In recent years, the meaning of "actor" has become more and more, and the negative news has continued.
High film remuneration, playing big names, tearing up positions... Stars who enjoy the halo are drifting to oblivion, throwing away the so-called actors who are "ashamed" and making the film and television circle a miasma.
However, fortunately, there are still a group of people who abide by the principles of "actors", whether acting or being a person, they always move forward with a "shameful heart".
Actor Zhang Yi is like this, and the "shame" he shows is enough to make those actors who jump up and down have no place to look at themselves.
Shame is the root of being a person, and for actors, "shame" is another quality.
When acting, he will reflect and feel guilty when he wins the award, but if you let him participate in the variety show to "earn fast money", he will feel "humiliated" to touch the bottom line - after becoming famous, Zhang Yi still maintains the "shame" of the actor.
Nominated for the Golden Rooster Award four times, film emperor Zhang translated "ten years of grinding a sword"
As an authoritative and professional award in the domestic film industry, the Golden Rooster Award is a great affirmation for actors to be shortlisted, and the award is a supreme honor.
It is conceivable that the competition between actors is fierce, and the situation of "accompanying running" is even more commonplace.
When the shortlist for the 34th Golden Rooster Awards "Best Actor" was announced, the clear-eyed people knew at a glance that the attribution of the film emperor would most likely be produced between Zhang Yi and Yu Hewei.
Yi Qianxi is too young to be shortlisted, which is already a record-breaking record; and the influence of Liu Ye and Guo Xiaodong's works is still slightly inferior to "On the Cliff".
Although in "On the Cliff", Zhang Yi's role is not as good as That of Heweiduo, when it comes to the actor's performance ability, emotional tension, and physical control, Zhang Yi has contributed a "textbook" advanced performance.
Speaking of "running with you", Zhang Yi also has a say.
In 2017, he was nominated for the "Best Supporting Actor Award" of the Golden Rooster Awards with "The Pursuer", but he was unsuccessful; in 2018, Zhang Yi was shortlisted for the "Outstanding Actor Award" of the Chinese TV Drama Feitian Awards with "Chicken Feathers Flying to the Sky", and lost to Zhang Tong.
At the 35th Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Films in 2020, Zhang Yi evaluated "My Motherland and Me" and was nominated for the "Best Actor Award", regretting Huang Xiaoming's "Heroes of Fire".
Zhang Yi seems to have been lacking a bit of "award luck", obviously there have been so many masterpieces of word-of-mouth before, but don't say that they won awards, in fact, before 2016, Zhang Yi even had few nominations for mainstream awards.
Although he later won many awards such as Huading, Hundred Flowers, golden eagle and so on, he was always one heavyweight "Golden Rooster Award" away from the "Grand Slam".
From 2015 to 2020, Zhang Yi was nominated for the Golden Rooster Award three times, and only won back one "Best Supporting Actor" award, and often lost out with "Best Actor".
The stage of the Golden Rooster Awards was both familiar and unfamiliar to him.
Today's Zhang Yi, whether it is acting skills or word of mouth, may no longer need the blessing of awards, but the "Golden Rooster Award" is like an obsession in his heart, and this road is not easy.
So before announcing the name of the film emperor, compared with the other three finalists, Zhang Yi's nervousness overflowed the screen, and he once looked down and closed his eyes and frowned.
When he heard the award guest read out his name, he jerked his head up and took a deep breath.
In just a few seconds, Zhang Yi's mood was like the name of the movie that made him shortlisted, shaking "on the cliff".
From watching Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum" in 1988 to his entry into Zhang Yimou's screen in "One Second" and "On the Cliff", Zhang Yi spent 30 years to realize his wish to cooperate with Zhang Yimou.
"Ten years to sharpen a sword", he also fulfilled his "golden rooster dream".
Everyone's life will always encounter some important turning points, sooner or later, Zhang Yi, who is late in life, understands the bitterness and pain in the road to winning the award.
"Drama maniac" Zhang Yi claimed to be "untalented", but became a famous director in the eyes of "fragrant food"
In the interview after getting the Golden Rooster Emperor, Zhang Yi said to the camera:
"I'm sorry for him (Yu Hewei), he actually acted better than me, I think so, I think the best actor in my mind is Yu He Viagra, but, unfortunately, I'm sorry, really regretful." 」
For Zhang Yi, the "shame" made him feel ashamed; to the audience, he deserved it.
The performance of Zhang Yi and Yu Hewei in "On the Cliff" is indeed not inferior, but Zhang Yi is even better.
Regarding the matter of "acting well", Zhang Yi's acting skills are obvious to everyone.
Chen Kaige commented on Zhang Yi: "In his heart, drama is bigger than the sky"; Chen Kexin said that he was a real literary and artistic youth.
And director Jia Zhangke's evaluation may be more in line with Zhang's translation: can do it.
"Some actors are born with a talent for acting, which is God's appreciation of food; some actors rely on the day after tomorrow's efforts, this is the grandfather's appreciation of food to eat."
Zhang Yi is typical of the latter.
