Jimu News Chief Reporter Zhang Cong
Dialogue Characters:
Fan Xiangyan, born in Shanghai in 1980, is an actress and host. In 2014, she became popular in the debate show "Wonderful Sayings" with a number of golden sentence outputs and sharp and straightforward performances, but in fact, she has been up and down in the entertainment industry for several years - in 2002, she was recruited by "Shaolin Football" to sign with Xinghui Company to participate in Stephen Chow's movie "Kung Fu", and in the end, only one line of character was cut. Even so, Fan Xiangyan's dream of being an actor has always been there, after "Wonderful Story", Fan Xiangyan started from acting in film and television dramas, and performed well in works such as "Psychological Crime", "Detective Chinatown 2", "My True Friend", "I Am Yu Huanshui", "Even if the Wind Rises".
In 2024, "Flowers" will swipe the screen. On the flowery Yellow River Road, Fan Xiangyan's "Lu Meilin", the proprietress of Jin Meilin, is destined to make the audience unforgettable.
Conversation Background:
For two days in a row, the audience who watched "Flowers" gave tears to "Lu Meilin" played by Fan Xiangyan.
In a scene, it was Boss Jin who fell down the stairs and died in front of Lu Meilin's eyes, and she was angry when she just learned that the hotel was mortgaged by her husband and suffered bad news, at that moment, the most toothy and clawed woman on the Yellow River Road lost her voice, only two lines of tears fell suddenly;
In one scene, she still couldn't borrow working capital after letting go of her dignity, and had to leave Jin Meilin, who had struggled for half her life. She seemed to be the proud woman when she walked into the crowd with her head held high, until the moment the car slowly stopped beside her and saw the person coming, the always upturned eyes finally showed a moment of tears......
Of course, the audience can't forget the pain and anger when the "Yellow River Road Defense Battle" was not won, and Lu Meilin was faced with Honggen's inability to support her;
The audience said that Lu Meilin is the toughest woman on the Yellow River Road, and she is also the most pitiful woman. For Fan Xiangyan, Lu Meilin is "a woman who marries the Yellow River Road", and she who has always adhered to the "Yellow River Road" of film and television is far luckier than Lu Meilin.
A "bully" in the play accidentally earned the audience's tears
Relying on that "softness", she became a woman who married Huanghe Road
Jimu News: Maybe no one could have imagined that the audience would be so reluctant to "Lu Meilin" in the end, after all, this character was more like a villain at the beginning, strong, loud, and "a tyrant" on the Yellow River Road...... Unexpectedly, the audience shed a lot of tears for her.
Fan Xiangyan: I didn't expect that many details of this character would be felt by everyone so quickly, I thought that everyone would have to brush twice or three times to find out her detailed expressions, including her softness hidden in the hard shell, but I didn't expect netizens to get it soon.
Including the scene between me and Honggen, as well as the scene where Ah Po was slapped, the audience was carefully commenting on her every expression, which moved me very much, I really feel that the audience's viewing level has improved too quickly, and we must hurry up to keep up.
Because many film and television dramas before were with a bit of complex characters, they would be constantly questioned and spurred by the audience, so I was also very apprehensive, but I didn't expect the audience's interpretation and understanding to be so thorough and clear this time.
Of course, there are also a small number of viewers who have doubts, but I think it is normal for a film and television work to have all kinds of controversies, including when it was first broadcast, many controversies made me so nervous, worried that such a good work would be scolded, and Cancer's heart is very soft, so I am also worried that the director (who is also Cancer) will be hurt. But I didn't expect that good things would definitely be seen, and gold would definitely shine!
Jimu News: How do you understand the character of Lu Meilin? Do you think she has a weakness?
Fan Xiangyan: Lu Meilin is a person who is "nine points hard and one point soft", after all, she worked all the way from Zhapu Road to Huanghe Road and gained a firm foothold in Shanghai, especially in such a food and beverage industry similar to rivers and lakes, it is not easy. There are so many people coming and going on the Yellow River Road, watching him rise and fall, if there are no such things as "teeth and claws", she would not be able to gain a foothold.
