The first time I saw Zhang Songwen on the big screen was in 2018 in "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind" directed by Lou Ye. This film is one of the few films released in mainland theaters by Lou Ye, and it is also the third Lou Ye work in which Zhang Songwen participated, the first is "Spring Breeze Drunken Night" (2009) and the second is "Flower" (2011).
In "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind", Zhang Songwen plays Tang Yijie, the director of the construction committee responsible for urban transformation, a sanctimonious official who is impressive. In terms of style, there are similarities with Gao Qiqiang's late stage in "Crazy".
There is also a commonality between the two characters - both exploring the evil of human nature. On the surface, it is high-sounding, but behind it is actually dirt and dirt.
For this kind of character, Zhang Songwen is too good at it.
Because he has long been accustomed to seeing life and death and understanding human nature.
Zhang Songwen's appearance in "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind"
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After interpreting Gao Qi's powerful red and purple, Zhang Songwen's past was also pulled out over and over again.
The most famous thing is that he worked as a tour guide for 5 years before becoming an actor. In those five years, he experienced more than ten major traffic accidents, "two guests died in front of me. Zhang Songwen said.
At that time, he was only in his early 20s and was already accustomed to seeing the moment of life and death. After seeing life and death more, I have a deep understanding of human nature.
Perhaps, this created his fate agnosticism. In an interview, he put it this way:
"A person's luck has not arrived, even if he is the world's top actor, he will always walk the word 'back'."
This sense of fatalism may be the reason why he can persevere in the film and television industry - he is waiting for "luck". After Zhang Songwen became popular, many media articles presented his sad past.
In fact, however, he has always had good luck. In the underworld, the god of fate has been guiding him.
In 1999, Zhang Songwen had been a tour guide for five years, but he knew that he would not do this all his life. When he first entered the industry, when he was only eighteen years old, he had doubts about his career as a tour guide, and after hesitating, he even consulted "masters" for a while. Actually, he did not believe in the so-called master, but after seeing the master, he suddenly understood something.
Later, in an article titled "The Man Who Lights the Lamp in His Heart," he wrote: "To admit the falsehood of the masters is to admit their own vulnerability and stupidity." At that time, the "master" told him that in three years you would definitely be promoted to "deputy department" - but he was not even a civil servant.
Zhang Songwen came back to continue working, and has been the "best tour guide in Guangdong Province".
Zhang Songwen with a tour group
However, after five years, he had a feeling of looking at the head, and in his words, he entered the "old cadre mode". He has been to many tourist attractions hundreds of times. More than ten years later, when he went to Thailand to film the drama version of "Detective Chinatown", director Chen Sicheng asked him, have you ever been to Thailand? He was embarrassed to say that he had led the group two hundred times.
He felt that if it went on like this, it would not work, and it would change. However, I don't know how to change my course.
At this time, he met a young tour guide who had just entered the industry, and the company asked him to bring it. The little girl asked him, how can you be a good tour guide like you? Zhang Songwen said, first of all, you have to love your work... Balabala symbolically said some high-sounding words.
The little girl asked again, do you love the job of tour guide? Zhang Songwen thought, troublesome, tried to prevaricate, but finally told the truth, "There should be none, too repetitive." In fact, I have already passed the strength of love. ”
The little girl continued to ask: Is your dream to do tourism?
At that moment, Zhang Songwen was thoroughly asked. After a deep groan, he said bitterly, "I don't have a dream, but I have a hobby." I don't drink alcohol, I don't like to go out to socialize, the way to pass the time when I am at home is to watch movies, movies everywhere, Yugoslavia, North Korea, the United States, the Soviet Union... Watching movies calms me down and makes me feel fulfilled. ”
The young guide said categorically: This is your dream!
However, at that time, Zhang Songwen felt that it was a fantasy, "Do you make movies?" Never thought about it in my life. ”
The little girl also said, I heard that the Beijing Film Academy recruits adult classes, you don't need to take the test, you can try it.
After chatting with the little girl at 10 a.m. that day, Zhang Songwen pondered for an hour and went to the general manager's office to apply for resignation.
He's going to Beijing.
At that time, the tour company allocated a house, which had just been renovated when he left. In order to have no way back, he politely refused the leader's advice to "stay without pay". This means that the house is returned to the unit.
And he is completely immersed in the excitement of "movie dreams", and he has no idea about the house at all. For him, this is called the sinking of the cauldron.
