【Author:Noisy Fang】
"Burlesque Troupe'
"Six or seven leaders of the Shanghai Film Studio at that time"
"I'm afraid that Yan Shunkai will come to the performance and turn Lu Xun's works into a burlesque play, as if the price has dropped"
Cen Fan, the director of "A Q Zheng Biography", recalled the situation at that time.
Until the movie is ready to go out on location, Yan Shunkai has not yet decided whether to act or not.
At that time, Yan Shunkai hid in the house and lost his temper, so anxious that he cried!
Shouted: "No performance, I will not act!" ”
Mr. Yan Shunkai, a famous comedy performance artist, is famous for his comedy all his life, and some people even call him "China's Chaplin", and his representative work is the film "A Q Zheng biography" based on Lu Xun's novel at the age of 44.
This movie has a great relationship with Yan Shunkai, but few people know that the role of Ah Q can be said to be hard-won, and even almost passed by Mr. Yan Shunkai.
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One day in 1980, Yan Shunkai, an actor in the Shanghai Quyi Troupe (now the Shanghai Burlesque Theatre), received a call from Lu Ren, the director of the Shanghai Film Studio, asking Yan Shunkai to go to his home.
At home, Lu Ren and another director of the film studio asked Yan Shunkai some questions, including more about Ah Q, the character's social background, etc. Yan Shunkai was almost guessed, the meaning of the two directors.
"Eh, are you looking for me to play Ah Q?" Yan Shunkai was right.
At that time, the Shanghai Film Studio was preparing to make the movie "A Q Zheng Biography", there were many people who wanted to play the role of A Q, there were many applicants, and the director team selected a bunch of people at that time.
Coincidentally, before this, the Shanghai Ballet was about to rehearse the ballet "A Q Zheng biography", once asked Yan Shunkai to help come up with some ideas, Yan Shunkai returned, with the task to read a lot of related books, so in the face of the two directors' questions, he answered better.
The director team conducted several rounds of investigation and comparison of these applicants, and only 3 competitors were left, namely Zhao Dan, Guo Kaimin, and Yan Shunkai. (ps. Here to mention Zhao Dan, an old artist, in fact, he is also the best candidate for A Q, as to why he did not appear in the crew Shaoxing Water Town, it was because he had cancer at the time. ）
Guo Kaimin, the actor, may not be very familiar to today's audience, but in the 1980s, Guo Kaimin, an actor, can be regarded as popular all over the country.
The movie "Lushan Love" starring him and Zhang Yu can be said to be the first film to express the theme of love after ten years of turmoil, and it is also known as the "first kissing scene" after the founding of the country.
It is no exaggeration to say that Guo Kaimin was the public lover at that time, and wanted to compete with Guo Kaimin?
I can imagine yan Shunkai's pressure that is extreme.
Among them, the most troublesome thing for Yan Shunkai is the problem of appearance, because of this appearance problem, Yan Shunkai really has not suffered a loss.
He almost didn't even get into drama school.
This is a photo of Yan Shunkai's life when he was young, which obviously did not meet the admission standards of the drama school at that time.
In the CCTV sunset red documentary, teacher Yan Shunkai recalled:
"Da Shi Chang, Yang Zaibao, including Liang Polo, those actors, people are quite handsome, like us crowded in people's homes, no! It was quickly brushed off! ”
Not long after the founding of New China, most of the domestic films were films with historical themes such as "White Haired Girl", "Dong Cunrui", and so on. Men should have thick eyebrows and big eyes, a heroic look, and actresses should look generous and look very decent.
At that time, such a saying was still prevalent, men looked at Wang Xingang, women looked at Wang Xiaotang, men should look like Zhao Dan, and women should look like Zhang Rui.
Look at Yan Shunkai again, a pair of small eyes, inverted triangle eyebrows, or a short man, when his eyes narrow into a slit, you can't even tell if he is crying or laughing.
Such a appearance, how to look like a heroic figure, but also does not conform to the aesthetics of that era, let him compete with the dignified Guo Kaimin, it can be said that there is no chance of winning.
