In recent years, in addition to the term "acting explosion", another phrase has become popular among the audience, "textbook performance".
What is a textbook performance?
Let's take a look at a senior ---
The prototype of this fragment is the scene when Premier Zhou Enlai received foreign guests on National Day in 1974, when Premier Zhou, who had been tormented by the endless illness, still had a strong spirit and attended the National Day reception in the Great Hall of the People.
This was also the last time Premier Zhou appeared in public.
Without looking at the original version, can the appearance, body shape, and action (voice) of Premier Zhou, played by the special actor Wang Tiecheng, be called a textbook performance?
Because of this movie, Wang Tiecheng was identified by the audience as the person who most resembled Premier Zhou.
01
Wang Tiecheng was born in Beijing in 1936 to a wealthy family, his mother was a flag bearer, and his father was a wealthy businessman in Tianjin.
The good and leisurely family environment gave Wang Tiecheng the opportunity to receive a good education from an early age.
In 1961, after graduating from the Central Academy of Drama, he was assigned to the Central Children's Art Theater and officially entered his acting career.
Wang Tiecheng was able to become a special actor of Premier Zhou by pure chance.
On January 8, 1976, there was a thunderclap on the flat ground, and Premier Zhou passed away.
Looking at the grief-stricken crowd on the street, Wang Tiecheng, who had the honor of attending the premier's memorial service, was touched and secretly wondered: Can I play Premier Zhou on the stage? Bring his voice and appearance back in front of the audience?
With the slightest obsession, Wang Tiecheng began to prepare for the role of Premier Zhou Enlai.
He first put his own photos with Premier Zhou's, carefully compared the height of the eyebrows and the length of the lips of the two people, and pondered which places could be repaired by makeup and which places needed post-processing.
Then learn the accent.
Premier Zhou is a native of Zhejiang, usually speaking flat tongue, tongue curls do not distinguish, Wang Tiecheng's method is to find homophones, such as "comrade", he uses "tongzi" instead.
Relying on rote memorization, Wang Tiecheng spent two months practicing a Beijing accent into a Zhejiang accent.
A year later, his chance came.
At that time, the drama "The Great Turning Point" openly recruited special actors to play Zhou Enlai for the public, and Wang Tiecheng, who had long been "premeditated", successfully got this opportunity by self-recommendation.
After more than half a month of sleepless preparations (checking materials, looking at images), 18 days later, the first public rehearsal of "The Great Turning", Premier Zhou played by Wang Tiecheng, appeared on the stage, which caused a cry on the scene.
When the follow-up "Zhou Enlai" that made Wang Tiecheng "seal the gods" was officially filmed, Premier Zhou had been dead for more than ten years.
When filming Premier Zhou's scene at the reception, the on-site waiters, staff, and the masses invited to the scene, as soon as they saw Wang Tiecheng with makeup, they were momentarily in tears, applause, shouting, choking, and enduring, resulting in several times of forced interruption of filming, which could not be carried out at all.
When he reshaped the image of Premier Zhou in "The Great River Rushing", Deng Yingchao, who was sitting on the stage watching the film, leaned forward and watched with full concentration. Many years later, Deng Yingchao received Wang Tiecheng and gave him high praise for his performance and some valuable suggestions for playing Premier Zhou.
Speaking of the previous "Zhou Enlai", Wang Tiecheng became famous in the First World War, but also gained a lot of hardcore fans.
One of them is another special actor who is also well known to the audience for playing Zhou Enlai--- Liu Jin.
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Liu Jin is a native of Aba, Sichuan, born in 1963.
Due to its remote mountainous location, the only entertainment for Liu Jin when he grew up was the open-air movies in the town, and those old movies that turned over and over gave Liu Jin a vague understanding and yearning for the profession of actor.
In 1983, Liu Jin, who had repeatedly lost several battles, was admitted to the People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts (Military Arts) as he wished, and began his acting career.
Liu Jin was finally able to "get acquainted" with the role of Premier Zhou, in fact, thanks to a person --- the famous makeup artist Wang Xizhong.
In 1995, Liu Jin, who played Zhang Xueliang in the movie "Song Family Dynasty", met Teacher Wang Xizhong by chance.
Looking at Liu Jin's style, Teacher Wang said to him: You can still play a person.
Liu Jin asked curiously: Who?
Teacher Wang: Premier Zhou Enlai.
