"News Queen" made Gao Haining win the love of many mainland audiences. Xu Shiqing, who she plays, is strong, smart, and very purposeful. In order to get what she wants, she is a bit unscrupulous. In Gao Haining's eyes, "She knows what her advantages are and is good at using them to get her." She wants to get what she wants, but she has bottom lines and principles. She knows how to be flexible. If one track cannot give her what she wants, she will change tracks immediately. The same goes for choosing a partner. She always lives a clear and sober life. "
《 "News Queen" stills
But how to determine the character's temperament? When Gao Haining first saw the script for the first 12 episodes, he was very hesitant and thought, "This girl is so crazy." "We have to make this character not too annoying, and we also need to perform some of the unscrupulous tricks of this character. I was quite worried that she would be annoying." However, directors Zhong Shujia and Charmaine Sheh both gave her some suggestions and felt that the performance You can relax a little more. Because the character of Xu Shiqing will have a family scene with her father in the later stages, this set of characters will allow the audience to see the helpless and fragile side of Xu Shiqing. Seeing the reason why she became such a person will make the audience empathize with her more. Affection.
actually had a lot of worries, but it turned out to be unnecessary. This female image with a bit of "villain characteristics" was highly recognized by the audience. Compared with ten or twenty years ago, audiences' aesthetics towards female images on screen have undergone tremendous changes. In the past, perhaps the audience appreciated female images that were kind, gentle, and considerate of others, but now, the audience seems to appreciate more ambitious, sober and capable women.
Gao Haining himself was surprised, "I was really worried about being scolded at first, but she has her cute points." "The cute thing about her is that she is strong, hard-working, and has means, and at the same time she has her own bottom line. For example, when no one dares to do something, she will do her homework, find a breakthrough, and then achieve it. "Myself." After the
series is aired, Gao Haining will also review what the audience likes about her. "Perhaps everyone living in a community will definitely consider what others think of themselves, but Xu Shiqing doesn't care what others think of me. I just Do what I want. Why do the audience resonate with her? Maybe it's because she becomes the person we want to be: sober and self-centered, not caring about what others think, and focusing only on getting what she wants. "
Gao Haining (second from left) attended the Shanghai TV Festival event.
Although he has a very glamorous and even dangerous appearance, he is different from the character Xu Shiqing. He held the "Hello Hong Kong·Hello TVB" themed event at TVB Gao Haining, who appeared on the Internet, actually gave me the impression of being gentle and "insensitive". She likes acting, so she emphasizes with a serious face, "I really really like acting." She honestly reflects that her performance is "not creative enough": "Wow, people can come up with more than fifty ways to act, I Maybe I can't even think of the second one." He also revealed without hesitation that he was so stressed when playing Xu Shiqing that he became bald.
Faced with the labels of "evil woman", "villain" and "bad guy" brought to herself by the various roles she has created, Gao Haining also smiled and put forward her "three-second rule": "If you tell me: you are now If an eyelash falls off my face, I can just take it off within three seconds. But if someone labels me a 'bad guy' now, I won't be able to take that label away within three seconds. That's OK. If you feel like this, it doesn’t matter. I will do my job and time will let people see clearly what I am like.” She smiled, “This is my attitude towards things.” , won the Best Supporting Actress at the 2023 TVB Ten Thousand Stars Awards Ceremony
[Dialogue]
I am a feeling actor, experiencing her joys and sorrows with the character
The Paper: Characters like Xu Shiqing are easy for actors to If you are given a label, such as "evil girl", how would you view the label?
Gao Haining: First of all, for myself, I don’t label myself, which is very important.For example, when playing this role, the first thing I look at is what role this character plays in the entire drama. I want to first complete her existence value in the drama. I have no control over the label placed on me by the outside world. Even if I care, I cannot tear it off at this moment.
Secondly, I have to work hard to find the cute points in this character's setting, and find the points where I can fall in love with this character. A bad person does not think of herself as a bad person. She must have her own logic. As an actor, I want to get her reasons. Only if I identify with the character can the audience also sympathize with this point. This is what an actor can give to a character. thing. So when I play this kind of role, I actually look for "Why is she like this?" Then if we try to interpret her, we won’t be evil for evil’s sake, but the opposite.
