On November 1, the movie "老gun" was officially released. Previously, the film won the "Best Artistic Contribution Award" in the main competition unit of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival in November last year, and was shortlisted as an outstanding domestically selected film at the 31st University Student Film Festival in May this year, starring Zu Feng won the "Most Popular Actor of the Year among College Students".
Poster of the movie "Old Gun"
"Old Gun" is the first big-screen feature film directed independently by director Gao Peng. Peking University professor Dai Jinhua said bluntly when talking about the movie-watching experience: "The gunfight scene breaks the paradigm of Hollywood and Hong Kong movies. It uses a completely different visual rhythm and scheduling rhythm to bring full tension and visual impact, and brings a brand-new The audio-visual structure. The final gunfight scene is very beautiful and satisfying. "In the film, Gu Xuebing, played by Zu Feng, is a man who is out of touch with the contemporary society and is incompatible with the surrounding society. Faced with all the chaos in the factory, he refuses to act because of his emotions; Faced with the love between him and Xiaojin (played by Qin Hailu ), he was shy and never broke through the window paper. Only at the end of the film, facing the betrayal of his friends and the robbery by the evil forces holding the fire stick, he seemed to be possessed by the god of death, and after "recovering his energy", he fired the last shot, hitting the target with one shot.
director Gao Peng said in a previous interview that this is a role completely tailor-made for Zu Feng. From the first scene, Gu Xuebing came to life. "He is like the soul of the crew. The leading actor in English is called leading actor. How does he lead? It is not necessarily just a good performance, but also his charisma and professionalism."
also seems to be gaining momentum. This film is in Zu Feng "Old Gun", released at the age of 50, also formed a certain intertext with the inner world of the protagonist. Just like Gu Xuebing's line, "When you are in the best condition, you fire the best shot. At that time, you can't hear anything." Anyone who knows Zu Feng knows that this is a man who speaks quietly and acts quickly. Lord, I am used to letting my acting skills do the talking, but I always hide behind the characters and cherish my words like gold.
Recently in Beijing, Zu Feng accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper. In his opinion, whether he played Li Ya in "Latent" in his early years or Gu Xuebing this time, certain qualities of the character are not far from some of his own temperaments.
Actor Zu Feng
"The persistence of right and wrong is still in my heart, but as I grow older, the edges and corners may be smoothed out and become more rounded, but I don't think roundness is a compromise. Maybe we are more tolerant, because we will realize that the world is not black and white, there are many other colors in between, and maybe there are many unspeakable difficulties behind the mistakes that make up this complicated world. . Similarly, in the world of film art, different voices and perspectives are needed. "Old Gun" is a different movie, and I believe it will also find audiences who like it." Zu Feng said.
[Dialogue]
"Every man still has a young self in his heart"
The Paper News: I all know that you like calligraphy on a daily basis. I heard that the two characters "Old Gun" in the title of the film are your calligraphy. Can you introduce it to me? What was your mood and calligraphy style when you inscribed the film title?
Zu Feng: When I was chatting with director Gao Peng before, he mentioned, Brother Feng, you have to write the title of this film, and I agreed at that time. One day when I was free at home, I took out a large paper and wrote several pieces of paper. The ink did not dry quickly. After writing one piece, I threw one on the ground and let it dry on the ground. At this time, the Garfield cat at home happened to run over. He was already 8 years old and was still very naughty. He would jump and roll on these papers with "Boom". I took a freeze-frame photo with my mobile phone and sent it to the guests. As a result, he and My cat "selected" the same one, which is what the title of this movie now looks like.
The title "Old Gun" was written by Zu Feng
From the font, the "Old Gun" I wrote should be regarded as the cursive script in the list. The size itself is relatively large, and the brush was a bit dry when writing these two characters. , also has the effect of dry pen and burnt ink.These two words seem clumsy and a bit clumsy. Maybe just like Gu Xuebing, who I played in the movie, he is not so comfortable in real life.
The Paper: When I mentioned the title of "Old Gun", I first thought of the French World War II film starring "Sissi" Schneider. That movie was introduced to China by Shanghai Translation Company in the 1980s and 1990s. I think you must have seen it. In a sense, Gu Xuebing and Dr. Julien are similar.
