On February 29, the 70th Berlin Film Festival came to an end.
A year ago, because of the movie "Long Time",
Wang Jingchun won the Silver Bear Trophy at the age of 46.
Later, he won the Golden Rooster Film Emperor,
Director Wang Xiaoshuai commented on him:
"It's not acting at all, it's living in it",
"It's what an ordinary Chinese person looks like in my heart."
Seven years ago, he won the Tokyo Best Actor Award for "Police Diary".
He is currently one of the highest-achieving male actors in China.
However, his popularity is not commensurate with his artistic level.
Weibo has only 540,000 followers so far.
Some people still ask questions in the barrage while attending the live event:
Who is this uncle?
Some viewers hold injustice for him,
Thinking that he was let down by the hustle and bustle of the film and television market,
But he himself didn't care:
"Just remember my role,
You just don't know who Wang Jingchun is.
This is the one thing I think I am happiest about. "
Self-reported by Wang Jingchun edited by Yan Kunmu
From Level 5 Welder to International Actor
Throughout 2019, Wang Jingchun's exposure almost exceeded the sum of his 20 years in business.
The fashion magazines "GQ" and "Esquire" invited him to be on the cover and to attend the award ceremony. The stars Wang Yuan and Li Xian, who are sought after by young people, took the initiative to take a photo with him. He and his partner Yong Mei were listed as the first and second runner-up in the Artist New Media Index. His unit, the Shanghai Film and Television Studio Actors Troupe, posted his large poster on the wall of the office, alongside the old artist Qin Yi.
In an interview, Wang Jingchun was preparing for a year-end red carpet. He was wearing a well-fitting suit, and he had to straighten his back and couldn't relax even when he sat down.
However, just before "Catch the Bear" in Berlin, not many people could call him by name. Searching for "Wang Jingchun" on the forum, the most common result is: How to distinguish him from another actor with small eyes and splayed eyebrows Liu Hua.
The story of instant fame happened to a middle-aged actor who did not have an advantage in appearance. People were happy to label him a "late bloomer", describing his career experience of the past 20 years as the dark years of resentment and despair before his success. : Playing a supporting role, living in a rental house, and having no fans: "After finishing (saying to me) I have no food for a few days, and how many times have I moved."
Wang Jingchun can understand that people like the bitter story of the brain-buying salted fish turning over, but he does not like and is unwilling to cooperate with this kind of routine: "This is not my character."
In fact, even in an unknown period of time, he never doubted his own abilities and lived comfortably.
Before he was admitted to the theater, Wang Jingchun studied electric welding in Xinjiang. When he graduated, he was admitted to the fifth-level worker. This is a great achievement for students. The opportunity to stay in school as a teacher. But Wang Jingchun has always had a heart for literature and art, so he went to a department store where he could perform part-time and was responsible for selling children's shoes.
In his short sales career, Wang Jingchun quickly became a supervisor because of his good performance. When he went to Hangzhou for a meeting with a brand owner, he saw the admissions brochure of the Shanghai Theater Academy and was admitted to the performance department. When he graduated from college, he was an outstanding graduate of the school, and he was successfully admitted to the Shanghai Film Actors Troupe, and settled his household registration and work.
Although career changes were frequent in his youth, he has always been the kind of person who can do anything.
In an interview, talking about the earliest impression of Wang Jingchun, we recalled the TV series "It's All Angels' Fault" and "Pink Girl" around 2000. In the former, he played the hero's failed brother, and in the latter, he made a cameo appearance. An extra who loves to wiggle his eyebrows. Both characters have very few scenes, and appear in minutes, but 20 years later they are still clearly remembered by audiences.
Wang Jingchun said proudly: "This proves that I was very good at that time. I just continued the excellence of 20 years ago until now."
Since 2006, Wang Jingchun has almost stopped taking TV series, and has acted in a large number of digital films and art films, many of which do not make money or even have the opportunity to be released. In contrast, among his college classmates, Lu Yi, Luo Haiqiong, Xue Jianing, Tian Hairong, etc. had already become famous at this time. But Wang Jingchun is very sure that everyone has a different path: "We can't compare with Lu Yi, that's not one type", this is all his own voluntary choice: "I think it's very interesting, because this is what I love. thing."