Some shots of Xu Shiqing
My view on labels is that no matter what label anyone gives you, as long as you insist on doing what you should do, you don't need to mind it too much. I have a small principle: If I can solve or make changes within three seconds, I will do it immediately. If I judge that I can't think of a solution to this matter within three seconds, then let it go and adjust my mentality immediately. I think this is something you must learn to survive in this world, otherwise it will be very internal. .
The Paper: In addition to finding the internal logic of , are there any small tricks to create characters in terms of external methods?
Gao Haining: Should I add some small movements to the character? The starting point is how I understand the character. All external physical movements originate from my inner understanding of it. For example, Xu Shiqing's personality is relatively flamboyant, so her clothes will be more eye-catching, and her gait will not be shy. Many times during the performance, I didn't deliberately design it. I just walked to the scene and thought Xu Shiqing should walk like this. Then I held the red wine and wine glass in both hands and pushed the door open with my butt. You asked why, actually I don't know, but at that moment, I felt that Xu Shiqing should "push the door with her butt, walk in, and sit on the table."
When I participated in the "Infinite Transcendence Class", Teacher Ning Jing once commented on me, saying that I "act with my life." She could tell at a glance that I was a feeling-based actor. I need to start from my inner feelings in order to unleash the techniques and methods of creating characters. Why do people find Xu Shiqing's crying scene so sad? Maybe it's because I'm really in pain. Every crying scene, every sad character, I would fall into and be unhappy for a long time. The scenes between Xu Shiqing and her father were quite sad. The emotions of the scenes in those days were so extreme that after filming, my whole body ached and I felt like my skeleton was about to fall apart.
Actually, when I was filming these scenes, I was under a lot of pressure and would lose a lot of hair. I actually had alopecia areata during the filming. When acting, you encounter these extremely extreme emotions. If you are immersed in them for too long, you will have physical problems. Every time like this, I can only persuade myself: Okay, stop putting pressure on yourself.
Stills of "News Queen"
The Paper: is highly immersed in the role like this. After experiencing it, do you feel that the role has changed you?
Gao Haining: will do it. People often ask me which character you like best. It’s actually hard to choose. Maybe I put a part of myself in each character, and I also learn a lot from the character. I entered the industry when I was 21 years old. After I entered the industry, I went shopping, walked hand in hand with my boyfriend, and went on trips. Perhaps I have never tried these simple things in life. But each of my characters has her experience, career, personality, values and ways of doing things. I experience them, learn some little truths from them, and then put them into Gao Haining's body. This is very magical. thing. After I experienced a role, I felt that my life was getting richer, because I acted with all my heart, and I experienced all her joys, sorrows, and joys with her. Even if it was fake, it was real at that moment. The experience has become my life experience, and I seem to be traveling through many different lives.
"Infinite Transcendence Class" made me realize that I lack creativity
The Paper News: has been in the industry for a long time and has played more roles. Many actors will form a set of their own performance methodologies. There is no need to innovate and stay in the comfort zone. . For you, how do you maintain a state of mind that requires challenges and breakthroughs?
Gao Haining: Everyone’s mentality is really different. If you regard being an actor as just a profession and you can support yourself, then of course you can act however you want. But I really enjoy the process of acting and developing characters, and of course I always want to get better at it.
Someone asked me why I participated in the "Infinite Transcendence Class"? You’ve already won an award, and you’ve been an actor for so many years? But the mentors on stage, they are people I have never had the opportunity to work with before, and I have been filming for so many years, and I rarely have the opportunity to listen to my seniors explain to me in detail, "What's wrong with you", "What's wrong with you?" How it should be", very few people on set have that much time to teach you. So this opportunity is very precious to me. Their acting skills are so good, they understand drama so well, and they are willing to guide me on the scene, so I went with the mentality of learning. After studying, I really feel that I have come back with something new.
Gao Haining participated in the variety show "Infinite Transcendence Class 2"
"Infinite Transcendence Class" made me realize that there is one thing I don't do well enough - creativity. The show often requires us to do some remake training, and the acting methods I can often think of have actually been performed in the original work. I should think of another way to interpret this role, but I found that I lack this ability.
