laitimes

Zhang Songwen's vanity and inferiority

"Hello everyone, I'm actor Zhang Songwen."

In many interviews, he often opens with this sentence, with a low tone and a soothing voice, and the identity of "actor" is important to him. After "Crazy", Zhang Songwen's more than 20 years of actor career was intensively "archeology" by the audience, and his life story was almost as out of the circle and as tense as Gao Qiqiang's role: his mother died of liver cancer at the age of 13, and he only began to learn acting at the age of 25. Hotel managers, tour guides, printing house employees, food sales... All of them are the jobs he did before entering the Beijing Film Academy. During the school, he was the class president, the president of the student council, and the first place in the major, but in the 20 years after entering the industry, he rarely starred in the works, until he was 47 years old, and suddenly became known to the world with a role.

Perhaps only such actors who have walked through a lot of mud, changed many channels, and turned countless bends can bear Gao Qiqiang's life of ups and downs on the screen. As he himself said, when doing the deskwork of the character, the character is close to him, and he is also close to the character, by asking countless "whys", sketching the character's life little by little. He likes to play with flowers and plants, and once compared it: "Planting plants is the same as cultivating characters." The performance thing is a seed, you bury it in the soil and water it, and then when you see the sun, it blooms. "Understand the character, empathize with the character, and meet the character at the midpoint. Gao Qiqiang and him are mutual choices.

"Crazy" stills

In the recent film "More Than Ending", which met the audience, he played newspaper reporter Huang Jiang, with few scenes but stable performance. Although this role is similar to Tang Yijie, the teaching director in "Summer in Xixiaohe" and the leader of the development zone in "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind", in the general direction of the character type, you can still see some characteristics unique to Huangjiang from the detailed design, such as messy hair and unrefined clothing when he first appeared, and quiet and improvised small actions during the investigation and interview.

The design of the externalized action characteristics of the characters is only a superficial effort, and among all the characteristics that a good actor should have, there is a little more basic and essential, which first appeared in Zhang Songwen very early - when he was admitted to film school, he had a heavy accent, height and appearance were not dominant, and he also once wondered why the teacher was optimistic about him, the teacher said, because of your curiosity.

Stills from "More Than Stopping"

When he was still a tour guide, Zhang Songwen would get to the bottom of the questions that tourists casually asked but did not have answers in the tour guide's words; Shuttling through the vegetable markets on the outskirts of Beijing, he often pulled vendors to ask about the other party's homework; On the way to the interview, walking on the streets of Shanghai, he looked east and west, and asked from time to time: "Greening is now under the management of the Garden Bureau, right?" "Is this begonia called a begonia?" "Why don't people who live on this road dry their clothes?", after walking a long way, he suddenly remembered that he forgot to navigate, and he didn't even know the route; This is especially true when acting, asking the director about various details about the character setting, the director does not know and calls the screenwriter, sometimes the screenwriter cannot answer: "I didn't think so much when I wrote it." ”

In "Hidden Corner", his role Zhu Yongping only has one line mentioning his past marriage, but he and the rival actor discuss the development of this marriage from beginning to end, the differences between the two people and the reasons for divorce. Curiosity, a passion for the unknown. With this kind of enthusiasm, it is possible to not be bound by the perception of the past, abandon the old vision, and always face everything with a nascent attitude, so as to accurately capture the characteristics of various people in life, and reproduce these characteristics in the characters relatively objectively. The actor is the conduit that transmits certain archetypes in the collective subconscious, and good actors always keep this channel clean and unimpeded.

A still from "Hidden Corner"

Curiosity takes a step forward, and often leads to desire and ambition. Zhang Songwen has a fiery desire for achievement and fame, mixed with frustration and overwhelm who can't find a way out, "I want to be red, I especially want to be red." Because they all said that if they are red, they can quote a high price, then I also want to try, next time I will quote two million, see if they give it to me. But at the end he added: "I don't believe it, I don't know why." When asked if he would write the phrase "I planned my career as an actor until the day I die" in the "People" speech into the epitaph, he smiled slyly: "No, this sentence must not be on my tombstone in the future." On my tombstone may be, his name is Zhang Songwen, he is from Shaoguan, Guangdong, what is his father's name, what is the name of his child, his life is an ordinary life, just fine, it should be such a sentence.

