cover news reporter Yan Wenwen
was interviewing Tong Chenjie, she had just finished a live broadcast, and hearty laughter came from the other end of the phone: "Wait a moment, let me take a sip of water. I just talked too much." "Flowers" The popularity of "The Movie" has made Tong Chenjie's recent work schedule very tight: interviews, filming, and her podcast, which is an important outlet for her to communicate with the audience.
"Flowers" allowed almost all the actors to "serve the table", and the women in their thirties and forties, with their own strength and charm, presented a picture of female self-improvement and struggle in the early 1990s. Group portrait.
Manager Pan in the drama has been recognized by the audience for his calm and down-to-earth style, all-around skills and unyielding character. However, while many viewers marveled at Manager Pan's excellent acting skills, they did not recognize her as Tong Chenjie, one of China's first generation supermodels.
01
Grow from Manager Pan’s experience
The Yellow River Road in "Flowers" is a common memory of Shanghai people. There are people who are obsessed with money and spend money like water, and there are also people who start their own businesses and strive to get upstream. They are all "fish" that can swim in this "river". Manager Pan, who is called the "Thousand-Armed Guanyin" by people in the industry, appears as the first generation of professional managers, which is even more impressive.
Tong Chenjie's "knowledge" of the role of Manager Pan partly came from her mother's experience of opening a restaurant on Julu Road, which left a deep impression on Tong Chenjie. "I drew on some images of my mother in my memory, including how she greeted guests, how she negotiated with chefs, and how she went about the process of creating a restaurant from scratch."
But more, it comes from Tong Chenjie's thoughts on Understanding of this role: "I think Manager Pan should be an emotionally stable and sober person. He is absolutely professional and resolute in his work."
In order to play this role well, Tong Chenjie will criticize the waiters every time she goes to a restaurant to eat. Watch carefully. Although Manager Pan is already a professional manager, Tong Chenjie feels that Manager Pan is born with such a temperament: "She must have been a waiter, a foreman and a manager of a small restaurant, and in the end she became a professional manager. level."
has this understanding. When Tong Chenjie performs, she will increase the granularity of some details to make the characters more full. For example, in the opening scene of Zhizhen Garden, when Manager Pan welcomed a regular customer, he called him "Agu". Agu means "brother" in Shanghai dialect, which is both kind and a bit quaint.
When Tong Chenjie was designing this scene, she specifically distinguished her attitude towards this regular customer from her attitude towards other guests, putting herself in the same state as when she was the foreman about ten years ago. "I have known him for more than ten years. Although he is now a big shot, with the relationship of more than ten years, I can still invite him to Zhizhen Garden to support me. Therefore, the state when I saw him should be that we The state when we met back then."
02
An ordinary person trying to control her own destiny
At first, she tried to be a host and also managed a clothing brand, but after she gradually came into contact with acting, she began to shift her work focus to Become an actor. Although he is not a talented actor, Tong Chenjie has also gained some recognition by virtue of his accumulation every minute and every second, day and night.
"Actually, I was confused at the beginning. I didn't know what I was doing, let alone what acting was." When Tong Chenjie started to become an actor, she was also nervous and no longer had the calmness and confidence on the catwalk. "So I Say to yourself, you have to treat yourself as the most ordinary actor."
When a person who has reached the top level in the modeling industry turns around and enters another industry and starts over as a newcomer, he has to face the fact that it is not just about re-accumulation. Experience, but also face a more direct question: Are you here to play tickets?
Under such doubts, we can only become better and break other people's colored glasses. Tong Chenjie has also been torn between "thinking she's okay" and "maybe I'm not the material."At the end of the game between the two mentalities, she always aroused her unwillingness to admit defeat, and worked harder to win a role, strive for one more line, one more scene...
This kind of unwillingness to admit defeat also brought her "Flowers" 》.
"I joined the cast of Fanhua through auditions." Tong Chenjie is not shy about "auditions", "I like director Wong Kar-Wai very much, and I thought at the time that in his works, even if I only have one scene, I don't even have to appear at all. On the screen, as long as there is a chance to learn."
In fact, Tong Chenjie's learning started long ago. After becoming an actress, she discovered that what she lacked was not experience as an actor, but experience in life. In the past, when she was a model, the circle was only so big. People in the industry who came and went were fashionable and lived exquisite lives. "Human fireworks" were her "luxury goods".
In order to make up for the shortcomings in her vision, Tong Chenjie began to look at ordinary people and pay attention to the world she once didn't understand. The aunt who fried fried dough sticks at the entrance of the alley, the proprietress who guarded the shop in the small town, the ordinary waiter in the restaurant...the ordinary life day after day gave Tong Chenjie more insights.
