In 2006, "Crazy Stone" was released, a movie with a cost of 3.5 million, and finally won 23.5 million at the box office, and the actors in it also shined, including actor Wang Xun. ""Crazy Stone" gave me a good opportunity to enter the film and television industry, and at the same time, it also gave a more negative villain", it was this movie that dragged Wang Xun into the film and television industry, before that, the most important job to find Wang Xun was the male protagonist of the local TV drama.
The labels of "little people", "comedy" and "treachery" have always been hung on Wang Xun's body, but Wang Xun is not eager to remove the label, he just wants to add more, "I think a good actor can control everything, you can't say that you can only play this category, that's not complete", so we saw the responsible village branch book in "Flowers and Leaves", saw Liu Minghui who endured humiliation and ate curry in "Ten Thousand Miles Home", and also saw the persistence of the lost father in "The Redemption of the Soul". As long as the characters change before and after and the personality is rich enough, Wang Xun will have more confidence to interpret, and the role will be more three-dimensional. He will draw nutrients from daily life into his performances, and without real-life references, Wang Xun will feel uneasy.
Since entering the industry, from not knowing what performance is, and can only act by "instinct", to putting the methods learned on stage into performance, and then to sublimating reality from source reality, Wang Xun finally understands why acting is an art, and the best role must touch the audience emotionally. He loves little people, loves the pyrotechnics on little people. The golden supporting role Wang Xun is always close to his role.
01 The "chosen" comedian
Wang Xun's process as a comedian is full of accidents and coincidences. Whether it is Qin Feng Harvest in the early movie "Crazy Stone" or Lu Guofu in "Detective Chinatown", as soon as he appears, whether he is in a suit or ragged clothes, glasses and gestures, the audience in front of the screen can always be amused, as if Wang Xun himself is the embodiment of "laughter", which is undoubtedly the greatest affirmation and praise for him as a comedian.
But at first, Wang Xun had nothing to do with the word "comedy", but a contrary relationship. According to his words, "It was not that I chose to go to comedy, but that comedy somehow chose me". Wang Xun played the violin when he was a child, and he stood on the stage to perform, and the audience below looked at it numbly. And the same standing on the stage and talking crosstalk, the audience's feedback is better. In this way, Wang Xun became a little star in school step by step, a little star in Chengdu, and later a crosstalk and sketch in the army literary troupe, which is a process of being selected by comedy. However, in life, Wang Xun is a personality who does not like to chat with people very much, and is a little social fearful. "Those who are more immersed, will drill into one of their corners every day, study technology, study digital, just play this kind of state, a science and engineering man."
Screenshot of the movie "Crazy Stone"
"Comedy" was chosen, and the identity of "actor" also fell on Wang Xun by chance. The work "Crazy Stone" really pulled Wang Xun into the ranks of actors, and the audience he faced was no longer hundreds of people off the stage, but thousands of viewers off the screen. Although this work was invested by Andy Lau, directed by Ning Hao, and starred in a number of now familiar actors, at that time, Ning Hao was still only an unknown newcomer director. Unknown directors, unknown actors, is undoubtedly an "unreliable" thing, and even seems to have encountered a liar.
At that time, Wang Xun also had a column drama job in Chengdu TV, and he could receive the role of the male protagonist at the sight of it, and he could earn a lot of money, giving up this job to act in a movie of a grassroots team who came from nowhere, how to look at it is a "not business" thing. But the assistant director of "Crazy Stone" believed Wang Xun, identified Wang Xun, and kept calling and communicating. This sincerity and persistence moved Wang Xun, from the script, actors to directors, the "grass team" in front of him is actually a team full of passion and fighting spirit.
"You're crazy, you're starring, over there you go to play one..." At that time, the director of the Chengdu TV drama was both puzzled and crazy about his decision, and after the movie became popular, the director saw Wang Xun again and said, "Brother Xun, fortunately you went to "Crazy Stone".
Stills from the movie "The Big"
The process of being "chosen" twice made the comedian Wang Xun, crosstalk allowed himself to develop into the road of comedy, and comedy made himself develop into the road of professional actors. For Wang Xun, acting is a thing that can bring happiness, far better than fame and profit. "You play every role well, and then you enjoy the joy that playing that role brings you, and I think it's successful as an actor."
02 "Accurate" instead of "correct"
In 2023, Wang Xun starred in the movie "Keep You Safe", in which he played a manager who sold cemeteries Qi Zhifu, who could avoid it in the face of "Internet violence", only seeking self-preservation, and finally chose justice after a struggle. There is a line throughout the movie "Do what you think is right", for Wang Xun, as an actor, he does not pursue "correct", only pursues "accuracy".
Everyone has different cognition at each stage, and Wang Xun initially wanted to become a soldier and stay in the army's cultural and labor corps, which was the right thing for him at that time. "Crazy Stone" dragged Wang Xun into the film and television industry, and Wang Xun went to become an actor, which is an incorrect thing. Over time, what was originally considered incorrect slowly becomes correct, and for an actor, "in fact, it is never right".