Looking back, Zhang Songwen met not a little girl, but an enlightened "Zen master"! Now, Zhang Songwen doesn't know if he thanked this little girl, she let him know what path he will take in the future, and he can become popular overnight.
Zhang Songwen has been a tour guide for five years
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Zhang Songwen admitted that he was indeed impulsive back then, but he also had his own reasons:
"In my memory, when you decide to do something, you will talk to the people around you about your ideas, a chat usually can't be done, you ask others how they feel, friends around you out of concern, racking their brains to sing the opposite, saying opinions that you can't hear, basically you will back off after speaking."
He decided to go his own way. On the afternoon of his departure from the travel company, he flew to Beijing.
When he arrived in Beijing, Zhang Songwen did not speak Mandarin well, and told the taxi driver to go to Beiying. He was then pulled to the Beijing Film Studio. There, he walked around and did find some advertisements for training courses, all directing classes, acting classes.
An old lady received him. Zhang Songwen asked, will the training class here issue a graduation certificate from the Beijing Film Academy?
The old lady smiled, this is the Beijing Film Studio, not the Beijing Film Academy.
Zhang Songwen was confused, the old lady said, Beijing Film Academy is next door, I'll take you there.
The old lady pulled Zhang Songwen to meet several teachers at the Beijing Film Academy. The other party asked Zhang Songwen, what do you want to learn? "I don't know what I want to do, but I want to make movies," he said. ”
The teacher said, "The directing department does not enroll, there is also a major called the acting department in this building, and the acting department will have a refresher class immediately, you can stay and take their exams." ”
This gave Zhang Songwen direction.
Seeing that he was not familiar with life, the old lady invited him to her home as a guest, and her son was also in the film and television industry, and worked as an assistant director for Feng Xiaogang and Chen Kaige. Zhang Songwen lived for four or five days, and the old lady's son also became friends, telling him what was going on in the film and television industry.
The help of the old lady of Beijing Film Studio and her son allowed Zhang Songwen to understand the basic concepts of the film and television industry.
This is another lucky time for Zhang Songwen. Fate pushed him towards his destination.
Years later, Zhang Songwen said with emotion: "I have been grateful to that old lady all my life, and the people at that time were really simple. ”
These things, based on his previous self-statement, it is difficult to check the authenticity, but whether they are true or not, you can see that he is indeed lucky - he met the little guide who was instructive, and he met the kind old lady.
In fact, more fortunate is yet to come.
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The Beijing Film Academy advanced class requires an interview for talent.
Sing? No. Recite? Not prepared... Dancing, that's even more unscored!
Seeing that it was about to be brushed off, the last improvised sketch, Zhang Songwen grasped it. The title of the sketch is - When the tour group encounters wind and waves on an isolated island.
Twenty years later, Zhang Songwen recalls incredulously, "This is called providence, I worked as a tour guide for five years, and I caught up with a performance tour group. ”
He, a senior tour guide, is he still good at playing a tour guide?
Zhang Songwen immediately spoke brightly, and his tongue was clever, and he substituted into the tour guide mode. His vivid explanation attracted the attention of all the examiners, and after that, a teacher asked: How do you know the tour guide so well? Zhang Songwen said, that's what I did.
The teacher asked, what did you encounter when you were a tour guide?
Zhang Songwen replied: "Parting from life and death." In my five years of tour experience, there were more than ten major traffic accidents, and two guests died in front of me. ”
He was successfully admitted to the acting training class.
However, after three months, he wanted to quit. "The first month old let us play animals, go to the zoo to observe animals, I saw the seventeen and eighteen-year-old children in our class play cats, dogs, bears, orangutans, I can't do it, it's too shameful. People haven't figured it out yet, how to play animals? I'm disgusted. ”
His whole heart was to "make movies."
Zhang Songwen complained to the class teacher at the time and confessed that he wanted to quit school, and the class teacher said, "You can choose to leave at any time, but why do you have to leave when you come?" ”
Just as he was about to pack his luggage and leave, a level 96 senior brother came to him. Senior brother said, "I heard that you are going to drop out of school? You listen to me, don't back down, you are especially suitable for being an actor. The next day, another grade 94 senior brother said to him: "You kid is suitable for being an actor, you have a life acting, this is very precious." ”
The persuasion and encouragement of the two senior brothers for two consecutive days made Zhang Songwen rethink his purpose of coming here to study.
