"If you really like to watch me act in a literary film, don't go to 'I'm Waiting for You at the End of Time', because I know very well that this is what I want to give." 」 Li Hongqi said.
The actor, who was originally labeled as a literary film, has also received several so-called commercial films and romance dramas in recent years. This is his active choice, he does not want to be limited to a play path, he wants the audience to see his different states, broaden his own dimension in performance.
Li Hongqi
Li Hongqi is an actor who often reflects on himself.
After winning the Golden Horse Award for Best Newcomer with his film debut "Drunken Life and Death", he did not take more scenes while the iron was hot, but chose to study and study. After thirty years of standing, he chose to stop and rethink the performance, "non-stop, there is no way to improve", he felt that the performance should also be synchronized with his own age. Right now, he's working on his directorial debut, a completely independent producer, with almost all the work on his own.
Ben went to be an assistant director, and as a result, he won the Golden Horse newcomer as an actor
For the road of embarking on the actor's road, Li Hongqi's parents were initially more opposed.
Li Hong grew up in Jinshan District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, where there was only one piano classroom in the town, and there were no performance classrooms or art classes. The relationship circle of parents and the profession of actor also do not have any intersection, so they are very uncertain about the development of this industry, and they do not want their son to take the wrong road, and have been asking him whether he wants to do other industries.
But Li Hongqi is born anti-bone, and the things he likes must be insisted on doing.
He has loved literature and art since he was a child, learning drum kits at the age of 16, forming a death metal band, and being the lead singer, "the kind with long hair and a roar". To this day, he often shares videos of himself fighting drums. It is precisely because of this skill that he starred in the movie "Sewing Machine Band" directed by Dapeng and played the drummer "Dynamite" in the film, who was grinded by drumsticks to bleed from his hands during filming. "If you are playing the piano, you can also borrow a position, but the drum cannot be imitated because it is too direct, completely penetrating, and the audience will know it when they see it."
In the movie "The Sewing Machine Band", Li Hongqi played a drummer.
Recently, there is a music variety show "Summer of the Band 2" in China, Li Hongqi has occasionally watched some clips on the Internet, and the most impressive thing for him is the five-person band, "wearing slippers, quite rock".
Li Hongqi likes to act, and when he was in high school, he rehearsed a lot of dramas, and his parents would watch each drama, but he still did not support him in the literary and art industry, until he starred in the movie "Drunken Dream and Death" in 2015 and came up with a result that was moved on the table.
Originally, Li Hongqi was an assistant director in the "Drunken Dream death" crew, because he knew how to act, often accompanied the actors who came to audition for the play, acting, the director felt that he was quite suitable, simply let him play the role of "mouse". In order to play this hanging Lang Dang's vegetable market mix, Li Hongqi ran to the vegetable market to sell vegetables for two months. As a result, the first act won the Golden Horse Award for Best New Actor that year.
Li Hongqi said that the temperament of this role is not like his own, he is acting, not acting. After watching the movie, my parents said, "You are not playing yourself, you can see everything." This is very close to Li Hongqi's performance, in his view, although each role is different, it is one of his own faces.
Stills from the movie "Drunken Dreams and Deaths"
Therefore, even if he plays some roles with a relatively large span, Li Hongqi can always find the face corresponding to the role.
In 2017, Li Hongqi was rescued by the jianghu and was pulled by director Liu Jie to play the deaf and mute Xiaojun in the movie "Baby", receiving the script one week and acting the next week. This is not difficult for Li Hongqi, because his neighbors are deaf and mute, and his former good brothers are also deaf and mute, and there are many such people in his 30-year life circle, who will greet them when they go to school and work, just filling the role with the experience of the past 30 years.
In the movie "Baby", Li Hongqi played a deaf and mute person.
In the movie "Tomorrow Do You Still Love Me" that has not yet been released, he plays an IT man, who finds his resonance with the role in a state of persistence, and when he likes others when he is in school, he does not dare to open his mouth, only the experience of silently paying is taken out, and the role is constantly expanded.
I don't want to be defined by others as an actor who can only act in literary films
"Drunken Life and Dream Death" allows Li Hongqi to find the feel of acting, which is very precious. When he made this scene, he felt like he was playing, enjoying the movie. But the aura of the Golden Horse Awards invisibly gave him pressure, and this pressure mainly came from the fear that he would never find that feeling again and become a job.
After winning the Golden Horse Award, Li Hongqi did not take advantage of the victory to pursue and take on more works, but returned to school to study, still in the Department of Philosophy. For Li Hongqi, philosophy helps to think, there is a process of self-examination, "can constantly ask yourself, is this really right?" ”
After "Drunken Dream Death", Li Hongqi acted in several literary and art films such as "The Last Night of the Earth", "Happy City", "Baby", etc. Many viewers felt that he was suitable for playing this kind of tonal film, and began to label him as a "literary and artistic film actor", but Li Hongqi felt that it was not okay to go on for a long time, and to jump out of his comfort zone, he took over the youth idol drama "Dear, Loved", the fantasy romance film "I am waiting for you at the end of time" and other works that contrasted greatly with previous roles. He wants more people at different levels to see the different states of his acting, which will be healthier and more comprehensive, and he does not want to be defined by others as an actor who can only act in literary films.
Stills from the movie "The Last Night on Earth"
In "The Last Night of the Earth", Li Hongqi had a scene, while nibbling on the apple while shedding tears, no lines, all supported by emotions, and received praise from many audiences. Li Hongqi said that life is not always serious, sometimes it is necessary to be passionate, sometimes it is necessary to say some strange words, not all of which are the emotions expressed in "The Last Night of the Earth", and he hopes to expand his performance dimension.
