Author of this article | Zhiling
Responsible editor and typesetting | Xiang Wanwan
In 1993, Chen Kaige's movie "Farewell My Concubine" was released in Hong Kong. In just a few days, it caused a huge response, and several starring actors in the film therefore got a lot of attention.
Leslie Cheung plays Cheng Dieyi, who cannot live without going crazy.
In the movie, he is an old actor who twists his figure, speaks sweetly, and has a sour smile; outside the movie, he is extremely strict with himself, and he is like a drama addict.
Behind the filming of the movie, there are many unknown stories.
01
In 1991, after Xu Feng read the original work of "Farewell My Concubine", he decided that the role of Cheng Dieyi must be Leslie Cheung.
However, Chen Kaige did not know Leslie Cheung at that time, so Xu Feng showed him Leslie Cheung's film discs to help him understand Leslie Cheung's acting skills.
It didn’t matter. Chen Kaige was deeply attracted by Leslie Cheung’s performance and immediately decided to find Leslie Cheung in person.
Chen Kaige flew to Hong Kong to meet Leslie Cheung. Since there was no script, he simply told Leslie Cheung the plot on the spot.
Leslie Cheung just listened silently the whole time. After Chen Kaige finished speaking, his hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly, stood up, and only said one sentence to Chen Kaige: "I am Cheng Dieyi!"
For the better In order to fully understand and interpret the role of Cheng Dieyi, Leslie Cheung had in-depth exchanges and discussions with Chen Kaige and screenwriter Lu Wei, and constantly adjusted and improved his performance.
Not only that, in order to get closer to the character in the play, Leslie Cheung went to Beijing six months before the filming started and found Peking Opera master Zhang Manling to learn Peking Opera.
At that time, Leslie Cheung was already well-known in Hong Kong and had appeared in many TV series and movies. But when he met Zhang Manling, he introduced himself like this: "Hello, teacher, my name is Leslie Cheung."
This short self The introduction left a deep impression on Zhang Manling and moved her deeply. Because Leslie Cheung did not regard himself as a star, but as a student who humbly asked for advice.
02
Leslie Cheung is particularly able to endure hardships. As the absolute protagonist, he never made any special requests to the crew during the filming process and almost never took a break on set.
Once, Maggie Cheung went to the set just as Leslie Cheung's scenes for the day had finished filming. She found that Leslie Cheung's face was red, but he was still pressing his legs.
Zhang Manling stepped forward to ask, and learned that Leslie Cheung was suffering from a high fever, and exclaimed: "Don't you rest even if you have a fever?"
Leslie Cheung smiled calmly: "It doesn't matter much, I haven't studied Peking Opera. So we have to work harder."
Many years later, Zhang Manling recalled what happened back then and said with emotion: "He is really a very talented person. The most important thing about Peking Opera is actually the charm, and he did it. "
It is precisely because of the almost harsh requirements on himself that Leslie Cheung can perfectly interpret the role of Cheng Dieyi. He is that person on and off the screen.
In addition to carefully studying the Peking Opera part, Leslie Cheung also had his own insistence on the presentation of the film's effects during the filming process.
When filming the scene where Cheng Dieyi quit smoking, there was a scene that required Leslie Cheung to smash the glass hard. After a group of shots were shot, the director said it was OK, but Leslie Cheung was not satisfied with his performance and asked for reshoots.
Therefore, this scene was shot several more times at Leslie Cheung's insistence. The last time, he smashed the glass too hard and cut off a piece of flesh on his little finger.
Everyone was very nervous and wanted to send him to the hospital, but Leslie Cheung smiled and said: "It's okay, the filming is finally done!"
03
In addition to carefully studying his own roles, Leslie Cheung also collaborated with actors such as Zhang Fengyi and Ge You to achieve great results. Very tacit understanding, and the emotions in the film are deeply rooted in people's hearts.
Once, when filming a Peking Opera scene, both Leslie Cheung and Ge You had to wear Peking Opera costumes.
Because their costumes are so gorgeous, the makeup artist needs to spend more time putting makeup on them.
While waiting for makeup, Leslie Cheung and Ge You chatted.
They talked about the history of Peking Opera, the career of actors, etc. They were both very interested. By the time the makeup artist put their makeup on, they were already chatting happily.
When filming an emotional scene, Leslie Cheung and Ge You needed to express deep emotions.
In order to get into the role better, the two communicated a lot in private. Leslie Cheung affectionately called Ge You "buddy".
Through in-depth communication, they have a deeper understanding of the characters and become more comfortable when shooting. After filming this scene, the two became even closer.
Once after filming, everyone was joking together. When Ge You accidentally learned that Leslie Cheung was 1 year older than him, he asked in disbelief: "How did you grow up?"
Ge You is serious His expression and his exaggerated tone made everyone laugh.
Leslie Cheung took advantage of the situation and patted Ge You's shoulder pretending to be deep, and shouted: Ge You's wise brother .
From that day on, Leslie Cheung has been calling Ge You "Ge You's wise brother".
After the film was completed, Leslie Cheung still maintained his usual elegance and gave Ge You a signed concert CD with five words solemnly written on it: "To Ge You, your virtuous brother."
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It can be seen that Leslie Cheung is not a person who ignores life just for work.
During filming breaks, he is also a person who loves to laugh and make trouble. If work ends early, he will pay for coffee with the crew at his own expense.
Perhaps it is because of Leslie Cheung's perfect interpretation of the character, his full understanding of the emotions of the characters in the play, and his cooperation with other actors that "Farewell My Concubine" has achieved so many good results.
It is said that drama is like life and life is like drama. Anyone who knows Leslie Cheung knows that the reason why he accepted this drama is because of his native family.
Leslie Cheung's family background is very good. His father is the owner of a tailor shop, but he does not give him much care.
Once, when he went to his father's company, the staff teased him and asked him if his father had taken him to drink tea.
Unexpectedly, Leslie Cheung blurted out that he was not familiar with him.
Perhaps in Leslie Cheung's eyes, Cheng Dieyi in the play had a similar unhappy childhood to himself, so he tried his best to perform the role with all his heart.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Leslie Cheung’s death. Although he has been gone for so long, in the hearts of many movie fans, his brother has never been far away.
This is probably my brother’s unique personality charm!
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