He's not gone.
In 2000, the refresher class had to do a report performance, and let the teachers of the regular class screen the seedlings. Lined up a play called "48 Hours", because Mandarin was too bad, Zhang Songwen took the initiative to ask to play a dumb.
On the basis of the script, he made his own changes: "That dumb was not dumb at first, and there was a line at the end: everyone take care." I think it's cool to simply don't say this and turn it into a joke. ”
Qi Shilong, director of the acting department of the Beijing Film Academy, was also at the performance at the time, and after the end, he said: "That dumb, let him take the acting department in 2000." ”
That year, he went from a refresher class to a member of the official class, the oldest of the eighteen-nine-year-old students with rich experience, which became his advantage, and even became the president of the student council. Because of this, after graduation, he was able to stay on to teach, although it was not a formal establishment, but it also made him very happy.
From a tour guide to a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy, Zhang Songwen completed the most important self-transformation in his life.
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When Zhang Songwen was a teacher at Nortel, he established a "performing arts research institute", which was actually a civil society, except for the other founder, Zu Feng. Zu Feng also taught at Nortel that year, and later became an actor full-time before Zhang Songwen, and he is Liu Tianchi's husband, who has often guided students' acting skills in major variety shows in recent years.
Zu Feng left the school, and Zhang Songwen couldn't stay. He felt, "Film school is a particularly good place to do academics, but my dream is not academic, I want to make films." ”
Heart-to-heart, or "make a movie".
In 2009, he officially left school.
Subsequently, Zhang Songwen began a 10-year unlucky acting career.
Before completely stepping into the film and television industry, although Zhang Songwen had rich experience, he was actually lucky. Being a tour guide can win the "Best Tour Guide in Guangdong Province", and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is smooth sailing to become a Nortel teacher by studying performance halfway.
Now, after leaving the ivory tower, he is about to start accepting the "beating" of the entertainment industry.
A recently widely circulated joke - "Zhang Songwen was once humiliated as a dwarf", this incident comes from Zhang Songwen's personal experience.
In the early years, he and his classmates went to a certain crew on Monday to audition, and in a hotel room, an assistant director pointed to them and said to investors that some people are not suitable for being actors, such as him (referring to Zhang Songwen), who is very tall and like a dwarf, and he definitely can't be an actor; The other (referring to Zhou Wei), sausage mouth, also does not work.
Although the scene was very funny, Zhang Songwen and Monday gathered out of the room, stood in the elevator in a daze, never pressed the first floor, and they were immersed in the moment when their dignity was trampled on.
More than a decade later, after telling the story to other young actors on a show, he said that it sounds ridiculous now, but "sometimes I feel bad thinking about it late at night."
Zhang Songwen is certainly not alone in enduring this humiliation.
He himself said that 99.5% of actors in China earn extremely low income, earning thousands of yuan a year, auditioning 840 crews in 3 years, all of which were rejected.
This is not only his personal unluck, but also the misfortune of the entire film and television industry.
Fame is the hard currency of the entertainment industry, there is no fame, only strength, and there is nothing to do, to be famous, you must have a chance, to get an opportunity, you must have fame... Many unknown powerful actors have fallen into this vicious circle.
Capital, on the other hand, is even more profit-oriented and short-sighted, only sees the glamorous side, ignores the hidden grayness, and even deliberately avoids it. Therefore, they choose to invest in small fresh meat, traffic stars, or artists who can bring short-term benefits. At the very least, it pays off immediately in business.
It is difficult to say whether this unfair phenomenon can be eliminated, and the probability will not. Even if Zhang Songwen is famous now, there are still thousands of 99.5% of Li Songwen and Wang Songwen struggling with life and death.
The so-called "uncle circle" phenomenon is just because these uncles have become stars. There are more unknown uncles in the entertainment industry, and if they don't come out, they are an ordinary uncle who is unable to enter the "uncle circle". Before 2023, Zhang Songwen is just one of many ordinary uncles.
Therefore, Zhang Songwen's success does not mean that it will eliminate the profit-seeking nature of the entertainment industry.
In fact, for Zhang Songwen, although he comforted himself with "luck" before, what really changed his fate was his practical efforts and seizing opportunities.
