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Time flies, as if it just happened yesterday. Suddenly looking back, the six-year-old boy who once shone has entered old age. A kind smile appeared on his face that had been through the vicissitudes of life, and the heroic appearance of the "Monkey King" could be vaguely seen in his eyes.
However, the years have been merciless, and his face has been carved with deep wrinkles.
After a long journey of life, Liu Xiaolingtong has never forgotten the character he is proud of - Sun Wukong. Behind him was countless praises and applause, but at the same time, it was accompanied by endless doubts and criticisms.
When he became famous at a young age, he thought that this role was all he had in life, but when the years passed by in his later years, he realized that playing only one role in his life was too superficial and regrettable.
It is true that the former "Monkey King" is now difficult to reproduce that naughty and flamboyant demeanor. Although he still insisted on dancing and playing the Monkey King happily in his later years, what the audience saw was just an old man speaking his heart to the camera.
He tried to regain the demeanor of his youth, but he could only show a helpless aging state.
Liu Xiaolingtong's obsession with this role has long surpassed the love of ordinary actors for the role. He almost equates himself with Sun Wukong, and has no consciousness to distinguish the actor from the role.
Even in daily life, he will unconsciously think that he is the Monkey King, and his words and deeds reveal the unique style of the Monkey King.
It is really contrary to common sense for a commoner to want to play the role of a transcendent and holy power. Liu Xiaolingtong is addicted to this role, becoming more and more extreme, and has long deviated from his original intention of devoting himself to acting with enthusiasm.
The belief of dedicating one's life to art has long been exhausted in the quagmire of the role.
Dating back to more than 30 years ago, when a majestic TV series version of "Journey to the West" was in full swing, the director of the crew, Yang Jie, began to look for the most suitable actor for the role of Monkey King.
As a discerning director, she is well aware of the importance of the role of Monkey King, and only by choosing an outstanding actor can she perfectly interpret its inner spiritual connotation.
At the beginning, director Yang Jie's eyes were locked on two outstanding experts in the opera industry - Dong Zhihua and Li Wanchun. Dong Zhihua, who has been swimming in the sea of opera since he was a child, has superb martial arts skills, and his role as the Monkey King in the drama masterpiece "Havoc in the Heavenly Palace" is deeply loved by the audience and widely acclaimed.
In this regard, director Yang Jie gave a very high evaluation, and almost chose Dong Zhihua to play the role of Monkey King However, the world is unpredictable, just when Dong Zhihua's career is in full swing, the opera performance schedule in his hand is too busy to find time to participate in the filming of the TV series.
Faced with such a predicament, director Yang Jie had to set his sights on Li Wanchun, another person who was known as the "Living Monkey King" in the Beijing opera industry. Li Wanchun is good at monkey play, with a vivid and lively image and excellent stage performance, and is undoubtedly the ideal candidate to play the Monkey King.
The two sides have conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions many times, but in the end, due to the difference in aesthetic concepts, the cooperation failed to reach Li Wanchun's insistence on integrating the big flower face elements of traditional Peking Opera into the play, while director Yang Jie hopes to use a more realistic and natural approach to portray Sun Wukong, and the two completely different styles are difficult to reconcile.
Just when Director Yang Jie was in trouble, she suddenly remembered Zhang Zongyi, a master of Shao Opera. Although Zhang Zongyi has entered old age, his disciples are at the best in performing monkey opera.
Director Yang Jie's eyes lit up and found this Shao Opera master, hoping to select a suitable actor from his disciples.
Surprisingly, Zhang Zongyi did not hesitate to recommend his son Zhang Jinlai, who was later known as the "six-year-old child". Director Yang Jie was slightly dissatisfied with Zhang Zongyi's decision, because she planned to choose the actors herself.
However, in order to ensure the progress of the work, she finally reluctantly accepted the proposal and appointed Liu Xiaolingtong as the role of Monkey King in "Journey to the West".
After a lot of hardships, the crew of "Journey to the West" finally finalized the role of Monkey King by Liu Xiaolingtong. For this choice that surprised everyone, even Director Yang Jie, he didn't expect that this young man would show such superb acting skills and portray Sun Wukong as lifelike and endearing.
The whole filming process was arduous, and the six-year-old children had to wear makeup for a long time every day, and the makeup props were quite heavy. However, whenever he saw him dressed in a small pocket with red cherry blossom sleeves and apple green, and devotedly played the infatuated role, Yang Jie felt an indescribable sense of relief and pride in her heart.
At the beginning, Yang Jie did not have high expectations for Liuxiaolingtong, but as the filming process progressed, Liuxiaolingtong's outstanding performance completely subverted her imagination. He portrayed Sun Wukong as lifelike and interesting, and the whole person seems to have turned into the extraordinary Monkey King.
