Wen / Li Ya Pigeon
As Ang Lee's son, his father seems to be an axis of coordinates that cannot be ignored.
When he was in junior high school, Li Chun was fascinated by American football, but later due to physical problems, he dismissed the idea of being an athlete and joined the school troupe instead, because of "Romeo and Juliet", he suddenly liked the feeling of everyone creating together and building the role from scratch, and the stage play allowed Li Chun to open the road of acting.
In 2011, Ang Lee began experimenting with 3D technology to shoot "Young Pi". Li Chun used the summer vacation time to go to the shooting location to help his father with miscellaneous work. For more than two months, Li Chun helped the crew carry tools, order box lunches, clean up, and get up early and busy in the dark. After the holiday, Li Chun lost a lot of weight and tanned a lot, and his classmates jokingly asked him if he had gone to Africa to do hard work, and Li Chun playfully replied that he had gone on vacation with his father. In addition to exercising through "vacation" every holiday, my father also hoped that he could learn the excellent culture of traditional Chinese culture. Li Chun, who grew up in New York, would have maintained a superficial appearance in acting without the accumulation of this knowledge.
However, it is inevitable that as soon as he debuts, everyone will focus on his father, and at first he will be disgusted, always confused as to why more attention has not been paid to him and the work itself.
When he first returned to China to shoot a drama, his father said with guilt before he left: "Brother, I'm sorry, your father used the good fortune of our Li family for generations on himself, so maybe you will be very hard in this life and will be very payable." But you may work twice as hard as I do, but you will get half of my grades. ”
At that time, he thought that no matter how much pressure there was, he also hoped that he could be worthy of himself and his father.
In preparation for the filming of Billy Lynn's halftime battle" Li Chun and his teammates in the suburbs of Atlanta, for more than half a month of endless devil training, push-ups, sit-ups, physical training, formation training... This is the first time he has "actively" entered his father Ang Lee's film.
The coach had them lined up from tall to short and carry a tree together, and when they didn't have enough strength, he would know that if he let go of his hand slightly, his brothers would be more difficult, so he thought about what he could do for his brothers. That training suddenly made a change in his understanding of the group. You don't know who these people around you are and where they come from, but it's a collective anyway.
Billy Stills from Lynn's Halftime Battle
The definition of a person becoming an adult is that he begins to learn how to let go of himself.
In 2017, Li Chun was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 54th Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, and recalling this experience, both father and son agreed that it was "a good thing" not to win. Li Chun said that in the United States, he often watches the Oscars and knows that it is not a good thing to win the award too early, so he thinks that such a result is very good. Ang Lee said in an interview, "Honestly he is still young, I hope others win awards." For him, growth at this stage is more important than achievement.
Now Li Chun, both following his father's enthusiasm and needing to overthrow some of the pressure his father gave him, is looking for a belief of his own. As "The Little Prince" says: "A person can only see the truth if he looks with his heart, and the truth of the facts cannot be seen with his eyes." ”
He went to the stage of "The World Listens to Me" to tell his story:
Hello everyone, I am Li Chun and I am very happy to come to this stage.
When I was a child, I was known as the "little prince" of my family. It's also not a proud name. Why do my parents call me "Little Prince"? It was because I had not been born in the hardest years of my family, and I had not experienced hard times with them. In those years, my father had not yet started making movies, my mother was studying for a doctor while raising my brother, and the family was making money from my mother.
The year I was born, my dad was about to start making his first film, and the family was getting better and better. When I was four years old, I flew first class with my dad on the plane. When we were six years old, we moved from a small apartment to a famous luxury suburb of New York. When I was a child, my mother would often use the name "Little Prince" to refer to the three of us men, and as long as we were lazy and did not help with housework, she would complain that I had three "Little Princes" in my family and enjoyed being served every day. My mother often reminds us that it is not easy for them to immigrate to the unfamiliar environment of the United States and raise us, because of the language barrier and the distance from family and friends, basically they all survive on their own efforts.
