Text | Wang Zhenyi
Edit | Li Xiaobai
Few actors can still quietly play supporting roles after becoming film emperors, and Lin Jiadong has done it.
From being an artist in the TVB Artist Training Course in Hong Kong to becoming a movie emperor, Lin Jiadong has spent 30 years.
In this long 30 years, he has quietly accumulated, not afraid of rumors, broken the prejudices of the outside world with vivid and vivid roles, won respect and recognition for himself, and become another rare ace supporting role in Hong Kong cinema in modern times, and a rare good actor.
I don't believe in fate
Lin Jiadong's ability to become an actor is related to Chow Yun Fat. Lin Jiadong especially liked to watch TV when he was a child, especially Zhou Runfa's "On the Beach", watching Zhou Runfa in the TV, a seed about becoming an actor began to take root in Lin Jiadong's heart, and the young Lin Jiadong fantasized that "I hope that when I grow up, I can also play different people and experience different things every day." ”
Before the age of 21, Lin Jiadong's life still had nothing to do with the actor, he went to school, worked, and became a clerk. At the age of 21, because of a poster of TVB art training class recruiting students at the door of his home, his life trajectory began to change, and Lin Jiadong decided to quit his clerical job to apply for the art training class.
When standing in the examination room, Lin Jiadong found that being an actor was different from what he imagined, before this he thought that as an actor, he only needed to stand and say a few words, and as a result, he was admitted to the art training class twice. What Lin Jiadong did not expect was that he was psychologically devastated when he entered the art training class, and the teacher of the art training class saw him for the first time and said: "You can't look good, only rely on your own efforts."
This sentence seems to have magic, when the students in the same period and the later period were all popular, he began to run the dragon set for 7 years.
Lin Jiadong still clearly remembers that the first role he played was a Qing soldier, and the requirement for him was to "appear in the back and show his face at all." Most of the other characters he played also had no lines and names, and even the choreographer of the same company mocked him as a "big egg that can never be fished out." ”
When he could really choose the role himself, it was five years later, and many years later he sighed and said: "I am the worst in the class, and I have the least salary increase every year." Every classmate had the opportunity to cast, but I did it for five years to cast myself. ”
In these years, Lin Jiadong met Wan Ziliang, a man who played a key role in his future destiny. At that time, the TV series "Ten Thousand Miles of Long Love" was filmed, and Lin Jiadong cooperated with Wan Ziliang. For Wan Ziliang's acting skills Lin Jiadong is very admired, rare opportunities to cooperate, he wants to follow this senior to learn well, so he ran for Wan Ziliang, helped carry the suitcase to take the luggage, others scolded him "want to be red and want to go crazy." Lin Jiadong didn't care about this, and later he said, "They don't understand that it doesn't matter to me, I know what I'm doing." "I just want to perform seriously, and on the day the episode airs, everyone will know who Lin Jiadong is."
In fact, in the early days of getting along with Wan Ziliang, Wan Ziliang was not optimistic about Lin Jiadong, and even scolded him for being stupid many times. But Lin Jiadong was not unhappy but very happy, in his opinion, "If he doesn't pay attention to you, how can he scold you?" What's so hard to look down on? It's uncomfortable to see! ”
By 1995, Lin Jiadong's path as an actor had only improved slightly, he was tvb gold medal producer Mei Xiaoqingxiang, played Cai Junxia in "Entertainment Transfer Student", and because he imitated Jacky Cheung's very similar, he began to receive attention, and he soon became a supporting role from running dragon set to becoming a protagonist. He has successively starred in dramas such as "Hedong Lion Roar", "New On the Beach", "Big Trouble Guangchanglong", "Big Trouble Guangchanglong", "Four Talents in Gold" and so on.
In 1999, he ushered in the peak of his television career, he starred in the male protagonist Fang Youwei of "Tea is Hometown", with this drama, he defeated the fire of the year's "Genesis", and won the "My Favorite TV Character" at the TVB 33rd Anniversary Taiwan Celebration Thousand Stars Awards Ceremony.
Lin Jiadong became a popular student of TVB.
