The last time I saw Fan Xiangyan was a Shanghai roadshow before the launch of "Flowers".
She shared interesting stories on the set with us in fluent Shanghainese: Teacher Aqing's Shanghainese class, Tang Yan cried so much that she had to drink water, and Fan Xiangyan's own role as Lu Meilin, the "proprietress of Huanghe Road", was a bit unusual......
More than half of the broadcast of "Flowers", Lu Meilin's "unusual" was gradually seen by the audience: she has a strong and ruthless side, as well as the sadness of pure love and regret later. Whether it is the scene with her first love Du Honggen, her husband Boss Jin, or the intersection with Mr. Bao, Miss Wang and other major characters, she has rich layers worth excavating, #Fanfanfanhua's acting skills# and even appeared on Weibo's high-ranking hot search.
In a conversation with a thoughtful reporter from the Morning News, this 40+ actress who debuted as an actor, worked in variety shows for many years, and then returned to the actor track again, said frankly that she was grateful to Director Wong Kar-wai for being willing to design such a layered emotional clue for a supporting role, making Lu Meilin a unique existence of "marrying Huanghe Road". In the face of the "splashing wealth and wealth" brought by "Flowers", Fan Xiangyan bluntly said that he "can't float", "I have floated several times, and I have fallen several times, I especially understand this kind of ups and downs." I will shoot a good drama in a down-to-earth manner and continue to shoot step by step."
Filming an advertisement "interview" with Wong Kar-wai
Morning News: Can you talk about how you got involved with "Flowers"?
Fan Xiangyan: Every Shanghai actor is looking forward to it when they know "Flowers". I said at the time to get in touch with it, even if it's a small role, I'm willing to do it. But at first, there was no follow-up, and I was also very disappointed when I heard that filming started, and I felt that there was a knot in my heart that I couldn't open, right? It's "Shanghainese's Harry Potter".
Unexpectedly, luck fell from the sky, and one day the company sent me a message: Director Wang said that he wanted to shoot an advertisement for you.
I was very surprised, the advertisement? Isn't it "Flowers"? I said I had to act, because I knew that it could be my stepping stone, it was my interview - it was okay to interview with a big advertisement!
The first time we met, I was very apprehensive. The director must have watched my previous variety shows or something, and when he saw me, he said, "Tell me, act well, you have no problem, I believe in you." In my commercial, you're the heroine." That sentence is so heartwarming, it turns out that the director is so approachable and so gentle.
We shot a car commercial, for a few minutes, but we also shot for more than ten days, day and night. On the last day, I was very nervous, should I ask the director if there is a place for me in "Flowers"? I am thin-skinned and can't speak, so I can only desperately want to play well. When the director grabbed me at the end of the film, I just wanted to speak, but he said, "You are coming to "Flowers", and my heart was really in tears.
Morning News: So you know the director's style from the beginning.
Fan Xiangyan: It's normal for Director Wang to shoot a lot of shots, because we usually shoot with a single camera, and the camera is always swimming - either the machine moves, or the person moves, or the two move together, which is very difficult. The 20 scenes in front of him may be necessary, and the actors are also familiar with the lines and emotions in the process. When the person and the machine are already familiar with each other, you start to cut the content of the play. After filming, if one is only shot once or twice, everyone will be surprised: Is this one no longer necessary? Does the director give up on us, does he not love us anymore? (laughs)
I'm very happy with all of this. You go 10 times, 20 times, 50 times, or 70 times, there's a qualitative difference. After the quantity goes up, there will be a leap in quality. And this crew is very fair, in the early days when everyone comes in, thirty or fifty times is a warm-up.
Morning News: What are the memorable details on the set?
Fan: We all have music when we shoot on set, and sometimes we can't find the feeling and don't know how to play this scene, and the director will play a song to you and tell you, "That's how it feels." As soon as you hear it, you give it to you. I think the director is using taste, sight, and sound in 360 degrees to let the rapid 90s surround you, and let us be very immersed in the process.
