Ji Yongqing said: "Playing devils is too restricted, can not have love, can not have brotherhood, sometimes we act again 'hi', in the end may just be entertaining ourselves." ”
Ki Yongqing, who played the role of a Japanese villain in "Sniper Force" and "Legend of the Predator Team".
Even though the 5A-level scenic spot of Hengdian Film and TELEVISION City is full of more than a dozen historical scenes that travel through time and space, most Chinese still can't help but associate this place name with words such as "anti-Japanese" and "devil". Hengdian's "anti-Japanese reputation" is so loud that many viewers even completely ignore that there are many anti-war dramas that are "from" Wang Zuo, Huai Rou and Zhangjiakou.
As early as the end of last year, there was news that in order to greet the 70th anniversary of the victory of this year's anti-fascist war, more than 40 crews filming anti-fascist dramas would be "stationed" in Hengdian, and "90% of the crews were fighting devils." Hengdian in June has entered the sweltering rainy season, but there are still more than 20 anti-war drama crews braving the scorching heat to "rush for work".
In these crews, in addition to the bright positive roles, the mass actors who constantly change the uniforms of the Eighth Route Army, the Kuomintang Army and the Japanese "Imperial Army", as well as a group of actors who have played the negative roles in the play for many years and Japanese officers at all levels, they are not as eye-catching as the positive roles, but they are equally important in the eyes of directors and producers. Their understanding of the performance may not be the same, but they are playing similar roles - they are all "devils" in the eyes of the audience, and perhaps only the actors themselves can understand the differences in each role.
Young returnees who play devils to level up
In June, Hengdian officially entered the rainy season, in Bayi Village, 20 minutes south of Hengdian Town, continuous heavy rain disrupted the crew's location shooting plan, actor Sun Yimu nestled in the room of the Long March Hotel for several days, did not take a step out of the hotel, even if it was to eat, it was also to let the assistant buy a takeaway.
The three-star hotel is the only place to stay in the mountains, with more than a thousand beds already carved up by four filming crews, actors dressed as Nezha walking past the costumes covered with earth-yellow Japanese military uniforms with their phones in disguise — props that have long since lost their feel for actors who may spend several months a year in Hengdian.
Among the four crews staying at the Long March Hotel, there were two who filmed "anti-war dramas", and Sun Yimu's "Blood And Blood Going to the Country" is one of them. Since 2012, when he began to play the "anti-no. 1" Japanese officer Yamagata in the TV series "Hunting and Killing", this is the fifth anti-war drama filmed by Sun Yimu, playing the role without exception, all of which are "anti-no. 1".
"I have almost played all the roles of the Japanese army's ranks, from second lieutenant and major general to major general, I have almost never played a small soldier with a 'fart curtain', and the uniforms of the Japanese army during 'World War II' are now more familiar to me than anyone." Sun Yimu looked at the two sets of green and yellow Japanese military uniforms and the matching black and brown boots that the assistant had just taken out of the clothing room, and said to us: "I prefer this military uniform at the end of World War II, because the white shirt inside is a pointed collar." ”
Sun Yimu's favorite set of military uniforms is exactly the military uniform worn by the Japanese soldiers who "jade crushed" for the sake of guarding the island in the Japanese movie "Iwo Jima Family Book" (the 64th Golden Globe Gold Awards of the film) - he has considerable confidence in his aesthetics, because in addition to acting, he is also the darling of the fashion industry, close to 1 meter 9 height, and a muscle block, such "hardware" is rare in mainland showbiz circles; More importantly, being born in a high-cadre family and later having a long-term overseas study experience gave Sun Yimu a "international" temperament that was rarely seen in Chinese actors. If it weren't for him chatting with people and holding up his mobile phone to watch the stock market, it would be difficult for others to imagine that this "type male" actor actually graduated from the University of Ontario in Canada with a major in finance.
This degree was a compromise between him and his family. When Sun Yimu was a child, he often followed his grandfather in and out of Zhongnanhai, and his parents also served in the government department, and the family's expectations of him were both serious and free. Sun Yimumeng's idea of growing up to be an actor originated from the golden age of Hong Kong cinema around 1990 Chow Yun Fat, Zhang Guorong and other film stars raised their hands, when he clearly told his mother his ideals, the family gave him the opinion: No one in the family has ever been an actor, and I have never seen you have a talent for acting since childhood.
