Throughout Xie Tian's actor works, he has basically never acted in comedy, but he has been called "comedy master" and "Chinese Chaplin". In fact, his comedic spirit is more presented in his life. He imitated Chaplin from an early age and brought joy to those around him. He once said: "As long as you are an optimist, you can 'encounter' humor when you are in difficulty, and you can laugh when it is difficult." ”
Birthplace: Tianjin
Biography: 1914-2003
Former name: Xie Hongkun
Work unit: Beijing Film Studio
Graduated from life, known as "Tianda"
Xie Tian commented that he was a "miscellaneous family", he loved to play everything, mixed in overpasses and other places when he was young, and had long experienced the various changes of life, and this rich experience provided enough supplies for future performances. For acting, he puts special emphasis on experiencing life, and life is the best teacher.
In 1936, on the recommendation of "film star" Hu Die, Xie Tian met the famous director and playwright Hong Shen at that time. Soon the Shanghai Star Company was going to shoot the movie "Night Party", and the actor who was scheduled to play the villain suddenly fell ill and needed to find a substitute actor. Hong Shen recommended Xie Tian to the director. After only one shot, the director accepted him very happily, and after filming this scene, he was given a stage name "Xie Jun".
This is Xie Tian's first time on the big screen, and it is well done. Although he had not studied acting before, the teacher of life had taught him a lot about the essence of acting for a long time.
When he was a child, Xie Tian was more mischievous and did not like to learn, and the Nanshi in Tianjin and the tianqiao in Beijing became the paradise of his youth. Cross-talk, zizi, drums, book commentary, juggling and other "things" are all available, and here are also the three religions and nine streams, and the various sentient beings. He claimed to be a graduate of "Tianda" (Tianqiao University) and had a particularly mixed education, although he was a film actor, he had many friends in drama, opera, Peking opera, and local opera, and some even became confidants. After becoming an actor, Xie Tian can absorb nutrition from the previous life accumulation and dig out new things every time he plays a role. For performance, Xie Tian particularly emphasizes experiencing life, so that each role has a basis for life, and he dares to act.
The rogue Zhang Jinlong in "The Legend of the New Children's Heroes" (1951), Xie Tian is all too familiar. When he was a child, he and his mother sold vegetables in the vegetable market, and this kind of character was seen a lot, and sometimes they chatted together, and Xie Tian played it with ease. Boss Lin in "Lin Family Shop" (1959), Xie Tian also had a life experience when he was a child. Because at that time, the family lit kerosene lamps and foreign wax at night, and the eyes were uncomfortable when writing homework, Xie Tian often ran to the classmates with electric lights to do their homework, many of them were shops, Xie Tian was lying on the counter of the shop while doing homework, while watching the arrival of customers in the shop, observing their speech and demeanor, so the performance was more vivid.
The old abbot in 1998's "Red Lady" was Xie Tian's last character, when he was 84 years old. When he received this script, Xie Tian was a little worried, thinking that this role was too far away from his life, so he went to the temple to read it, visited some old abbots, and their advice to Xie Tian was two words: calm. This leads to the image of the old abbot on the screen who is as calm as water no matter what happens.
Xie Tian, who was old, once said that there are now some actors who are particularly bold, "A person dares to take several films at the same time, shoot this one for a while, shoot that one for a while, really have the ability, I don't have this skill, nor do I have this guts, don't study the inner world of the characters thoroughly, dare to act?" In 1982, Xie Tian, as the director, put Lao She's "Tea House" on the big screen, and Li Hanxiang suggested that Xie Tian play Boss Wang. Xie Tian directly refused, because "The Tea House" reflected the affairs of old Beijing, xie Tian was not familiar with the life of Beijingers in that period, "so absolutely can not act, there is no familiar life, I absolutely dare not act." ”
Performance pursues diversity, and the director tries to break through
In terms of performance, Xie Tian is reluctant to play the same role and does not like to repeat. Even if he takes on a similar role, he can perform differently.
As early as when he was in high school in Tianjin, Xie Tian and a few friends founded a drama club, acted in "Thunderstorm", and played all five male characters in the play. In 1937, Xie was added to the Shanghai Filmmakers Traveling Theater Troupe, after which the troupe performed "Sunrise" in Chengdu, and Xie Tian played Zhang George. The character of Zhang George, all of whom have one thing in common, is to highlight his handsomeness: he is in his twenties and wears a pair of Western glasses. But Xie Tian's version of Zhang George is different, he designed the character as a middle-aged man in his forties and fifties, with many white hair on his sideburns. At that time, many people questioned Xie Tian: "If Zhang George is not handsome, how can Chen Bailu love him?" But Xie Tian has his own basis, he designed Zhang George to be older, mainly to show the complex social background of this character, in order to possess and play with Chen Bailu on the one hand, while showing a condescending momentum everywhere, he must be the kind of old oil that is often mixed in the wind and moon field, so that it is easier to produce dramatic contradictions and is more conducive to the performance of Chen Bailu's tragic life. After the performance, many audiences liked Xie Tian's design, including the original author Cao Yu.
The way others have acted, Xie Tian will never imitate it again, he must be innovative. The reason why he became a director later is also because he wants to pursue diversity in making movies, "what kind of addiction has it to act in a play, if I have been addicted to the role, then I have to be a director." "Honghu Red Guards" (1961) was originally an opera, and Xie Tian tried to put the opera in the real scene and shoot it in a cinematic way, so that the opera was liberated from the stage for the first time.
Laughter to life is a master of comedy who has never acted in comedy
Although Xie Tian loves comedy, he has never acted in a serious comedy, but has directed several comedy films, such as "Icing on the Cake", "Sweet Career", "Rich and Noble", "Seven Sesame Officers" and so on.
The roots of comedy were planted when Xie Tian was very young. Chaplin was the comedian who had the greatest influence on him, and was regarded as the "enlightenment teacher". Xie Tian once said: "Chaplin is the coffee in his life, it is roast duck, it is ice cream, it is also medicine, and that homeless man in his poor and destitute life, that kind of indifference, laughter on life, affected his life." ”
It can be said that comedy has long penetrated into Xie Tian's blood and has always accompanied him, but in his era as an actor, there were few comedies in itself, and he did not find a suitable role. Many people regard Boss Lin in "Lin Family Shop" as the peak of Xie Tian's acting career. However, if the 1961 "Biography of Lu Xun" in The Studio was made, Xie Tian's version of Ah Q might have created another peak in his performance. For this film, Xie Tian has made great efforts, how Ah Q walks, how to see people, what is the measure and rhythm of each scene, Xie Tian has thought about it, and even tried Ah Q's style. The image of Ah Q is actually the best way to play Xie Tian's acting talents, and he is the best at grasping this tragic character in the form of comedy. If this film had been made, perhaps the audience would have seen the Chinese version of Chaplin on the screen.
Beijing News reporter Teng Chao
Edited by Huang Jialing Proofreader Zhai Yongjun