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Editor|Situ Ye
Sources: All of the information stated in this article is based on reliable information, and the sources are detailed at the end of the article
Classics are often the hardest to replicate.
It's like You Benchang's "Jigong".
Even though there have been so many remakes after him, Old Man You's version has always been a classic that no one has surpassed.
Although he is 90 years old, his attitude towards acting has been admired by countless actors in the circle.
Even Hu Ge has publicly expressed his admiration for Old Man You Benchang.
And he, those "god moments" in film and television dramas are called textbook-level acting skills by the audience.
1. "Flourishing Flowers"
In "Flowers" directed by Wong Kar-wai, You Benchang played a highly respected Shanghai uncle.
Like himself, this character is full of the love and steadiness of an elder.
And Hu Ge, as the male lead in the play, has been filming with Old Man You for three years.
In the play, he is Hu Ge's master.
Outside the play, he is Hu Ge's life mentor.
According to Hu Ge, when the two were filming a dinner scene, he found that You Lao broke a piece of meat and ate it.
Seeing this, Hu Ge thought that it was because of his bad teeth that he deliberately ate minced meat.
Later, Old Man You told him that if he still acted according to eating meat, wouldn't he be acting as Jigong?
Hearing such an explanation, Hu Ge suddenly realized.
Therefore, Mr. You's control of the details also impressed him.
In fact, when it was officially announced that You Benchang would play "Uncle" at the beginning, many viewers expressed great expectations.
After all, You Benchang, who is respected as an "old artist", is highly recognized for his artistic attainments.
Sure enough, in "Flowers", as soon as "Uncle" appeared, he performed the momentum of the old businessmen in Shanghai very well.
As an uncle who has experienced many vicissitudes in the play and still does not change his true character as a businessman, he has always been confident.
It seemed that no difficulty was enough in front of him.
Any problems encountered by Mr. Bao, Miss Wang, Li Li and others are "in hand" for the uncle.
With the blessing of You Benchang, the overall tone of this drama is stable.
As Mr. Bao's military advisor, his uncle can always give him advice.
It is precisely because of his uncle's strategy that Mr. Bao can successfully transform from a nameless boy to a business tycoon.
And You Benchang, who has slowly faded out of the entertainment industry, also became popular again at the age of 90 because of this drama.
Now, let's look back at his classic roles from the past.
I can't help but feel that a good artist, no matter what age he is, can exude a different charm.
It is estimated that even Wong Kar-wai himself did not expect that he invited half of the popular actors in the entertainment industry, but was robbed of the limelight by the 90-year-old Old Man You.
2, "Jigong" - origin
In fact, the first half of You Benchang's life, just like "Jigong Li Xiuyuan", was extremely bumpy.
Unlike those actors who became famous at a young age, You Lao's acting career is a real late bloomer.
Before the age of fifty, he was still a role actor in the crew.
Although he has also appeared in the Spring Festival Gala and acted in pantomimes, his fame has not increased because the audience is too small.
However, it was precisely because of his pantomime experience that he had the opportunity to play Jigong.
According to You Benchang, that day, he suddenly received a call from Shanghai.
The person on the other end of the phone said that he wanted him to play the role of Jigong.
Before that, You Benchang, who wanted to play Jigong, saw in the newspaper that Jigong's candidate had been decided.
So he thought to himself, let's wait for fate in the future.
But now this call has asked him to play Jigong, so he feels that it is not good to rush to compete with others for this role.
So he decisively turned down the role.
However, the other party explained that the scheduled actor was not going to star in his "Jigong".
Therefore, after thinking twice, You Benchang took over the role of "Jigong".
In fact, his fate with this character was reflected when he was a child.
Before he was ten years old, there was a small porcelain statue of Jigong at home.
At that time, he also liked to listen to the commentary of "Jiangnan Living Jigong".
Therefore, the character image of "Jigong" can be regarded as his enlightenment teacher.
3. Take the essence and remove the dross
Although he was fifty-one years old when he later played Jigong, he was still very enthusiastic about his understanding of the role and acting.
For every detail of the role, he controls it very well.
will even propose corrections to the inappropriateness of the character.
As a traveling scholar, Jigong can be regarded as an informal "Buddhist man".
Therefore, he will have some "white food" moves.
Take a clip in the play as an example, Jigong reached out and grabbed a steamed bun from a vendor, and directly grabbed five black handprints.
Then the vendor asked Jigong for money, but Jigong said that he had no money.
Subsequently, the vendor directly asked Jigong to take the steamed bun away.
However, after Ji Gong walked away, he took out two copper plates from his pocket, and put the money in the merchant's money box with a little spell.
In fact, in the original work, there is no fragment of Jigong releasing money.
And the director team did not plan to let Jigong pay.
But You Benchang believes that the act of taking white food is a dregs of traditional culture.
