Chinese Entertainment Intelligence King

Chapter 9 A good actor is one who uses his brain

Although he was a little upset by the scene just now, Yan Li was generally happy.

Because in the previous scene, he did not act strictly according to the script.

Yan Li was deeply moved when he witnessed Tse Kwan-ho's portrayal of the character Yang Guang.

In the original script of "Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties", Yang Guang, like Yuwen Chengdu, was a stereotypical, licentious and tyrannical emperor.

They are bad for no reason, just for the sake of being bad, and they serve more as tools to highlight the greatness and righteousness of the protagonists and to advance the plot.

However, without changing the plot, Tse Kwan-ho unearthed a deeper side to the character of Yang Guang, making Yang Guang vivid and rich, and even reducing the villain's viciousness, making him uniquely charming.

Yan Li wanted to follow suit at that time, but found it very difficult.

The character setting and plot limitations are one aspect, and the other is that Yang Guang is the villain, and his personal role is relatively sufficient, giving him room for shaping and development.

Yuwen Chengdu has few personal roles and often serves as a foil to the villain. A good cook cannot cook without rice.

More importantly, he is the Golden Horse Award winner and has the confidence to compete with the director.

Yan Li is a minor supporting role and a newcomer. His status among the main actors in the crew is at the bottom. If he changes a line, he may be scolded.

So these days, even if Yan Li had some ideas, he didn't dare to say them and just focused on filming.

Until today, when filming the play centered on him and Yu Wenzhi, after persuading Yang Shulin who played Yu Wenzhi, and having roughly figured out the director's temperament, Yan Li dared to communicate with the director tentatively.

Yan Li did not change the plot and character settings!

This is very important, including the portrayal of Tse Kwan-ho, who used his own performance to enhance the character based on the original script.

In essence, the Yang Guang he played is still the licentious tyrant, but the character is not so stereotyped, but has more logic, layers and unique charm.

If he portrayed Yang Guang as a so-called good man with his own difficulties and overturned the script, the director might not tolerate him.

If Xie Junhao is like this, let alone Yan Li.

Yuwen Chengdu is still the shameless villain in the script, only some changes have been made to certain lines and details, which can be regarded as fine-tuning.

The scene just now was like this. There were actually no major changes to Yan Li. He just refined his lines slightly and added some performance interaction with Yu Wenzhi.

The changes are not big, but they make the dialogue and rhythm smoother, and Yuwen Chengdu's instant change of expression is even more comical.

An actor who uses his brain when acting is a good actor!

This is what Yan Li's teacher at the Beijing Film Academy taught him when he was in school. It had a great influence on him, and he was also a student in the class who was famous for his love of acting and his dedication to thinking.

However, teachers in school will support and encourage this kind of behavior, but no one will tolerate you in society.

Yan Li’s most profound memory was during his sophomore year, when he and his roommate Zhang Songwen were in a different group and got a rare role as a minor character with lines.

The scene was basically about two tavern guests chatting and gossiping, but after rehearsing the scene, they felt that there were problems with the script lines and the director's requirements. Their clothes were clearly those of rich young men, but the words they spoke were like those of street vendors, which was not in line with their identities.

So, the two of them modified their lines and then acted like rich young men when filming started.

This caused the assistant director to become furious and scold the two of them. If Zhang Songwen had not stopped him, Yan Li would have almost fought with the other party.

However, since then, Yan Li also understood one thing: if your status and fame are not high enough, you will have no say in the crew.

This time when he came to "Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties", Yan Li was very humble. His initial plan was to keep quiet, act as he was told, and then take the money and leave.

Which actor hasn't acted in bad movies and played bad roles? He is a newcomer, it's good enough for him to have a movie to act in, why should he pick it?

But Yan Li couldn't help but run into Xie Junhao.

After seeing the facial makeup villain Yang Guang in the script played out vividly, he looked at his own Yuwen Chengdu and felt more and more dissatisfied.

Director Hu Mingkai's relaxed attitude towards actors also made Yan Li eager to try.

From script to finished film or television product, it is not only the screenwriter and director who create the work, but the actors are also part of the creative process.

The script is just dry lines and descriptions, and the specific presentation effect depends on the actors' performance.

The same scene and role will give different feelings when performed by different actors, so there are distinctions among ordinary actors, good actors and even best actors.

The director plays a crucial role in this.

Every director has a different style. Some directors require actors to be very precise and not change a single word of the lines; some directors set a framework and direction for the actors, and then both parties slowly discuss and refine it; some directors just let go and let the actors follow their imagination, and then judge whether it is acceptable or not.

Director Hu Mingkai of "Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties" prefers the third option and is relatively tolerant of the actors' appropriate freedom of expression.

Yan Li's test today also proved this point. As long as the final product is good and does not affect the overall direction of the show, Hu Mingkai does not care too much about the actors' little ideas. This gave Yan Li some opportunities to put his ideas about Yuwen Chengdu to use.