Therefore, Lu Meilin's scenes at the beginning were more explosive and explosive, as the audience said, her voice was very loud. I've always said that the director is actually a composer, and he uses all kinds of notes to compose the score of "Flowers", some of them are bass symbols, some people are treble symbols, then I may be a "super treble symbol".
The director told me that every time I came out, I should "hear his voice before I saw it", and this voice was "roaring", "rushing out like a lion". Including my exploding head, and then there's always something in my mouth to eat, or a toothpick in my mouth, and it's always busy, noisy, always fast, explosive......
But at the same time, the director is a person who is very good at mastering and controlling emotions, and Director Jiawei will give us a 40+ actress, and she is also a supporting role, to lay out such a rich emotional line to form her three-dimensional and tension, I can only be grateful.
I remember that after setting the tone of this character, he often said to me, "Meilin, you can't be noisy all the time, Meilin, you still have to show a little softness." I said, "How can you see that?" The scene you have arranged for me now is arguing every day, and I am going to have a cerebral hemorrhage!" He said, "Don't worry, there will be." ”
Jimu News: So the arc of this character is actually slowly enriched by him in his creation?
Fan: Well, it was added slowly. The director's creative method is not to have a fixed impression of an actor or a character from the beginning, he is observing you in ordinary life, observing you when you are acting, and then constantly plumping and polishing the character, he does not press the actor into a frame, but let the actor give full play to his potential, superimpose many parts that we can't see by ourselves, and then give a proper space.
In essence, Lu Meilin is a person who is unwilling to show her weakness to others, because mixing on the Yellow River Road relies on a fierce force, if there is no such strength, there is no shell of teeth and claws, she is easy to be defeated, and the defeated person will leave the battlefield of the Yellow River Road. But her weaknesses may appear inadvertently, and after the occasional outpour, she will immediately disguise herself with strength.
For example, in the scene where Mr. Bao was slapped, I was a little lost when I stood alone after filming, because the person who beat people was actually very stressed and even painful. The director ran over to me and said: "Meilin, you see that Miss Wang is protected, and this man in your family is lying on the ground and has to have an affair with Xiao Jiangxi, you have to remember this emotion, we will shoot you in the next shot." ”
This kind of prompting and filming created Lu Meilin's complex emotions at the end of this scene, and there are also my own private emotions in it. The director also said: "Meilin, you must raise your head, Lu Meilin will not bow her head." "Yes, if you do it, you will do it, if you fight, she will be beaten, she is not afraid, this is Lu Meilin's background!
Jimu News: Meilin's ending is actually very tragic, from the perspective of circumstances and career. But emotionally it seems to be complete again, and finally Honggen comes to pick her up.
Fan Xiangyan: She abides by the rules, but she abides by the old rules, the set of success theories she thinks, fighting and grabbing, actually laid her narrow-mindedness and short-sightedness, the wheel of the times really did not let go of anyone, and her ending was destined not to be too good.
I said on Weibo that we used to be Miss Wang, we had no hesitation in love, and it was good to sell tea and eggs together, and then we became Lingzi, read thousands of sails, and only had a trace of nostalgia for love, and the banknotes in our hands were the most real existence. I'm sorry, but in the end, it became Lu Meilin, using her teeth and claws to cover up the chicken feathers - what middle-aged person is not like this? It must be like this.
In the end, the time she looked back at the Yellow River Road was the highlight of this character in my heart, she felt that she was a woman who married the Yellow River Road, I don't know if you can understand this sentence, it is not the love between men and women, but the love and hatred between her and the Yellow River Road - her reluctance, her unwillingness, in fact, are left to the Yellow River Road.
When I received the invitation to "Flowers", my heart was "like tears"
Filming dozens of pieces in a scene is not torture, but enjoyment
Jimu News: Too many viewers are impressed by you because of "Flowers", so how did you get taken a fancy to Director Wang?