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After leaving the Beijing Film Academy, the first movie he acted in was Lou Ye's 2009 "Spring Breeze Drunken Night". Cheung is grateful to the director who brought him to the big screen (although the film didn't make it to mainland theaters), and 10 years later, he said: "Lou Ye used me four times, which is the biggest affirmation for me." ”
The fourth play is "Lyceum Theatre", which will be released in the mainland in 2021.
He also said that Lou Ye "gave me unlimited freedom." This is also a "limitless" compliment.
But when he first entered the film and television industry, he actually played the protagonist.
In 2004, Zhang Songwen, who was also working as a teaching assistant at the Beijing Film Academy, received a visiting delegation from his hometown TV station, Guangdong Southern Satellite TV, and learned that they were planning to make a Cantonese costume drama "Dragon Riding Monster", which happened to be in the summer vacation, so he took the initiative to ask for a role and played the male number one.
"Dragon Riding Monster" is somewhat similar to "The Legend of Wulin", both costume sitcoms, but a year earlier than the latter's broadcast. Moreover, it is the earliest "short drama", each episode is 20 minutes, but it is limited to Cantonese dramas, with limited spread, and it is only recognized in Guangdong.
Zhang Songwen in "The Dragon Riding Monster"
This is Zhang Songwen's first time as the leading actor, and it is 120 episodes in one performance. This drama was later filmed in 500 episodes. But because he had to go back to school, Zhang Songwen could not continue acting.
In the early 2000s, it was the world of actors of the Mesozoic Generation, Chen Baoguo, Chen Daoming, Siqin Gaova, Wang Zhiwen, Li Baotian, Jiang Shan, Jiang Wenli and other drama bones. Zhang Songwen was too young again, "At that time, I looked in the mirror every day, I hated that I was young, and I longed for myself to grow old quickly every day. ”
Fate is so weird, 10 years later, when Zhang Songwen reached the Mesozoic Era, "Little Fresh Meat" arose. Therefore, it is indeed difficult for actors of his generation to survive the head.
During that time, in addition to meeting the group with classmates on Monday, I also saw many actors of the same age in different crews. Once, Jin Yong's drama "Luding Ji" recruited actors, he went to an interview and met a young man who graduated from Chinese opera, named Deng Chao, and the two also hooked up and took a photo. Inferred from time, this Jin Yong drama should be Huang Xiaoming's version, prepared in 2005 and officially started in 2006.
Of course, Zhang Songwen and Deng Chao were not selected. Fortunately, Deng Chao quickly became popular. Many years later, when Zhang Songwen was cleaning up his computer, he found this group photo, and he was still surprised, how could he be so close to Deng Chao?
The real way to choose the script and dominate your own drama path was 8 years after Zhang Songwen left the Beijing Film Academy. In 2017, the movie "Summer of West River" was released. This film that he is the male number one, although the box office is not high, but it has a lot of influence in the industry, ""Summer of West Little River" is very strange, it has a very low box office, but overnight, many people are willing to discuss this movie, I don't know why. Zhang Songwen said.
This opened up a little situation for him.
After that, there is "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind", and the fire short drama "Hidden Corner". In these works, he has a common background - playing his father. Before I knew it, I was over 40 years old.
"A classmate said, without reading the report, I forgot that we are 45 years old." In an interview, he described what his classmates said.
It was 2020, and there were still 3 years before he really exploded.
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What is even more impressive about Zhang Songwen is that he knows gratitude.
In an interview statement in Interface News in 2019, surprisingly, he talked about "Master" Huang Qiusheng generously, and directly said that the other party was "amazing".
Due to the well-known situation, in 2019, the name Huang Qiusheng is already a taboo in the mainland film and television circle. The Hong Kong character actor, as early as 2014, has been insulated from the mainland. However, five years later, Zhang Songwen is still reciting Huang Qiusheng's teachings to himself.
In the words of Zhang Songwen - "I have great respect for Huang Qiusheng, he is the most simple scholar of performance in my opinion. ”
That year, he was not very popular, and he admired Huang Qiusheng because "Huang Qiusheng corrected many of my performance problems," he said. In the silence, Zhang Songwen can express it like this, it is really not easy.
They met in 2009 and filmed the TV series "The Secret History of Yang Guifei", Zhang Songwen played Prime Minister Yang Guozhong, and Huang Qiusheng played Tang Xuanzong. After four months of getting along, Zhang Songwen paid homage to Huang Qiusheng as a teacher.
