Text | Zhiyong
When Bone Duo asked Wang Yang if he felt like a perfectionist, he replied without thinking, "I am." ”
Wang Yang's pursuit of perfection is vividly reflected in this dialogue. He had just finished another two-hour interview before he began. But he only took a short rest, and then returned to the full state of Wang Yang with a determined voice in his voice.
His desire to express roles and acting careers is still strong, his expression ability and logic are still outstanding, and even sometimes, he will take the initiative to lead the bone problem in a more acute direction and give deep insights. His thoughts on the performance are not a flash of thought, but thoughtful and polished.
From time to time, Wang Yang blurted out words such as "very little", "many" and "very happy", which may be related to his role as Cheng Renqing in "Daming under the Microscope". Cheng Renqing is a lawyer, of course, people around him often call him "lawyer".
He is proficient in the law of the Daming Dynasty, and an iron mouth can turn up and down in the public hall, and he can reverse right and wrong, up to the prefect master, down to the common people, all of which are clearly understood by him Cheng Renqing, and he has to hold back in his stomach if he is angry. When it was over, Cheng Renqing also had to unfold his fan with "Haoran Righteousness" written on it and shake it, Miaoya, Miaoya.
This character is also good and evil, half-spoken and half-white, from the style of the lines to the state of the character, it is quite charming, but it is also quite difficult to prepare. Wang Yang worked hard for this charm. He would rather play Cheng Renqing unpleasantly, preferring to bring a little literary crepe tone, because Cheng Renqing should be like this, because he first had to let the audience know that Cheng Renqing was a lawyer who exported a lot of money and was arrogant.
Like Cheng Renqing, Wang Yang also exported well, but he was by no means arrogant. Two years ago, the role of Chen Moqun in "Rebel" made him well-known to the audience and made his career more upward. But he just accepts the grace of all fate and transforms it into confidence in his performance. If his popularity has changed his mentality, it has undoubtedly strengthened his sincerity and dedication to his acting career.
When talking about his practice as an actor, Wang Yang often uses the third person to refer to himself, "There must be an audience who can see Wang Yang's efforts", "Wang Yang just wants to do his best". Such a title reveals his clear and powerful self, and it also means that he often seems to jump out of the "me" and make demands on himself from the perspective of the bystander. If there are requirements, we can be more refined and get closer to the perfectionism in Wang Yang's heart.
Therefore, although the dialogue between Bone Duo and Wang Yang is conducted in the form of questions and answers, returning the narrative power of this dialogue to Wang Yang himself can more perfectly convey his many thoughts on roles and performances. The following is Wang Yang's self-statement.
01
Back to costume drama
I don't act in many costume dramas, only 6 of them, less than 15% of my career.
Because of costume dramas, first of all, costumes are often much thicker than modern costumes, and certain driving skills are required. Secondly, to perform costume dramas, you must have a reserve of historical knowledge in order to perform the state of ancient people. Third, I act in more urban dramas, and the plays I find to act in are more urban dramas, which also determines that I can't take on more costume dramas.
On top of that, there are very few characters in costume that can impress me. Because I hope that the lines can't be too watery, like "Daming under the Microscope", the whole costume drama is written in the vernacular, and I really haven't seen much of the script that can be written.
So after "Qing Yu Nian", I haven't acted in costume dramas again. But in the past two years, I have paid much attention to the film and television dramas adapted from some of Mr. Ma Boyong's novels, which are very textured, suspenseful and heavy, and are worth savoring and reflecting. I am also looking forward to the opportunity to film the adaptation of Mr. Ma's novel.
When it came to "Daming", the opportunity came. Mr. Ma personally served as the screenwriter of this play this time, and this is also his first time as a screenwriter, which attracted me so much. The role of Cheng Renqing, as a "lawyer", is a character with many levels of change, very three-dimensional, quite challenging and fun. So more than half a month after receiving the script, I gladly took over the play.
