Today, October 14, 2020, is the 44th birthday of actor Zhang Zhen. Happy birthday to the male god! In the hearts of many film fans, even if Zhang Zhen has not won a weighty film emperor award so far, he is already the best actor of the same age.
Zhang Zhen was born in 1976 in Taipei, Taiwan Province, the son of Zhang Guozhu and the older brother Zhang Han are actors. Zhang Zhen has been in the film for more than thirty years, and when he was four years old, he followed his father and participated in the movie "Practice Questions". In 1990, starting from Zhang Zhen's filming of "The Juvenile Murder Incident on Muling Street", he officially stepped into the film and television circle. Zhang Zhen has shot no more than forty films, although the number is not much, but most of the films he participated in were cooperated with very stylish directors, known as the "famous director harvester" among the actors, let's review the important directors Zhang Zhen has worked with in his film career.
Yang Dechang - the person who changed Zhang Zhen's personality
Director Yang Dechang is known as the "scalpel of Taiwanese society", and most of the films directed by him are criticizing the Taiwanese society at that time through the stories of ordinary people one after another, showing the changes of the times and the confusion of the people. Director Yang Dechang's works have been shortlisted for international film festivals many times, and the last film "Yiyi" won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1989, Yang De planned to make his fourth film, "The Juvenile Murder Incident on Muling Street", hoping to frame a 60s in the film. Yang Dechang and Zhang Zhen's father Zhang Guozhu are good friends, so they often go to Zhang Guozhu's home to discuss movies, because Yang Dechang decided to use a large number of non-professional actors, so the actor of the male protagonist "Little Four" has not been determined. When Yang Dechang was at a loss, he accidentally met his son Zhang Zhen at Zhang Guozhu's home, so he immediately identified Zhang Zhen as "Little Fourth".
Zhang Zhen once said: "Director Yang Dechang is very fierce on the set, he will drop things, and everyone on the set who is angry has escaped." I remember the director's room was on the second floor, and I would never go to the second floor if I was okay. Zhang Zhen said that he began to fear the director from that time.
Zhang Zhen was lively and playful when he was a child, when filming "The Juvenile Murder Incident on Muling Street", director Yang Dechang was unable to show the heaviness and shock of the role because Zhang Zhen could not show the heaviness and shock of the role, so he pulled Zhang Zhen to the room and scolded him, and then turned off the lights in the room, making him think about the wall, and then Zhang Zhen, who was frightened, successfully filmed the feeling that Director Yang Dechang needed. Although Zhang Zhen became the youngest candidate for the Golden Horse Film Emperor with "The Juvenile Murder Incident on Muling Street", his personality has changed dramatically since then.
In 1996, Zhang Zhen dedicated his adult film debut to Yang Dechang's Mahjong, and this time Zhang Zhen had bold nudity in the film. It was the wonderful performance in "Mahjong" that Zhang Zhen was appreciated by Wong Kar-wai.
Wong Kar Wai – Let Zhang Zhen play only one photo
In 1996, director Wong Kar-wai has become a literary and art film director in the hearts of film fans, about to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina to shoot a new film, before starting the camera, he took a look at Zhang Zhen, so he called Zhang Zhen to his office, played music for Zhang Zhen, and then told Zhang Zhen to perform like this music, Zhang Zhen was confused.
Although at first Zhang Zhen could not understand what director Wong Kar-wai needed to feel, in the end, under the guidance of director Wong Kar-wai, Zhang Zhen played the role of a wandering young man, which also allowed Zhang Zhen to be nominated for best supporting actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the first time.
In 2004, Zhang Zhen cooperated with Wong Kar-wai again and starred in "2046". Zhang Zhen is divided into two roles, a drummer and a robot. However, when the movie was released, it was found that Zhang Zhen was deleted by Wong Kar-wai in the movie and only one photo was left. Even so, Zhang Zhen is still willing to cooperate with Wong Kar-wai. In the same year, Zhang Zhen participated in "Hand" in Wong Kar-wai's three-part film "Eros". Zhang Zhen admitted that the cooperation with Gong Li in the official "Hand" allowed him to truly find the meaning of the performance.
In 2009, Zhang Zhen joined Wong Kar-wai's "A Generation of Grandmasters", playing the eight pole boxing master "A Line of Heaven". "A Generation of Grandmasters" was filmed for three years, and after the release of the film, Zhang Zhen's role was still cut to only 3 scenes and 10 minutes.
In order to play this role well, Zhang Zhen was introduced by Wong Kar-wai to learn boxing techniques with Wang Shiquan, the eighth generation of eight-pole quan. After three years of hard training, Zhang Zhen not only showed his amazing boxing skills in the film, but also won the first prize in the youth group in the 2012 National Eight Pole Quan Competition.
