As an outstanding TV drama exhibition and broadcast drama celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the second round of broadcasting of the major revolutionary historical drama "The Age of Awakening" has officially ended a few days ago. Cha Wenhao, a young actor who plays one of the main characters in the play, Deng Zhongxia, has become the focus of the audience's attention with his youthful performance.
In an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Beijing News, Cha Wenhao said that deng Zhongxia, a young man between 1915 and 1921, was like the "post-90s" 100 years ago, using a word to describe him as "burning", his whole life was like a red flame, firmly spreading Marxism, devoting himself to publicizing new ideas, and inspiring the people to move forward on the road of awakening. "Deng Zhongxia's life is very passionate. When you really recognize the ideals of this generation of revolutionaries in that situation, the passion for battle, the determination to sacrifice at all times, and the revolutionary optimism that you exude are sincere. ”
As a young actor after the 90s, cha Wenhao is deeply encouraged by the "Age of Awakening" to delve into historical figures and understand the most important historical chapter of China's ideological awakening. He was impressed by a sentence in Li Dazhao's article "Youth" published in "New Youth", "Born in youth and died in youth, born in youth and died in youth." Go forward and don't look behind, turn your back on darkness to the light, enter civilization for the world, and create happiness for mankind. ”
Cha Wenhao believes that the young Deng Zhongxia between 1915 and 1921 is like the "post-90s" 100 years ago.
Write a biography of the character before the audition, let the director finalize "Deng Zhongxia"
One day in 2018, Cha Wenhao received a call from chief producer Liu Guohua, inviting him to audition for the TV series "The Age of Awakening". As a young actor and director of the National Theatre of China, Cha Wenhao has previously starred in many dramas such as "Monument", "Long Night" and "Chinese Soldier". Liu Guohua was impressed by his performance. "Mr. Liu Guohua said that this play is very good, absolutely high quality. I trust him very much and believe that it must be a good drama. ”
For the first time, "The Age of Awakening" presents the era and historical picture of the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement, clearly reflecting the early spread of Marxism in China and the whole process of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Before the audition, Cha Wenhao read a lot of historical materials about this period, "a vast sea of smoke." Time is very tight, and I can't finish watching it. Among them, he was deeply impressed by Hu Shi's article "Discussion on Literary Improvement". This was the first article advocating a literary revolution, and "discussion" referred to one's own "immature speech." Cha Wenhao was inspired and also wrote a biography about Deng Zhongxia, "Zhongli's Initial Exploration and Discussion". During the audition, he conducted a sincere and profound discussion with the director team about this short biography and his own understanding. Deng Zhongxia in history is also such a person who is extremely serious and meticulous in everything, "The directors may feel that my practice of interviewing more seriously and writing character biographies has some similarities with the temperament of the characters." ”
Deng Zhongxia's life is full of passion.
Read as much as you can and look for the spirit unique to patriotic youth
Born in 1894, Deng Zhongxia's The Age of Awakening tells the historical period from 1915 to 1921. In Cha Wenhao's understanding, according to the current version, Deng Zhongxia at that time should be a "post-90s", but only 100 years ago after the 90s.
In 1917, China was on the brink of national and national peril. At the age of 23, Deng Zhongxia was admitted to Peking University's Chinese Literature Gate, which is now the Department of Literature, and met a group of the greatest teachers in Chinese history during this period. - Cai Yuanpei, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Hu Shi, Lu Xun, who are spreading science and democracy on the front of "New Youth" and carrying out a vigorous new cultural movement. Then, Deng Zhongxia followed Li Dazhao to find the belief he had pursued all his life, Marxism.
In Cha Wenhao's view, if there is one word to describe Deng Zhongxia, it is "burning". Deng Zhongxia was a very enthusiastic person, and his life was like a red flame. He stirred up the enthusiasm of the students in the Red Chamber at Peking University; he ran a workers' literacy class and a labor remedial school in Changxindian, mingling with the workers and making the fire of the workers' movement burn. Throughout his life, he firmly spread Marxism, "His life is like a process from ignition to burning to ashes." He has devoted his life to propagating new ideas and inspiring people on the path of awakening. ”
In order to play this character well, Cha Wenhao did his best to read books, read biographies of various characters, watch documentaries, and try to understand this great historical figure from Deng Zhongxia's teachers, classmates, and people in various fields. At the same time, Cha Wenhao also dabbled in all the historical stories about 1915-1921, looking for the chronological background of that period, the feelings of the characters, "The director told us to find the unique spirit of the patriotic youth of that period." Even if that era is far from the present, Cha Wenhao can still feel the dedication of his ancestors, as well as the energy and faith full of blood, heroism, fearlessness, and the responsibility of the nation-state.
Cha Wenhao believes that in shaping characters, it is necessary to grasp the unique spirit of patriotic youth in those years.