Stills from the movie "Keep You Safe"
When Wang Xun, who was not from a professional class, stepped into the entertainment industry, he was also worried about whether what he learned could be integrated into the performance, in order to play a good role, Wang Xun has been pondering acting skills, he found that many actors play 'find something', need to go back three times", felt that this technique was very useful, but then found that everyone acted like this, and began to learn other techniques. But today, he knows that the best technology comes from life, from reality.
"What's the best form of an actor? I'm closer to the character, the character is closer to me." Wang Xun's way to get close to the character is to observe, observe life, observe the people around him, who is like this character, Wang Xun will put his characteristics in, and then combine it himself. This is also why Wang Xun is so partial to small people, small people are around, and 99.8% of the audience is also small people. Wang Xun said frankly, "I don't like to have a distance from the audience's life, I like to take the subway, I like to eat street stalls, I am used to observing the lives of the people around me, understanding what they are thinking and doing, and I like this kind of life."
A still from the TV series "Flowers and Leaves"
When he received the role of Secretary Tang Wancai in "Flowers and Leaves", Wang Xun was very confident because he had a comrade-in-arms who was the village chief. He also went to the township to experience the life of the village chief and observe the work of the village chief, "The village chief is busy doing this while taking care of that and taking care of that, and never calmly and steadily only telling you one thing." Combined with the characteristic that there is no official frame but an official aura on the comrades-in-arms, "Tang Wancai" will stand up, and the more character traits of the characters are found, the more the characters can be enriched. This is Wang Xun's method of creating characters.
Looking back at the past works, Wang Xun revealed a little regret and dissatisfaction with his performance, his expression was not good enough, the rhythm of the plot was not grasped well, of course, there were also performances that made Wang Xun feel affirmative. No matter which work, what Wang Xun shows is his current understanding of this character, and the characters will have different understandings with Wang Xun's experience and cognitive changes, so Wang Xun, as an actor, does not seek "correctness", only "accuracy", this "accuracy" comes from his life, but also from his observations.
03 Actors are to transmit "emotions"
From entering the industry to now, Wang Xun's understanding of the word actor has also changed. The actor is to interpret a role, to inject "life" acting skills into the character, "I can chat with you, drink tea, drink I can also blow foam, and then this is leaked, and then talk to you after getting it." This is Wang Xun's cognition of actors before.
But then he discovered that the work of an actor can also rise to the level of art. "Art is the process of transmitting emotions in its own way", since then, Wang Xun has a new understanding of the word actor. The audience will be moved by the character played by the actor, the reason is the transmission of emotions, the audience likes a positive character because he has good emotions, the audience prefers a negative character, but also because he has bad emotions. "An actor is an emotional bank, you keep saving it, and then you output it in the work, and you have a new understanding", Wang Xun wants to become such an actor.
As an actor, the transmission of emotions has joy and sorrow, sometimes sorrow and joy, sometimes sadness, every actor cannot run through his acting career with a certain emotion, and Wang Xun is the same. Although many people know Wang Xun because of his comedy color, he has also played characters full of tragic colors. In "The Redemption of the Soul", Wang Xun plays He Guodian, who lost his son and fell into a state of mental breakdown due to an earthquake, and later obtained redemption with the help of others. When the interview mentioned this work, Wang Xun burst into tears and did not speak for a long time.
A still from the movie "Redemption of the Soul"
"All this is actually for me as an actor, I have prepared too much emotionally for this genre." Wang Xun was also a first-hand witness of the Wenchuan earthquake, and when the earthquake struck, he was filming a TV series in Chengdu, and the surrounding buildings were shaking, and everyone around him showed fear. In order to collect the materials for creation, Wang Xun, who was still in the army at that time, returned to the scene, full of rubble, broken houses, rescue comrades, parents who were blocked outside the fence, these pictures were slowly frozen in "Redemption of the Soul", Wang Xun saw more clearly and understood more deeply, he knew that there were tens of thousands of orphaned families standing behind He Guodian.
It is precisely because of these experiences that Wang Xun dares to take on this role. "I feel that I am ready for this role", not seeking the high box office of the movie, nor any awards, but as an actor, the identity and sense of responsibility of the actor, Wang Xun feels that the pain of these orphaned families should be presented, how their pain can be healed, and how the parents of the orphan come out, which is Wang Xun's first consideration.
The love for the performance and the feelings revealed in the performance make Wang Xun enjoy the moment more, not caring whether he is the protagonist or a supporting role, "you can take the supporting role as the protagonist, for others it is a supporting role, for you is the protagonist"; Don't care about fame and fortune, acting itself is enough to bring happiness to Wang Xun, "As for other added value, it is in people to do things, success is in the sky, see what God gives you, you will continue"; Whether to win the award or not, "the gold cup and silver cup are not as good as the audience's reputation, and with the audience's reputation, I think there has been gain, and the harvest may be a better cornerstone."
A still from the movie "Thousands of Miles Home"
During the interview, Wang Xun was grateful for everything he had so far, "I am a crooked, technical person to engage in art, I am very satisfied with my current situation." Talking about the future, Wang Xun did not ask for too much, only for the present, just let it be, "I already have my little maza in this industry, I am very satisfied, I sit this maza steady, don't come, the maza began to sit down."
Written by: Zhang Jing