As the only comedy in the May 1st program in 2023, the movie "Life is Not Familiar" directed by Yi Xiaoxing and starring Qiao Shan, Fan Chengcheng, Ma Li and Zhang Jingyi successfully counterattacked in the second half of the May 1st file, winning the box office championship on May 1, and the film's box office has exceeded 500 million by the deadline. Before the release of the movie, a reporter from the Beijing News exclusively interviewed the film's starring Qiao Shan and talked to him about his feelings about appearing in this comedy. Qiao Shan told the Beijing News reporter that he hopes that "Life is Unfamiliar" can bring happiness to the audience, and this holiday, many viewers need to have fun and relax. He knows that there are many movies in this schedule, and the shooting of each movie is not easy, and he hopes that everyone can sell well and make the industry hot again.
"Life is not familiar" stills, pictured starring Qiao Shan.
Talking about roles: It is difficult to find the sense of age
This is not the first time Qiao Shan and Yi Xiaoxing have cooperated. This time, the role in front of Qiao Shan is still called Zhou Donghai, but from the bather in "The King of Baths" to a truck driver, but this role, Qiao Shan said is different from the previous role. Recalling last year's New Year, Yi Xiaoxing told him the idea of wanting to shoot a truck driver story, and he deeply felt that this profession was not easy, and at the same time, the driver was the identity of "father-in-law" in the family relationship. At first, Qiao Shan thought that this role was quite different from himself, but then he thought about it, it was quite challenging for his acting skills to create such a middle-aged man, plus the script was interesting, and he had not played a similar role before, so he decided to try. "The gap between this role and me is quite large, although I am also the father of two daughters, but how to find the age sense of this character and let the audience watch it without jumping, this is the difficulty."
Qiao Shan began to seriously prepare for this role, and he found that truck driver is really not an easy profession. In order to play a good role, he talked to many drivers to understand their living conditions and living habits. For example, in "Life is Unfamiliar", his character will have sunspots, and will often shake his waist during driving, because drivers will drive in a small space for a long time, the waist will be very uncomfortable, and they always want to stretch. After a lot of interviews and learning, he learned more details about the life of truck drivers, how they eat and cook in the car: "The scene of cooking in the movie, a gas, a small table, buying something on the side of the road, or cooking something in the car, overall driving for more than ten hours a day, long-distance driving, really tired." This time, I also learned a lot about the operation of driving a truck, and I really need to fully understand it in the face of a big steering wheel. ”
Qiao Shan plays truck driver Zhou Donghai in the film.
Talking about cooperation Fan Chengcheng: There is talent, no baggage
In "Life is Unfamiliar", Qiao Shan and Ma Li play their parents, Fan Chengcheng and Zhang Jingyi play their son-in-law and daughter, and many other young actors participate, which brings Qiao Shan a great sense of freshness: "Whether it is a comedy movie or other types of movies, further away, any industry will be updated." Working with young people is very dynamic, they are talented and wonderful, and they will bring you a lot of different freshness and a sense of innovation in performance. ”
Qiao Shan recalled that when he and Fan Chengcheng first met, the other party was still a teenager, and the two recorded the show together, and at that time Qiao Shan saw Fan Chengcheng's potential as an actor: "I said to him at the time, 'I think you should act', and (I) found that this child is more sensitive to the performance and the camera, because actors need to be sensitive." At that time, when we recorded the show, what to perform, what to present, he had such talent, no baggage, and always used the standards of actors to demand himself. "After chatting with Fan Chengcheng, he learned that the other party actually likes acting." Actors and artists are two different things, for example, we are also very casual in our lives, go out normally, we will also have a beard, eat skewers or something, you need to find creative inspiration from life. Fan Chengcheng is very good at this, he is willing to integrate into the role, there is no baggage. ”
【Dialogue】
Qiao Shan: The performance should empathize with the character, not let the character empathize with you
Beijing News: Many people think that you are very comfortable or good at acting in comedy, what confusion and confusion is there for you in acting?
Qiao Shan: It's okay at the moment, because acting is our specialty, but from an actor's point of view, I still feel like I'm in a state of learning, because it's hard to explain how far an actor can prove that you're a good actor. It's a question that takes a lifetime to explore, and it's a respect for the profession. I think that actors can't act easily, they need to do a lot of preliminary work, and then slowly explore for this character, and then combine your previous accumulated experience to perform, in order to achieve the desired feeling.
Beijing News: How to break through the audience's mindset of your comedy image?
Qiao Shan: This is also what I have paid more attention to for so many years, and sometimes I also pay attention to the feedback of the audience, including the previous characters. Fortunately, I have been on the drama stage for many years before, and as an actor, I naturally want the audience to see different roles in each role I create, "Sewing Machine Band", "Hello, Li Huanying", "The King of Bath", in fact, these roles are different, I strive to let the audience find freshness in different stories.
Beijing News: From "The King of Bath" to "The Road of Life is Unfamiliar", why did Zhou Donghai's name continue?
Qiao Shan: Oh, the director is too lazy to name (laughs), he told me what you think about names? I said I don't have anything, he said that it would be better to call Zhou Donghai again, maybe everyone will think that this is a continuation of a role.
Beijing News: Have you discussed the role of the next film with the director? What position will Zhou Donghai be?
Qiao Shan: It still depends on the results of this play. We also talked that day, and he told me that if it sells well this time, the next time Zhou Donghai's story will be bigger, bigger, if it is not good, it will be smaller, he is more realistic, but the creation will continue.
Beijing News: Has your mentality on word of mouth and box office changed? After all, these movies all play the male protagonist?
Qiao Shan: I think we can't look ahead to do this work, we need to be fully engaged in the process of doing it, if we think we have done our best and are worthy of the audience, we can do it. If you always think about how much money can be sold, how the box office and feedback are, it is more distracting. The creative concept itself should pay attention to the investment in the performance, which shows professionalism.
Qiao Shan
Beijing News: Actors will grow up with a character, these little characters you create are very touching, what do these characters bring to you?
Qiao Shan: As a profession, every role you play is another life, and your reaction in this person is different from the state of the previous play, bather, truck driver... What kind of role, his life is different, this is a very grateful thing, the characteristics of each profession will bring me a lot of thinking, because we are all small people, are all ordinary people, to empathize with the role, can not let the character empathize with you.
Beijing News: It is said that comedy is actually very difficult to perform, especially now that there are too many comedies, it must be very interesting to make the audience look sideways, is it difficult for you to do comedy?
Qiao Shan: Comedy should be the most difficult of all performances, and I have heard others say that the core of comedy is tragedy, but it is also a little one-sided. People who do comedy may not be as happy or unhappy as they think, so adjust your state. There are various types of comedy, some satirical, some joyful and sad, these cannot be generalized. And comedy, creation is the hardest, you need to understand life. Coupled with the gradual improvement of the audience's aesthetics, you must make yourself happy in order to bring happiness to everyone.
Beijing News: Have you ever imagined what kind of father-in-law you will be in the future?
Qiao Shan: Not (laughs), because my daughters are too young now, but I have occasionally thought that my son-in-law will be afraid when he sees me in the future? Haha, it shouldn't be, I always feel that I should tend to be buddies with my son-in-law, and I should be similar to Zhou Donghai.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Huixiaowan
Edited by Wu Longzhen
Proofreader: Chen Diyan