For these, we should take the essence and eliminate the dross.
Therefore, at his suggestion, the drama party added the clip of Jigong giving money.
It can be seen that Mr. You's attitude towards art is serious and respectful.
With the idea of conveying the right concept to the audience, he will correct the traditional culture that is not applicable in time.
And this is what a qualified artist should do.
In the play, Jigong seems to eat and drink spicy food, but in fact, the meat he eats is spoiled meat.
But with the belief of the actor, he still insisted on completing the shooting.
And this performance of his is also known as textbook acting.
According to Yau Benchang, the elbow was bought the afternoon before the shooting.
However, due to the fact that it was 39°C summer, the food was already stinky and spoiled when the elbow eating clip was filmed the next day.
However, in the face of Jigong, who eats so well, no matter who looks at it, he can't tell that this is a food that has gone bad.
4, Fengshen Lens - "Yin and Yang Face"
In this drama, Jigong's highlight moments are countless.
But what can really be called a god has to be his acting skills of "half crying and half smiling".
Li Xiuyuan, who originally had a good family background, converted to Buddhism.
thus abandoned his new wife and became a "crazy" monk.
Later, after wandering outside for a long time, he wanted to go home and have a look.
But what he didn't expect was that his newlywed wife, who had not visited the church, became a crazy woman.
And his parents have long since passed away.
Even their own property is occupied by others.
Then, he directly lit a dead branch and threw it at the former home.
And chanted: burn, burn, burn, burn, it's good, a monk has no home, a hundred.
And the name Li Xiuyuan also completely disappeared in that fire.
The acting skills of "Yin and Yang Face" have become synonymous with You Benchang.
For Jigong, crying is crying for his parents, who died early, and his wife, who went crazy.
Laugh because your hatred has finally been resolved.
And he also said goodbye to Li Xiuyuan's past completely.
From then on, in this world, there is only the Jigong who has no worries.
The character of Jigong seems to be crazy and crazy, but in fact he is sober in the world.
Although his shoes and hat are torn, his heart to punish evil and promote good is firmer than that of any official.
With the explosion of "Jigong", You Benchang's name has also increased greatly.
And he himself is respected by Southeast Asia as the real "Jigong Living Buddha".
In 1987, when "Jigong" was broadcast in Singapore, it directly set a record of one million viewers.
And the number of viewers of "Journey to the West" is only 840,000.
Therefore, You Benchang is respectfully called "You Million" by the locals.
And for those remakes of Jigong's dramas, You Lao has never had any objections.
For him, the benevolent see the benevolent, and the wise see the wise.
As long as you don't remake the characters into big villains, there's no problem.
For these awards and honors brought to him by Jigong, You Lao also said that he was very lucky.
But for the honorific title of "Living Jigong", he only felt that it was too much praise.
In his opinion, it is a blessing to meet such a role in his life.
5. Ten thousand years at a glance
In You Benchang's acting career, there are actually a lot of shots of Fengshen.
In addition to "Jigong", his "One Eye for Ten Thousand Years" in "The Adventures of Li Xianji" also moved countless audiences.
Many people said that they went to watch this movie for the sake of the scene of You Lao.
Although the logic of the whole movie is a bit bad, the score is also a bit crotch-pulling.
But with You Lao's joining, the originally dying movie finally came back to life temporarily.
In the film, You Lao played the elderly "Li Xianji".
He suffers from "jet lag" and has a girlfriend who is also sick.
But his girlfriend died unexpectedly in a quarrel between the two.
So, in order to save his dead girlfriend, Li Xianji went through a series of game time travel.
In the end, he came to decades before the heroine's accident.
But since the console has been damaged, this is also his last crossing.
So, he waited for his girlfriend in that space for decades.
Finally, when his hair was gray, he waited for his girlfriend who was in love with him, and successfully stopped his girlfriend who was about to die.
And the appearance of the old man You Benchang is at the end of the movie.
Although the wrinkles are all over his face, You Lao's eyes are both relieved and relieved, allowing the audience to understand what it means to "look at a glance for ten thousand years".
I have to say that it is definitely a wise move to invite Mr. You Benchang to this movie.
It can be seen that an old artist with both virtue and art has a high status in the hearts of the audience.
epilogue
Today's Jigong, although he is 90 years old, has never relied on the old and sold the old, and publicized his achievements everywhere.
He will give respect to the new juniors and humbly discuss the problems of acting with them.
And he has also received the respect he deserves in the circle.
Perhaps, the real "old artist" is like You Benchang.
On the other hand, in today's entertainment industry, there is no green and yellow, and traffic stars are "rampant".
I don't know how long the so-called "decent" can last.
Some references:
"Chinese Literature and Art"| 20170122
"There is a play tonight"| You Benchang "Jigong"
"Quality Ceremony"|"Drama Shine Oriental 2023 TV Drama Quality Ceremony"