Text | Wang Zhenyi
Edit | Sun Dasheng
In 1977, the Ministry of Culture organized the choreography of the drama "Turning Point", which meant that the image of Premier Zhou would appear for the first time on a national stage. To this end, the Chinese Repertory Theatre is actively looking for actors who can play Premier Zhou, but it has been unable to find suitable actors.
Just when the China Repertory Theatre was "frowning" for this, Liu Boling, a makeup artist at the China Children's Art Theatre, recommended Wang Tiecheng, an actor from their theater, to the China Repertory Theatre.
The people of the Chinese Repertory Theatre asked Wang Tiecheng what his political outlook was, and after what he came out, he had no news. Until the end, they really couldn't find the right actor, so they let Wang Tiecheng try makeup.
This makeup test completely changed Wang Tiecheng's fate.
When Wang Tiecheng tried on makeup, someone came in to see, and when they saw Wang Tiecheng, their tears fell straight, and Wang Tiecheng and Premier Zhou who had finished makeup were too similar.
Wang Tiecheng successfully won the opportunity to play the role of Premier Zhou in the drama "Turning", when he was 41 years old.
Before that he had run the dragon set for 15 years.
Before running the dragon set, he studied Peking Opera for 2 years with Xi Xiaobo, one of the "Four Great Students" of Peking Opera, and was also admitted to the Central Academy of Drama.
After graduating from the Central Academy of Drama, he was assigned to the Central Children's Arts Theatre in 1961 and became a full-fledged actor.
In the 15th year of his dragon run, Premier Zhou died, and Wang Tiecheng unexpectedly got a chance to go to the People's Cultural Palace to mourn, and on that day, he was very sad.
After returning from condolences, he also specially entrusted people to buy a standard portrait of Premier Zhou to hang on the bedside, and stared at Premier Zhou's photos every day, he felt that in the future, on the stage and screen, there would definitely be a glorious image of Premier Zhou.
At that time, he had no idea that his life would be related to Premier Zhou the next year.
After winning the role of "Premier Zhou" in the drama "Turning Point" in 1977, Wang Tiecheng was very serious and attentive. He watched documentaries related to Premier Zhou over and over again, checked the video materials of Premier Zhou in various periods, learned Premier Zhou's accent with the dialect of Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, learned Premier Zhou's walking posture, and strived to fit the image of Premier Zhou from all aspects such as expression, movement, and way of speaking.
Once, Wang Tiecheng also recorded his own imitation of what Premier Zhou said, and a staff member who had heard Premier Zhou's speech said to Wang Tiecheng after listening to Wang Tiecheng's recording: "This is the premier's speech, you should talk about it and learn it like this." And one of Premier Zhou's former secretaries, after hearing Wang Tiecheng's recording, was very surprised and asked Wang Tiecheng: "Where did you find the premier's speech?"
After Wang Tiecheng prepared so carefully, the drama "Turning" ushered in the premiere. Wang Tiecheng still remembers that when he walked onto the stage, the applause from the stage was thunderous, and when he said the first line, "Little comrade, you blew the charge trumpet very loudly just now..." The audience in the front row was already crying, and the audience in the front row sat on the seat and leaned forward, and the audience in the back row poured from the aisle to the front row, and they all wanted to be able to see the "premier" closer.
The play "Turning Point" was a great success.
After "Turning Point", Wang Tiecheng played Premier Zhou in the drama "Newsboy", which was a great success again.
Once, after the end of the performance of "Newsboy", the famous playwright Cao Yu walked quickly onto the stage, tightly held Wang Tiecheng's hand, suddenly stepped back, bowed deeply to Wang Tiecheng, and said to Wang Tiecheng: "Thank you for letting us see Premier Zhou again." When he said this, Cao Yu was already in tears.
In 1978, Wang Tiecheng played Premier Zhou in the movie "The Great River Rushing", which was also the first film to appear as the leader of Premier Zhou after the founding of New China.
Premier Zhou, played by Wang Tiecheng, has been recognized by more and more people. One of them, Wang Tiecheng's recognition, will never be forgotten, and this person is Deng Yingchao, the wife of Premier Zhou.
In 1979, in a cultural performance celebrating the Fourth National Cultural Congress, Wang Tiecheng performed a clip of himself playing Premier Zhou in the movie "The Great River Rushing", and he clearly remembered that Deng Yingchao, who was originally under the stage, leaned back in his chair to watch, but when he performed, she leaned forward and supported the table in front of her to watch. Wang Tiecheng knew that Deng Yingchao was fully engaged in watching his performance, and her subtle movements were also the greatest recognition of him. When he starred in "Newsboy" in 1977, Deng Yingchao also scored 90 points for his performance, and she also asked Zhao Wei to write to him, telling him not to be proud, to be modest and cautious, and said that 78 units across the country were learning from him.
After the performance of this Wendai meeting, Deng Yingchao asked Wang Tiecheng to report on the situation at his home in the form of written materials. However, considering that his son was born with dementia, he did not want Deng Yingchao to cause her trouble after seeing it. But Deng Yingchao also told him to write in detail, and finally Wang Tiecheng truthfully reported his family situation, at the end of the material, he sincerely wrote: Thank you very much for Deng Mother's concern, in the future I will definitely guard against arrogance and impatience, and wholeheartedly show Premier Zhou's good thoughts, good style, and good moral character on the stage and on the screen.