Perhaps it is wong kar wai movies in which Zhang Zhen's scenes have been deleted repeatedly, wong kar-wai is too unwilling to go, when Zhang Zhen got married, Wong Kar Wai wrote in the red envelope to Zhang Zhen: Cut your play less in the future.
It was the performance in "Spring Break" that gave Ang Lee the intention to cooperate with Zhang Zhen next.
Li An - Zhang Zhen learned the origin of Xinjiang dialect
In 1999, after finishing the filming of the Hollywood film "Ride with the Devil", director Ang Lee prepared to shoot the film of the same name adapted from the novel "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". At the beginning of the film Luo Xiaohu's role, the first choice of director Ang Lee was Jin Chengwu, and later after Jin Chengwu refused, Wu Yanzu was also one of the candidates, but because Wu Yanzu's Mandarin was not standard enough, it did not pass, and finally director Ang Lee handed over the role of Luo Xiaohu in the film to Zhang Zhen, who had just turned 23.
During filming, director Ang Lee asked Zhang Zhen to speak Xinjiang dialect to fit the role. Director Ang Lee also asked Zhang Zhen to lose weight and become thinner in order to appear Luo Xiaohu's wild side. Zhang Zhen once said: "Li An's killing level is very high, but he is venting a cloud of anger on himself, kicking a stone with his foot, and getting angry with himself." In the end, Zhang Zhen was nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor again with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has become the only Chinese film to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film so far.
After Ang Lee, Zhang Zhen collaborated with another world-renowned Taiwanese master director, Hou Xiaoxian.
Hou Xiaoxian - let Zhang Zhen read martial arts novels
In 2004, Zhang Zhen collaborated with director Hou Xiaoxian for the first time, partnering with Shu Qi to shoot the movie "The Best Time". The film tells three love stories that take place in different eras. Shu Qi and Zhang Zhen played the heroes and heroines in the three relationships respectively. In the three stories, people who are in love have to face the feelings that end without illness, but each has its own different entanglements and sorrows, which is emotional.
Zhang Zhen said that director Hou Xiaoxian is also a very fierce person, but not to others, but to himself, often angry with himself, and even knocked on the door to break his arm.
Zhang Zhen said in an interview: "I can't act well in Hou Xiaoxian's films, and Director Hou Xiaoxian's life experience is above mine. Director Hou Xiaoxian was also a hot-blooded young man when he was young, and he also fought with the people because of righteousness, but he was also a literary and artistic youth, who loved Shen Congwen's works and injected the breath of Shen Congwen's works into his works.
In 2015, Zhang Zhen and Hou Xiaoxian collaborated again on the film "Assassin Nie Yinniang". Zhang Zhen broke the news that director Hou Xiaoxian let him read a lot of Tang Dynasty literature and martial arts novels in order to make him closer to the role and feel that era.
Hou Xiaoxian's "Assassin Nie Yinniang" won the Best Director Award at Cannes, and also led to the collaboration between Hollywood director Dennis Villeneuve, who was shortlisted for the main competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, and Zhang Zhen.
Dennis Villeneuve – Zhang Zhen becomes a "sweet tea" teacher
In 2019, Zhang Zhen starred in the Hollywood science fiction blockbuster "Dune" directed by Dennis Villeneuve, starring "Sweet Tea" Timothy Chalame, "Thanos" Josh Brolin, "Aquaman" Jason Momma, etc. Zhang Zhen starred in the "Sweet Tea" teacher Dr. Yue, and the role was very heavy. Director Dennis Villeneuve has been nominated for oscars many times, and has also won a large number of Chinese fans with his unique personal style in "Arrival" and "Blade Runner 2049". The director said in an interview: "Since the Wong Kar Wai films in the 90s, I began to pay attention to Zhang Zhen, and in many films, I was attracted by Zhang Zhen's natural performance, and Zhang Zhen is one of the best actors in the world at present. It is worth mentioning that the soundtrack of "Dune" will be directed by Nolan's royal soundtrackist Hans Zimmer, who has previously composed the soundtrack for The Lion King, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and the Batman series.
From Yang Dechang in Taiwan to Wong Kar-wai in Hong Kong, and from Ang Lee who is compatible with things to Villeneuve in Hollywood, Zhang Zhen has further improved himself, making his works more and more concerned by the world, so that foreigners can see that China also has actors who do not lose Hollywood. It is expected that Zhang Zhen will continue to shoot good works in the future and get his own best actor. Happy birthday to actor Zhang Zhen.
(Author: Si Jin)