Fan Xiangyan: Actually, every Shanghai actor is looking forward to it when they know that there is a project called "Flowers", including myself. I was still in my former company at the time, so I proposed to contact me as soon as possible to see if there was any way to get on the line, and convey and express the meaning that I really wanted to play, even if it was a small role. (laughs)
The news from them later is that the crew does have your photos, and they all know that you are Fan Xiangyan, but they don't say anything more. Later, when I heard that the series had started filming, I was very disappointed and disappointed, because "there was no drama"!
I didn't expect that one day, luck fell from the sky! One morning when I woke up and didn't know what was going on, our company sent me a message saying: Sister Xiang, Director Wang said that he wanted to shoot an advertisement for you. I was very surprised—wasn't it "Flowers" but an advertisement?!Are you sure?!They said, "I'm very sure, it's an advertisement, and Director Wang designated me to look for me."
I said, Wong Kar-wai knows who I am? He knows who I am? Of course, I am duty-bound and must act, because I know in my heart that this may be my "stepping stone"!
Jimu News: So your interview is a big advertisement.
Fan: Yes, that's really enough. When I met for the first time during filming, Director Wang was very, very nice, I don't know if he had watched my previous variety shows or what, when he saw me, he said to me, "Act well, you have no problem, I believe in you, in this advertisement of mine, you are the heroine." "I just felt very warm.
Although we shot this advertisement for only a few minutes, it took more than ten days to shoot, and it was also shot day and night, and I already knew his shooting style at that time - shooting commercials, one was also shot more than 100 times!
Until the last day of filming, I was very nervous, I was wondering, should I tell the director, ask if there is a place for me in "Flowers", but I can't say it. In this process, I worked really hard to act, and I saw it as an interview note, but when the finale was finished, the director grabbed me, and as soon as I wanted to speak, he said, "Oh, you have to come to "Flowers"!"
Jimu News: So when you joined the group, the drama had already started filming?
Fan Xiangyan: Yes, I joined the group when "Flowers" was filmed for about a year, because I hadn't entered the filming of Huanghe Road at that time, and the content they filmed before was stock speculation.
And before I joined the group, it wasn't Lu Meilin who was asked to play at the beginning, it was another role, and the interesting thing is that our costume teacher and styling teacher turned out to be the teacher when I was filming "Kung Fu" 20 years ago! When I was making clothes, the teacher also said to me, "me, you have more than half of your weight in 20 years, and I also made the cheongsam in your "Kung Fu" before, remember?
The day before I joined the group, I was surprised to know that I had changed a role called Lu Meilin, and changed my clothes and designed my hair again.
Jimu News: So how many times has Director Wang's shooting style been filmed in a movie?
Fan Xiangyan: I'm going to refute the rumors here, that is, Director Wang has shot a lot of times, in fact, this is normal, because most of us shoot with a single camera, the camera position is always swimming, and the actors basically can't see the fixed camera position, so it is very difficult to shoot like this, because the light will change when people move, and it is very difficult to achieve the effect that the director needs. If people, light, shadow and machines are to cooperate well with each other, it is necessary to go through the play 20 times in the front, and by the way, the actors will also be familiar with the lines, positions and emotions in this process, and when they are run in later, they will start to pick out the content of the play.
In the later stage, I think we all have this Stockholm syndrome, and if we only shoot once or twice a day, everyone is surprised and says, "It's over, it's over!" (laughs)
The so-called "torture" that everyone talks about is a kind of "torture" with laughter, and I don't think it's a kind of torture, I enjoy it very much, and I am very willing to do it, and if I go through a scene 10, 20 or 70 times, there will be a leap in quality after the quantity goes up, but actors rarely have the opportunity to make such an attempt.
"Pushing too hard" along the way, just wanting to be seen
Please rest assured! You will not be blinded by the current "splashing wealth".
Jimu News: Fan Xiangyan in "Strange Sayings" also has a special aura, and his poisonous tongue hangs, including the image in some other film and television works is also a bit "fierce", so is Lu Meilin also acting in her true colors?
