Chapter one hundred and sixty-eight perception and performance
"Purple Butterfly" has always attracted a lot of attention due to Zhang Ziyi's joining. When the crew went to the suburbs of Shenyang to start shooting, they did not hold any launch press conference. It was just that Zhang Ziyi accepted an exclusive interview with a certain media in Beijing the day before. After that, major online news outlets The entertainment section has been reprinted.
Zhang Ziyi first briefly introduced the role she played in the movie, and then revealed that He Xin and Japanese actor Toru Nakamura had joined the movie, but she was not satisfied with the other male protagonist in the movie who had an emotional entanglement with her. I chose to conceal it and just said that he was a famous actor in China. The director had not confirmed it with him yet and it was not convenient to reveal his name for the time being.
When He Xin saw this report, he saw a strong smell of propaganda. Teacher Feng Yuanzheng had actually determined early on that the reason for leaving the report in suspense was simply to create a gimmick and increase the topic.
Just like the bearded Zhang Jizhong said in an interview not long ago that currently "Dragon Babu" has only approached one actor, Hu Jun, and is planning to let him play the role of Xiao Feng. As for the current speculation in the media, Zhang Ziyi will play Azi and Zhong Liti will play Ma. Madam, the idea that Jin Xishan will play Wang Yuyan and Lu Yi will play Duan Yu is completely unreliable. The only thing that is certain is that Zhao Wei will not play the role and other people are still being contacted.
At once naming the most popular people like Zhang Ziyi, Jin Heishan, Lu Yi and others, this is called forcibly touching one another.
This is all a routine. The same goes for Zhang Ziyi’s interview. Teacher Feng Yuanzheng has become very popular during this time because of the drama "Don't Talk to Strangers"!
Sure enough, as soon as this report came out, the media made various speculations. Some guessed Jiang Wen, some guessed Chen Daoming, some guessed Wang Zhiwen, and even more, some guessed Ge You. Think about what if Ge You and Zhang Ziyi There are emotional entanglements in the play, and it really has the flavor of "The Death of Romance".
After the crew finished filming the scenes in the suburbs of Shenyang, Zhang Ziyi temporarily stayed in the capital due to other activities, and teacher Feng Yuanzheng had not yet joined the crew.
Well, once an actor becomes famous, his schedule is usually tight. Unlike someone like He Xin, who has nothing to do as long as there are no scenes to film.
The Japanese actor Hiroshi Nakamura returned to Shanghai with the crew. The day before when the crew had dinner, He Xin met him. He had a very typical Japanese face, he was handsome and very polite.
It is said that Lou Ye chose him to play the role of Itami because he can speak some simple Chinese, and also because he has starred in several popular Hong Kong movies before, and mainland audiences are very familiar with his face. .
Nakamura Heng was very serious. During his stay in Shanghai, he locked himself in his room almost every day to learn pronunciation and lines from his Chinese teacher, because Lou Ye required him to speak Chinese lines fluently during filming. A Japanese If a spy is lurking in China, he should first be a China hand.
At the turn of the century, perhaps because Hong Kong filmmakers realized that Hong Kong films were about to decline, in order to open up the Japanese market, Japanese actors appeared in many major productions. Toru Nakamura was one of them. In the past two years, he had He collaborated with King Xie in "The New Man", and starred in films such as "Tokyo Strategy" with Tony Leung and Ekin Cheng.
There are also examples such as Takako Tokiwa who starred in "Fairy Tales of the Stars and Moon" with her brother Leslie Cheung, Hikaru Ishida who starred with Andy Lau in "Love and Destiny", and the amazing Norika Fujiwara in "The Thunderbolts", etc.
However, these films were short-lived and still could not prevent the decline of Hong Kong films. Then, after the mainland relaxed restrictions on co-productions in the second half of 2002, Hong Kong films started to feature Hong Kong directors + Hong Kong male protagonists + Mainland vases + Hong Kong productions.
Such a shameless operation by the team.
…
Situ is an employee of a foreign bank. To use a current analogy, he is a senior executive of a Fortune 500 company in the Lujiazui financial circle, with a golden collar. Recently he has just met a girlfriend he likes, and he is very happy in love and career.
That's right, Lou Ye asked him to act out the feeling of elation in this scene.
Before the filming started, the first thing He Xin had to do was to mentally build up. He walked around the room, closed his eyes and recited silently: "I am the most handsome, I am the most handsome..."
I put on and take off my suit, repeatedly looking for the state of people of that era. People of that era should be reserved, and their expressions and movements should not be exaggerated, otherwise they will look greasy.
