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yibocheeks · 3 days

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Translated excerpts from Wang Yang's interview with "Spotlight on the Legendary Drama" 《神剧亮了》

Did your impression of Yibo change after working with him?

WY: I don't watch a lot of dramas, even for my own dramas, so for Yibo, I had watched his movie, but haven't really followed his other works. But I think everyone knows of Yibo, plus with how handsome he is, I always see him on various ads. So I know of his level of influence. But I had never worked with him in a drama before and I also didn't know what kind of person he was, or what sort of mindset he would have coming into filming. But once we began filming, my first impression of him was quite significant; it was when he was strung up, after being interrogated by Lin Qiaosong. He looked to be in quite an awful state. Once he entered my line of vision and I saw how badly he had been beaten, first, for his makeup to look like that, it was unexpected, to look so tragic. Second, it was a very cold day, it was rainy and chilling. When I arrived on set at nighttime to film the scene, it was already past 8pm. Shanghai was very cold. He wore that shirt and was strung up, and he was there to be a point of focus for me during my scenes, after he had already finished filming his part. I stood there and was looking down upon him, and he would squat there, to help be a point of focus for me to look at. That left a deep impression for me. I don't know if every young actor who has this level of influence would be able to do this much, but on the first day that Yibo met me, he did this. He was covered in blood, wore very little, and squatted there to be a point of focus for me. Even up until the very last scene with Yibo, he would always fulfill this role, he never slacked on this, he would never say, "while Yang-ge is filming, please ask someone else to take this role of being a point of focus for him." Even when I said to him on that first day, "Yibo, you don't need to squat there, you can just stand on the side and say your lines and that would be ok, you don't need to keep squatting," he wouldn't listen and would continue to squat there. Also, when he first started, both Yibo and I are slow to warm up, but since I am his senior and we would have so many scenes together, I was willing to be the one to take the first step. I would always choose a conversation topic to start the conversation between us. I found that after a few days, Yibo would slowly start to open up. Although he is slower to warm up than I am, he is very sincere and would be very sincere in his interactions with me, no matter if it was just day-to-day or while acting. I feel that he is a young person who is both capable and has a good attitude. I think his attitude towards life is also quite impressive. He likes exercise, likes racing cars, likes motorcycles, and likes a lot of sports. When I was speaking with him, I felt that his understanding and knowledge towards these far exceeded me. So I think Yibo is very interesting and is a contender who is quite moving. In the process of making this drama, you could clearly see his growth. From the first day to our last scene together a few months later, he brought Wei Ruolai's character to life, and I was able to see how quickly his acting improved. Yibo is a very capable and zealous young person. I learned a lot from being with him.

When you mentioned that you watched one of his movies, was it One and Only or Hidden Blade?

I didn't watch One and Only, but he did show me some clips before it started playing in theatres, how he was when he was dancing. I watched Hidden Blade. Although it was a Republican era show, Wei Ruolai is still quite different from the character he plays in Hidden Blade. Because of this, you can see how much Yibo has grown, as well as his understanding and interpretation of characters. In Hidden Blade you can see how his character has his morally gray moments, with a slight deranged, perverse and twisted tendency, even obstinate. Although Wei Ruolai can be stubborn, he is not as perverse as the character in Hidden Blade. This is not easy to achieve. Although both characters are dressed in suits, you can see that Yibo is able to convey the characters differently.

Why did Shen Tunan decide to take Wei Ruolai on as a disciple? Was it because even when his life was under threat, he wanted to protect Shen Tunan?

This is the more personal reason. The public reason is because Wei Ruolai is a talent hard to come by. I believe Shen Tunan saw a younger version of himself in Wei Ruolai. He was not only ambitious but also capable. When the more senior Shen Tunan saw this junior Shen Tunan, it was impossible for him not to feel touched. This is the public reason. The more personal reason is that, when a disciple is willing to sacrifice their own life and put up with such cruel punishment and yet still not confess anything, for such a devoted disciple, even if he was not yet officially his disciple, would a mentor not want him to be his disciple, to recruit such a capable person to be by his side (more literally: to recruit his capable general)? Both for public and personal reasons, Shen Tunan making this decision was certain to happen. And when he said to Chief Deng, "One may choose the most advantageous path, but in doing so, one must not forget morality." I believe this is one of Shen Tunan's principles. That he will not forget those important to him in pursuit of personal profit.