For actors, popularity often means the right to choose a role. Wang Jingchun was not the first choice for the actor to win the two important works of the actor, "Police Diary" and "Long Time". Director Wang Xiaoshuai once said to the media that Wang Jingchun was originally one of the candidates when he set up the project. But the investee refused. The male protagonist that was finally decided was temporarily unavailable, and the crew turned back to him for emergency help.
Wang Jingchun didn't bother about it, because in the end, the opportunity fell on him, and only he could seize it firmly. Liu Yaojun, the hero of "Long Time", is a lathe worker, which is very consistent with Wang Jingchun's experience as an electric welder: "Maybe it's a role destined to me."
In 2013, in the acceptance speech of the best actor at the Tokyo Film Festival, Wang Jingchun said: "This award is like wings, let me continue to fly in the sky of the film and light up the darkness." It is a pity that his award-winning film "Police" Diary" was not released on a large scale in China, so that the promotion of his personal popularity was very limited by that award.
He is not a person who complains about his situation, but an activist who solves problems when they encounter them. In the second year after that, Wang Jingchun and Shanghai Opera alumni Liao Fan jointly established Chunfan Art Film Center, which mainly held film exhibitions, and cultivated audience soil for art films by focusing on the screening of classic films. They have successfully held a Zhang Yimou film retrospective in Shanghai, and hope to incubate young directors in the future.
After becoming the best actor in Berlin, the outside world gave Wang Jingchun a new "personality". People imagined that artists who acted in literary and artistic films should be reclusive and unattainable: "What do you think it's called, Gao Leng?" But Wang Jingchun still doesn't plan to follow it. This script goes.
Wang Jingchun said that the scripts handed to him during this period have indeed become more and more, and some of them can be regarded as "not bad", but there are always small shortcomings of this kind, and there is no story like "Long Time" that made him fall in love at first sight. appeared, so he was not in a hurry to decide what to do next. For the next role, he doesn't care whether it is the protagonist or the supporting role, whether it is a movie or a web drama, as long as the story is good, even if it is a cameo.
He has repeatedly told an interesting anecdote that happened to his partner Yongmei: after Berlin won the award, Yongmei flew back to China, and the stewardess came over and bowed solemnly to her, congratulating her on winning glory for the country, and Yongmei instantly didn’t know what to do sat down.
A reporter met Wang Jingchun for the first time in his unit, the Shanghai Film Studio Actors Troupe, where he donated a bronze statue to the performing artist Zhao Dan. Since he just won the award, the troupe organized a grand event for him. In the donation ceremony, many media were invited, and all the older generation artists in the group were present. As the protagonist, Wang Jingchun came wearing cotton-padded sneakers. All requests for group photos and interviews were not rejected. Standing in the crowd made it impossible to tell who was the protagonist of the event.
"I can't act either. Acting is my job, I just don't act in my life, I just live well in my life."
The following is Wang Jingchun's own statement:
There are too few movies like "Long Time"
At the beginning of "Long Time", another actor was appointed, but he couldn't play it temporarily. Director Xiaoshuai sent me a WeChat message in the middle of the night. After the end of the morning, the two of us had a phone call. I didn't even read the script, so I said okay, I'll come, We started to time it because he was in a hurry and was going to start up soon.
I am very familiar with Xiaoshuai. I have filmed his "I 11" before. When he needs me, I will definitely appear in this crew.
He only sent the script after we talked on the phone. I read the script in the afternoon, and I liked it very much, especially Liu Yaojun. After I read the script once, I knew what Liu Yaojun was like. He The image in my mind was very, very clear, and I slowly began to communicate with Liu Yaojun, and I had a dialogue between the two of us with him. I also started to lose weight that day. If I want to lose 30 pounds within a month, I will not eat. There must be the most extreme method.
The scene that left the deepest impression on me was about ten days after we switched on, my good brother Yingming came to the house with a kitchen knife and asked me to chop up his child, one life for another.