Lin Jiadong and Wan Ziliang
Actors cannot lose their enthusiasm
What Lin Jiadong did not expect was that the success of "Tea is Hometown Strong" made him fall into the constant repetition of the same role, and a year after filming "Tea is Hometown Strong", the company immediately let him shoot "Wine is Hometown Alcohol". In addition to a single role and a modeled performance, Lin Jiadong also needs to accept the workload of more than 100 episodes a year.
The heavy workload makes Lin Jiadong almost no rest time, but more importantly, Lin Jiadong feels that he can't digest so many roles. At that time, he ran 7 studios a day, filmed 5 TV series a year, more than 20 episodes each, and he kept thinking about how to change roles and how to break through every day, "I don't worry about the audience not accepting my performance, because I can't even accept myself." 」 ”
Stills of Lin Jiadong's "Green Blood Sword"
Such a life eventually made Lin Jiadong angry, and when he woke up one day, he asked himself if it was time to start work again? Lin Jiadong realized that during this time, the actor became a job, which was not the state Lin Jiadong wanted, and in his opinion, creation should not be compared with going to work. Lin Jiadong suddenly found that he had lost his enthusiasm for being an actor, and when he realized this problem, Lin Jiadong was scared out of a cold sweat.
Lin Jiadong wanted to change this life, and even a colleague advised him to leave TVB, but at that time, Lin Jiadong still had a little illusion, "I still hope that the company can give more new attempts and decide to stay." ”
The fuse incident that really made him decide to leave occurred during the filming of "Wine is Hometown Alcohol", when there was a scene Lin Jiadong wanted to enter a large wine barrel, Lin Jiadong wanted to let the company find a stand-in, but it cost 800 yuan to find a stand-in, the company was unwilling to pay this money, Lin Jiadong could not pay for it, and finally because of this drama, Lin Jiadong was injured, and he decided to leave TVB at that moment.
When Lin Jiadong decided to officially leave TVB, his friends thought he was too stupid, and even said to him, "You made a wrong decision", and Wu Junru even said that his approach was called self-cutting.
Lin Jiadong had his own considerations, he did not want to repeat himself, "It is better to take advantage of being young to come out and hone yourself." ”
After leaving TVB, Lin Jiadong's choice was to enter the big screen and switch from television to movies.
Being able to switch from television to movies has played a great role in helping Wan Ziliang, who has impressed Lin Jiadong, and Wan Ziliang has made Lin Jiadong acquainted with a particularly important noble person in his life, Andy Lau.
One day, Wan Ziliang, who was a good friend of Andy Lau, brought Lin Jiadong to Andy Lau and said to him: "This is my good friend, and I have the opportunity to take him." Lin Jiadong asked Andy Lau, "Can we cooperate?" Andy Lau said: "Good, but filming is very hard, are you afraid or not?" Lin Jiadong shook his head seriously.
Lin Jiadong became an artist under Andy Lau's Hengtai Huanyu Co., Ltd. and officially developed into the film industry.
Act seriously and be sincere
Entering the film industry of Lin Jiadong, life has changed dramatically again, he can not play the leading role again, can only start from a supporting role, in the face of such a gap, Lin Jiadong has no complaints, he is still conscientious, hard to study acting, and down-to-earth performance of Andy Lau's arrangement.
Andy Lau is very attentive to Lin Jiadong, and he tells him to wash off the "TV smell" on his body in three years. So in the first three years of Andy Lau's company, he rarely acted, but in and Andy Lau's first collaboration with "Love Jun Like a Dream", he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 21st Hong Kong Film Awards. Lin Jiadong has become the second diligent person in Andy Lau's company besides Andy Lau, and he will come to the scene in advance to cultivate emotions in each play he participates in, and even if there is no drama in the company, he will stay late.