"I think one of the interesting aspects of acting is that you can go to many places, meet many people, see what ordinary people are like, and try to play these characters that are completely different from your own life. It is very enjoyable."
03
Even a woman in her forties can step up to the plate
In fact, "Flowers" also gave Tong Chenjie a good start in her career as a "middle girl". This is her first film after turning 40 years old. While the "middle-aged girl crisis" among actresses has been frequently discussed in the entertainment industry in recent years, Tong Chenjie feels that growing older has actually brought her more opportunities.
"When I was in my early 30s and just transitioned, I felt that there were no roles for me. To be honest, it was difficult to have a role that suited my image at that time." Nowadays, Tong Chenjie will receive more diverse and personality-rich roles, but If she had been placed ten years ago, her image would have been too young. “Maybe after experiencing some things, you will feel that your mentality is getting calmer and your emotions are getting more stable, and some of your mature temperament will naturally come out. Formed. When this stable temperament is formed, many roles become natural."
Maturity is not just about appearance, but more importantly, self-understanding. Just like after "Flowers" became popular, Tong Chenjie was outspoken about whether she would look for the next "Manager Pan" again. In addition to Manager Pan, she also wants to have higher pursuits.
"When I reached my forties, I definitely had a complete evaluation system for myself." Tong Chenjie said that the standard she set for herself was to "step up" or "stretch a hand" and needed to " "I don't want to play this role in my comfort zone, but I may have to work harder, put a little more pressure on myself, put my feet up, stretch out my hands, and Find a role that makes you more satisfied."
No matter whether the role is big or small, one thing is certain, she will never "collide" with Manager Pan.
"Actually, there is a very contradictory thing about actors. Sometimes you want the audience to remember a certain role of yours, like Manager Pan, but you are also afraid that you will be solidified in this role. So, next In the play, I will still put a relatively large distance between her and Manager Pan. I hope everyone will have different feelings when meeting these characters."
Cover Dialogue
Cover News: is also like this in life Is Manager Pan equally capable, or is he just an ordinary person?
Tong Chenjie: I have always felt that I am an ordinary person. In the course of my life, although I have experienced becoming popular as a model or transforming into an actor, in fact, there were not many things that fell from the sky in the whole process. I feel that everything is not achieved by luck, because even if it is achieved by luck, you may still lose based on your strength in the end. Therefore, I believe that only by relying on continuous efforts and accumulation can I be worthy of this job and this fame.Only by continuous efforts will you become more at ease in your heart.
cover news: So hard work is a particularly important thing for you?
Tong Chenjie: is right. Work hard without giving up. The entertainment industry is actually changing with each passing day. Only if you continue to enhance your abilities and improve your aesthetics, will the characters you create and the works you can participate in become better and better. I am 43 years old this year, and the broadcast of "Flowers" has given me some proof of what I have believed in for so many years.
Cover News: Have you reached the standards you want with ?
Tong Chenjie: I am not a gifted student, but an actor who accumulates every minute and every second. So I always maintain humility and awe of performance. Of course, I feel that I have not reached the level I should be, so I am still working hard.
cover news: It has been more than ten years since the transition to . Have you ever experienced a moment when you thought it was okay for me to be an actor?
Tong Chenjie: There are many ups and downs in the process of . Sometimes I feel like I am okay, and sometimes I feel that I am not good at all. The first time I felt that I could do it was when I was filming "Police Story 2013" directed by Ding Sheng. When I first joined the team, I was very uncomfortable with filming, and I didn't particularly understand the director's requirements. At that time, I felt a lot of pressure. There was a scene where the hostage I played was dragged in front of the computer screen by the kidnappers. I needed to show the feeling of fear and begging. I acted according to my own feelings. After the performance, my makeup artist said, "You did a good job." I was very surprised at the time. I felt very bad about myself during the filming process before, but suddenly a senior makeup artist felt good about me, and I believed that he didn't lie to me, so I was secretly happy. This work of mine has at least one scene like this, so I should be able to explain it.
cover news: You have made more than 80 episodes of your personal podcast. Why do you always insist on using podcasts to chat with everyone?
Tong Chenjie: The podcast started after "Goodbye Lover". After such a journey, I have gained a lot of insights, and I think I can share them with you. At the beginning, I just had the mentality of giving it a try, and while chatting, I found that many listeners regarded me as a big sister, and they were willing to share with me some trivial matters in life and emotional problems. Some of my expressions were needed by everyone, so a good interaction gradually formed, so I didn't give up updating. In fact, this also has something to do with my personality, which is a bit similar to that of "Manager Pan". None of us are people who give up easily.
(the picture in this article is provided by the interviewee)
