The Paper's reporter Chen Chen
The movie "Sweeping Black And Decisive Battle" is not the hottest movie in may 1, but it is a beautiful staged "counterattack". From the initial hasty setting of the file is not high heat, to the "most crowded in history" May Day holiday all the way with solid cases and excellent character portrayal, constantly surpassing the more luxurious films of the star cast division to rise to the top three at the box office.
This decisive battle is mainly between Jiang Wu and Zhang Songwen, two mesozoic powerful actors, the calm and solid performance of the two actors gives the film an inherent sense of tension and tension, while another kind of exposed violent emotion comes from Jin Shijia, who plays the main villain Sun Zhibiao.
Stills from "Sweeping Black And Decisive Battle", Jin Shijia played Sun Zhibiao
This character, who is truly considered "fierce and vicious", is always angry and vicious in the movie, arrogant, and his voice is high to show his undisguised malice to everyone.
When it comes to the role he created this time, Jin Shijia no longer expresses a certain "sense of distance" between the role and the role as he talked about many roles in the past - like the previous liang "River God 2", he said that he did not read much script or read the previous work, and his requirement for himself was "don't smash my hand"; Cai Kangyong's "Love to Eat" found him, and the reason for his refusal was, "Ordinary love drama, change someone to act the same"; Zhou Xun of "Twenty Not Confused", he said that he just rehearsed a drama in Shanghai. The crew was willing to stagger the entire rehearsal time for him, but he was really embarrassed...
When the book of "Sweeping Black And Decisive Battle" came into his hands, he had a rare creative impulse, and that intuitive feeling was called, "Eh, this has to be performed." This impulse is not related to the identification or empathy for the role, or what kind of expression ambition or meaning can be given, it is purely to feel that as an actor, he can use his skills to give the character a unique color.
Director Lu Yu said that the first time he met Jin Shijia after reading the script of "Sweeping Black And Decisive Battle", he gave more than twenty understandings about the characters. On this point, when the reporter asked him for confirmation, he said that it was because Sun Zhibiao had a total of more than twenty scenes, and he made annotations and designs for each one, and modified and played the characters, some of which were retained by the director, including the famous "throwing money" scene.
After the movie was released, some people said that Jin Shijia's performance was the biggest surprise, and there were also many voices who thought that he was too strong and very dramatic. Jin Shijia saw such doubts and also gave the reason for choosing "force" - because the gray belongs to the "two-faced man" Zhang Songwen, and in terms of the color of the whole movie, Jin Shijia is responsible for the black and white black. Many times, he is a person who loves to compete, saying that he is not talented, but he is more real and cannot stop thinking.
Not only for the role of Sun Zhibiao, Jin Shijia has always been quite "hard" for acting. Although he has not acted in many plays over the years, but in addition to acting in film and television dramas, he must release himself on the drama stage, after performing Tian Qinxin's "Wild Ride", he decided to "never tell lies again" with Tian Han as the beacon of life; he also once did not shoot for a long time because he felt that there was no worthwhile role, so some producers complained that he said: "Acting is so good, but always want to be an artist, this does not shoot that, do not shoot, in vain delayed these years." ”
Jin Shijia
Regarding Jin Shijia's "screw-up", it has often been mentioned in various interviews about him over the years. When "Love Apartment" was popular, he did not "hit the iron while it was hot" with several other creators, but studied in Japan, while working and studying, while feeling the taste of another drunken performance. He was awakened by a Japanese acting teacher's "shame in being an actor", and this "shame" allowed him to maintain a sober and self-conscious, sometimes even angry, for more than a decade.
For the performance, Jin Shijia seems to have always held a high degree of enthusiasm and awe. You talk to him about performance, and he can analyze and dismantle various theoretical schools, and go back to the roots and talk about the religious sacrifice rituals of ancient Greece. Recalling that when she went to school in the theater, Jin Shijia said that she was the kind of student who was "very diligent, but not very popular with teachers" because he was "a little strange".