Reserved, or sincere, yes, that's what it feels like. He Xin paced and thought, then took off the woolen suit he just put on.
One more thing to say here is that the most criticized domestic film and television dramas in later generations are Fu Hua Dao, especially costume films and modern-themed film and television dramas.
Let’s not mention costume films for the moment. The kind of costumes that do not conform to the characteristics of the dynasty are the domain of experts, and ordinary audiences still can’t understand them.
But it’s different in modern times. There are slim-fitting suits, various crisp shirts, trousers, and very modern jackets, dresses, etc.
In his previous life, He Xin always saw this kind of thing on TV. The first thing he felt was that people before liberation were really rich and wore better clothes than people today. The other thing he felt was, did such clothes exist in that era?
We must know that the wide suits were still popular in the 1980s and 1990s. These various styles of clothes that only became popular two thousand years later couldn't have traveled back to before liberation, right?
The behind-the-scenes team of "Purple Butterfly" did not hire any big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan. They were all produced by the Shanghai Film Studio. And this group of behind-the-scenes team members who are generally over 30 or 40 years old are basically locals.
He has a heartfelt pride in his hometown, has a clear understanding of the ten-mile foreign market in the 1920s and 1930s, and will never make up nonsense. His service is quite in line with the characteristics of the times.
For example, the clothes He Xin is wearing now are soft and fluffy, and his trousers have no straight seams and are also wilted. This is because the materials for clothes in that era were only cotton, wool, linen, and silk. The kind of clothes made from petroleum
It was not until the 1950s that synthetic textiles made from refined chemical fibers and made into very crisp clothes became popular, and it was only after the 1960s that the high-quality shirts that were once sought after in China were introduced.
In the 1920s and 1930s, including before the liberation, there were clothes that were soft and not stiff at all. He Xin watched "Spring in a Small Town" directed by Fei Mo before the liberation in the Chinese Opera Theater. The suits worn by the characters were like
It's similar to what he has on him now.
Just like what He Xin saw in the costume room, the cheongsams specially customized for Zhang Ziyi by the crew were conservative styles with slits that could only reach to the upper calf and two buttons.
As for the kind of cheongsam that appeared in later movies and TV dramas, with the crotch opening to the crotch and exposing the entire thigh, it was specially worn by dancers in the decadent capitalist society of Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s.
While He Xin was walking around the room doing some psychological construction, the behind-the-scenes staff who had already prepared such as photography, lighting, radio, and scene management were all present. They all seemed to be used to it, and the expressions on each of their faces were wavering.
Not surprised, not at all impatient.
"Stab!" With a sound, the intercom placed in the hands of the on-site executive director rang, and Lou Ye's unhurried voice came from inside: "Is it almost done?"
The executive director looked at He Xin.
He Xin took a deep breath and nodded towards him.
"Okay, director." The executive director said into the intercom.
Then I heard Lou Ye say: "Well, let's get started."
There is no so-called "A" now, the filming has already started at this moment.
At the beginning, He Xin was not used to this kind of shooting. I remember that when he was shooting for the first time, Lou Ye also said "Let's start" through the intercom. Then he waited for a long time, but nothing happened.
When I heard someone shout "A", I couldn't help but turn around and ask photographer Wang Yu: "Can we start?"
As a result, Wang Yu looked confused and said: "I am taking pictures!"
Only then did He Xin realize that the indicator light on the camera Wang Yu was carrying was on.
Moreover, during the filming process, Lou Ye would rarely interrupt the actors' performances. He would stutter when he spoke or stumble when walking. Even if he suddenly forgot his words and was embarrassed for a second or two, he would allow it.
In short, as long as you are performing, he will not stop.
Then someone will say on the intercom: "Very good, very good, can you do it again?"
So this kind of repetition is often more than ten times, or even more than twenty times is common.
Slowly He Xin got to know Lou Ye's intention. He always wanted the most real side of the actor. It didn't matter what lines or script he had. He would block out all the details and refused He Xin's suggestion to go to the monitor.
Watch the replay and just say, "If you think you're right, that's the best."
This will have two consequences. One is to repeat the same scene. Sometimes He Xin will feel very irritable and his performance will be worse than the last time. But sometimes he will perform very well. If you have seven or eight ways of acting, you can do it as much as you like.
show out.
And during this process, He Xin suddenly discovered that he didn't know when he had learned to use skills in acting. The whole-hearted devotion and sense of involvement he had when filming "Bicycle" and "Lan Yu" were gradually disappearing.