The director told me that the Yellow River Road is the face of Shanghai, and the Jinxian Road is the lining. The Yellow River Road is a microcosm of Shanghai, with bright and glamorous, splendid gold, a sea of people, and a busy traffic, but the times are constantly moving forward, some people are run over by the wheels, and some people go with the wheels. When I listened to him, I was very moved.
"Showdown of the Century" with General Fan
Morning News Thoughtful: The role of Lu Meilin felt very "explosive" to everyone from the beginning.
Fan Xiangyan: Lu Meilin is a person who is hard and soft, working hard from Zhapu Road to Huanghe Road, it is not easy for her to gain a firm foothold in Shanghai, especially in the catering industry. If it weren't for those fangs and claws, she wouldn't be where she is today.
So my scenes at the beginning were quite explosive. The director told me that you have to rush out like a lion, and the lion roars. I have to listen to them before I see them, so I always scream before I speak, and I have something in my mouth to eat, either with a toothpick in my mouth or eating, always busy, noisy, and fast.
Morning News Thoughtful: There are many quarrel scenes, is it particularly tiring to act?
Fan Xiangyan: Like the scene between me and "General Fan" (Fan Zhiyi), we have to fight against each other. Director Wang said you jump up and hit him, catch him, your ferocity will come out. I jumped up and fought, but General Fan didn't move, he was tall and muscular, I didn't even have room to scratch, and my nails were still broken in the flesh.
I went to the director to be coquettish. I said director, you see my fingernail is broken. He said, okay, okay, hurry up and find a 502 (glue) to stick to her. It's okay, you keep jumping up and hitting him. (laughs)
General Fan specially came over to take care of me and said: If I accidentally hurt you later, you should be careful and don't be angry. He said that he is not a professional actor and doesn't know how to avoid it, so he may just want to be more real, and he is really a very good person.
When we yelled, the director said in the back: Why are you Fan family so fierce? I said that you didn't arrange this scene? The director was so happy at the scene, and kept saying "the showdown of the century", Fan Zhiyi vs. Fan Xiangyan, see who is sticking.
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Morning News Thoughtful: There are fierce scenes, and the scenes of Meilin and Du Honggen make people feel particularly soft.
Fan Xiangyan: I think director Wong Kar-wai is a person who is very good at mastering and controlling emotions, and I am grateful that he will give us such a 40+ actress, or a supporting role, with such a rich emotional line. He often said to me, Meilin, you can't be noisy all the time, you have to show a little softness. I said, "How do you see that? Now the drama is noisy every day, and I'm going to have a cerebral hemorrhage." He said don't worry, there will be. So many of our emotional scenes are filmed later, and the director often goes back and says after cutting, there is a little bit missing here, and I want Meilin to do something. He's a director who thinks so much about supporting roles, I never expected that.
I think the director observes you in your daily life, and you will also observe you when you act, and then constantly plump out and polish the characters. Lu Meilin's nine points are just one point soft, which is also reflected in these details. Like when there was a problem in Zhizhenyuan, although Lu Meilin hated others to death, she couldn't see them really fall, and these mentalities were her weaknesses.
Morning News Thoughtful: There is also the loneliness of slapping Mr. Bao, which is very good.
Fan Xiangyan: I was under a lot of pressure in that scene, and the director was usually very good to me, often praising and encouraging, which made me feel that I could not live up to the director's expectations. But he gave a lot of pressure in that scene, and it was also this kind of pressure, and I vented all the slaps in the end, creating such a classic scene.
At that time, after filming, everyone cheered, and it was almost time to set off firecrackers and open champagne. I was a little lost when I stood there alone, and the person who beat someone was also very stressed and painful. The director came to me and said, look at Miss Wang, there is someone to protect, this man in your family is lying on the ground and still having an affair with "Xiao Jiangxi", you have to remember this emotion.
So then I had that kind of complicated emotions, and of course, my own private emotions in it. The director said, you must raise your head, Lu Meilin will not bow her head, if she hits, she is not afraid, this is Lu Meilin's background. I said, I understand, don't worry, I'll hold my head high.
