After winning the "Best Actor" for the movie "Fudu Youth" in 2023, Wu Kangren was praised by director Ang Lee backstage at the awards ceremony, "You are the kind of actor who can get used to the role." Wu Kangren said excitedly that he "may still make mistakes in his next film." Ang Lee responded to him: "I would rather make mistakes than be bored (boring)."
"I would rather make mistakes than be bored" is almost a footnote to Wu Kangren's career as an actor.
Wu Kangren won the best actor at the 17th First Youth Film Festival for "Fudu Youth".
Wu Kangren made his debut in the idol drama "Next Stop, Happiness" as a "senior newcomer" at the age of 27. The affectionate second male lead Hana Takuya is the first impression many mainland viewers have of him. According to the behind-the-scenes footage and his many subsequent narrations, he always made mistakes on the set and even had to write a five-word line more than 20 times.
is not talented enough, so he has to work hard to make it happen. One of the ways to work hard is to "modify" your appearance to be closer to the character. Wu Kangren on the screen is sometimes strong and tall, sometimes plump and fair, and sometimes becomes skinny and rickety. He broke himself into pieces again and again, and every time he filmed a movie, he allowed the character to take up residence in his body for a period of time until he became one with the character. The result of such a lot of effort is that some characters try too hard, which exposes the actors' own ambitions.
However, the other side of "mistake" is his accumulation of "not boring" roles. In the past ten years, with the transformation of Taiwanese dramas, Wu Kangren ushered in his era. "A Handful of Youth", "Narcotic Storm", "The Distance Between Us and Evil", "The First Lights", "Copycat", "In This Lifetime"... Looking back at his masterpieces over the years, the themes are diverse and the roles are contrasting, whether he is the protagonist or a special guest in them , almost every work touches on social emotions or the pain points of the times, becoming a masterpiece in the transformation of Taiwanese drama, and also pushes him to the throne of "Taiwanese drama's top brother" off-screen.
In his works, Wu Kangren is like water, letting himself flow into the containers of different characters. The shapes of the containers include professionals such as pilots, lawyers, and prosecutors, but what the audience is more interested in talking about are those fringe characters who are considered "bizarre" by the mainstream: fetish patients, drag queens, and murderers. A criminal, a sexual molester, a father who has been taking drugs for many years... This non-talented actor used an almost clumsy way to run wild without following routines until he became the "number one brother" in Taiwanese dramas that he is now responsible for.
In 2023, Wu Kangren won another victory. The two films "Fudu Youth" and "May I Live Forever" won awards at several important film festivals in Asia. He personally also won milestone awards in his actor career, and the three TV series "Lifetime" and "Copycat" ""At This Moment" are also topical works on mainland social platforms.
What kind of "shape" does Wu Kangren have when we see him on the screen next time? You never know.
2023 report card
Best Actor at the 17th First Youth Film Festival ("Fudu Youth")
2023 Golden Rooster Chinese Film Tour Annual Anticipated Chinese Film ("Fudu Youth")
The 36th Tokyo International Film Festival Asia's Future Unit Most Best Film (Nominated) ("May We Live Forever")
The closing film of the 20th Hong Kong Asian Film Festival ("May We Live Forever")
starred in the drama series "In This Lifetime" and "Copycat", and in the unit starring drama " "At this moment" is a topical work on streaming media and social platforms at home and abroad.
Producer: Rong Mingchang, Liu Jiangtao
Planner: He Bei
Coordinator: Peng Simin
Coordinating editor: Liu Fang
Written by: Nandu reporter Zhong Xin
Pictures: Interviewed Provided by the artist/artist and his studio Weibo, ic photo, etc.