What really made Lin Jiadong break the "TV smell" on his body was Du Qifeng, and one day Andy Lau said to Du Qifeng: "This is Jiadong, my good brother, there is a chance that you can use him." Soon Lin Jiadong and Du Qifeng collaborated on "Dragon and Phoenix Fighting", and Du Qifeng said to him: "Change the way you read the dialogue, change the way you perform." This made Lin Jiadong, who has been acting for more than ten years, confused about whether he would act, but he quickly understood that "wrong is wrong, being a person will win and lose, the most important thing is that it can be changed, change is the smartest way to do it, I am willing to change." ”
Later, for Du Qifeng, he said, "He always likes to destroy my self-confidence again and again, and then help me re-establish greater confidence through the process of filming." No one could have imagined that I, who had acted in comedy before, could burst out the fierceness of 'Dongguan Boy' in "Underworld" and subvert everyone's perception of me. Lin Jiadong admitted that almost half of his potential was stimulated by director Du Qifeng. And Du Qifeng said to him, "You are an actor, try to make a play!" "It is also his determination to be a good actor."
Since then, Lin Jiadong has made more than 60 movies and played many impressive roles, such as the undercover big B of "Infernal Affairs", the thug Dongguan Zai in "Underworld", the police superintendent Kwong Zhili in "Cold War", and the traitor Li Zhao in "Ip Man".
Lin Jiadong found a sense of satisfaction in the film, which made him more fully immersed in the creation of the film, he said bluntly, "Every time I make a movie, it is as if I am looking for myself." Every character, different personality, different story... I'm an actor, and when I look at this role, it's the role that influences me. Why did he think that? I would ask myself over and over again, and then slowly go into his world, constantly looking for myself."
However, after starring in so many movies, Lin Jiadong is still playing supporting roles, and even some people have labeled him as a "thousand-year supporting role", for such a label, Lin Jiadong does not care, he cares about the real role, not about the protagonist supporting role. Even when Andy Lau was interviewed behind the scenes, he listened quietly from the side. Andy Lau asked the media: "I found that you have been asking me for a long time. Why not ask him? Lin Jiadong could smile frankly, "It's okay, you just say it." ”
Through years of getting along, Lin Jiadong and Andy Lau have established a deep friendship, and the only five close friends in the circle of Andy Lau's daughter's 100-day banquet are Lin Jiadong. What many people don't know is that in 2002, Andy Lau and Hong Kong China Construction Telecom boss Mak Shaotang fought a lawsuit, and everyone else in the company left, leaving Lin Jiadong alone.
Andy Lau asked Lin Jiadong, "What do you think?" ”
Lin Jiadong replied, "If you want me to leave, I will leave, and if you want me to stay, I will accompany you." ”
In 2012, the news that Lin Jiadong was leaving Andy Lau's company still came out. Some media broke the news that Lin Jiadong was originally the male number one of "Storm", but because Andy Lau's intervention became the male number two, the two parted ways.
In the face of such speculation, Lin Jiadong smiled: "Leaving is also encouraged by Andy Lau, he said, you have grown up, you can't always be an actor." So I was encouraged to set up a company to make films, hoping I could be independent. We just changed our ways of working together, and he actually supported me behind my back. ”
For Andy Lau, Lin Jiadong is full of gratitude, even if the outside world says that because Andy Lau's light has covered him, he still does not care, "From Andy Lau, I learned too many good habits of filming, and his requirements for scripts and performances are extremely high, which are priceless treasures." ”
What is even more rare is that he and Andy Lau have remained sober in Vanity Fair. "Just like many people think that Andy Lau has a reputation and money, and there is no need to act desperately, but we are not going to enjoy the glitz and nothingness, but to remain sober and loyal to the original intention of acting." 」 Lin Jiadong always warned himself not to forget his original intention and not to get lost.
Congratulations to The Movie Emperor
Before leaving Andy Lau to set up a company, Lin Jiadong had an attempt to make a film independently, and in 2010 he served as the executive producer of the movie "The Ring". At that time, Andy Lau reminded him to take more care of the market when shooting this film, although he had doubts about this film, Andy Lau still chose to invest, and eventually the film was average at the box office, but in 2011, he beat "Di Renjie's Empire of Heaven" and "Ip Man 2" at the Academy Awards and won the Best Picture Award.
Standing on the awards stage, Lin Jiadong said excitedly: "Whether the results of "The Ring" are good or bad, it does not matter to me, because I think the most important thing is the spirit of the back, the meaning of the back, the spirit of Hong Kong people, the spirit of Hong Kong movies. ”
After having his own company, Lin Jiadong made bolder attempts and gradually played a leading role in films, such as "Ulterior Motives" and "The Vanishing Murderer".