I feel that God still favors me very much, and that scene can be passed one by one. Of course, a month later, I was caught and taken for a close-up. The director said yes, there are still more than 30 shots.
Morning News: How would you describe Meilin's two different feelings, Honggen and Boss Kim?
Fan: I don't think it is possible to sum up these two relationships in one sentence. Lu Meilin and Honggen started from pure love, it is actually a good thing that they did not really come together, this precious relationship will always stay there, they will always be able to look back at each other on the rivers and lakes, and they will always pull each other when they are at a low ebb, which is a beautiful relationship between men and women.
With Boss Jin, it is firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, and every family has a scripture that is difficult to read. She doesn't divorce and chooses to persevere, she refuses to admit defeat and doesn't want others to laugh at her failed marriage, which is created by her personality. Knock out the teeth and swallow the blood, and bear your own choice.
Of course, I think that even if she fails, her head will not be lowered, and she can start a new world wherever she goes, as long as she is willing to give up what she used to have.
"I am a woman from the Yellow River Road"
Morning News Thoughtful: Up to now, what netizens' evaluations have touched you?
Fan Xiangyan: I didn't expect everyone to analyze it so thoroughly, Lu Meilin's details, expressions, and her soft things were quickly seen by netizens. I think the audience's viewing level has really improved, and we have to hurry up to keep up.
Actually, I was nervous when I first broadcast it, but the gold will definitely shine. Now everyone is asking their parents for old photos from the past and learning to speak Shanghainese from their parents. In the past two days, my father's eyebrows have fluttered, and he began to call me "boss lady", turned out his previous photos to show me, and told me how much a "big brother" was at that time, and the topic of conversation at home began to increase, I didn't expect it at all.
Morning News: Everyone has also studied your Shanghainese dialect level.
Fan Xiangyan: When I'm not filming, I often shoot some Shanghainese videos, but they have little effect on promoting Shanghainese. With the birth of this play, I believe that people in the Shanghai-speaking circle, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, can feel a kind of warmth of home. Our culture must not be forgotten, it must be passed on.
There are people everywhere in this film, including Ningbo, Haining, Zhuji, Suzhou, and Wuxi...... The language system is very mixed, so there is nothing authentic or inauthentic, it is originally inclusive, and the language system of Shanghainese people also includes a variety of dialects in the Wu region. We usually study together in the field, so it's a lot of fun.
Morning News Thoughtful: If you don't play Meilin, who do you want to challenge?
Fan Xiangyan: The first thing I want to challenge is the little sister-in-law, because the little sister-in-law is very glutinous - many people don't see that Fan Xiangyan also has this part of his body; But deep down, it's Reiko who wants to challenge, and she's a completely different person from me. Rational and objective, he says the most mean things on his lips, but he cares about me in his heart, and he helps me the most. My best friend is someone like Reiko, and this role is the real challenge for me.
Morning News Thoughtful: Many actors will be disappointed when they leave "Flowers", what about you?
Fan: I put a big photo of Lu Meilin standing on the Yellow River Road at home, which is a still of me, and I also pasted it on the wall of "Jin Meilin". When it was officially completed, I applied with the crew if I could send me that photo, and the teachers of the crew were very good and printed several copies for me. I made a photo frame and put it at home, it was a picture of me hugging Huanghe Road, proving that I had been married to Huanghe Lu and I was a woman from Huanghe Road. Every day when I come home, I can see Lu Meilin with me.
Morning News Thoughtful: Are you afraid of being stereotyped in the future?
Fan: I'm not too afraid of being stereotyped, if there is a role that you can play to the ceiling, it is also a kind of success - of course, I definitely can't say that I am the ceiling, it is still too far away. But the film master class of "Flowers" has really improved me a lot, and my requirements for performance, ideas, and portrayal of characters have reached a new level in all aspects. So I don't care if I play a role like this repeatedly or try a role with a different personality, I'm very open-minded.
I hope that a director can see me and give me more opportunities to try different roles, if not, I will not regret it, and I will not feel regretful, because I feel that as long as I can continue to act and continue to act, I am a lucky and happy person.