China News Entertainment, Beijing, August 10th (Reporter Ren Siyu) "Your grandma is not your grandma, your grandma is your grandfather, and your grandfather is a eunuch!" "What are you throwing!" Many people are from a few funny famous scenes Enter the pit of Mango TV Monsoon Theater "Zhang Weiguo's Summer".
This time, Huang Lei became a "waste wood middle-aged" in the hutong. In just one summer, mid-life crises hit one after another, from sitting in a courtyard house to being heavily in debt, and experienced a series of chicken flying. dog jumping...
The middle-aged Huang Lei plays the middle-aged Zhang Weiguo. How does he view these crises?
Having played so many middle-aged roles, are you worried about repetition?
Source: Stills from "Summer of Zhang Weiguo".
Want to write about characters on the fringes of society
At the beginning of the episode, Zhang Weiguo, the prop master of the Peking Opera Troupe, appeared on the stage slowly on a bicycle.
Because he injured his waist in a performance when he was young, he can only tinker with props behind the scenes. Although life is mediocre, he is happy every day.
But the unexpected death of his father turned his life upside down.
When he was middle-aged, he was told that the photo of his grandmother belonged to his grandfather, who was a eunuch, and his father was not his own son.
But what his father hadn't told him was that his second ring courtyard was also rented.
Overnight, Zhang Weiguo's father was gone, his house was gone, not only was his dream of making a fortune shattered, but he was also defrauded of hundreds of thousands for selling antiques...
Source: Stills.
When filming "Little Joy", director Huang Lei and Wang Jun were thinking about the new story. They wanted to write about two people who were on the fringes of society, engaged in occupations that did not attract much attention, and they were middle-aged people. , physical fitness, intelligence, etc. began to "downhill", but still longing for happiness, so I re-examined myself and wanted to make some changes.
Originally, Huang Lei wanted to create a script about Nanjing and Beijing, and the name was "Nanjing Beijing": a story about a Peking Opera troupe master and an unknown Chinese medicine doctor. Later, as the plot gradually enriched, it became Zhang Weiguo and Lin Hongnian. To the brothers and sisters.
This miserable pair of brothers contracted most of the laughs in the play: Zhang Weiguo, who was defrauded of all his money, wanted Jiang to bury his father, raised his hand in the bitter wind and rain, and scattered his ashes into the mouths of passers-by; When the material wrote a big hit, the title was called "Descendants of the Eunuch"...
"In a sense, both of them have failed at this age." In the play, the two encountered their own mid-life crises: Zhang Weiguo had no money or a house, had a back injury, and was looked down upon by his son; Hongnian is a well-known host in Nanjing, but he was fired because he couldn't keep up with the trend of new media. He started to drift north again at a young age, and the couple had no feelings.
Source: Stills.
"Actually, the character relationships and emotions in this play are real, but our handling is absurd." Liu Yijun, who is acting as a teacher, often asks Huang Lei, aren't we filming a light comedy? Why is my crying scene better than the previous characters? How many?
Huang Lei said, "I have a point of view on comedy, I think comedy has a certain tragic background, or tragic characters have comedy treatment. very similar."
Source: Stills.
The first screen cooperation between brothers and sisters
In the play, Zhang Weiguo and Lin Hongnian lost contact for a while after working, and only got in touch again at the party. Outside the play, Huang Lei and Liu Yijun are also real brothers who have experienced the same long-term reunion.
Huang Lei counted down his life in Beiying. At that time, Liu Yijun was in the 87th grade and he was in the 90th grade. There were only about 50 acting students from the freshman to the senior year. Everyone was familiar with each other, but there was no electronics when he graduated. The address book, until three years ago, the two met at an event and added WeChat to each other.
This time, when preparing for a new drama, Huang Lei saw a familiar name on the pre-invitation list, so he quickly grabbed his apprentice brother, "I said hello Liu Yijun, Liu Yijun is really my apprentice brother, we are apprentice brothers in our lives, he is very suitable."
Source: Stills.
In the past film and television dramas, Liu Yijun often played serious positive characters or villains, but this time it was discovered by everyone that acting in comedies can also be fun. "It was the first time I saw everyone saying that he acted well in comedies. Everyone has comedy training during school training, and his comedy performance is really in place, quite accurate."
In addition to the senior brother Liu Yijun, another familiar old friend - Huang Lei's student Haiqing can be seen in the play. Many people are happy when they see the character and commented: Doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, this is tailor-made for Haiqing. right?
"She really carries needles with her, and often pierces herself," Huang Lei said with a smile, and there is a wave of actresses who are middle-aged and take the health care route around him, "Then Haiqing may have made a more prominent contribution here. That's why she is nicknamed 'Doctor Hai', not only does she take care of herself, but she also hopes to take everyone to take care of her health and benefit all beings."
Source: Stills.
He recalled that when he was filming "Little Farewell", because his knees were uncomfortable, Haiqing immediately took a needle to puncture the teacher, "I was so daring to say that you puncture it, but the blood came out after puncturing me. Now, pierce my veins, I said you can do it? But she really loves this."
Over the years, the audience has seen Huang Lei in many family life dramas, "Little Joy", "Little Farewell", "Xiao Min's Home"... Sometimes they also ask, are these characters a bit similar?
"What should I do? I'm at this age, and it's not appropriate for you to let me act in a relationship now. It's okay to be in a relationship. I'm also bringing my children, right?" For Huang Lei, those are all his appearances on the screen. For example, in "County Party Committee Compound", which was completed not long ago, he will also appear in a different role than before.
"Everyone has their own traces at each stage. I quite accept it. The current "Summer of Zhang Weiguo" is actually not the same as "Little Joy" before me."
Source: Stills.
I want to do a warm realism drama
Lively, crying and laughing, when watching "Summer of Zhang Weiguo", some viewers will always think of the classic about small people - "The Happy Life of the Poor Zhang Damin".
The same hutong market life, the same middle-aged people who live a difficult but hard life, but compared to Zhang Damin's middle-aged, Zhang Weiguo's comedy color is stronger and more sunny.
Creating realistic themes, Huang Lei hopes to bring some warmth to everyone. He is filming "Hey, Old Man!"
", he put forward the concept of "warm realism", "I hope that through a play, everyone can overcome anxiety, or give everyone some warmth and comfort, I don't think it's bad."
Source: Stills.
In the play, Zhang Weiguo, who is middle-aged, has experienced all kinds of ironic stories. Will Huang Lei, who is outside the play, also encounter a mid-life crisis?
His answer was "OK".
Maybe more changes come from physiological, for example, sometimes I am especially afraid of getting sick, for example, I start to pay attention to various vitamins, I start to feel that my metabolism is slowing down, I drank a little too much before, but the next day I still seem to be fine, but now I don’t dare. Because it will be a hard day.
"I have always been very physically strong and energetic, but suddenly I began to feel that I have to change the way of how to face the future life, right?"
Now, looking back at the college life he experienced with his brother, 30 years have gone by in a blink of an eye. He sometimes thinks that if he is working and filming in a healthy way, he may work for another ten years and stop acting when he is in his 60s. Do your favorite stage play or whatever.
After so many years of filming, now when asked about his expectations for the new film, he would also answer, "Everyone likes it, just be happy. If you don't like or criticize me, I also accept it."
Source: Stills.
If the story of middle-aged Zhang Weiguo can bring us any inspiration, Huang Lei does not want to guide himself——
"I don't think so much about acting now, or I think too much without saying it all. I think that in fact, the creation should be the shallowest output with the deepest thinking. Everyone can laugh, or cry, can you? Squeeze out some anxiety and sadness, just laugh a little and a little tear." (End)