After graduating from a Canadian university, his parents kept their promise and gave him the freedom to enter the show business. Years of studying abroad experience has also benefited him a lot in the process of becoming an actor, and his self-discipline, taste and vision are indeed rare among actors of the same age.
Ki Yongqing (second from left) and three other Japanese officers and soldiers play the role.
Every night before 11 o'clock a glass of red wine to help sleep, unless filming needs to stay up late, when there is no drama in Beijing, every morning to soak in the gym for two hours, is also a regular star volleyball team and basketball team competition.
"My body fat percentage is now only 7%." He folded his hands, and his tone was full of satisfaction with his state, "You say that how many male actors in the mainland now dare to take off their shirts and show muscles?"
This shooting is the second time that Sun Yimu came to Hengdian, he did not bring much luggage, and many daily necessities were sent by courier after placing orders on the Internet after arriving here. When the weather improves, some actors will choose to call the familiar black car master, take the car to the town under the mountain to meet friends, eat, and clubbing, while Sun Yimu is willing to close the door, put jazz music with a portable BOSE speaker, do simple fitness with a healthy belly wheel and a spring puller, and then make tea and read a book. He has a table in the hotel with beef sticks, old dry mother, oatmeal and protein powder, and when entertaining visitors, he will conjure up the best Pu-erh tea, coffee and cigars.
On the floor-to-ceiling glass window separated from the room and the balcony, sun Yimu is densely written in traditional Chinese characters and the approximate background of the plot, such as "8-38, 40, 44, 45, 49 and a man sneak attack failed, a man was killed", representing the performance of his character in the 38th, 40th, 44th, 45th and 49th scenes of Episode 8. The latest memo entry is written in Episode 16, because by the time we interviewed, the script was only written here.
Between chats, Sun Yimu constantly urged his assistant to go to the screenwriter's room to ask for the script of the latest seventeenth episode, "I saw the first version of the script in March, and gave me the second version in April. As a result, they all set up groups here, and the previous scripts were all overturned, and I had spent the previous two months thinking about the idea and preparation of the role. When the assistant took back the script of the new episode and told him that this episode did not have his role, Sun Yimu smiled helplessly, "You say that I have done something bad in these two months?"
This is not the first time Sun Yimu "learned" to shoot a war scene. At the beginning of Sun Yimu's return to the development of the mainland showbiz circle, he signed his acting company owner and familiar directors and producers, for his excellent appearance conditions and slightly gloomy temperament, unanimously believed that he was suitable for playing the role of Japanese officers in the anti-war drama, "Hunting" made him a hit in the circle, and the image of Japanese officers was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The next two anti-war dramas were basically performed under the same director, until last year's "Jinge Iron Horse", Sun Yimu was "out of" the circle of acquaintances.
However, during the filming of this "gift for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region", he also cried and laughed several times. When the group was established, he went to Shenyang to report, and when he saw the director, he respectfully said a sentence of "director is good", and the director looked at him for half a day and asked: Who are you?
Sun Yimu instantly blushed and said cautiously: I am the "anti-number one" you picked...
The director gave a long "Oh", patted him on the shoulder, and pointed to the athleisure clothes on his body and said, "I have seen you wearing a ghost military uniform on TV, you are dressed like this, I don't recognize you!"
The filming of that drama spanned autumn and winter, which can be described as a double day of ice and fire compared with the current humid and hot Hengdian. Sun Yimu wore seven layers from the inside out: Uniqlo's close-fitting thin thermal underwear, Arctic velvet thermal underwear, light down vests, Japanese white shirts and tweed military uniforms, a thin down jacket worn outside, and finally a set of Nike long down jackets that football players had knees in winter training.
Of course, the shooting of Hengdian in the rainy season was also guilty, even if he wore a tank top and pants and put himself into the thick military uniform and riding boots of the Japanese army, the "earth bombs" that exploded on the shooting scene and the heat released by the lights were enough for him to steam a gray-headed sauna outside in the sweltering heat. In Sun Yimu's WeChat circle of friends, the most common photo is his selfie dressed in a Japanese officer's uniform and "blown up" on the battlefield.