Among the actors of this play, there are old partners I am familiar with. Zhang Ruoyun and Wu Gang and I have both cooperated in "Qing Yu Nian", especially with Ruoyun this time is a triple match, then I think it will be very tacit understanding. Although we are each busy in life and may not see each other for a long time, we are quite close when we meet. I know what kind of person Ruoyun is, so when I play with him, I trust him and am willing to take his moves. Don't look at Ruoyun is a young actor, he is quite mature and sophisticated in acting. As an actor, his understanding of the character image and the setting of the performance level gave me a new surprise this time.
From Cheng Renqing's perspective, the handsome family is like a mirror. They are all geniuses, Shuai Jiamo is a genius in arithmetic, Cheng Renqing is a genius of the Great Ming Law, heroes are heavy heroes, and geniuses absorb geniuses. Based on this, although the two stand on opposite sides, he has an affirmation of Shuai Jiamo in his heart and appreciates his ultimate pursuit of justice and mathematical rules. Cheng Renqing is not such an extreme person, he delves into the Great Ming Law, he wants to study to the strongest, hoping to be the strongest teacher, but in terms of position, he chooses to be a "lawyer".
02
The cultivation of "lawyers"
The last time I performed "Qing Yu Nian", it was an overhead history, and this time I returned to the costume drama and filmed a real Ming Dynasty. The styling, makeup and hair are very elegant, and in terms of performance proportion, it must be more formal.
But I don't really want to play Cheng Renqing too right, because everyone calls him a "lawyer", they all say that he is mercenary, and if I act too right, it will be a bit smooth and lack some flexible color. I think this play is a group drama, and each character should have their own little color.
So I designed some of Cheng Renqing's early state above the public court to be a bit arrogant, a little unruly, and a little unsightly, to highlight his characteristics as a lawyer and make the audience more impressed by this character. I didn't really want to protect this character, I didn't want to play him flattering, because I had to perform the state of "lawyer stick" first, the play said that Cheng Renqing was a "lawyer stick", and the audience had to think that he was a "lawyer stick" when they watched it, so he had to be annoying, had to turn black and white upside down, and had to rely on strong arguments to break things that were difficult to settle.
But I also don't want to play Cheng Renqing into a completely symbolic and face-painted character, I have to let him stand up and have layers. This three-dimensional and layered embodiment does not lie in whether the actor clearly plays a single characteristic of the character, but in different scenes, it can show different dimensions of human nature's joy, anger and sorrow.
For example, I sometimes highlight his playfulness, just like in episode 3, Cheng Renqing and Qi Wei's Feng Biyu have a conversation, this scene Renqing seems to be a little provocative, may make people think, why is this character so annoying, will it be a little greasy.
But Cheng Renqing is so smart, of course, he can sometimes act righteous, and sometimes show his ease and casualness through teasing. It's interesting to deal with this role in a varied way. Especially Feng Biyu finally did things according to the points Cheng Renqing gave her, then this can prove that Cheng Renqing is a heavy lifter and can easily handle everything, so that he is powerful.
Cheng Renqing did a lot of things to hurt the people for money, but he was not an evil person. After all, human beings are inherently good, and everyone has compassion. In the first episode of the public court scene, Cheng Renqing dealt with the tenant being forced into debt by the creditor and was forced to sell his daughter, at the end of the scene, I had a close-up of the tenant daughter's daughter leaving with her father with her helpless and weak sideways.
This is a mirror that I specially asked the director of photography to help me leave, and I am very happy that the audience noticed. Every character, whether good or evil, must have some unnatural outpouring at some point. For Cheng Renqing, if the audience captures this detail, they can know that at this moment Cheng Renqing still has a conscience and unbearable, and this character is really flesh and blood and stands.
Even if this show is only 14 episodes, I hope that the audience will remember which character in it after watching it in the end. If Cheng Renqing can be one of the characters remembered by everyone, it is an affirmation for me.
03
Practice "Cheng Tiezui"
In the play, everyone calls Cheng Renqing "Cheng Tiezui" because he is a lawyer and his mouth must slip. So the most important and difficult point to prepare for this role is to do your homework in terms of lines, otherwise there will be many shortcomings in the performance and it is not satisfactory.