What Wang Tiecheng did not expect was that the day after the materials were handed in, Deng Yingchao called the China Children's Art Theater where he worked. On the phone, Deng Yingchao said to Wang Tiecheng: "Comrade Tiecheng, I read your materials and did not sleep all night. Deng Yingchao paused, then said, "When Enlai was sick, I met some doctors, can you see if I can ask them to show your children about the disease?" ”
In the face of Deng Yingchao's concern, Wang Tiecheng's heart was very warm, but soon he felt uneasy. He said to Deng Yingchao, "It's really causing trouble for Mother Deng!" The child's illness was congenital and incurable. I had also taken him to the hospital before, and the doctor said that he could only train the day after tomorrow. Deng Yingchao insisted: "Let's take a look..." The two talked on the phone for more than half an hour that day, and Deng Yingchao also specifically told Wang Tiecheng what hospital to go to and which doctor to find.
In the face of Deng Yingchao's concern, Wang Tiecheng put forward higher requirements for himself to play Premier Zhou.
After that, he played the role of "Premier Zhou" in the movies "Li Siguang", "Xi'an Incident", "Wind and Rain Under the Bell Mountain", "Jinling Night", "Fire Dragon", "Song Qingling and Her Sisters", "Liao Chengzhi in Remembrance", "Zhou Enlai" and other films.
Among these films, the pinnacle is the biographical film "Zhou Enlai" released in 1992.
At that time, Wang Tiecheng was more than 130 pounds, in order to get close to the emaciated appearance of Premier Zhou after his illness in his later years. For this reason, he takes diet pills every day, does not eat staple foods, and eats at most one tomato or a cucumber per meal.
8 months later, Wang Tiecheng lost his appearance, and his wife Yan Lili felt sorry for him and said to him: "Tiecheng, do you think that there are still two people in our family, and I will finish it if you lose weight like this." Wang Tiecheng told his wife: "I want to play the way Premier Zhou looked before he died, not thin like ah!" He also said: "When the prime minister died, it was less than 90 pounds, and if I didn't do this, wouldn't it be a waste of the prime minister?" I couldn't play the role well, and I jumped from the 9th floor. After saying that, Wang Tiecheng's tears flowed down.
But it was also during this period that Wang Tiecheng suffered a car accident and broke 6 ribs. But he was very happy, because because of the car accident, he lost a lot of weight, and his appearance was closer to Premier Zhou, who was ill at the 1974 National Day reception. As a result, he also successfully completed the scene of Premier Zhou in the film in the hospital bed.
While filming other scenes, the crew asked Premier Zhou's former staff to borrow the clothes that Premier Zhou wore before he died. When Wang Tiecheng put on Premier Zhou's clothes, the staff who had accompanied Premier Zhou for more than ten years burst into tears, grabbed Wang Tiecheng's wrist and shouted: "Premier, Premier." ”
Subsequently, the crew wanted to enter the Great Hall of the People to shoot the scene where Premier Zhou read out the government work report for the last time, but the management of the Great Hall of the People resolutely disagreed. Until they saw Wang Tiecheng, who was wearing Premier Zhou's clothes, the director of the management department immediately changed his attitude, and he said to the crew: "You shoot, we don't charge you money, please be sure to shoot the premier well!" ”
In the end, "Zhou Enlai" was a great success after its release in 1992, when the film ticket price was 2 yuan a piece, and "Zhou Enlai" received 270 million yuan at the box office. Wang Tiecheng also won the Best Actor Award at the 12th Golden Rooster Awards of Chinese Cinema and the Best Actor Award at the 15th Hundred Flowers Awards of Popular Film for "Zhou Enlai".
Many years later, recalling the time of filming "Zhou Enlai", Wang Tiecheng frankly said: "Acting in the movie "Zhou Enlai", I interpreted him with special reverence, special miss, and special emotion, looking at his information, this is the homework that actors should do, imitating the premier, and can not have a little mistake, because I know that people miss him too much, too much respect and love. And at that time, Wang Tiecheng had tens of thousands of yuan in labor fees, but he did not ask for a penny, he said: "Playing Premier Zhou has brought me so many honors, I should also make a little contribution." ”
10 years after the release of "Zhou Enlai", Wang Tiecheng filmed the movie "Zhou Enlai Bandung's Trip", and announced his withdrawal from the film world after filming, he said: "Premier Zhou's major events are basically finished, other roles, I do not want to take it, that will destroy the image of Zhou Enlai I created in the hearts of the audience." ”
Wang Tiecheng has completed his own historical mission.
Many years later, some media asked him if he only played the role of "Premier Zhou" in his life, would he have regrets? Wang Tiecheng replied: "I have no regrets at all, if I don't play Premier Zhou, I am nothing." The greatest happiness of my life is playing this role. He also said: "My greatest happiness in this life is to play this role in the hearts of the people of the whole country, and this life is enough." ”