When he first filmed the anti-japanese war scene in 2012, Sun Yimu, who had almost no concept of the history of the war since childhood, was very serious, not only bought such a famous book as "Chrysanthemum and the Knife", but also spent two months pulling Japanese people working there to chat in cafes and bars in Beijing's Guomao to figure out the Japanese character.
"Playing devils, we must seize their 'superior' respect, humility, and 'downward' authority and domineering." Sun Yimu said. When it came to the fifth anti-war drama, he was already familiar with playing the Japanese army, although after receiving the script, he would also design some scenes for the roles he played, but he also showed a hint of fatigue, for the simple reason: "Our actors performed brilliantly on the set, and these scenes may still be deleted after the final film is sent to trial." ”
In his last anti-war scene, he had many scenes sent for trial and then asked to be deleted, on the grounds that "the eyes of Japanese officers were too sharp." For the anti-war dramas that flooded the TV, Sun Yimu never watched, preferring to spend time watching foreign Blu-ray dvrs.
So will it be boring to play similar roles? Sun Yimu's answer is that he likes to perform a kind of image to the extreme. He does not agree with the saying that "actors should have a wide path of drama", believing that in the era of industrial assembly line production in the film and television industry, it is already good to be a type actor who can penetrate the hearts of the people.
"Playing the Japanese army now is kindergarten learning for me." He went to Jackie Chan's "Jedi Escape" to make a cameo role last year, and before he left, he applied with a makeup artist to shave off the beard he had been growing for the character. On the set of Jackie Chan's films, the huge and orderly team, logistics support, the professionalism of the "family class", including Jackie Chan's own diligence in performing, all made him unforgettable, and also made him firm in his determination to act in "big movies" in the future. Later, the photographer of the film crew fell into the sea, which made him sad for a long time: "Because my lens was taken by him, it was difficult to accept this reality at that time." ”
After waiting in the hotel for three days, the rain in Hengdian temporarily stopped, and the director hurried to shoot the location scene. Sun Yimu and his assistant drove an hour to a wooded location, got off the bus, put on their military uniforms three times and five times, reflexively raised their tone by a few degrees, and muttered a word of Japanese. There is only one scene: michiko, the lover of "Takeshi Doihara" (said to be based on Kenji Toi), is kidnapped by the resistance forces, and halfway through the pursuit, Dohara sees the kimono hanging on the branches, thinks about it a little, points to the left-hand side and says to his subordinates: "Chase this side!" Originally, the script also had Dohara frantic, angry and desperate shouting: "Michiko, where are you?!" However, Sun Yimu auditioned for a while, feeling that the emotions were "not matched", and really could not shout out, and suggested deleting this plot with the executive director.
The performance went well, auditioned several times, and after the extras were familiar with the position, the play passed once. Sun Yimu, who took off his costume, ran to ask the director for a leave of absence—hundreds of kilometers away in Shanghai, a fashion pageant was waiting for him to play a cameo role.
Sun Yimu, played the Turkish villain Hara Takeshi in "Blood And Blood Goes to the Country".
I don't want to play the devil's big brother again
"Did you know that many people call Hengdian 'Hengguo', and friends who don't see each other all year round in Beijing can always meet here." At 4:30 a.m., Ji Yongqing took us on the Street of Hengdian where the shop had closed, and a dozen bottles of Qiandao Lake beer made people a little drunk, but Ji Yongqing did not have time to rest, because before six o'clock, the crew's car was about to leave for a set called Fang Yan.
Fang Yan is located more than 40 kilometers southwest of Hengdian, and the shooting site is in a canyon, and there is no mobile phone signal. The flocks of moso bamboo in the valley are thick in the mouth, and the groundwater cascades down from the top of the mountain to form a waterfall, and a clear stream rushes out of the bamboo forest. Ji Yongqing's "Mission of Hope" crew built a "secret base of the Japanese army" here, and the entrance to the "base" was actually a dark cave, and if people entered, they would startle several bats.
In the humid morning bamboo forest, the assistants placed small boxes containing the actor's belongings and snacks next to the table under the simple tent, and set up the outdoor folding chairs they brought. Two actors, side by side under a tent, playing decent characters and playing the opposite Japanese army, tacitly sat around two tables according to the "camp", changed into costumes, and waited for the makeup artist with a makeup bag on his waist to put on the makeup.