Compared with the liveliness and agility of many acting children, he studied performance in a "stuffy reading" way, liked to soak in the library, excavated the works of playwrights of different eras around the world, and asked the teacher when he returned to class whether he could line up this row, and sometimes the work was unpopular to the teacher: "How do you remember to act this play?" ”
When he was a freshman, he got a scholarship, because other students returned to class in one semester to hand over seven or eight works, he played more than 40 roles alone, in addition to the professional classes in his own department, he also went to ask the senior sisters of the senior directing department to let them help themselves arrange fragments and actively participate in the works of other departments, "20 people in the directing department, I will ask one by one, help me line this row, is it okay?" But when the graduating teacher suggested that he stay in school to teach after the graduate school, he rebelled and competed why this discipline was an art, and the writing of the thesis had to cite the existing views and works to prove that a certain performance choice was "right".
Before that, Jin Shijia had been practicing swimming in the water for more than ten years and had won the national championship, but he had a resolute retreat before preparing for the Beijing Olympics. The same is that he feels that he is "not talented enough", swimming makes him tired, and he loses all meaning without winning the championship, but performance is an art that can constantly seek techniques and find acquaintances. "If people say Jin Shijia is handsome, it won't make me very happy. But I would be happy if someone said he liked my performance, analyzed why I did a certain action, or interpreted the design points. I think that being an actor is the process of constantly finding a confidant. ”
【Dialogue】
Sun Zhibiao, sick
The Paper: In the past news, it is often seen that you will be picky about the role of docking, so why did you choose Sun Zhibiao, a role that is so bad that there is almost no complexity?
Jin Shijia: For me, it doesn't matter if I play a good person or a bad person, I have to feel, alas, this has to be acted! It gives me the motivation and desire to create.
Of course, you will think about its complexity, but the space about this character is limited, and if you insist on adding something, you can't add anything to make this person more complete, but it will be noisy, so later I think more about doing subtraction to make this person simpler. The complex character that this film focuses on portraying is Mr. Songwen, and I am actually a bond between the three people. After black and white are clearly distinguished, the gray in the middle will appear more colorful.
The Paper: Some viewers also feel that your performance in it is "too strong", do you agree with this evaluation?
Jin Shijia: I knew from the beginning of acting that this kind of acting method may not be something that everyone likes and can accept, and even the director sometimes feels on the scene that I am not too much. But I still enjoy the feeling of that. The audience may feel that the acting should be a little more calm and stable, but I chose to make everything very facial and externalized.
I also read some comments from netizens, such as some people saying that my voice is still very childish, not like a big brother in the underworld, etc., I have thought about these treatments. Sun Zhibiao is actually a small fart child, a person who does not understand anything, but he can call the wind and rain, which can reflect the darkness of the protective umbrella behind him. Do you think that Jiang Wu, as the leader of the anti-gang crime and anti-evil task force that came down from above, could be toyed with by such a person who has no culture, no humanity and moral concepts, and is particularly short-sighted and low-level at first glance? The knowledge, life, and experience of two people are not equal at all.
In the end, Sun Zhibiao also took a sniper rifle to hit people, which was already more than the average underworld group would do. I asked the director at the time, and I said how is this possible? He said the man was really sick. So I am acting in the way he is "sick", the reason why he speaks so loudly, the expression on his face is so much, and he does everything so hard, because he is sick. He's not a big boss behind the scenes, he's just a little minion, a beam-jumping clown who is arrogant because of the umbrella behind his back.
Stills from "Sweeping Black And Decisive Battle"
The Paper: Sun Zhibiao is still very far away from your own life, and many situations cannot be substituted. What are some ways to make you feel like you can get close to the characters?