He likens performance to cooking food, a chef who works in a high-end hotel has to go to the countryside today to cook, he can't still cook Western food, he can't continue to plate, study the dishes, but make food in his own way that meets the tastes of the locals. He feels that shooting "Dear, Beloved" is a bit of this feeling, the TV series has a volume of more than 40 episodes, sometimes it must be fast, and he does not have much experience, the ability to memorize lines in a limited time, the performance method directly given by the small screen... There's still a lot to learn.
Li Hongqi participated in the TV series "Dear, Loved".
For audiences who are accustomed to Li Hongqi's literary and artistic film performance methods, it will be somewhat uncomfortable to suddenly switch to the performance mode of commercial films or romantic dramas. For this discomfort, Li Hongqi has long been given a preventive injection. He knew very well that he couldn't satisfy all the audiences, "If you really like to watch me act in a literary film, don't go to 'I'm Waiting for You at the End of Time', because I know very well that this is what I want to give.". But there are also some audiences just the opposite, Li Hongqi used to know some filmmakers, they always said that Li Hongqi did not act well in "The Last Night of the Earth", but after watching "I Am Waiting for You at the End of Time", he cried bitterly, which made Li Hongqi feel very wonderful.
Stills from the movie "I'm Waiting for You at the End of Time"
He believes that he is not a master of language, and his dialect relies on imitation
Li Hongqi went to the mainland to develop shortly after his debut, changing an environment, and for him, the biggest discomfort was to play that kind of local role.
He does not think that he is an actor with strong language learning ability, and can only use stupid methods to imitate learning and try to get as close as possible to that direction. When filming "The Last Night of the Earth", Li Hongqi spoke the Guizhou Kaili dialect, which was a huge challenge for him when he first came to the mainland. Li Hongqi stayed in Kaili, Guizhou for two or three months, and every day he talked to the locals in the Kaili dialect there, "just like learning English, although it doesn't matter if you say it well, you must express the temperament context." But in the end, Li Hongqi only shot in Kaili for 10 days, and there were only three scenes left in the finished film.
When filming Dapeng's "Sewing Machine Band", Li Hongqi went to Ji'an, Northeast China, most of the crew members are northeasterners, all speak Northeast dialects, he often wanders outside the humor of the crew full of Northeast regional characteristics, in order to resolve embarrassment, he often echoes the laughter of others. In fact, director Dapeng's initial setting for the character of "dynamite" is a foreigner who drifts to the northeast to eat by craft mixed food. Li Hongqi's accent is mixed with the Northeast dialect of other actors, and it also inexplicably produces a lot of joy.
Stills from The Sewing Machine Band
Thirty years old is an important node for actors and needs to stop
Since the epidemic, Li Hongqi has been staying at home, mainly resting, "recently there is no intention of acting." Since his debut, Li Hongqi has not stopped, has been busy, and there are still three plays that have not been played. This year is the age of thirty, he wants to let himself stop, re-precipitate, re-understand the performance, "everyone says to improve, don't lie, really have to put down everything to progress, don't take the time to stop, it's really difficult to do." 」 In fact, during this time, Li Hongqi also had some impulses to want to act, but he still had to force himself, he couldn't do these things anymore, just like practicing, really shut himself up and practice well.
Entering the 30th year old, Li Hongqi began to think about his career plan. The age of 30 is an important node for him to transform an actor from a boy to a man. Actors can remain young, but they can't always take the youth route, they have to cross that thing, and the performance must slowly synchronize with their own age to prepare for the future drama.
Li Hongqi used to play other people's boyfriends, and then he wanted to go to a slightly mature role, play the role of a wife, and even play a father. He wondered what it would be like to give a child paternal love at the moment when he became familiar with the young actors on set. But so far he has not received such a role.
In the past six months, Li Hongqi has basically watched documentaries and rarely watched drama films. He feels that documentaries have great inspiration and feelings for performance and life. He recently watched a documentary " Ladder : The Art of Cai Guoqiang " , and watched it with tears in his eyes, because he felt that the faces of those people were more real, they weren't acting, but the way the story was edited, and it was like a drama film, starting and turning, first introducing what Cai Guoqiang did, and then telling him that there was one thing to do, followed by failure, just like the hero movie, especially inspirational.
Prepare the director's work, one person to take charge of the director, acting, and post-production
If you don't work as an actor, what career will you choose? Li Hongqi felt that his profession might be stronger behind the scenes, and his first choice was to become a director. The thought had been haunting him for years.
He has been preparing his own film work recently, but this work is not the same as the shooting method of other directors, it is completely independent production, the entire film crew is three or four people, the director, producer, actor, photography, editing, color grading, music, post-editing and other work is covered by Li Hongqi alone. He wanted to have creative freedom, to turn the film into a painting, very pure. If a chef role was needed, he would go find a real chef to play it.
At present, Li Hongqi has taken some materials, secretly placed the camera in the corner of the house, and filmed the conversation with his parents, "My father did not know that I was recording, I borrowed my words to guide them, not acting." Li Hongqi stressed that this is not a documentary, and the intensity of the plot will be great.
This film is like a private image of Li Hongqi, but he wants to reflect some contemporary social realities. You think he is very rich in buying a house, but in fact, the mortgage pressure is very large, and he is breathless. Everyone looks bright and beautiful, but in reality there is a lot of unbearable life.
Li Hongqi said that the tone of the film will be very close to a French film he has seen before, "The Law of the Market" (2015), which tells the story of an unemployed middle-aged father looking for a job, and it is basically a vegan star.
Beijing News reporter Teng Chao
Edited by Wu Dongni Proofreader Zhao Lin