Ji Yongqing and his three "subordinates" changed into somewhat damp Japanese military uniforms, put their feet into the boots he bought for himself at the Beijing military store before the establishment of the group, opened the script that he had drawn with a marker pen, and began to "prepare for the play." Two of the three subordinates were Ji Yongqing's "devil" partners in the "Anti-Japanese Armed Workers Brigade", and he was called "Ji Ge".
But this day's schedule obviously did not follow the shooting plan drawn up the night before, and the sun had already shone into the canyon at eight o'clock, and there was still no "imperial army" scene. Ji Yongqing, who had not slept well for a few days, explained to his assistant, moved a folding chair out of the tent, slept in the sun, and the three "subordinates" played with the mobile phone without signal for a while, and also put on the blindfold and began to take a nap.
After sleeping until eleven o'clock, the mobile phone finally came the notice of the director of group A saying that the shooting began - in order to catch up with the progress of the general TV series shooting, it is often led by two or three executive directors on the set, shooting different plots, and then editing the film later - Ji Yongqing was shaken awake by the assistant, quickly entered the state, his eyes were bright, the makeup artist came to make up the empty space, he kept using his hands to smooth the prints on the cheekbones that were pressed out by the military epaulettes when he slept.
About to shoot a "confrontation" bridge section, Ji Yongqing played by "Yamamoto Shaosa" forced a group of young special operators of the Nationalist army who defected to Yan'an to the bottom of the cliff, after a few lines of exchange, the two sides raised their guns high and fired at each other, and the Japanese army was scattered.
However, the bridge section on the script is only twenty lines of text, but it took more than an hour, on the one hand, because the director had to shoot separate sub-shots for many actors, which required the actors to perform repeatedly; On the other hand, because the young, handsome, and beautiful actors and actresses who play positive roles lack experience in period dramas, "Shaosa" and "General" are commonplace, and when the mood is brewing wrong, a sub-camera director can only keep reshooting.
Such a blocked shooting rhythm also made it difficult for Ji Yongqing to be emotionally full all the time, and a few lines began to change slightly in his mouth. The director saw the situation and first mobilized both sides to shoot the shooting scene, and then let Ji Yongqing himself face the camera and play the several storyboards with lines alone.
After this scene was performed, the crew's box lunch had been delivered. There were only twenty minutes to eat, so the actors simply grabbed chopsticks in costumes. Ji Yongqing was more fond of dried tofu at noon on this day, and sandwiched two more pieces from the lunch box of the "hand".
In the afternoon, Ji Yongqing received a notice to transfer from Group A to Group B and go to another location to shoot. As soon as I arrived at the place with the golden cup of bread, the light rain began to fall again. Compared with the morning "only move the mouth and do not move" to release the empty gun, here is to shoot a Japanese ambush bridge section.
Ji Yongqing led his men and a group of extras dressed in "Imperial Army" costumes up the hillside, holding a German pickle in his hand, the board fell, and the two small explosion points buried in the soil layer in advance exploded, imitating the effect of bullets shooting into the soil, and then the gunfire was loud, and the "earth bombs" made of fertilizer exploded in turn, the soil blocks brushed on the face, the bamboo leaves fell from the sky, and the "Japanese army" was in a dilemma on the steep hillside.
Because there is no need to take a scene, the shooting of this scene is very smooth, the executive director of group B is very satisfied with the performance of "Brother Ji", after the big scene is filmed, he let him make up two shots with "his hands", and the day's shooting task ends here.
In the evening from Fang Yan back to Hengdian's car, Ji Yongqing was very relaxed after changing out of his costume and played a game of hilarity with his "little brother". His improvisational performances are very skilled, like at the wine table, and when it comes to how well the actor who plays the Japanese shogun in "The Indelible Horn" is, he can immediately jump up from the stool and jump on the Japanese noh drama that the actor skipped in the play. When it comes to the nationality of the Japanese, he can also perform the military salutes performed by the American, Chinese, French, British, German and Japanese armies, and tell you a story from it.
