinese scholar-doctor's style of 'worrying about the world before the world, and enjoying the world after the world' style and responsibility have never changed. “
Cheng Taishen hopes that more people can see the film, and to this end, he also volunteered to join the publicity staff, "I have such an obligation to pay tribute to the idol." This work is about the spirit, it has a strong humanistic care, depicting a person in the critical moments of life, how to choose the path of life, become a virtuous person with a noble personality, this era needs this kind of person the most. ”
Due to the lack of publicity costs, the roadshow of "Liu Qing" is all paid for by Cheng Taishen. He set off alone, settled the transportation costs of the accommodation by himself, and put on his own makeup, "all to pay tribute to Mr. Liu Qing." ”
Living in the world of the sages, unable to face reality, very entangled
2005 was a huge turning point in Cheng's life, when he felt confused and depressed. To this end, he read a lot of traditional Chinese cultural books, "it is really like a thunder empowerment, and then I 'retreated' for 100 days without going out, read the classics of Confucianism and Taoism, it can be said that the Chinese ancestors left us with unbreakable brilliant wisdom." ”
After 2005, Cheng Taishen, who pays attention to his own awakening, has also changed his play path, presenting mostly historical figures with mature personalities, who played Qi Junzao, who is known as the "Three Generations of Emperors (Daoguang, Xianfeng, and Tongzhi)" in "The Hearts of Heaven and Earth"; played a generation of honest officials Yu Chenlong in "Yu Chenlong"; Nan Rendong, the "Father of Heavenly Eyes" in "Chinese Heavenly Eye"; and Liu Qing in "Liu Qing", "Playing these great people, it is my luck, they have left energy and light in the long river of history, as if entering my body." Blessed me, I opened up many dead ends in the inner spiritual level. ”
What makes Cheng Taishen feel incredible is that when he goes deep into the heart, the role at that level will always appear, "When you are not ready, he will not come, you are ready, he will come, the profession of actor can live countless meaningful lives." 」 ”
Cheng Taishen poured all his strength into each role, so after playing Liu Qing, he had a deeper understanding of Liu Qing and literature; after playing Chen Duxiu, he was very precious about the history of the party, laughing that he was a "party member who is not a party member", "In order to play Chen Duxiu, the first book I read was the Communist Manifesto, and I was sweating and very excited when I read it." ”
Wandering in the spiritual world of these characters, Cheng Taishen felt extremely happy, but back to reality, Cheng Taishen felt uncomfortable: "When I stepped out of the role, in the face of oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, chicken feathers, I felt very small and boring. Listening to the agent say 'Do you need a facelift; when you feel like you're going crazy, living in the world of the sages, unable to face reality, very tangled.' ””
Refuse to socialize and be an "amateur actor" in the traffic era
The more sages who played, the more Cheng Taishen felt that he was worthless, "This is not modesty, I am now an 'amateur actor', only to be shallow." ”
In this traffic era, Cheng Taishen also hopes to be an "amateur actor", "I have also struggled, I want to have creative opportunities, play a good role, but there is no traffic, but there is traffic and easy to flow, so, in this traffic era, I would rather be an 'amateur actor', if I say I am an actor, I feel a little embarrassed." ”
Since 2006, Cheng Taishen no longer has any social interaction after filming, "What the agent said, I did not listen, and the fans also said don't be lost, there is time, it is better to go home and read." As a result, the fans are normal, they are living their lives well, and they are not coming to me. ”
One of Cheng Taishen's fans once had the misfortune of being in a car accident, amputated limbs, the child was still young, he was particularly stressed, wanted to commit suicide, "I called him Yunlang big brother, after seeing my interview, he plucked up the confidence of life, and now the child is also admitted to college, he now often sends me WeChat, which makes me feel that the actor still has a little role." ”
Light is the source of the character living water, there is no light, that is, the actor is playing the role
In the characters portrayed by Cheng Taishen, the eyes are bright with light, like the stars of the character's spiritual world. In this regard, Cheng Taishen laughed and said that there was no light in the eyes of the role he played before 2005, only gray and tangled, after meditation every role has light, because the cover on the heart is removed, "Light is the character's heart light, is the source of living water, without light, it will not be that character, that is, the actor is playing the role, with light, that role already has life, he is not you, he is taking the actor away." ”
Many people ask Cheng Taishen how to improve his acting skills, Cheng Taishen's method is to make himself disappear and let the role enter, "Everyone says that this role is played, in fact, the role itself is alive, you eliminate yourself, at the moment of shooting, you enter the time and space of the role, the role carries you, the video and audio synchronization are inseparable, otherwise you will be entangled, nervous, artificial, showmanship, false, acting false." ”
The classic films in Cheng Taishen's heart have all undergone the baptism of time, and the films he admires, Tarkovsky and Ozu Yasujiro, have reached the level of poetry in the expression of images, "They have returned to the basics, no longer so violent, hysterical, digging out the dark side, venting the indignation of the times, I think that films that express anger are stage contributions, equally great, but in the long river of history, what remains is often those calm works that can be precipitated." ”
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Yang
Photo / Beijing Youth Daily reporter Hao Yi
Editor/Bow Lifang