Lei Jiayin can be said to be one of the most popular actors during this year's Spring Festival. He played Han Ming, a grassroots prosecutor in " Article 20 " directed by Zhang Yimou, and played boxing coach Hao in "Hot and Spicy" directed by Jia Ling. Kun, this is also the third time that he has two works released at the same time during the Spring Festival. The two characters are "one positive and one negative". Although Han Ming has some shortcomings, he can stick to the bottom line of justice; while Hao Kun is cynical, but he is a dwarf in action and chooses to compromise with life. With his superb acting skills, Lei Jiayin played the two characters vividly and won unanimous praise from the audience. In his view, as an actor, no matter how big or small the role is, the most important thing is to be able to perform colorful roles, "because this is the most essential happiness of an actor."
Want to play a different prosecutor
《Article 20 " is the fourth collaboration between Lei Jiayin and Zhang Yimou. After their first collaboration in "Sturdy as a Rock", he "stated his stance" to Zhang Yimou, "As long as the director calls me, I will play any role." Sure enough, in the subsequent "The Cliff" "Part 1", he played the traitor Xie Zirong in the film. In just a few scenes, he brought this character's cunning and cunning character to life, which is unforgettable. In last year's Spring Festival movie "Manjianghong", he played two roles: one was the real "Qin Hui" who was reviled by thousands of people, and the other was the stand-in "Qin Hui". He accurately conveyed the two distinct characters, especially the impassioned recitation of "Man Jiang Hong" by the fake "Qin Hui", which directly pushed the emotion of the film to its peak.
Zhang Yimou once said in an interview that Lei Jiayin didn’t know how to act before filming. “But he is a very malleable actor. As long as he finds the performing state, he can quickly enter the role.” In addition, he relaxes Zhang Yimou was also impressed by his condition and ability to control large lines. At the end of "Article 20", Han Ming had six pages of lines at the hearing, and Lei Jiayin once again contributed a "god-level" performance, with a passionate monologue that aroused the audience's concern for the fate of many characters in the film. The empathy becomes the climax of the film.
All of this is inseparable from Lei Jiayin’s preparations before shooting. After receiving the script of "Article 20", Lei Jiayin immediately went to the procuratorate to "live life". He asked these prosecutors, do you usually watch TV dramas about prosecutors? They replied: No. Lei Jiayin also has many police friends. They also said that they rarely watch police-themed movies and TV dramas, "because they have their own world." This also prompted Lei Jiayin to make up his mind that this time he must create a character with "people" as the core. The image of a prosecutor, "even so that most prosecutors can see a different prosecutor."
Deliberately perform the contrast of the characters
In Lei Jiayin's view, the most important thing for the success of a character is to make the audience feel Resonating, "You cannot let Han Ming be restricted by the uniform he wears, so you cannot be dogmatic or talk about big principles, otherwise no one will read it." When sorting out Han Ming's character line, he found that Han Ming's character at the end This monologue is the highest emotional point of the whole film. If you want to achieve a shocking effect, you must play this character vividly for most of the previous time. It is best to have some small flaws in him. "So I tried my best to Lower the character a little so that there is a strong sense of contrast."
In Lei Jiayin's view, Han Ming was seconded from the County Procuratorate to the Municipal Procuratorate, and faced a mid-life crisis in his middle age. "Sometimes he will 'slip', even There will be a little friction with colleagues." Han Ming has a bad waist and sweats frequently, but he loves his family, is afraid of his wife, and can stick to the bottom line in terms of industry ethics. "When these details are combined, Han Ming becomes a three-dimensional and vivid middle-aged man."
Zhang Yimou does not want to make "Article 20" into a serious and dull dogmatic movie. He hopes to use a "light comedy" style Tell stories in a way that allows everyone to subtly accept the theme of the movie through laughter.Lei Jiayin strongly agrees with this point, "Although there are many comedy scenes in "Article 20", it does not have a strong comedy structure. If you want to produce a comedy effect in a realistic situation, if you act according to the previous comedy method, , the audience will feel awkward, but if you don't act, the director will probably say that the scene is not funny, which is quite difficult."