Jin Shijia: There was a scene where Sun Zhibiao killed people in a slaughterhouse, and I was deeply impressed. It's a real slaughterhouse where you can see butchers killing pigs. Pigs may be able to perceive that they are dying, constantly screaming and struggling, and there is no trace of panic or doubt in the butcher's eyes, and each pig pulls over and snaps a knife, and then kicks a bloodletting basin under the pig's head, and then pulls down a pig to kill, like a machine. That picture was particularly shocking to me. At the beginning, I went to tell the butcher, can I kill a knife, the butcher will give me the knife, let me wipe it on the neck of the pig, it is actually quite simple, but I take the knife, I dare not go down. Later, I thought, I can't kill a pig, how can I kill people?
In the end I didn't wipe the knife, I didn't think it was needed. You're borrowing from the cold-blooded part of the butcher, not the part of your own inner struggle and compassion. I later thought that when the pig was killed, its cry and its struggle, as long as it was on the scene, it would get goosebumps, but when we ate braised pork every day, we never thought about where the pig came from, what it looked like when it was killed. No one thinks that way.
Not "method school", just method
The Paper: Many people will say that you are a "methodist", in fact, few Actors in China will wear a genre label, what do you think about this?
Jin Shijia: I don't know how it started, but I'm not a "methodist". I may have said that we should "use methods", but this is not the same thing as methods at all. The Method school is a very pure and complete theoretical system that emerged in the United States in the fifties and sixties, and I have not completely used that method to act, but I will use various methods when shaping the role.
If I were to wrap or label me with theory, I don't think very few of the labelers themselves really understood what those theoretical schools really meant. Now many public accounts or short videos, spend a few minutes, just want to popularize a thing with you, modern media always try to choose the shortest way to give you a result, but this shortcut in the concept of a lot of things itself are wrong.
The Paper: You came from a science class, and after graduating from theater, you went to Japan and Europe to study performance theory, did the performance theory of different factions have an impact on you?
Jin Shijia: The theory definitely has an impact. My acting philosophy is probably a little more European. The acting thing itself came from Europe, and since the ancient Greek sacrifices began to have actors, acting was a religious form at that time. Perhaps the biggest difference from what we have now is that the actors at that time played not a role in the communication between man and God. Can you understand? In ancient Greek drama, there were animal natures, human natures, and divinities. Bestiality is not a pejorative term, it is the most basic desire, it is neutral, it reacts to the basic conditions of existence of hunger, danger, food and clothing; human nature is evil, jealousy, greed, these evil flowers bloom from human nature, right? But at the same time, man has both a noble and divine temperament, such as compassion, kindness, and dedication.
Therefore, when the actor is acting, he actually chooses to show the animal nature, human nature or divinity of the role, and the drama where you only show the divinity is definitely not liked by anyone. So, that's how I choose to perform, and it's me as a medium who decides what parts of the audience see? This kind of analysis of the role and the way they choose to perform will be very different from the way some actors completely start from their own experience, to bring emotions, to make a subconscious response to the performance.
The Paper: There are a lot of rival scenes with Zhang Songwen this time, he is a very "real" actor, has it given you some inspiration?
Jin Shijia: Later, you saw that the 7-minute-long monologue clip that was released was actually a biography of the character. He is a person who will make the character biography very delicate. If it is a perfect state of shooting, there is no doubt that Stanislavsky's experiential school is the best, the most solid, the most useful. But when we were filming, we were faced with 10 scenes a day, so how do you use Steiny to act?
When I first graduated from college, I was particularly concerned about this aspect, and I wondered why I shouldn't give me a little more time to prepare. But when you're on the scene, you'll hear the sigh of a light, a housework, or any other staff member. That sigh seems to blame you: this man is looking for trouble again, and he can't finish his work on time today. Maybe they don't have it, but the damage to the actor's self-esteem is particularly large, and the blow to the actor in the process of creating the role is also particularly large, which is why I still go back to the drama from time to time. I need something that's not so hurried that I can think about slowly.
The Paper: Is there a kind of sympathy between you as an "untimely" actor?