However, director Cen Fan is inclined to Yan Kai, and he feels that when the forty-four-year-old Yan Shunkai puts on a broken shoulder and wears a broken felt hat, it is more in line with the screen image of the movie A Q.
But at that time, there were six or seven leaders of the Shanghai Film Studio, but they were more inclined to Guo Kaimin, they said: "Yan Shunkai is a burlesque actor, performing, Lu Xun's works into a burlesque play, too cheap!" And they are all over forty years old, older, and already have wrinkles on their faces, which is not appropriate for Ah Q."
Cen Fan insisted that the performance style can be corrected by strict guidance in the shooting, and the age problem can also be compensated by makeup, and let go of harsh words: "If Yan Shun is not allowed to start the performance in the factory, I will not direct this movie, you find someone else to direct it!" ”。
Five days before the film began, Yan Shunkai, who received a notice from his superiors, heard the news and was so excited that tears came down.
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In order to shoot this drama well, Yan Shunkai can also be regarded as a fight.
You should know that the time when the movie started was midsummer, the temperature in Shaoxing was not low, and Yan Shunkai had a large part of the scenes that needed to wear long shirts and costumes, often the clothes were wet and dry, and the makeup was spent and supplemented.
At that time, there was a scene in which Ah Q was very hungry, went to steal turnips and climbed into the corner of the wall to escape.
In order to pursue better results, the prop team actually put a dog at the foot of the wall, and the best Yan Shunkai forgot to form, and as a result, Yan Shunkai fell off the ladder on the wall in fright, and even his ribs were broken, but he endured great pain and hit the plaster cast to continue to work.
After understanding the original work over and over again, he ate through the character of Ah Q;
Wang Suya, who played the role of Wu Ma, recalled:
"He did pay the price, the effort he paid was very big, and he usually lived in Ah Q."
Usually there is always a person silently thinking about the role, the director is ready to shout to start, or say something,
He just kept going into the scene there, the director stopped, and he couldn't slow down for half a day! ”。
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It turned out that director Cen Fan was too right to choose Yan Shunkai to play Ah Q, and the film was quickly recognized by the public, and Yan Shunkai also won the second Wei WeiJin Crutches Award, and he is also the only person in China to win the award so far.
The following year, Yan Shunkai received an invitation to the Swiss Film Festival, visited Chaplin's home, and took a group photo!
With the aura of the Swiss Film Festival, "A Q Zheng biography" became the first film to officially participate in the Cannes International Film Festival after the founding of China.
Through "A Q Zheng Biography", many people met Yan Shunkai for the first time, but what made all the Chinese impressed him was the first Spring Festival Gala in 1983.
Looking back at the gala party at that time, it is not difficult to find traces of material scarcity at that time, the studio used for live broadcasting, and even the microphone.
Moreover, there is no place for actors, singers, and performance programs to prepare, and they can only sit in the audience and wait. When Li Guyi opened the scene, he stood up from the seat in the audience and sang directly, and the audience could even hear the sound of Li Gu's saliva clearly.
In addition to the problem of funding, there was another problem in the first Spring Festival Gala, which was the lack of actors, and Guang Li Gu sang seven songs alone.
Unlike today, there were many stars who were reluctant to go to the Spring Festival Gala at that time, because there were many taboos in the publicity in the early days of the opening of the G, and the performance of the actors was greatly restricted.
CCTV director Huang Yihe came to invite Yan Shunkai to participate in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, and Yan Shunkai's friends around him all advised him: You are a burlesque actor, participating in this kind of performance with a strong preaching flavor, the risk is too great, and if you don't get it right, you will not be able to do it, but don't spoil the image in the audience's mind in order to perform a few skits.
And Yan Shunkai believes that as a comedian, it is wonderful to be able to bring joy to everyone on the day of Chinese New Year's Eve Night.
The Spring Festival Gala is a big platform, if you can let everyone know about Southern comedy, wouldn't it be better?
At 8:00 p.m. on February 12, 1983, the first CCTV Spring Festival Gala met with the audience on television, and there were four small short dramas with a comedic nature at that time, and Yan Shunkai alone accounted for "A Q's Monologue", "Visiting the Factory" and "Playing the Piano".