This praise and affirmation from the authorities in the industry made Liu Jin happy and lost, happy that his years of efforts were not in vain, and the loss was the opportunity to play the prime minister.
However, it didn't take long for the opportunity to actually find its own door.
In 1996, the crew of "Zunyi Conference" approached Liu Jin and invited him to play Zhou Enlai during the Long March.
The good news that fell from the sky startled Liu Jin, who was not mentally prepared, and asked the staff: How did you think of looking for me to play (Zhou Enlai)?
The other party replied: Recommended by Teacher Wang Xizhong.
In this way, after some self-psychological construction, Liu Jin, who was nervous, still plucked up the courage to come to the crew.
In the end, under the personal design and care of Teacher Wang, Liu Jin, who put on makeup and appeared in front of everyone, stunned everyone again without suspense.
The high degree of fit in appearance, coupled with brilliant acting skills, after the broadcast of "Zunyi Conference", Liu Jin's special actor road was also officially opened.
After a brief taste, the opportunity to make Liu Jingong famous soon followed.
From "Long March", "Ode to Yan'an", "Decisive Moment"... Wait, Liu Jin, who played Premier Zhou Enlai in one major historical drama after another, not only won a number of best male protagonists, including the "Golden Eagle", but also received a personal call from Premier Zhou's former assistant Li Qi, saying thank you for bringing the young premier back to everyone again.
As we all know, Premier Zhou himself is a big handsome guy, and Liu Jin, who is upright and tall, most of the time plays the appearance of Premier Zhou in his middle and young age, and over time, it has increased the sense of substitution for many senior audiences, resulting in an illusion of "this is Premier Zhou".
Based on this, Liu Jin also got a reputation as "the best screen image (Premier Zhou)".
03
The same special actor as Zhou Enlai, in contrast, Sun Weimin's experience is much more tortuous.
Born in 1955, Sun Weimin was first a ballet dancer in the Liaoning Repertory Theatre, and later turned to drama actor.
Nevertheless, from the perspective of appearance conditions, Sun Weimin, who was thin and unassuming, could not have had the opportunity to play Premier Zhou at that time.
But the world is so impermanent.
In the early 1990s, the Liaoning Repertory Theatre's long-awaited performance of "The Xi'an Incident" was imminent, and at a critical moment, the actor who played Premier Zhou fell ill.
What to do?
Sun Weimin, who had just returned from his studies in Chinese opera, had the honor of playing Zhou Enlai on stage for the first time.
After the performance, everyone found that the audience response was actually good.
After that, from "Seven Battles and Seven Victories", "The Great Turning Point", "The Four Days and Nights of Zhou Enlai"... In the nearly two decades since "Begonia Remains", Sun Weimin has played Zhou Enlai in more than 50 film and television dramas in different periods, and is the person who has played Premier Zhou the most times.
Despite this, Sun Weimin is still the least dominant of all the special actors, so that even Sun Weimin himself has to admit that Premier Zhou, who has played for so many years, really relies on makeup and acting skills.
For example, in "Begonias Still", Sun Weimin plays Premier Zhou, whose age span is from 20 to 70 years old.
During the filming, in order to cooperate with Tang Guoqiang's schedule, other actors usually have to wear makeup several times a day to interpret scenes of different ages, such as this shooting is more than 70 years old (years old), the next scene may be more than 20, and the next one may be more than 40.
So the cycle of continuous rotation, tired makeup artists do not say, the most painful is the actor.
Because with the age and scene transition, the character's demeanor, tone, expression, and psychology must quickly switch to the corresponding state, which is really a test of acting skills and patience for tired actors.
Fortunately, it is gratifying that after the broadcast of "Begonia Still", it not only quickly gained super popularity and word of mouth, but also was praised by industry insiders as "the peak in the plateau".
And Sun Weimin, who is "the least like" Zhou Enlai, has also become another classic in the audience's heart because of his personable and elegant style and performance in the play.
In addition to the above three, there are actually many special actors who have played Zhou Enlai in China, some of whom have played the image of the premier too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, resulting in a narrower follow-up drama; some in order to maintain the image of the great man, throughout their lives, they have only played Premier Zhou.
When they are asked, "Is it a pity to play only one role in your life"?
Their answer was, "No regrets, the greatest happiness in my life is to play this role."
Compared with some of the current popular traffic, these principled, bottom-line, and powerful special actors are truly the top stream.
(Rotten Tomatoes Movie Editorial Department: No Woo Woo)