Yan Li knew very well that the case of Yuwen Chengdu could not be overturned.

The plot and characters cannot be changed, and his personal role is few. Moreover, there is the huge blemish of the heroine who leads the queue. Yan Li is not capable of clearing this role.

Therefore, Yan Li’s requirements are not that high.

Just add some shining points to make this character not so beastly, elevate the character to a higher level, and not just a purely stereotyped villain tool.

To this end, Yan Li has been thinking about it these days and finally came up with a good idea.

When Yan Li was studying at the Beijing Film Academy, he audited a screenwriting class in the Department of Literature, where he heard a crude method for quickly bringing flat characters to life.

That is, good people give him a minor flaw to make him more down-to-earth, and bad people give him an advantage to show the brilliance of human nature.

People are not black or white. Being completely good or completely bad seems fake. Add a little gray and it immediately becomes complex and real.

However, the character of Yuwen Chengdu is so evil that his feet are oozing pus.

He bullies the weak and fears the strong, is greedy for fame and fortune, relies on his bravery to fight, is lustful and shameless, and stabs the monarch in the back... It is quite difficult to find any good points in him.

It can't possibly show that he saves food and cares for his subordinates, right?

Even if there is some truth to it, Yan Li has no way to portray this aspect. Should he ask the director to shoot another scene where he leads his brothers to queue up for other people?

Therefore, after studying Yuwen Chengdu's script, Yan Li focused his attention on the father-son relationship between Yuwen Huaji and Yuwen Chengdu.

Filial piety is one of the most important virtues that Chinese people value, perhaps the only one. After all, filial piety is the first of all virtues.

No matter how evil a bad guy is, as long as he is filial, many people will still look up to him, at least thinking that he has some humanity.

Another key point is that the original script left some room for exploration on the Yuwen father and son.

For example, Yuwen Chengdu listens to his father, and Yuwen Huaji also trusts and relies on this son. This means that this can be used as a breakthrough point for characterization, which will not affect the plot and the director will not be disgusted.

During this period, Yan Li also became familiar with Yang Shulin, who played Yu Wenzhi, and was able to get some support.

Playing the role of filial piety is not something that can be done by a son alone; there must be interaction with the parents to create sparks.

Thinking of this, Yan Li became full of fighting spirit. He bought some fried rice and returned to the hotel.

While eating, he was thinking about the script, such as how to interact with Yu Wenhuaji in the play, how to highlight the virtue of filial piety under limited conditions, and how to convince Yang Shulin or the director, etc.

It was not until the early morning that Yan Li, not daring to waste any longer, went to bed with a lot on his mind, considering that there was still a show to do the next day.

The next morning, at daybreak, Yan Li was woken up by the alarm clock and went to the bathroom. Then he opened the system while trying to do two things at once. There were only 5 pieces of information today.

[Daily Intelligence ①: Actor Yang Shulin was quite impressed with Yan Li's performance yesterday, believing that this young man has a clear mind, is bold and daring, and is a promising actor.]

Daily Intelligence ②: Director Hu Mingkai neither admired nor disliked Yan Li's behavior yesterday; he was more concerned about whether the filming went smoothly. (Note: Hu Mingkai values directorial authority and should be careful with his attitude when communicating.)

After seeing these two pieces of information, Yan Li felt relieved.

He was worried before, fearing that these two people might not say it on the surface but had opinions about him in their hearts. Now it seems that the overall situation is not bad.

In the future, Teacher Yang can get closer to Director Hu, and Director Hu should be more supportive and pay attention to his attitude and propriety.

Daily News ③: Some of the pork in the lunchbox restaurant contracted by "Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties" has slightly deteriorated, with a certain chance of causing diarrhea (Note: Montmorillonite powder can be used to treat this).

Uh, let’s see if we can go out for lunch at noon and buy some medicine. If I don’t need it myself, I can do you a favor.

[Daily Information ④: Brazil vs. England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, taking place at 14:30 PM today. Brazil is planning to use a 1-4-343 formation, with Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho tipped to be the starting XI...]

Yan Li: “…”

Where did this information come from? Did I accidentally glance at some sports news in the newspaper yesterday? Or did someone in the crew watching a game and discussing it trigger the system?

Yan Li, who was neither the head coach of either team nor a journalist, could not figure out the tricks and could not present the information, so he simply threw the information into the [garbage station].

It would be better to get some information on which team is more favored in the odds, so that he can at least buy a lottery ticket or something.

[Daily Intelligence ⑤: Qin Lan, who has no drama today, politely declines her companions' invitation to go shopping and heads to the grove to see if she can run into Yan Li again. If she does, it means they are truly destined to be together.]

Yan Li was stunned for a moment before he remembered who Qin Lan was, and fell into deep thought.

Is this girl making random associations?

(End of this chapter)