In terms of performance, Cha Wenhao grasped the essential feature of Deng Zhongxia's "passionate life". In the play, Deng Zhongxia has a large number of long speeches. Cha Wenhao has acted in many dramas, musicals, TV series, and online movies before, but he has never tried such a large number of lines as "The Age of Awakening"; and most of his lines are not communicative, but passionate speeches. "It's about memorizing lines well." In the face of this large-scale line, there is no other way, that is, hard back. Nibble it down first, then understand it sentence by sentence, and make art creation. ”
For example, in the scene where Deng Zhongxia debates with Huang Kan in class and speaks out, Cha Wenhao believes that Huang Kan is a teacher, but the two can also have different opinions. "I love my teacher, I love the truth even more", so Deng Zhongxia still had to boldly express his opinion. But even if everyone disagrees, Deng Zhongxia must first respect the teacher. So even if you are debating, being kicked out of class, you have to bow to the teacher before leaving. "When you really recognize in that situation the ideals of this generation of revolutionaries, the passion for battle that you exude, the determination to sacrifice at any time, and the revolutionary optimism that you exude are sincere, in my eyes, Deng Zhongxia is warm-blooded, witty and rational. So I think if you want to be 'god-like', it's a sincere interpretation. ”
Every day I look forward to co-creating with the creator
In the play, the scene that Cha Wenhao was most impressed by was when the students interpreted the "Book of Fu Wang Jingxuan" in the form of a stage play. They need to adapt the novel into a live newspaper drama, Deng Zhongxia is responsible for the adaptation, and Zhao Shiyan is the director. Others perform their duties, some play Wang Jingxuan, some play Gu Hongming, and some play Hu Shi. The actors of this play spent a long time rehearsing the stage play, including making their own props, making muppets, using pots and pans and chopsticks to make percussion instruments, and some people could ventriloquism, simulating the sound effects of wind and waves. Cha Wenhao remembered that when the scene was filmed, the young actors really performed a drama with the help of Teachers Hewei, Zhang Tong and Ma Shaohua.
Such experiences of "true restoration" of historical details abound during the filming of The Age of Awakening. Every small detail in the play, the crew will design with care. For example, in the scene where Cai Yuanpei invited Chen Duxiu to serve as the dean of liberal arts at Peking University, an inconspicuous warm pot was placed at the door. In order to greet Cai Yuanpei, Chen Duxiu took the pot at the door into the house, which showed that no one had entered the house before. In Cha Wenhao's view, although many viewers did not pay attention to this tiny detail, it reflected the creator's rigorous and serious artistic attitude.
During the filming, Cha Wenhao looked forward to discussing the script with the creators every day and co-creating. For example, director Zhang Yongxin, Cha Wenhao has seen many of his works before, and many situations and pictures will be repeatedly appreciated. In "The Age of Awakening", Zhang Yongxin uses a large number of animals as metaphors, like Chen Duxiu's white pigeon in prison as a metaphor for freedom, camels as a metaphor for forbearance, ants as a metaphor for every Chinese who is at the bottom, embracing ideals, and wanting to save the country..." It is said that an ant can lift something about 10 times its own weight, and the young students in the Red Chamber of Peking University are like small ants, and the strength and courage they have burst out of uniting in the most dangerous period of the country are very great. Ants may seem small and insignificant, but as long as they are united, they are unstoppable and can even lift elephants. ”
The crew's pursuit of detail in The Age of Awakening inspires young actors.
Among the other senior actors, Cha Wenhao described the relationship with them as like in the play, "like a teacher, like a brother". Cha Wenhao recalled that Yu Hewei, who played Chen Duxiu, was very serious and serious on the scene, and for the same scene, Yu Hewei could always quickly give a variety of different acting methods, and each one was carefully designed. Cha Wenhao admitted that watching Teacher Yu create roles on the spot is definitely an actor's enjoyment. In fact, he didn't joke with other actors on the spot, and he was completely immersed in the role, forming an aura. This aura, I think, is a very good creative atmosphere. ”
Ma Shaohua, who plays Cai Yuanpei, has fewer rivalry with Cha Wenhao, but Cha Wenhao likes to watch him act on the spot. His lines and expressions are very restrained. It's a very high-level performance. Zhang Tong, who plays Li Dazhao, often plays basketball with Cha Wenhao. Between plays, the two also talk about their understanding of the role and the performance. Zhang Tong once encouraged Cha Wenhao to be an actor and a director, and he had to try more and do everything.
In Cha Wenhao's view, "The Age of Awakening" is one of the most special works he has ever participated in. During the live shooting, the director will lead the actors to carefully cut every line in the script, and each actor will also actively explore and analyze the rationality of each scene, and whether the treatment of this line is correct. Everyone on the scene can even quantify the revision of the script to punctuation, "that is, the mood auxiliary words use a 'ah' or an 'ah', use a 'hmm' or a 'ah', and the word count of a line must be repeatedly considered." ”
——Q&A——
Beijing News: As a young person, how do you think about that era of ideological awakening?
Cha Wenhao: I was very impressed by a sentence in Li Dazhao's article "Youth" published in "New Youth": "Born in youth and died in youth, born in youth and died in youth." Go forward and don't look behind, turn your back on darkness to the light, enter civilization for the world, and create happiness for mankind.
Beijing News: Imagine if you were born in that era, what would you want to do, or play what role?
Cha Wenhao: I think, like these young people, I will awaken, to fight, to struggle.
Zhang He, a senior reporter of the Beijing News
Edited by Tong Na Proofread by Chen Diyan
Source: Beijing News