So I hope that we will not be lazy and not work hard because of the current economic situation, and we will also say: "No matter what you want to do in the future, we will support you, and we will support you if you want to work at McDonald's, but you must be serious and not lazy, and what you want to fight for must rely on your own efforts, do not become an incompetent 'little prince'." ”
The first time I met acting was when I was in high school, I was involved in the Shakespeare Company, and I was immediately fascinated. When I was applying to college, the only thing I wanted was to get into the Acting Department. The movie "Hangover 2" was a failure for me, so big a chance that I didn't act well, and the director scolded me in front of everyone that I was a bad actor. I'm going to go a few months early because my Chinese sucks. It's a pity that I didn't learn Chinese well earlier.
In 2013, I was about to leave New York and flew to Taiwan to shoot my first Chinese film. I remember my dad waiting for me on the street for a taxi, and I went to the airport. Big suitcase by my side. I was 23 years old and had already made a Hollywood blockbuster. Maybe he could see the worry on my face, and he said, "Mom and Dad didn't force you to tell us at home Chinese, it will be more difficult for you to go there." If you want to be an actor there, just learn the language well. Martial arts are also well learned, which will help you perform. And you have to know more about the history of China. The history of the United States is only more than two hundred years, and China is five thousand years old, which can be learned. He thought for a moment and then said, "If you put in this effort, you will definitely gain something." "This is my father's blessing to me before I left.
The first time I heard the label "Star II" applied to me was when I finished the first Chinese film, "Say Love to the Wind". I was ready to share with the media my first impressions of performing with Chinese and how it was to work with directors, but they didn't seem to be very interested in these topics, and the only thing they wanted to know was the relationship between me and my dad.
"How are you, as a 'star second generation', growing up in a family of great directors, different from us ordinary people?"
"The director wants to work with you, is it because you're Ang Lee's son?" Have you received any special treatment?"
When I asked my agent what "Star II" meant, she replied, "In Chinese culture, 'Star II' is about a star's child using the resources of his parents to pick himself up and make himself red. ”
It was the first time I realized that my relationship with my dad was seen by others as a sign of being rich, taking advantage of, and not suffering. When I hear that I am described in this way, I think of the fact that I have been called "the little prince" since I was a child. But in addition to a sense of disgust and unfairness, I thought to myself that before I proved myself, all these processes, good or bad, were all growth, all nutrients.
When I met dad again, dad was going to deal with the Golden Horse Awards in Taipei. He asked me to meet him in his room. After eating, I told him about my recent life in Taiwan: how far I had learned Tai Chi; how much I had learned when I had recently spoken Mandarin pronunciation, and that I had lived well with my grandmother, but her memory was getting worse and worse, and she would often repeat what she had just said.
Then I started talking about the status of my recent work. As I spoke, my dad started frowning. Seeing the thoughtful expression on his face, I knew that I had said something inappropriate, and he was going to reason with me.
"I'm sorry brother, your father has used up all the good luck of our Li family, and your father's luck is so good, you may work as hard as me all your life, but get half of my grades." I know dad says this, but he still thinks I'm not growing up fast enough and worried that I won't be able to support myself. Although I was unhappy that he didn't see me growing, I still couldn't prove him wrong, so I had to redouble my efforts to do everything well.
I've been living in Asia for five years and now I only come back to New York almost once a year. Although I feel like I am home every time I go back, I am very anxious to go back to Taiwan and continue to pursue my dreams. I now use Chinese to communicate with my parents, and they all joke that it's as if they've got a new son, but my brother is so frustrated that he can barely understand what we're saying.
In recent years, I have found that although the place where I live (Taipei) is getting farther and farther away from my parents' home, my heart is getting closer and closer to my family. In the end, I would like to say that I accepted the test that I brought on my path as an actor, and wanting to take off the robe of the "little prince" is a necessary process for me, and I want to work harder and more seriously to continue to do what I think is right.
I'm an actor. I am Li Chun.
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