Some netizens have summed up his experience before becoming famous: the examination of the broadcasting academy was replaced, the love of drama was looked down upon, the first love girlfriend had a car accident and became a vegetative person, running around but hitting walls everywhere.
Some people say that Zhang Yi is estimated to be one of the "most miserable" male actors in the circle, no appearance, no talent, the director can't see it, and the audience doesn't buy it.
In order to shoot the drama, I ran a dragon set for ten years, and also cast a resume for ten years, and even finally began to doubt myself: "It is my job to cast a resume, and acting is already my side business"
In the more than ten years before becoming famous, Zhang Yi acted in sketches, recorded radio dramas, made field notes, and ran a dragon set for ten years. And what really hit him was that the director said bluntly: "You acting is a death." ”
In his early twenties, when he was full of enthusiasm and ambition, Zhang Yi was seriously denied in his beloved performance.
Later, recalling this experience, he said bluntly: "That was the youngest and most vigorous time, clinging to my ideals, my pursuits, but people said, you have no way to live in this industry, at that time, it was really sad." ”
Until 2006, Zhang Yi ushered in a crucial turning point in his acting career - the squad leader "Shi Jin" in the TV series "Soldier Assault".
Then Zhang Yi, who found the right way to play, was out of control and starred in a series of TV series with military themes such as "My Regiment Leader My Regiment", "Life and Death Line", "Behind the Gunshots", "Corps Years" and so on.
With superb acting skills, Zhang Yi has gradually begun to be absorbed by the film circle, and Zhang Yi has almost cooperated with one of the top two directors in China.
In the face of the original evaluation that "acting is a death", Zhang Yi used diligence and hard work to turn a "dead chess" of that year into a "living chess".
From "no drama to shoot" to "continuous filming", he finally has a place in China's film and television circle.
The "shi jin" in the play said: "As long as you do better today than yesterday, you have done it."
Zhang Yi, an actor outside the play, also did it. As Kang Honglei, the director of "Soldier Assault", said: "If you act well, you will definitely survive it"!
Because he knows that every opportunity is not easy to come by, Zhang Yi has always maintained a sense of awe for the matter of "acting".
There was a joke in the circle that Zhang Yi was a "lame performance artist", and even his friend Wu Jingjing said that "Zhang Yi will be lame when he plays".
As early as "My Regiment Leader My Regiment", lameness became the essence of Zhang Yi's character, and this drama was filmed for 172 days, and he was lame for 172 days.
Later, in "Life and Death Line", "Rebirth", and "Red Sea Action", zhang Yi's leg was not "good" or injured.
Because of his reverence for the profession of an actor and his belief in acting, Zhang Yi has an almost "crazy" love when dealing with every play and every role.
Don't look at the current Zhang Yi has been recognized by everyone as "one of the most capable actors in The Chinese showbiz circle", perhaps the ups and downs of the early years, so that he habitually inferiority, often fell into a state of unconfidence.
When filming an "old abacus" in the movie "Eight Hundred" planning to escape, and after being found, he knelt down on his knees to "beg for forgiveness", Zhang Yi admitted that "he didn't know how to act, and he was nervous to the night before he lost sleep."
When it came to the first time he cooperated with director Zhang Yimou in the movie "One Second", because of a heavy crying scene, Zhang Yi was so anxious that he couldn't sleep at all.
However, it is also this subconscious "lack of confidence" that allows him to concentrate his energy on the explosion in acting.
Zhang Yi's crying scene can make famous directors who have seen various actors cry, and he who has no talent depends on raw grinding.
"Stupid birds fly first", perhaps talent is an indispensable prerequisite, but effort is sometimes more important than talent.
Take acting as a belief, and refuse variety shows because of "shame"
Venus, who has always been a "poisonous tongue", praised Zhang Yi in the "Venus Show" program, and she has been predicting to the audience: "In the next 10 years, Zhang Yi will definitely become China's film emperor." ”
At the end of the show, Jin Xing also said in a serious tone: "In fact, I am looking forward to a work that belongs to Zhang Yi. ”
It was not until the Golden Rooster Awards on December 30, 2021, that Zhang Yi finally verified the prophecy of Venus.
Zhang Yi said in his acceptance speech: "I have never taken such a weighty trophy. ”
When asked about "the person I want to thank the most", he said: "If there is only one person, it must be director Zhang Yimou." ”
From small supporting roles to big starring, from small screens to big screens, Zhang Yi, who has debuted for nearly two decades, seems to have only done one thing: acting.
He once admitted on the show that "he is not a person who can entertain the public", and the reason he gives is that "he feels that his cultivation at this point is relatively low, which cannot be done".
Based on the basic qualities of the actor - should know "what to do" and "what not to do".
So even though today's reality SHOW is paid tens of millions of dollars, Zhang Yi basically still does only two things, "movies and TV series".
"The main character of the actor load is acting, while the star load is more public figures with commercial value, and the responsibility is heavier." I haven't done it yet, nor am it like my personal attributes. ”
I remember that teacher Li Xuejian said a sentence in the program "Let's Talk": "It is meaningless to talk about fame without the work."
