01.Tang Guoqiang and Gu Yue
In 1996, director Zhai Junjie made a phone call to Tang Guoqiang, who was already very popular. What no one expected was that this phone call would bring the darkest moment of Tang Guoqiang's acting career, and of course it would also change his life's destiny.
Because Zhuge Liang's image creation in the 1994 version of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was so successful, more and more directors began to approach him for auditions, including Zhai Junjie, who planned to make the movie "The Long March."
The image of the great man in "The Long March" is the soul, but who should play the role of the great man has become a problem.
According to the past, it was most suitable for special actor Gu Yue to play, but Gu Yue happened to be unavailable, so he thought of Tang Guoqiang.
called Tang Guoqiang and asked if he dared to give it a try. Tang Guoqiang agreed immediately.
But after the film was completed and released, Tang Guoqiang was dumbfounded. He was scolded by the audience and made the news list. It's not because he didn't play a great man well, but because the image of the veteran Gu Yue was so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that Tang Guoqiang was not that good.
This is his first time playing a great man. Firstly, he can’t speak with a Hunan accent; secondly, he doesn’t look very similar in appearance; thirdly, he still has some airs, and there is no harm without comparison. After being used to Gu Yue and watching Tang Guoqiang, I always feel that there is something a bit uninteresting.
However, Tang Guoqiang has a characteristic. He will consider his own advantages and use his strengths to avoid weaknesses.
html In 1999, Tang Guoqiang was invited to participate in "The Founding Leader Mao Zedong". This was his second appearance as a great man after three years.
There is a scene of a great man looking at a map. Tang Guoqiang changed Wei Guangzheng's traditional idea of shooting from above and boldly suggested to the director that he could film the great man squatting, kneeling or even sticking his buttocks out and looking at the map with a magnifying glass. The great man came to life.
Similarly, " The Founding of the People's Republic of China" has a scene where is negotiating with in Chongqing. He takes the initiative to extend his hand to the actor Chiang Kai-shek Zhang Guoli . This is a scene that does not exist in real history. According to Tang Guoqiang's understanding, it reflects the great man. Able to bend and stretch.
If the great man played by Gu Yue pursues the ultimate resemblance and creates an image of a leader that meets people's expectations, then the great man played by Tang Guoqiang pulls him back to the ground from a high place, using his resemblance to create a flesh-and-blood person while "de-deifying" him. Image of a great man.
In front of the screen, which version of the great man do you think is the most interesting?
Left picture: Gu Yue, right picture: Tang Guoqiang
02.JinmenZhang Keyao
Who is the first generation of great actors? He once dubbed Gu Yue in Hunan dialect, but he himself is a native of Tianjin. He once appeared on the stage in the 1970s and became a generation classic with his drama.
His name is Zhang Keyao. It can even be said that without Zhang Keyao, there would be no Gu Yue.
Unlike Gu Yue who became a monk halfway, Zhang Keyao was born as a serious actor. Born in Tianjin in 1933, he was admitted to the Northwest Art Institute in 1950. In 1977, the Xi'an Repertory Theater created "Xi'an Incident". Zhang Keyao, who had a somewhat similar figure, was spotted by the leader and asked him to go back and prepare.
It is said that it is difficult to draw hands when painting people. There were many people who had seen great people in that era. Zhang Keyao decided to start researching from photos.
He hired a photographer at home to draw pictures based on the photos of great men. He would do whatever the great men did and he would develop them immediately after the poses. After the photos were developed, he would compare them with the original photos.
Once, not twice, twice, not three times, until the movements and demeanor of the great man are completely restored.
The second thing Zhang Keyao did was read books. Strictly speaking, they were endorsements. All books related to great men include their lives, events they experienced, their classic quotations, and changes in their thoughts.
Because if you want to play a person well, you must first understand it deeply, and then you can enter the role to enhance the sense of substitution. This is the same reason that many veteran actors are used to writing short biographies before playing a role.
The third trouble Zhang Keyao encountered was the language barrier. He is from Tianjin and cannot speak Hunan dialect, but fortunately the lover of a colleague in the drama troupe is from Hunan.
In order to learn pronunciation, he went to people's homes after get off work for several months to ask her for advice. Some people who didn't know the truth thought that Lao Zhang was doing something disgraceful.
In 1982, Zhang Keyao received her first film role as a great man, " Storm in Zhongshan ", and appeared on the screen as a special actor. However, the good times did not last long. In 1988, Zhang Keyao was diagnosed with diabetes, and the film "The Founding Ceremony of the People's Republic of China" that she originally planned to participate in was canceled.
Before leaving, he recommended Gu Yue to the relevant leaders of Changchun Film Factory. At that time, Gu Yue's Hunan dialect was not standard. After the filming of the film, Zhang Keyao made a special trip to dub for "The Founding Ceremony" and then retreated behind the scenes.
Although it was short-lived, the seeds had been planted. In the following decades, more and more special actors began to appear on the stage, and the film and television images of great men became richer and richer.
03.Female great Chen Yan
A special actor who disguises himself as a man, plays a great man, can you believe it?
In 2006 in Mianyang, Sichuan, a woman named Chen Yan was teased by her fellow villagers for a long time because her appearance was somewhat similar to that of a great man. By chance, she saw a parody show called "Happy Star Face" on Southeast TV , and decided to take the stage as an imitation of Tang Guoqiang.
But who is Tang Guoqiang? Professionals who are great people. To imitate Tang Guoqiang is to imitate great people. Later, when she returned to her hometown, Chen Yan became an instant hit, and there was an endless stream of people asking for photos, so she gave up her building materials business and conducted special training against great men.
The middle-aged great man is relatively fat and not short, so Chen Yan first gained 30 pounds and then spent tens of thousands of yuan to customize a pair of inner height increasing with a height of 26 inches.
Chen Yan officially "debuted" in 2007, but she has very strong business principles: 1. Do not accept unofficial performance orders; 2. Do not make any personal speeches outside of the program; 3. Do not attend purely entertainment venues. Such as bars, KTV, etc.
Although Chen Yan became famous, her husband was depressed. There was a great man lying on the pillow. He was not at ease no matter what he thought, so he simply slept in separate beds.
Chen Yan's own daily life has also been disrupted. She can't wear skirts, can't dance in squares, can't go to mahjong stands, and has to wrap herself up even when going out to buy groceries.
We Chinese like to talk about the concept of "willingness". Faced with a five- to six-digit appearance fee, perhaps this is the price that special folk actors have to bear.