Maybe it's the relationship between both speaking Cantonese, and the two saw each other at first sight. Originally, Huang Qiusheng wanted to accept him as a godson, but Zhang Songwen refused, saying that "there is only one father." However, Zhang Songwen admired Huang Qiusheng very much, so he asked if he could learn to act with him. Huang Qiusheng took it down.
Zhang Songwen's styling in "The Secret History of Yang Guifei"
For three years after that, Zhang Songwen followed Huang Qiusheng to learn acting skills, "I was next to all the movies made by Mr. Huang Qiusheng in those three years, including "Jingwu Feng Yun Chen Zhen", "Ip Man: The Final Battle", "Qiu Jin", "Four Famous Catches"..." In these scenes, he can occasionally make cameo appearances.
Indeed, since then, Zhang Songwen's performance style has the shadow of Huang Qiusheng, "He (Huang Qiusheng) said, you don't have to perform it, you try to recycle it, don't let people see the traces, he often advised me, don't think about how the actor will deal with it, you should think about what the character will do." In his statement, Zhang Songwen said.
Coincidentally, Cheung Songwen works as a performance director for young actors in the mainland, while Huang Qiusheng also holds a "master class" in Hong Kong and Taiwan to teach acting skills. In November 2022, Huang Qiusheng, whose focus moved to Taiwan, won the actor crown at the Golden Horse Awards. Two months later, Zhang Songwen became popular in the mainland.
If you do not forget, there will be an echo.
It is difficult to say whether Zhang Songwen, who is now popular, can talk freely about his relationship with Huang Qiusheng. However, it is true that Zhang Songwen "dares to speak" more than ordinary actors.
Judging from the endless remarks that have been turned over after he became popular, he knows how to grasp the core of the topic, of course, not because he likes to stir up the topic, but because: he is willing to tell the truth.
For example, in response to the problem of young actors' acting skills, he said: High school students go directly to film school, without experience, how can they act well after graduation?
For example, he said: Actors must be able to pick plays, but some people are chaotic, and when the play comes, they shoot, and they say love in their mouths, but they can't see that they have the slightest love for this industry?
Many actors, whether they are famous or not, whether they are powerful or idols, are afraid of saying the wrong thing, and those so-called "wrong words" are actually "truth". In an interview, if there is a little fierce sentence, let it be deleted, the title must not be made to be decent and not sinful, and it is stable to "no humanity".
Of course, the basis of telling the truth is self-confidence, and self-confidence comes from - "having material".
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Zhang Songwen does have material.
Not only acting, but also writing articles.
In 2017, he published the essay "The Man Who Lights the Light in His Heart" in the magazine "Tianya". "Tianya" is a publication sponsored by the Hainan Provincial Writers Association, and it is not easy for articles to be selected into orthodox literary magazines.
Another article, "Matchmatch Paradise," was published in Youth Digest – although Youth Digest is not a purely literary publication, it also has strict requirements for words.
These two articles, although not yet at the level of "everyone", also have their own style. Especially this paragraph from "Matchstick Heaven":
I asked my mother, "Is it a celebration of that era by naming me Ode Wen?" ”
Mom said, "It's the end of singing its praises." ”
At that time, the Cultural Revolution had just ended five or six years. Mom's memory is still clear, perhaps unforgettable.
Not to mention the writing style, the mother and son have such a positive three views, and they are also appreciated.
Let's talk about how good the writing is, not necessarily, but you can feel the sincerity and the thinking contained in it. In fact, this is the power of words. Writing articles is the same as acting, on the basis of qualified writing, betting on feelings is valuable.
Therefore, there is a well-acclaimed farewell text after the finale of "Crazy".
These are all created by life experience, among them, there are happy, sad, lost, and proud. However, starting in 2023, he has become a wristman. Through the role of Gao Qiqiang, he finally "appeared".
Perhaps, Zhang Songwen also remembered the words of the "blind guy" in the article "The Man Who Lights the Lamp in His Heart".
The blind man is a blind fortune teller in his hometown who usually lives by divining for the villagers. One day when Zhang Songwen was 13 years old, he was bullied by his classmates, plus his father scolded for some reason, and when he was sullen, he met a blind guy in the village -
He touched the top of my head and said solemnly: "Awen, don't hide from you, I fool people and eat food, and I don't know any real skills." But believe me, you must be very productive when you grow up. ”
Written by | KILLER LEON
Curated | Editorial Department of Entertainment Spring and Autumn
This article is the original content of "Entertainment Spring and Autumn"
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