Like Teacher Li Xuejian, because he experienced various tribulations when he was young, he knew the bitterness and difficulty of being an actor, so Zhang Yi cherished the word "actor".
In fact, there are many kinds of actors, some are deeply cultivated in homogeneous types of roles, and some are "seeking common ground while reserving differences" and seeking breakthroughs.
In this regard, Zhang Yi described himself as a "person who shoots a gun to change a place and receives it when he sees it."
This is not unmotivated, on the contrary, this is the scarcity of sobriety in many actors, Zhang Yi knows that "satisfaction", because it will not be insatiable, so in the face of glory to maintain the actor's "shame".
Just as after he was crowned the Golden Rooster Emperor, he humbly thought that he was not as good as Yu Hewei's "acting", this is not flattery, nor is it a modest mannerism, but a sober self-awareness that really comes from the heart, as everyone often says, "modesty makes people progress".
Some people say: whether Zhang Yi is too humble, all the awards he has received are well deserved.
In the same way as "from frugality to luxury, from luxury to frugality", we have seen too many examples of stars who have finally raised their eyebrows after many years of dormancy, or who have reached the top overnight, and who have drifted to forget their original intentions after becoming red.
Because of adhering to the belief in acting and maintaining the "shame" of the actor, Zhang Yi can more clearly understand where his achievements come from now.
As early as 2015, when he won the "Best Supporting Actor" at the 30th Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards with "Dear", Zhang Yi, who stood on the podium, thanked everyone continuously and said thank you a total of 17 times.
In a later interview, when the award was mentioned again, Zhang Yi only thought that he had picked up a leak and was an encouragement to his poor man.
He always habitually puts himself in a very low position, because behind the "shame" is infinite humility, and this humble attitude makes him lower the standard.
Shortlisting and nomination are all recognition, affirmation and encouragement for Zhang Yi.
In the face of the praise he received, he always attributed his success to others.
When winning the Golden Eagle Award, the sentence "Without Yin Tao's Luo Yuzhu, there would be no Chen Jianghe translated by Zhang", which means that the wonderful interpretation of his partner Yin Tao has achieved his own glory.
And when he got the Golden Rooster Award that he had in mind, he thanked him for the opportunity given to him by director Zhang Yimou, and then thanked him for the profession of actor he loved so much.
After years of trial and error, it was finally time to blossom, but he did not swell, so he always had respect for the work and the role.
"Do not be happy with things, do not grieve with yourself", neither depressed by defeat, nor complacent about winning awards.
"Shame" allows Zhang Yi to look at gains and losses more peacefully.
Many actors now have nothing to do with themselves after shooting their works, and in the face of criticism and advice from the audience, they can always find N reasons to refute them, but never think about where the root of the problem is.
However, when it comes to Zhang Yi, even if it has been "experienced in the battlefield", when each work is released, the tension and worry will not be reduced by half a point because of the increase in experience.
Before the release of the movie "One Second", he said in an interview: "Waiting for the audience's perception is waiting to verify whether my work in the past few months has leaked and whether the audience is satisfied. ”
It is precisely because of his "shame" as an actor that he pays more attention to everyone's views when facing each work and role.
At the premiere of "One Second", some viewers talked about the topic of "why zhang yi is not on fire" that netizens have discussed a lot, if it is themselves, they will definitely find the question after the fire, and then answer "Do you see that I am on fire now".
However, Zhang Yi said: "I just caught up with the centralized release of the film, which does not mean how good my personal work performance is." The fact that the fire is not hot is not important to the actor. ”
"The hero sees a little the same", Fu Dalong, who is also the Emperor of the Golden Rooster, once mentioned, "I hope that I am not too red, I can have a job to do."
That's why they hardly participate in reality shows, which are for fame and fortune and they just want to act.
It is really "people who have been drenched in rain always want to hold umbrellas for others", because they feel empathy and know that it is not easy for everyone, so Zhang Yi can think more about others.
On the red carpet of the Shanghai International Film Festival, when director Zhang Yimou appeared with the main creators of the movie "Sniper", Zhang Yi took the initiative to hand over the microphone, arrange the position, and arrange the order of appearance.
He was busy before and after, just like the staff on site.
In order to let the newcomers who walk the red carpet for the first time have more opportunities to appear, Zhang Yi took the initiative to give up the C position for taking photos, and it was also painstaking to let the newcomers have more exposure.
From the squad leader "Shi Jin" who did not give up in "Soldier Assault", to the "Chen Jianghe" in "Chicken Feathers Fly to the Sky", to the heroic and righteous "Zhang Xianchen" in "On the Cliff".
Zhang Yi has achieved "a thousand faces" in his performance, but no matter how it changes, the only constant is his "shame heart" as an actor.
Although Zhang Yi once said that he was a typical "better death than Lai living", he said more affirmatively:
"No matter what kind of person I am, I just need to be sure of one thing, that is, for me, to make myself as good as possible is my greatest concern for myself." 」
The Golden Rooster Award for the audience is the greatest affirmation and praise for Zhang Yi; for Zhang Yi, it is also his new starting point.