Lei Jiayin, who is "strongly malleable", was not stumped. He slowly made a transition between comedy and reality. Find a balance between. For example, there is a scene at the beginning where Han Ming, his wife Li Maojuan (played by Ma Li ), and son Han Yuchen (played by Liu Yaowen) are sitting around the table at home. Han Yuchen, because of his bravery in school, will teach director Zhang (played by Zhang Yi) His son's nose bone was broken, and the latter chose to call the police. According to the way previous cases were handled, Han Yuchen might be detained and would have a criminal record. But Han Yuchen felt that he had done nothing wrong and refused to apologize to the other party. Han Ming knew his son's character and didn't know how to persuade him.
Based on the experience of working with Zhang Yimou many times, Lei Jiayin felt that the director would definitely handle this scene well. The night before filming, Lei Jiayin was suddenly inspired, and he came up with a way: play cards. Playing cards is used to vividly convey the problems encountered by the family. The next morning, Zhang Yimou told Lei Jiayin that playing cards could be used as a metaphor. So Lei Jiayin hurriedly thought of his lines, and Ma Li also said to him, I will "slip the seam" for you. Through collective efforts, this supposedly dull and serious scene was made full of life and full of laughter.
Infected by Zhang Yimou’s artistic pursuit
In the film, Han Ming is both a father and a prosecutor. When the son is involved in the case, his identity becomes confused. How to get a good sense of proportion in a character? Lei Jiayin's trick is to do a good job of "slipping the gaps", just like this word means that when laying ceramic tiles, cement is used to fill the gaps between the bricks and smooth them tightly, so that the character's performance becomes credible and natural. . For example, after the incident in the film, Han Yuchen was beaten by the dean’s son on the road. Li Maojuan took Han Ming and quarreled with the dean at the dinner table. Both parties believed that they were justified, but neither was willing to give in, and even started fighting. At this time, Han Ming, who was in strict control of his wife, was caught in the middle, "I am a prosecutor and I know the law very well. Logically speaking, I should reason with people, but my son was indeed beaten. If I just talk about the law, the audience will They will hate me. Is it the father or the prosecutor who is more important at this time? I have to observe what they say on the scene at any time and then react."
This is one of the most important passages in the whole film. The night before shooting , Lei Jiayin, Ma Li and Zhang Yi were all unsure. The producer even bought coffee in the middle of the night and prepared to shoot for a whole day. However, they did not expect that the scene was over after only two takes. Even Zhang Yimou finished watching Everyone stood up and applauded. When
collaborated with Zhang Yimou, Lei Jiayin felt a bit like "opening a blind box" because the characters he encountered were very different every time. In the past few years, Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, etc. have also appeared in Zhang Yimou's movies. The collision with these outstanding actors also made Lei Jiayin feel the joy of being an actor. For example, Zhang Yi played the role of He Li, Qin Hui's subordinate who hides his sword in his smile in "Man Jiang Hong", but in "Article 20", Zhang Yi played the role of Director Zhang, the dean who must make Han Yuchen apologize. This is also The fifth collaboration between the two.
"The biggest feeling Zhang Yi and I have when working with director Zhang Yimou is that you will find that you sincerely want to become a better version of yourself." Lei Jiayin found that in recent years, Zhang Yimou has become more and more amiable and smiles more and more. The more I do, "I don't feel as distant and nervous as when I was filming "Solid as a Rock."" With Zhang Yimou behind the scenes, Lei Jiayin feels that she has confidence when acting.
Especially Zhang Yimou, as a successful director, is still not conservative in his artistic pursuits and still has a spirit of breakthrough. This has also deeply influenced Lei Jiayin, "What I want to break through most in this performance is to hope that the audience can see the breakthrough in life." There are all kinds of prosecutors in the prosecutors. Although they will have their own small flaws, they can stick to their own bottom line on major matters of right and wrong."Lei Jiayin confidently told reporters that there will definitely be opportunities to continue to cooperate with Zhang Yimou in the future, "I am just waiting for this blind box to be opened."
