Since 2010, he has played the image of Mao Zedong in many TV series such as "Iron Shoulders Moral Righteousness", "Mao Zedong", "Autumn Harvest Uprising", "Great Turning Point" and so on, and is known as a "great man professional household".
His drama path is more than this, he was once the bright and upright Yang Yizhi in the 2008 version of "Deer Ding", the clever and astute Feng Mofeng in "The New Divine Eagle Man", and the unreliable husband Nanhai in "Beishang Guang does not believe in tears".
He is Hou Jingjian, a young actor after 85. He played Comrade Mao Zedong eight times, and this time he was different from the past.
The major revolutionary historical drama "The Age of Awakening" is being broadcast in the prime time of the CCTV comprehensive channel, and this word-of-mouth work currently has a Douban score of 8.9, and many viewers commented that "the heart is surging "" In the play, Hou Jingjian plays the young Mao Zedong again, returning to a hundred years ago, looking back at the surging years when He and Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Zhou Enlai and other advanced Chinese elements and enthusiastic young people pursued the truth. Inspired by New Youth magazine to firmly believe in communism, the TV series presents Mao Zedong's ideological change process of constantly exploring the road to national salvation, although the role has become familiar, but Hou Jingjian frankly said that it is not easy to shape the image of Chairman Mao in different periods.
"This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and this TV series was broadcast on CCTV as a tribute film, and the weight it carries and the responsibilities that actors bear have actually put a lot of pressure on us." Hou Jingjian frankly said that in combination with the script, only by shaping the character image more vividly, plumply, and three-dimensionally can we show the process of changing Chairman Mao's thinking, and can the audience experience the hardships of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the rough road it has passed. ”
In "The Age of Awakening", the first scene of the young Mao Zedong is on a rainy day. Mao Zedong ran through the streets in the rain, holding a bundle of wrapped Youth Magazine in his arms, and as far as the eye could see, the sloppy beggar was poor and weak, and in the car next to him, there were children from rich families. The gap between the rich and the poor in society is clear.
This is also the scene that Hou Jingjian is most impressed with. "At that time, I had an idea in my mind that this performance could not be so simple, it should be different from previous performances."
In this scene, the crew mobilized nearly 600 people and organized a large number of stalls on a 170-meter-long street. "When Comrade Mao Zedong appeared on a rainy day, all the crowds went to this side, and only 'I' walked in the opposite direction." Hou Jingjian said that such a simple street, the first thing you see is a small merchant and a hawker, and then go forward, there are children selling; if you continue to move forward, there are poor people asking for food, and warlords riding horses to attack the people.
Hou Jingjian recalled that the scene of "raining rain" started from more than eight o'clock in the morning and was filmed until there was no daylight, and there was no change of clothes for about ten hours. "We pay attention to restoration, pay attention to the truth, pay attention to the details, if I take off this clothes and dry them, spray water again, sprinkle water again, maybe the watermark on the body will be different." The daily workload is very large, and every scene we cut very carefully, every shot is very careful, so the whole shooting process is still relatively hard. ”
The appearance of the young Mao Zedong can be described as "running in the rain and stepping on the water". In Hou Jingjian's view, such an appearance is also quite symbolic. "It was a desperate backwater, muddy and dirty, but it was stepped on by the young Mao Zedong and ceased to exist. Brave the rain to move forward, symbolizing his fearlessness and fearlessness, but also means that the road is tortuous and rugged. ”
Obviously, at this time, Mao Zedong had found a way to meet this storm, that is, the "Youth Magazine" in his arms, which was later widely known as "New Youth".
Hou Jingjian was also impressed by another rain scene in the Anyuan coal mine. The scene was raining heavily, some of it was real rain, and the slopes were all muddy. "The actor had to paint all but the whites of his eyes and teeth, and everything else was black. In such an environment, we did not complain a word of complaint in the whole group, and everyone worked hard in the heavy rain for nearly four hours to shoot such a shot. ”
Although he has played Mao Zedong in many periods and different stages, Hou Jingjian still feels a lot of challenges in the face of the script of "The Age of Awakening". "The timeline of this drama began in 1915, when Comrade Mao Zedong was still studying in Hunan, and later went to Peking University as a librarian, met Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu and others, and came into contact with Marxism... It can be said that his ideological enlightenment and transformation are all reflected in this period, so the scale is very important, and the emotional changes that need to be interpreted are also very rich. ”
He said that in his youth, Mao Zedong had a tenacity to study, and he loved to read books since he was a child, and his desire for knowledge was extremely strong, which also created his unique personality charm. "When faced with some difficulties, how to grasp the unyielding spirit of the chairman is also a challenge for me."
Hou Jingjian has played Mao Zedong many times, but he does not reject being "labeled". He believes that the so-called "type" is given by the audience, and he does not frame himself in a certain image. "If it is labeled, it means that the performance is very expressive, in a sense, it is actually an affirmation."
And every time he plays Mao Zedong, he can find deficiencies and strengthened places from his own performances, and he can have more understanding of the life of a great man, which is also another kind of growth for himself. "How do you blend in with the characters?" It is to try to think of what Chairman Mao thinks when acting, to be full of light in my heart, and to remove distracting thoughts in my heart, and even not to consider the technique of performance, and to try my best to 'walk the heart'. ”
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Zhang Yi
Source: Author: Zhang Yi