Jin Shijia: He's an actor that I think is particularly rare in China. He did not give up after a long period of precipitation, so that he could have the kind of skill that now plays everything different from everyone else, and he does not have the kind of "life" that we call a TV drama actor. I'm actually very happy to see such an actor come out. This is true of myself, including myself, because I am out of place in some ways, and I will become a little different from others. This point is different, which may initially make some people think that this person has a "brain problem", but now this difference may become a feature. This involves the most basic question of what you will get pleasure in.
Anyway, I purely hope to get pleasure from acting and satisfaction from life, I can't accept it, always play similar scripts, play repetitive roles, I can't accept it every day in the crew in the morning, everyone drinks in the evening, everyone is happy. I have always felt that the source of artistic creation is dissatisfaction with life, dissatisfaction with yourself, dissatisfaction with the people around you, because only dissatisfaction, you will transform him.
The Paper: So when you were on the crew, didn't you go drinking with everyone? Doesn't this actually cost you some opportunities?
Jin Shijia: Don't go. Don't go, especially now that it's more than 30, almost 40, there are some opportunities from the wine table, but such an opportunity will be a good opportunity? I want you to know that you chose me because you thought Jin Shijia could give something different, so he chose me, not because I drank with him, he was my good friend, and I thought we might have passed this stage.
Enjoy your own "screwba", boring is the biggest sadness in life
The Paper: You know someone commented that you were screwed, right?
Jin Shijia: I am quite screwed, screwba is actually especially true with myself, now a lot better, can enjoy life more with the encounter.
In the past, I always caused trouble for others, and I always didn't do what others asked me to do, and then they had to tolerate me. There are some very popular dramas, people also give a lot of money, and then I don't go, I don't act for money.
The Paper: So why didn't you go then?
Jin Shijia: There was a time when I was living in the mountains and studying with a Japanese teacher, and I felt that I had purified my whole person for two months, and by acting in ancient Greek dramas, I had reached the state that I had just told you, and I felt like communicating with God. And then after coming back, you asked me to play a domineering president who fell in love with me? I think it's too ridiculous, I want to play the domineering president, why should I go up the mountain? What is the significance of my ascent? Isn't that a joke? I also enjoy this state of screwing. I think that when a person lives a life that doesn't matter what you live, your life is particularly boring, and boring is the biggest sadness in life.
Screenshot of "Twenty Not Confused", Jin Shijia plays Zhou Xun
The Paper: You are so resistant to the domineering president, but one of the characters that makes you a fan the most seems to be really a hegemonic character, Zhou Xunhuo, what do you feel?
Jin Shijia: Honestly, so many people will like it, it is really a thing I did not expect. I'm okay, and it doesn't make me particularly happy either, but honestly, it's more about being vigilant. Because young people increasingly do not know what the standard of a work is "good", even the industry is not based on the standard of an art, but according to a lot of data, popularity to make a judgment. It seems that when there are these things, it is called "success". If my choice had been like that, I would have gone crazy to shoot something more appealing to the audience, and then bought all kinds of hot searches, spent money on publicity, etc., and of course, it didn't say that I chose my current path, which is a little more advanced than the people who do that.
The Paper: You have a strong sense of identity in the performance of "Wild Ride", but after more than ten years in the industry, in the field of film and television dramas, it seems that I have hardly seen you express that I like a certain role of yours, is it a role that you like and identify with?
Jin Shijia: No. I think you can meet a character in your life that comes from the soul, and you should be grateful to Dade. This is a particularly difficult thing. In terms of film and television dramas, I think I have been too anxious, and if I am given a little more time, I can definitely act better. In addition, I don't think I've ever met a director who really understands me. My expression is actually quite niche, but now that someone can keep looking for me to act, I feel quite content and grateful.
The Paper: Like you just said about maintaining dissatisfaction with life, is there one thing that has made you feel happy from the bottom of your heart in recent life?
Jin Shijia: Yes. I recently read a particularly good book, Mu Xin's "Literary Memoirs.".
Editor-in-charge: Cheng Yu
Proofreader: Shi Gong