As for the phrase 'plan this business until the day I die,' I'm a chicken thief, I have several motives. The first is to show a determination, let yourself die this heart, don't give up, don't move and say, oh, there is no drama next year, should I sell vegetables. Don't waver, don't think about going to other industries. This sentence is what people like me dare to say after the age of 40, I will never say it when I am 20 years old, and I will definitely tell you at the age of 20 that I hope to do all the work of the world and try to do all kinds of things in the world. People in their 40s, what else do you have to change careers. The second is to tell the directors, don't look for me because of my age, even if I am 70 years old, you can still ask me to act, so that you can have more opportunities. The third is that all the people who support me will feel very encouraged when they hear this, and think, wow, you have always identified yourself to go this way. In fact, I don't recognize it, there is no way, what other industry can I do now? That's all it takes. This honesty about both self-confidence and inferiority was also reflected in the interview after performing "Lyceum Theater": "I sometimes like to show off to others, I said, last time Gong Li said something about me." In fact, she said that I am not the point, the point is that I want to tell you, Gong Li said me. I don't know if you can understand, this is my kind of vanity as an actor. "Desire and ambition, hardship and confusion, he calmly spread these contradictory mentalities in the sunlight for everyone to see, but did not look ugly, but a bright vitality and sincerity emerged.

A still from "Lyceum Theatre"

With curiosity about everything, of course, it is impossible to look down on the world from above the nine heavens. It is natural for him to explore people who are eager to explore like this, down-to-earth and deeply into the subtleties of life: recording different life scenes in great detail on Weibo, chatting with all kinds of vendors in the streets and alleys of the city, asking questions about the east and west, taking photos of the local scenery and characters at that time wherever he went, enjoying the flowers and plants in the yard for decades, and before filming "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind", in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the demolition work that the characters were responsible for in the play, I also found a place to work with access to the construction site... His play and his life, sometimes it is impossible to tell which is more exciting.

A still from "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind"

In the final analysis, curiosity is a willingness and impulse to connect with the world, and behind this will and impulse is self-esteem, acceptance of self, and respect and empathy for others derived from it. Whenever asked about topics such as his hometown, Zhang Songwen would always say word by word and solemnly "Tang Village, Huilong Town, Xinfeng County, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province", the name is very long, but that is where he came from, and the smallest place name may be the most important one. The audience may not care that much, but he has a sense of ritual of his own.

From "Spring Breeze Drunken Night" to "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind", Zhang Songwen has cooperated with Lou Ye four times, and never spared his respect and appreciation for Lou Ye in front of the camera, because "Lou Ye respects everyone, respects living beings, respects personality, respects your creative desires, respects your dignity, respects your working hours, and respects your physical strength." He often calls Lou Ye "Mr. Lou", and when talking about Lou Ye, his expression is always grateful and humble - from the way one person talks about another person and the evaluation of this person, we can see not the person being evaluated, but the true appearance and character of the evaluator himself.

Zhang Songwen and Lou Ye

He once wrote this passage in his article "Matchmatch Heaven" reminiscing about his mother:

"When my mother left, I was still a rotten boy in the eyes of adults. After more than ten years, I couldn't stop crying when I heard others mention my mother, and I always felt guilty in my heart for not giving her the best company when she needed it most, not giving enough in return in the cherished years, and not comforting her in the time she had time.

I read countless psychology books and analyzed myself to the bottom. Finally, one day, while advising others to mourn, I suddenly realized that I should put an end to so many years of guilt. I didn't have the ability to give, I didn't have the ability to give the weight I wanted, I just went with the flow and lived the time that a normal boy wanted to squander. What I should give my mother is not guilt, but thanks and remembrance. My mother's expectation for me was not to be a big man, but to live a clear and happy life. When I understood this, I could finally calmly and truly accept my mother's departure, and in the depths of my soul, I finally let go. ”

The boy who was still a teenager grew up after many sleepless nights, and finally was able to give back some warmth and solace to the world. So when someone asked, "Is Teacher Zhang very sad", he replied:

"Yes, I think it's a kind of frustration because of a lot of powerlessness, but I don't usually shy away from it, I don't pretend to be strong, you just face it, it's not that scary."

Someone complained that "the dormitory is always inexplicably low pressure, and I don't think I can survive", he replied:

"You don't have to please anyone in the dormitory, be yourself, listen to music, watch movies by yourself, go to dinner by yourself, go to the library by yourself... Love yourself, and then everyone who has a fortune will be friends with you. ”

Someone joked "Teacher, what did you talk to the cat", and he replied:

"Just tell it, don't feel that if you were born here, you don't feel like your home, many kittens are like this, they only find a place to live later."

It is comforting others, and it is not to answer the teenager's search and hesitation of himself.

Fortunately, curiosity has always been, and when I wake up, I still have the courage to look at the world again.

-END-

Read on