I have 4 public court plays in the whole play, each public court relies on me to promote the plot, "Cheng Tiezui" is ten minutes, so each public court play is an important challenge for me. Especially it was October, but the weather in Zhejiang was very hot, and it belonged to the autumn tiger. There are many actors involved in the public drama, and everyone is wearing very thick costumes, and every time so many peers and seniors, braving the scorching heat, wearing so many clothes to sit here, I try to ask myself to be less NG and reduce the hard working hours that everyone endures.
So I had to be fully prepared in terms of my lines. But in this play, my line volume is very large, the line structure is biased towards half-text and half-white, and the line style is biased to have a certain charm, sometimes fighting, sometimes progressive, sometimes ranking. And because I joined the group half a month late for some reason, I basically had to start work every day after joining the group, so the time was even more limited. It takes a lot of time and energy to grind the words of the next day every day, and to take down a large number of lines from many heavy scenes in advance.
Fortunately, I have some experience dealing with these kinds of lines. I graduated from the School of Drama and am also a drama actor in Renyi, and I have performed intensively in Renyi from 2002 to 2005. These have laid a good foundation for me, at least relatively solid in the frustration of the lines. But when shaping Cheng Renqing, this skill actually has a bit of a double-edged sword nature.
The advantage is that I can handle the lines very smoothly, from flat and straightforward, to the final impassioned outburst, how to lay these out, how to lay these out, it is not difficult for me. However, drama actors are bound to have some line designs, which will definitely make some audiences feel that they are not acting enough life and have a drama tone.
But there must also be an audience who thinks that this treatment is good, because a lawyer who shaped the Ming Dynasty should speak clearly, and above the public hall, it should be heard by ordinary people who are listening dozens of meters behind. And these lines are mixed with ancient text, if I use a very living voice to say the lines, it will appear watery, and a lot of charm will be lost. So I'd rather give up some life-like expressions to preserve this charm and preserve the state of this character.
04
About the "Drag King" tag
Based on his ability, knowledge, talent, and calm and wise mind, Cheng Renqing has become a very proud person. Some viewers may think that arrogance and dragging are more similar, and Cheng Renqing and the "dragging king" Chen Moqun in "Rebel" are also somewhat similar, but they are actually different. Chen Moqun has less relaxation, he is the station manager, and he is always calculating very rigorously. Cheng Renqing is very relaxed, can be particularly casual and comfortable, this is the difference.
After the role of Chen Moqun was well known to everyone, some viewers would label me as "dragging the king". Sometimes I really want to tear off this label, but sometimes I also feel like why I want to tear it, and my feelings are very contradictory. The reason for not tearing is that although I didn't think about Chen Moqun to drag more when I was performing, I played him just based on my understanding of him, but the audience finally gave Chen Moqun a "drag king" label, everyone remembered Chen Moqun's vivid characteristics, from the perspective of character shaping, I was successful.
But when it comes to another role, of course I'm going to tear off that label. If the audience interprets only one drag in each of my characters, then I am quite a failure. I hope you can see different qualities in my different characters. For example, if Cheng Renqing looks so cheap and wants to smoke him, this label has already left the "drag king".
I don't know if the audience will feel that Wang Yang is acting a little similar, or if he has broken through himself. I don't want to think too much about it, because it's a constraint, and after thinking about it, I feel that nothing is right. I also want every character to break through, but I don't break through for the sake of breaking through. I think choosing a role, regardless of whether it is the same type as my other characters, or depends on the book I got at the same time, which character made me more impulsive to shape after watching it, and had some of Wang Yang's more likable characteristics.
If I want to go for a so-called breakthrough, I don't do this kind of thing, because I think it will fail. Are you not sure if you have the confidence to act well, you go to act, isn't the consumption of yourself greater? The audience will think, God, it's too scary for you to act like this, you can't act. Then all my previous efforts have disappeared, why should I make this choice?