What Lou Ye wants is the most authentic performance that you can put aside all techniques. Many times, He Xin's improvisations or subconscious performances during the performance will often win the director's praise.
Therefore, he had to mentally build himself up before every filming, so that he could be as involved in the character as possible. Moreover, he also found that since he learned to use skills to act, he could put himself into the character's emotions.
The difficulty is increasing little by little.
This is probably what is commonly known as the performance has started to become oily and stereotyped. This was the case for the Houston movie queen who was said to have grown up on the set.
This made him very wary.
Why do I feel irritated when I repeat it over and over again, and my performance becomes worse every time? It’s because I don’t really get involved in the emotions of the characters, and the purity and persistence I had when I first started in the industry are being lost.
He must find this purity and persistence again. Well, this "Purple Butterfly" is a good opportunity.
Then Lou Ye said on the intercom: "Then let's get started."
He Xin turned around and faced the mirror in the bathroom. He turned on the faucet and poured some water on his face. Then he looked at himself in the mirror, with his hair neatly parted because his hair was not long enough.
I put on a hair cover for the time being, but I couldn't see it at all.
In the play, Situ is looking at himself, but at this moment He Xin is looking at himself, looking into his own eyes.
Fortunately, my eyes are still clear and have not had time to be polluted by those messy things, making them complicated, turbid and unpredictable.
His heart suddenly relaxed, his eyebrows that had been trimmed neatly by the makeup artist were slightly raised, his clear eyes contained a smile, and the corners of his mouth could not help but turn up.
His mood became excited again, he turned on the faucet again, lowered his head to wash his face, and couldn't help but whistle in his mouth.
These are all his improvisational performances.
There are no lines in this scene, and there is only one sentence in the script. Situ washes his face, gets dressed, opens the window, looks at the busy streets outside, and lights a cigarette...
Wang Yu held the camera and kept filming his back. In the mirror, he saw him washing his face, taking a towel from the shelf next to him, and carefully wiping the water off his face.
Then he went to the mirror again and wiped the left corner of his eye with a towel. It seemed that there was a piece of eye mucus that had not been wiped off. He looked carefully in the mirror again and then stood up, with a slight smile on his face.
His smile was still clean and slightly shy. He was very satisfied with his current state and nodded slightly towards himself in the mirror.
Then, he turned and walked back to the living room. The living room was not big, seven or eight square meters, and could only accommodate a square table and four chairs. He took the woolen suit hanging on the back of the chair and turned to face the mirror in the bathroom.
Put it on and adjust the collar carefully.
He also found that a few hairs were hanging down on one side of his head. He couldn't help but frown, walked over again, turned on the faucet, poured some water into his palm, and carefully wiped his hair in front of the mirror.
I shook my head and looked at both sides of my hair, and found that they were all firmly attached. Then I straightened my head and stared at myself in the mirror for a second.
Well, the young man is in good condition!
The tense muscles on his face relaxed significantly, and he turned around and walked towards the closed window on the opposite side.
The window is an old-fashioned wooden framed window with frosted glass, which can transmit light but cannot see the outside scenery.
He pulled out the latch below and pushed it half way, and the noise from outside suddenly flooded in.
It was a rainy morning, and it was raining lightly outside. He looked up at the gray sky, looked at the window sill, and found that there was no rain coming in, so he opened all the windows.
At this time, the tram was clanging and clanging past the street next to it. Pedestrians outside were walking in a hurry, some holding umbrellas and some running in the rain without umbrellas. There were people taking shelter from the rain on the street corners chatting.
I have to say that the extras outside were trained extremely well, and there was nothing dull or dramatic about them at all.
He Xin stood at the window and watched for a while, then turned around, leaned on the window sill, and took out a cigarette from his pocket with an expressionless face. The cigarette was specially made by the cigarette factory, and the cigarette box had the beautiful brand printed on it.
Trademarks and matchboxes are the same, they are all products of that era. Unlike in later anti-Japanese dramas, they are often Yankee ZIPPO lighters.
He struck a match, put his hands together and lit the cigarette. The smell of the smoke was similar to the Double Happiness he usually smoked, maybe because it didn't have a filter, it was a little bit strong.
He threw the extinguished matchstick out of the window, lowered his head and patted the wrinkles on his clothes, looked at it again, then raised his head, held a cigarette in one hand, held it in front of his chest with the other, and leaned leisurely on the window sill.
At this time, the voice of a newsboy selling newspapers came from outside the window: "Extra! Extra! Please look at the Japanese occupation of China..."