Lin Jiadong, who has accumulated a lot of money, finally ushered in the most important role of his life, in 2016, he played the "thief king" Ji Zhengxiong in the movie "Tree Trick". In order to play Ji Zhengxiong well, Lin Jiadong did his homework before the filming began, and played the crime tyrant into three points.
Stills of Lin Jiadong's "Tree Trick"
With his outstanding performance in "Tree Trick", Lin Jiadong became a double film emperor of the "Hong Kong Directors Association" and the "Hong Kong Film Critics Association". The Hong Kong Film Critics Association commented on him: "Lam Ka-dong portrays an uneasy, suspicious, deep and scheming gangster into a deep and three-dimensional, thieving human nature, rich in layers, especially meticulously capturing his wary and cold personality, the use and distrust of his old brother, and the unashamed control of this dangerous figure who has disappeared." When he walked up to the awards ceremony of the Hong Kong Directors Association, Lin Jiadong said with emotion: "It only takes 30 seconds to walk on stage from the audience, but I have walked for 30 years."
For Ji Zhengxiong's role, Lin Jiadong is really too good, so someone asked him if he had the confidence to impact the Academy Awards film emperor, Lin Jiadong still kept sober, he told the other party "don't dare to think about whether there is a chance, do not want to have too much pressure, I am not filming to get the award." "The most important thing is that I didn't live up to the opportunities that others gave me, I didn't live up to my own dedication to this business, and that's enough, isn't it?"
In 2017, Lin Jiadong defeated Liang Jiahui and Yu Wenle to win the title of Film Emperor. When Dawn announced that the winner of the Film Emperor was Lin Jiadong, the audience applauded for a minute. At that moment, Lin Jiadong cried, and he cried and walked to the podium.
On the podium, he said emotionally: "This award is very precious, in fact, looking back at the past 30 years, there are many opportunities that I have lost and not done well enough." I am very happy that someone mentioned me to make trouble, slowly let me re-establish confidence, the debut of my full of confidence, I did not expect to fail again and again, sometimes I am not aware, this is my biggest problem, fortunately there are predecessors to mention the point, Wan Zi (Wan Zi Liang), Hua Tsai (Andy Lau), TV station Zhen Jie (Zeng Lizhen) and the training class teacher, etc., let me regain confidence from a low place, today I won the award, finally have an account for them. ”
He specifically mentioned Andy Lau again, and he said emotionally, "I am willing to spend half my life repaying Grace Hua Tsai, and the grace of knowing the encounter will never be forgotten." At that time, Andy Lau, who was injured in a fall from a horse, learned that Lin Jiadong won the award, and he could not hide his joy in posting on the official website: Congratulations to the emperor! Congratulations to Jia Dong, your efforts, I saw it, and the film circle also saw it! Proud of you...
Enjoy acting
After becoming the emperor of the film, Lin Jiadong was more strict with himself, he frankly said: "Others have given you affirmation and honor, and you must do better." What is rare is that he still remains sober, the mentality is not unbalanced, he once told the media that "the relationship between winning the award or not taking the award is not too big, and now the biggest boss is the audience, if the performance is not good, it is useless to say anything."
After becoming a film emperor, life has also undergone some changes, many companies invite Lin Jiadong to play the main role, but Lin Jiadong will not easily give up the principle of his own film selection, "If you play a protagonist who has nothing to play, I don't think it is interesting; some films, I just shoot two scenes, but there is room for play, I enjoy it." ”
When he is not filming, he observes the people around him and chats with different people to prepare for future roles. When he goes to the tea restaurant to eat, he will listen to what is being talked about at the next table, chat with police friends, listen to police stories, observe how reporters interview and speak, and only accumulate for future roles. "Talk more to understand ah, if you don't talk, filming can only be imagined." Lin Jiadong is not willing to act by imagination.
Nowadays, many audiences have seen Lin Jiadong again in films such as "Anti-Corruption Storm 4" and "Chasing Dragons 2", and his performance is still very good. He is still the Lin Jiadong that the audience is familiar with, he maintains humility, he acts steadily, he says: "I am Lin Jiadong, and it is enough for the audience to remember my role and this face." ”