I don't want to be in my comfort zone, but I don't blindly break through, I will make breakthroughs in controlled situations. I just need to find the different places in each character and try to enlarge these different details so that the audience can see them, then I think it's okay.
05
The charm of self-confidence
After "Rebel", my career entered a virtuous circle. Now some people will ask, Wang Yang, are you red and swollen.
In terms of mentality, it must be good that more people know me. Of course, I Wang Yang want everyone to know that my actor is Wang Yang, instead of just remembering the name of the character. Everyone remembers the role, of course I'm happy, but you don't know who played the role, so I can only laugh it off, because I can't force this.
So my career is indeed better than before, I have more choices, and I am more proactive, which is a fact that I do not shy away. I must have gone up a small step and it made me feel more confident and happier. This all ended up helping my performance, because the roles I can get now, the performance space may be bigger than before. I am more confident, and when I shape the characters, I will have more understanding and perseverance, and the audience will be able to capture the charm of Wang Yang's role, which is of course a good thing for me.
The understanding and experience of acting are inseparable, and how much experience you have will eventually enrich your role. The feedback of more than two years after "Rebel" will definitely be reflected in the process of shaping my characters.
After "Daming", maybe the next character that everyone sees me is Mu Dafu in "Echo". "Echo" is the second time I have cooperated with director Feng Xiaogang, the last time we collaborated on "North and South", the scene was not so full, this time director Xiaogang directly turned me into a male lead, I didn't expect it, I felt particularly honored.
When I worked with director Xiaogang again this time, I felt that my confidence was improving my performance state. When I was filming "North and South", after I finished filming the first scene, director Xiao Gang gave me confidence, he said that this is called acting, this is called play. This time when I know that I want to play the male protagonist, of course I am very happy, I will be more relaxed, more confident, and more comfortable to shape the role of Mudaf, and my state must be better than "North and South".
After that, I will meet with characters, as well as particularly successful real estate owners, lawyers who want to live better than the average person in order to satisfy their vanity, and so on. No matter how many scenes there are, I will still take each character very seriously, and this kind of sincerity in performance can be felt by the audience when watching it.
06
The practice of an actor
Sincerity and dedication are exactly what I think an actor must have.
If you just do work and do not invest, the characters will lack soul and color. I put my feelings and understanding into the performance, even if not all the audience can agree, but there will definitely be an audience who can see Wang Yang's efforts, which is more important. You work hard and seriously, the producer, director, and actors in the same drama know that you are a serious person, and you can go further. Ability is not the only criterion that determines everything, work attitude is.
So I always give my best at work. To be honest, sometimes it's quite tiring, and it's hard for me to guarantee that I'm always in good spirits. Because sometimes the shooting is very intensive, and you need to spend a lot of time doing homework, there is bound to be not enough rest time. But when I arrived at the scene, I had to grit my teeth and stand up. Because I played this role, I was responsible for this role.
I don't put water and say, because I'm tired, just fool the past, just get a 60 points, it's not my style of doing things. I will wonder, can Wang Yang grit his teeth and achieve 80 points? To get to 80, I don't want to let myself pass 60. I don't know how much the audience recognizes the final result, but no matter how tired I am, I have to grit my teeth when I get to the scene, and try to make myself satisfied with today's work.
So I'm really a perfectionist, I'm a Pisces, and there's a bit of perfectionism in Pisces' traits. In life, I have a piece of clothing with a thread, and I have to cut it. Including my room, my car, I try to clean up and put things in place. I don't allow myself to be cluttered in space, and I can't be clean, but I have to be clean. Then as long as the announcement time allows, I can spare two hours, I will definitely do seventy or eighty minutes of aerobics, and then simply do some stretching and strength to make myself happy.
In acting, I once said that I want to be an irreplaceable actor, and I am still working hard for that. I don't take as a criterion how many people know me, or how popular I am now. I take Wang Yang's current ability, charm, and all the energy shown by creating a character to make the audience like it as the standard.
So I don't think I'm irreplaceable at this stage. I still have a long way to go, and I still have too long to go.