One is "A Q's Monologue", a derivative of the movie; don't look at him standing on the stage with a big grin, wearing a neat suit and a bow tie. But as long as he opened his mouth and squinted his eyes, he mobilized all his facial features, every hair, every eyebrow, and even the fingernail caps were performing. In the end, how much speculation and observation has been experienced, this humble, unremarkable old man has played this little person who is afraid of being hated by others. At that moment, he was Ah Q, as if he had come out of Lu Xun's book.
The second is to co-starred in "Visiting the Factory" with Schengova, who became popular at the time with the role of Tiger Girl in "Camel Xiangzi".
The leader at that time attached the most importance to his pantomime sketch "Playing the Piano", which was even arranged as the last program before the midnight bell rang, but it was this program that was valued by the director that had an accident during the performance.
When I started playing, the sound engineer failed to release the piano sound in time at the beginning, resulting in everything that followed without being able to proceed logically.
So much so that the audience's most impressive sketch that year was Wang Jingyu's "Eat Chicken".
Sketch "Zhang Sanqiren"
After that, Yan Shunkai has appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala many times, and in the works of the Spring Festival Gala for so many years, my personal favorite is his "Zhang Sanqiren". In my heart, it is the best skit in the history of the Spring Festival Gala, and the story structure of the whole sketch, the performance of the actors, and the profound connotation of human nature reflected are unparalleled. It all made the audience laugh, and then there was a sympathy behind the laughter. In the works of the Spring Festival Gala for so many years now it seems that it is beyond time!
After Yan Shunkai, the time on the stage became less and less, and he was more like an old naughty boy in life.
He loves to do two things, one is to play computer games - even watching;
The second is shopping.
He could have lived his old age like this, but a performance experience caused his physical condition to take a sharp turn.
In 2009, the seventy-two-year-old Yan Shunkai was impressed by the script of "My Ugly Daddy", and the crew invited him to play the role of Ugly Daddy Wang Mugen.
However, the filming of this drama is not easy, there is a scene, the script requires the character to go to the sea to pick up garbage, stumble in the sea, and walk in the cold water when desperate.
You must know that Yan Shunkai usually does not even dare to go to the swimming pool or the small river, but for this scene he still went, when the shooting began, Yan Shunkai also specially instructed the director, this scene should be filmed as long as possible, you don't have to worry about me don't shout to stop.
After the shooting began, Yan Shun walked straight to the middle of the cold seawater, acting more and more excitedly.
At the end of the performance, he improvised a few lines, and by the time the director shouted "click", Yan Shunkai had been standing in the sea for more than half an hour, and he couldn't even walk.
After filming this scene, he found that his calf was painful, but he suddenly suffered a stroke while waiting for treatment, and since then Yan Shunkai has been paralyzed in bed for a long time.
(ps. Here to add a little more, Elder Yan has a lot of people to visit, but because he sees acquaintances are easily excited, which is not conducive to the recovery of the body, so Elder Yan's lover refused to visit most people. Speaking of Yan Shunkai's teacher, the miserable old age is all rumor-mongering! There are a lot of marketing numbers to spread rumors! ）
On October 16, 2017, Teacher Yan Shunkai died of illness at the age of 80. At the memorial service, almost everyone at the scene held a black-and-white commemorative album, and the back cover was printed with Yan Shunkai's words:
I love the laughter of the audience, but I love that the audience can get a little tear when they laugh!
We remember The Old Man, his life in the world, his clean character. At that time, there was no entertainment industry, no fanatical fans, and there would be no so-called "topic stars".
Nowadays, in the entertainment industry, most people are eager to make a film today, tomorrow will be a hit, the day after tomorrow is worth "a play of gold", the line can not be memorized to take out the teleprompter, and even directly read one, two or three, filming action tired to change the stand-in, there are few plays to get their hands on, speculation and hot search but every day is a lot.
On the other hand, Yan Lao's interpretation of the road, with integrity, pursuit, step by step, every word and deed, is not worthy of the audience's evaluation of his "Oriental Chaplin", Yan Shunkai teacher is a real comedy artist.