His every expression and movement is just right, and it is breathtaking.
It is precisely because of the superb acting skills of the six young children that "Journey to the West" has aroused enthusiastic popularity from audiences across the country and even around the world as soon as it was broadcast. After watching the play, many viewers only left the impression of the image of Monkey King played by Liu Xiaolingtong.
Some people praised him as the embodiment of "the best Monkey King in history", and some people even directly equated him with Monkey King and respected him as the "most popular artist".
Such a "sky-falling" praise is undoubtedly the glory that all actors dream of. However, in the face of such results, Yang Jie did not feel overjoyed at that time. Because she had already expected that if Liu Xiaolingtong was too obsessed with this role, it might bring him heavy psychological pressure and constraints, which would affect his future acting career.
The TV series "Journey to the West" has achieved unprecedented success, which is undoubtedly inseparable from director Yang Jie's outstanding leadership. As a discerning and forward-looking director, although she did not give high praise to Liu Xiaolingtong at first, she was happy to entrust him with this important task.
In the process of making this TV series, it can be described as difficult. From casting to setting up, from special effects design to fundraising, challenges arose. However, Yang Jie and all the crew members worked together to overcome the difficulties, and finally overcame all kinds of difficulties step by step, creating this classic masterpiece.
However, even in this case, director Yang Jie is still in deep anxiety. She feared that revealing the plot information too early could ruin the suspense and appeal created by the script, so she resolutely resisted any form of pre-screening activities.
However, this deep and long-term consideration was met with indifference from the actors, who indulged in the joy and aura of Vanity Fair and lacked sufficient vigilance against missed opportunities.
It is even more regrettable that the six-year-old child is slowly indulging in this whirlpool of luxurious fame and profit. He fell into a state of self-obsession, and even began to attribute all his efforts and honors to his amazing acting skills, but turned a blind eye to director Yang Jie's impeccable leadership and far-reaching strategic vision.
In every eye-catching interview, Liu Xiaolingtong can always subconsciously exaggerate without thinking, touting himself as having created the incredible character of Monkey King by himself.
But in the face of Director Yang Jie's sincere and kind admonition, he chose to turn a deaf ear, and even privately believed that only his Monkey King was truly great.
In fact, without Director Yang Jie's careful planning and perfect directing skills, the TV series "Journey to the West" may not have been able to achieve such a brilliant success.
Liu Xiaolingtong's superb performance was undoubtedly a key factor in the crew's victory, but he seemed to have completely forgotten the hard work of Yang Jie and the rest of the crew, and kept all the glory for himself.
In the eyes of the six-year-old child, he has become the incarnation and interpretation of the Monkey King, and other versions of the Monkey King are just the appearance. He once said frankly to director Yang Jie: "Although there are thousands of different Hamlets, since my Monkey King was born, there is only one 'Monkey King' left."
Regarding this remark, although Director Yang Jie did not directly refute it, he was full of helplessness in his heart. According to Liu Xiaolingtong's point of view, it seems that he is the ultimate definition of Monkey King, and other versions of Monkey King are just insignificant existences.
However, this is not the case, "Journey to the West" is just a film and television work based on a classical novel, and each director and actor will naturally have different understandings and portrayals of the image of Monkey King.
However, Liu Xiaolingtong takes his understanding of this role as a guideline, and almost strictly requires all those who come after him to follow his setting to interpret it.
He sees his "Monkey King" as an example of invulnerability, and any deviation from his setting is seen as an offense and destruction of the classics.
This extremely narrow ideological concept and judgment criteria have made the six-year-old child deeply troubled in his long acting journey. He began to be confused about his identity in real life, always mistakenly believing that Monkey King was the symbolic character of his youth, but ignoring his original appearance in the real world.
Even though he has entered the stage of old age, Liu Xiaolingtong is still keen to play the Monkey King, and continues to accumulate popularity and attention by consuming the classic "Journey to the West". This is so repeated, year after year, and he only plays one role in his life, which is really suffocating! .
He has repeatedly talked about his unique views on the Monkey King on various occasions, and it seems that this constitutes the full value of his entire acting career.
What's even more distressing is that at the commemorative event on the 31st anniversary of the death of the famous director Yang Jie due to illness, Liu Xiaolingtong unabashedly showed off the new version of "Journey to the West" film and television work he was preparing to make, and claimed that only through his interpretation can he truly comfort Yang Jie's soul in the sky.
Seeing the former "Monkey King" so unscrupulously consume the classics, everyone was shocked and indignant, and accused him of extreme hypocrisy and blasphemy against his teacher.