I like director Wong Kar-Wai very much. I remember once watching an interview where he said that Tony Leung played more than 50 scenes in Wong Kar-wai's movie. Director Wong Kar-wai told him no, please play a different one. I think, people can give more than 50 different ways to act, but I may not even be able to think of the second way to act. So I feel that I need to strengthen my creativity and expand my imagination in performance, so that I can be refreshing to others.
I will take an acting class from Teacher Hao Lei in July. I think people must constantly pursue progress. There will definitely be someone better than you. I want to make myself better.
The Paper: In your acting career, are there any opinions given by your seniors that are very important to you?
Gao Haining: does. I am very lucky. The actors I have met when I entered the industry are all great. I will learn different things from each of them. Take Chen Hao for example. I started filming with him when I first entered the industry. I was really new at that time and I didn’t even know what acting was. He is a very gentle person and won’t put pressure on you. You know, we are often very tired when filming, and he is the protagonist. He has a lot of scenes. His eyes were red at three or four in the morning. I was not at his best in one of my crying scenes, and he also He would not look down on me, but would tell me, "Take your time, don't be in a hurry." He would advise me on how to cultivate relationships, explain to me the psychological process involved, and tell me that only in the most relaxed state can you perform well.
Then Sister Man, she also had a great influence on me. I have collaborated with her in three scenes. I remember she told me: Don’t think that you are a supporting role, or that any scene is short, so you can act casually. In your scene, you are the protagonist, and you must act well. Including the role of Xu Shiqing, she has been telling me that if you can't let go, you won't be able to bring out the best in this role. Don't be afraid. The more you perform in the front, the more extreme your performance will be. Later, when it comes to her father's role, this character will show The greater the contrast.
In "News Queen", Gao Haining and Charmaine Sheh have many rival scenes
Off-screen, Gao Haining regards Charmaine Sheh as a mentor
The Paper News: Have you ever observed some changes in yourself, or changes in your performance? ?
Gao Haining: I am still in contact with my middle school classmates. They all say that my personality and behavior have not changed, but of course my acting has changed.
At the beginning, when I got the script, I only knew how to read the dialogue, but I didn’t know what tone to use to read it, and I didn’t know how to understand the character’s inner thoughts at this moment. At that time, a director told me: You really don’t understand what acting is. You are just being yourself, without thinking about what the character is like.
I have grown up slowly over the years. The producer taught me, the director taught me, and my rival actors taught me, and then I realized it myself. Now that I have received the script, it is very different from what it was back then.
I remember that when I received the role of Zhuang Mingli in "Anti-Black", I liked it very much. At the beginning, the producer told me that the character was inconsistent and quite annoying. However, after reading it myself, I thought she was very cute and had a lot of room to express herself. The other girls were more polite, or the eldest sister was cooler.
Stills of "Anti-Black People"
Because of the special nature of the profession of a female star, Zhuang Mingli can do anything in the drama. She can have short hair and long hair, and she can be gentle and proactive when speaking. I have many ways to make her lively. . After playing this role, the producer said something that made me very happy. He said: Gao Haining, I didn't expect that this role was played so cutely by you. You changed the character. Oh my god, I took a character that even the producer found unlikable and made him cute.
So I discovered at that time that in fact, acting does not necessarily have to be the right way to act. There is no standard answer, but how you look at the character and what angle you look at her from, you can shape her in your own way. .
The Paper: Many viewers appreciate the self-confidence shown by many TVB actresses who are not bound by age. I would like to hear your views on age?
Gao Haining: First, in terms of life, age is just a number. In fact, what everyone sees is the state you present, so first of all, you have to give yourself recognition. Second, from the perspective of acting, when we act, we act out stories about a certain stage in a character’s life. From the age of 0 to 80, every stage must be passed through. The same goes for actors. There are always roles and stories suitable for your interpretation at every stage. It just depends on whether the industry gives us the opportunity to interpret it. I am confident that I can interpret the role that suits my stage of life, so there is no need to worry.