Wei Ruolai is willing to sacrifice his life to protect Shen Tunan, what is Shen Tunan willing to give up to protect Wei Ruolai?

I really want to say, if it was in extreme circumstances, if Wei Ruolai's survival, or if the value of his survival was greater than the value of Shen Tunan's survival, then I also believe that Shen Tunan would sacrifice himself, as Wei Ruolai's survival was more valuable. Shen Tunan is someone who is patriotic and wants what's best for the country. If Wei Ruolai, with his strengths and capabilities, is able to help the people, the country, and the state, no matter if it is in Soviet Jiangxi or if it is under the communist regime, then I don't think Shen Tunan would second guess this decision, he would not think, this is just a disciple, how much responsibility would he have to bear, I don't think he would have these thoughts. He is someone who sees the bigger picture and has far-reaching goals and a vision for the future.

If you could only choose between Huang Congyun or Wei Ruolai to invite over for new year's dinner, who would you pick? This is similar to a question you were asked previously, who would you choose to save if both were drowning?

I think sometimes, it's hard for a person to be unbiased or not show preferential treatment, this is just common for human beings. If you ask me this, then my answer is still, I would definitely still ask Wei Ruolai. Especially after having received blood—within Shen Tunan's body there remains a portion of Wei Ruolai's blood—how could he not ask Wei Ruolai to spend the new year's at his home? Or otherwise, would he ask Wei Ruolai to go back to his home in Jiangxi and invite Congyun instead? Why would he do this, right?

In the drinking scene where Ruolai becomes drunk, Shen Tunan carried him home. How many people in Shen Tunan's life does he show this amount of care towards?

I think, other than family, there is only this disciple. Of course, if you bring up Congyun, before Ruolai showed up, if he had gotten drunk on behalf of his mentor for such an important matter, I think Shen Tunan would still carry him, but these were not the circumstances. Wei Ruolai got drunk, so sure, he'll carry him—his own disciple, who is like family. After all, why would there be this serving of tea between mentor and disciple? Although it is not a blood tie, it is similar.

After Shen Tunan carried Wei Ruolai up, what did he discover?

He discovered that the wall was covered with Shen Tunan. The object of Wei Ruolai's interests, including being able to discover Shen Tunan's secret about Kunpeng, this was all the result of Wei Ruolai's efforts. I think in that moment, Shen Tunan was thinking, "This youngster!" But actually, I think he was very happy. As a Central Bank economic advisor, to be so worshipped by a young person, to be studied so closely, it is a very happy thing.

Was it hard to carry Yibo?

Not at all, Yibo is about 60kg or so, so it was not difficult. Also Yibo is quite lean with long limbs, so he was pretty easy to carry. It was just that the stairs in the alley building were too narrow and steep, so it still took some effort. But, although we did a few takes of the scene, it was still feasible, it was not a problem.

When Shen Tunan ended his relationship with Wei Ruolai, and he broke the teacup, was this something you came up with on the spot?

This was something I improvised. The script did not say that I had to throw this, it was a spur of the moment action. When we filmed this, it hit the table with a bang and it scared Ruolai, it startled Yibo. Because I did not tell him, and I also did not think that I would do this. Through the interaction between the two of us, he helped set the tone when he urgently pled his case, and it reached a breaking point. Sometimes when a person gets angry, they will externalize it in some way, and this action was impromptu. I think it came out quite well.

Some people say that Wang Yang's acting is such that he can even bring out the veins on his forehead, have you seen this review?

I don't think this is a marker of whether an actor is good at acting or not. I think, once an actor feels these genuine emotions, when you really get angry, then the veins will come out like that, that's because my feelings were really moved, I became immersed, and entered this character's state of mind. I think this is something a lot of actors do, I don't think it's anything special.

#war of faith #shen tunan #wei ruolai #wang yang #wang yibo #translations

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