In fact, when he did this, I understood. I knew that it was his son Haohao who took my son Liu Xing to swim. After he was done, he pushed Liu Xing, and Liu Xing was gone. However, the way I deal with it is to never mention this matter. One has already died. If you want to let the other living one live well, it’s as if this matter never happened, and you are not allowed to mention it for the rest of your life.
This is a play of how two brothers and two adults protect their children. This is the forbearance of the Chinese people. He wants to swallow the bitterness for a child's future growth in the future. This is a completely Chinese way of handling it.
Acting in this scene is very uncomfortable, I can't hold back after I finish one, Xiaoshuai said you want to do it again, I said no, no, wait for a while, I'll go around in the back room, smoke a cigarette, wait for me to put this After I calmed down, I took another shot. After the filming, Xiaoshuai said it, and after it was over, I couldn't take it anymore, I ducked to the side and lowered my head, and started wow, the tears fell down, and I took this anger. come out. When I was crying, I suddenly heard an echo next to me. I turned my head with tears in my eyes, and there was another person crying beside me. At that time, I couldn't even see who it was. I turned my head to look at him. My face, Xiaoshuai put his arms around me, and then the two of us were there crying. He was also uncomfortable and couldn't hold back. That was the first time Xiaoshuai cried at the scene, and it was also my first time.
Xiaoshuai is completely immersed in this emotion, he can know people, these few people, the emotion of these two families is there, he feels ouch, uncomfortable, he just cry.
Xiaoshuai wrote the script for "Long Time", but he gave the actors a lot of space. For example, in the scene where we are going to visit our son's grave, the machine is swung there, the long shot, the actors go to play, go to Presenting, when we presented what was written in the playbook to life, Xiaoshuai felt this emotion all of a sudden, and he couldn't control it.
However, as a director, Xiaoshuai must control the tone of the whole film even if he is crying on the spot. The whole movie is restrained. How can there be so many explosive lives? no. The nature of life is like this, take it slow. Neither Yongmei nor I like that kind of slapstick performance. We all think that taking your heart is the most important thing, and you can show as much as you have in your heart.
When I went to the Berlin Film Festival, I rushed to win the award, because I knew what kind of movie "Long Time" is, and I also know what kind of performance I presented in "Long Time".
"Long Time" is indeed a good movie. "The Guardian" named it the top ten films in the world in 2019. I am a top ten actor and Yong Mei is a top ten actress. We can all be on the same list with the actors we admire and admire very much. glory.
In fact, I think there are too few movies like "Long Time". All you see is that kind of fast stuff. Fast culture, fast video. It’s easy to watch it, and everyone doesn’t get distracted. In fact, there should be something deeper, and that’s the meaning of the movie.
After the Golden Rooster Awards, a large number of viewers took the initiative to go to the video website to see what kind of movie "Long Time" is. After they watched it, they all went to Weibo to leave a message. Many of them were very impressed. I am moved, I like this movie very much, I think this movie is very good, and it can especially resonate with their emotions. In fact, whether it is young or old, it has nothing to do with the times, but it has a lot to do with the feelings of the Chinese people.
I don't know who Wang Jingchun is.
Liu Yaojun, who I played in "Long Time", used to be a lathe worker in a factory. After his son died, in order to escape the pain, he went to the south to open a ship repair shop, and he had a lathe at home.
Before I went to the Drama Academy, I went to Xinjiang Chemical Technology School. I majored in riveting and welding, and I like electric welding. When we took the graduation examination, the junior engineer was the first grade and the senior engineer was the eighth grade. Anyone who is an eighth-level worker is someone who is special in this factory. I was a fifth-level worker at that time, and I wanted to stay at the school to be an intern teacher. After I liked literature and art, I didn't stay.
The things that I have done in my life happened to be very consistent with the character Liu Yaojun I played, because I can do all these things, and it may be a role destined to me.
I also acted in "Fireworks in the Daytime". I played Rong Rong. Many people didn't know that it was me. I was very happy. One day I was having dinner with other people, they said you could play Lu Xun, I said it would be better for me to play He Long, and he said yes, you can play one, and he said what happened to He Long in the last movie he watched for a long time, what he said It was the He Long I played in "Founding an Army". They didn't even know it was played by me. When I told him it was played by me, they said, "Huh?" The whole table was dumbfounded.