Fan Xiangyan: Many people say that I am acting in my true colors, but this is not the case at all, Lu Meilin is nine points hard and one point soft, and I Fan Xiangyan is six points hard and four points soft, although I may rely on my teeth and claws to hide some of the fragility in my heart, but Lu Meilin's road is much more bumpy and cruel than mine. Everyone also knows that I am not a graduate of a bachelor's class, and with my qualifications and appearance, it seems that this road will be more bumpy, but I have always been a very lucky person.
I feel that over the years, especially after filming "Flowers", I have entered a cooling-off period. I thought about it for a long time, and I felt that the 40-year-old Fan Xiangyan should be different from the 35-year-old in "Wonderful Story" and the 32-year-old in "Top Chef", and I will reflect a lot.
There is something I have to say, everyone used to see me in variety shows, and at that time I seemed to have to force myself to use some flamboyant expressions, words or attitudes to let everyone see me. Maybe it was because I had been silent for too long, and I wanted to act too much, and I wanted to return to the public eye. I don't have a family in this business, and I didn't graduate from a bachelor's degree, so I really don't have any other way to go back to the acting path I want to go to.
In the past ten years, many times I just want to be seen by everyone, but silence is useless, "not ringing" is useless, especially for an actress of my appearance and age, so maybe I have "pushed too hard" along the way, but as long as I can be seen, won't I have a chance?
Of course, it will also attract a lot of criticism, if you ask me if I regret it, I don't regret it, there is nothing to regret, maybe I will do it again, because there is no other way - if I don't be seen, I won't have a chance, it's not my variety shows, I think maybe Director Wang can't see me, and I don't have a chance to star in "Flowers".
Jimu News: What is the conclusion of the reflection?
Fan Xiangyan: I just thought if I should calm down? I just want to be a good actor in a down-to-earth and diligent manner, so when I saw that the hot discussions about me recently are all related to acting, I was moved in my heart, and I felt that even if there will be no new breakthroughs in the future, I can always walk on the road of being an actor, and I will be satisfied.
What hasn't changed is the original heart of his love for acting, which has never changed. may be greedy, want to act in more plays, want to play the heroine, want to win acting awards...... An actor who is not greedy is not a good actor. But then I thought, what makes a good actor? Why do we have a definition of a good actor? I just need to be an actor.
I'm not too afraid of being stereotyped, because there is a role that I think is a success if you can play the "ceiling", and of course I am too far away.
The "master class" of "Flowers" has really improved me a lot, the requirements for acting, ideas, and the portrayal of characters, I have risen to a new level in all aspects, of course I hope that a director can see me and give me more opportunities to try different roles, if not, I will not feel regretful, because I think that as long as I can continue to act, I can continue to act, I am a lucky and happy person, and the goal of my life is not to want to act forever?
People can't be too greedy, they want this and that, they want the horses to be good and they don't want the horses to eat grass, it's impossible! Getting it must mean the loss of other parts, we have to give up a lot, in order to achieve something that we have been obsessed with, this matter, as an adult, I have long been aware.
Jimu News: But the current Fan Xiangyan is happy.
I am actually an actor who needs encouragement, I need to be praised, this feeling is a bit like compensating for my childhood, maybe my childhood or girlhood has suffered too many setbacks. Therefore, this kind of praise is really sweet for me. But don't worry, I won't float, because I have floated several times and fallen several times, and I especially understand the ups and downs. (laughs)
I have a lot of new invitations after the broadcast of "Flowers" this year, which I never expected to be able to come so soon, I am very grateful to everyone for liking Lu Meilin, although I am also reluctant to give up on this role, but I also know that after the broadcast of "Flowers" I will start to set sail again.
I put a big photo of Lu Meilin standing on the Yellow River Road at home, that is my stills, it is a photo of me hugging the Yellow River Road, proving that I was once married to the Yellow River Road, and I am a woman of the Yellow River Road!
(The picture is a screenshot of the public release material or video of "Flowers")
(Source: Jimu News)
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