Many young actors are willing to follow Ji Yongqing to "help", the reason is probably that the "Brother Ji" who has passed the confusion has a peaceful mentality, usually can take care of the younger generations, and Zhang Luo's meal in Hengdian, where everyone meets in Pingshui. This peaceful and caring habit may come from his experience of jumping when he was young: he became a soldier, learned to act in a local drama troupe after retiring from the army, went to Beijing to test Beiying and was quietly obstructed by the unit, and entered the acting training class of the film and television company in anger.
20 years ago, Ji Yongqing debuted as "Pumpkin" in his debut TV series "Urban Cattle Herding", and friends who have a deep friendship with him still call him "Pumpkin". However, the death of the male lead actor of this film made Ji Yongqing, who was a classmate of the same period of the training class, feel indifferent and gave up his dream of being an actor to go to the sea to do business. When he was in business, Ji Yongqing once reached a peak in his life materially, and he even invested millions of dollars in a TV series on CCTV, but "at that time, he didn't feel that he still wanted to act."
But following the "big brother" to do business is not a long time, they lost the bottom in the futures market, Ji Yongqing was also implicated in the lawsuit. After a period of worrying days, he returned to Beijing and never wanted to get involved in the commercial sea, so he wanted to go back and forth, or go to acting.
Under the "promotion" of his former classmates, Ji Yongqing's first play to return to his role as an actor was the famous director Hu Mei's Republic of China drama "Wangzu", who did not act for more than ten years, he just finished his lines, Hu Mei shouted in the microphone: What happened to this supporting role? There is no drama on the body!
Ji Yongqing is still very grateful to Hu Mei and the male protagonist of that play, Wang Ban, because after knowing his situation, instead of losing patience to replace him, they came to him to talk to him and let him relax. After filming the second scene, Hu Mei said: It is many times better than the beginning, and it is safe to have another one.
"Later, when I watched the film, I actually acted very badly." Ji Yongqing recalled, "I know that she completely encouraged me, so did Wang Ban, you know, if the supporting role plays with the protagonist, the protagonist says 'I can't play this person', then the damage to the self-esteem of the supporting character can be said to be fatal." ”
In order to regain his self-confidence, Ji Yongqing, who has returned to being an actor, once "starved and did not choose food" in the play, what book, what role, as long as he can play, he will never resign, so the positive characters played a lot.
In fact, Ji Yongqing's history of playing the "devil" is not long, in 2011 he only played a negative role for the first time in "God of War", and in the new version of "Bright Sword" in the same year, he was also the deputy commander of the Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army who dared to call "Li Yunlong", "Xing Zhiguo". However, with the 2013 "Military Commander-in-Chief" and gold medal producer Zhao Junkai filming "Behind enemy lines" filmed on several star tv, Ji Yongqing played the conceited and gloomy image of the Japanese special forces captain "Yan Maru" in it was greatly recognized by the audience, especially in a "heads-up" scene with the male number one, the leader of the martial arts team "Wang Liang", his eyes narrowed slightly, the corners of his mouth hung with confidence and sinister expressions, so that many entertainment media as screenshots of the report - from now on, Many producers and directors began to invite him to play the "anti-number one" of anti-war dramas.
"No way, now even if it is a war drama, the protagonist who plays a positive image has to pick small fresh meat with high appearance, the audience likes to watch, and the director has to follow the market." Ji Yongqing said half-jokingly.
Although he was comfortable playing the role of "Japanese army", the filmed film often made him feel a little frustrated when he returned from the trial, and in his last play as the Japanese army, his role was finally deleted more than 100 times.
"There are too many restrictions on playing devils, there can be no love, there can be no brotherhood, sometimes we act 'hi' again, and in the end it may just be for self-amusement." 」 Ji Yongqing took a sip of beer and said leisurely, "I am not an age that I don't pick at any drama now, if it were not for human feelings, I would probably no longer take on the role of a devil in the future." ”
On the night of the last day of the interview with Ji Yongqing, our photographer proposed that "Brother Ji" take three of his "men" dressed in The Film's Japanese military uniforms and take a few photos at the night market in Hengdian. Facts have proved that although the audience has turned a blind eye to the war drama on television, and the Hengdian people are familiar with the hundreds of actors gathered here in dozens of anti-war dramas, when someone wearing a ghost costume appears in the street late at night that emits the smell of spicy crayfish and stir-fried seafood, it will still arouse curiosity and onlookers, and even attract the police.
Fiction and reality, even in Hengdian, are still distinct.