This is one of the things I think I am happiest about. If you just remember my role and think Liu Yaojun and He Long played well, that's fine. You just don't know who Wang Jingchun is.
Now I am troubled again, everyone knows who Wang Jingchun is.
I am an Aquarius. Aquarius is full of great curiosity and strong desire for knowledge and new things. I want to know and try.
Liao Fan and I are brothers and sisters who went to the theater. A few years ago, the two of us established the Chunfan Art Film Center to support art films. A particularly big problem in Chinese art films a few years ago was the issue of film layout. At that time, "Tuina" only had 3% of the films, and there were very few films in "Long Time". I think people like us who like art films should have a responsibility and obligation to do this, and we don't want to go out and speak out, we just do the promotion of art films, and we hold film festivals.
In 2018, we held a retrospective exhibition of Zhang Yimou's works in Shanghai, and selected ten of his works to re-screen. After the screening, we asked some film scholars to communicate with the audience. It shows that art films are not niche, every film is artistic, but we have been in an era where we only talk about box office and not art in the past few years.
At my age, I started to play some roles like an entrepreneur, and in addition to manage Chunfan, I went to Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in 2018.
On the first day of school, everyone has to introduce themselves. When it comes to me, I go up and say hello to everyone. My name is Wang Jingchun. I am an actor. I'll say later that I'm actually an undercover agent. I'll come among you entrepreneurs, social elites, and young talents. I want to see how your work and life are like. You have to be careful. Words and deeds may appear in my artwork. When I finished talking to them, they were shocked and stopped talking (laughs).
In fact, I just want to make friends with them. Now if you want to make a movie, whether you are in industry or finance, primary market, secondary market, I know all of these, but I can't be fooled. , I know how to act.
I am from Xinjiang, and we have produced many actors in Xinjiang, such as Chen Jianbin, Duan Yihong, and Yaya (Tong Liya). I have known Chen Jianbin since 1994. Later, when I graduated from college, I was assigned to Shanghai. During that time, Lao Chen would come often. We would drive a car every day. He was going to swim, so I sent him to the swimming pool. He, go have a meal, and we'll go back home and pull a piece of stuff like that. At that time, I lived in the youth apartment of Shanghai Film Studio, which was a collective dormitory, one room per person and one bathroom, which was not bad at the time.
Xinjiang people are more optimistic. The heart is bigger. It may also be because of the influence of the climate on our side, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and it is relatively open. Xinjiang is a relatively difficult place. We may feel that enduring hardship is a normal and simple thing, and it is a part of life. Maybe this is our commonality.
Is filming just for money?
Last year, I won the Best Actor award. After a lot of people didn't know me, I felt that this person used to play a supporting role, he didn't eat for a few days, and how many times he moved, he became a routine. Why? I'm particularly reluctant to mention this, it's not my character, and I don't like this kind of routine.
Since 2006 I've mostly made movies, it's a matter of preference. I have made a lot of digital films. Although it is small and complete, it may not be that big, and it may not be that expensive, but the creative process is the same, which is actually a very good thing for my exercise. . After that, I have been making literary films, because this is what I love.
As an actor, your friend, they film this scene and that scene, we also know how big a house they buy, sometimes a group of actors chat together, and they often talk about material things. But you have to think about this material thing completely, and it is also a very troublesome thing.
In fact, when we are in this profession, there is no problem in life. It is not as tragic as others say, but if you say that actors like us are rich, that is not the case. But are we filming just for the money? I think I'm just for my own goals, and I've seen these things clearly, so I'll just chase my goals. At present, it seems that I have caught up. When everyone looks back at my path, I have actually gone through my own thinking.
After winning the award, my life is still the same. Participating in activities or something is just a job, and this job doesn't happen every day. What should I do in my daily life, I still eat a bowl of rice and sleep in a bed. As long as I have a good role, I can do anything. I will also help my friends in a show. Others say they want to direct a show. My good friend needs a favor, and I will go.
Everyone thinks that making art films should be cool, but I can't act it either. Acting is my job, I just don’t act in my life, I just live a good life in my life.
View more about So Long, My Son reviews