Zu Feng: Yes, the French movie "Old Gun" was very famous at the time, and I later watched it many times on TV. I heard that the castle in the village where the movie was filmed is still a tourist attraction. Dr. Julien, played by Philippe Noiret, killed all the invading Nazi officers and soldiers in order to avenge his wife and daughter. He has appeared in many movies, and he also played the role of the projectionist grandpa in " Paradise Cinema ".
When director Gao Peng gave me the script, I saw that the title of the film was also called "Old Gun", and I naturally made an association with it. In fact, Dr. Yu Lian is also a seemingly gentle person, not so forceful. Like Gu Xuebing, he will only fight back when the bottom line is touched.
Zu Feng as Gu Xuebing
The Paper News: Four screenwriters participated in the writing of the script for "Old Gun" directed by Gao Peng. After reading the script, what did you find most touching?
Zu Feng: When the guest gave me the script, he told me that he wanted me to play the role of Gu Xuebing. After reading the script, I felt that although it was telling an adult story, it was still about the growth of a man.
Gu Xuebing is a late bloomer. In his early years, he had been training and living in a closed shooting team, which made him seem a bit out of tune with the people and things around him after he entered society. As he grew up in society, although he was repeatedly beaten by society and even suffered a bloody blow, his energy to not follow the crowd and not be bound by the real environment has always been there. I think this is very cute. Also very charming.
In fact, each of us will have the original power in our hearts, but in the process of our growth, whether it is external pressure or personal instinct to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, or our minds are more able to accommodate other things. Things will slowly hide this power.
The Paper: You will be 50 years old this year. The so-called "year of knowing what is wrong", does taking on the role of Gu Xuebing also reflect your own emotions?
Zu Feng: I don’t know much about women, but I think every man still has a young self in his heart. Isn’t there a saying on the Internet, “A man will remain a young man until he dies.” The once vigorous and determined seeds of wanting to change the world may still be in my heart, and the persistence in identifying right and wrong may still be in my heart, but as I grow older, the edges and corners may be smoothed out and become more rounded. . But I don’t think harmony is a compromise, maybe we are more tolerant. Because we will realize that the world is not black and white, there are many other colors in between, and perhaps there are many unspeakable difficulties behind the mistakes, which makes up this complicated world.
The Paper: When did the filming of the movie "Old Gun" start?
Zu Feng: "Old Gun" started filming in 2022 and took more than five months to film, of which the filming was suspended for more than two months for some reason. I think Gu Xuebing has a lot of similarities with Li Ya, who I played in "". They are both on a broken ship that is about to sink. People around them are thinking about how to survive, and there are all kinds of dirty people and Everything goes wrong, but they still stick to their beliefs. Maybe some of the temperament in me is not too far away from them.
Director Gao Peng (left) and starring Zu Feng on the set
The old gun, "Give me the drawings and I will make it."
The Paper News: The background of "Old Gun" is the Northeast factory in the 1980s. As the protagonist, you were in your prime years in the 1980s, and you attended Jinling Middle School, a century-old prestigious school, which must have helped you form your own views and observations on society. What suggestions do you have for restoring the period texture of the film?
Zu Feng: Director Gao Peng was born in 1984. I am older. The main reason is that he and the art teacher did a lot of work in the early stage of filming. I started working in 1992 and worked in a large state-owned factory. In 1996, I went to study at the Beijing Film Academy. So I know the factories of that era relatively well. Those large state-owned factories themselves were like fully functional cities. In addition to their own canteens and hospitals, they also had their own kindergartens, colleges, and post offices. They were called "enterprises" at that time. "Running a society", a large state-owned factory like this is a "small society". If you think about it, the factory where Gu Xuebing works in the movie has 8,000 employees, which is incredible. The shooting location of "Old Gun" was in a special metal factory in Northeast China. They were about to relocate at the time and lent it to us for use. It should be abandoned now.
The Paper: After watching the movie "Old Gun", what personally impressed you about the restoration of the atmosphere of the times?
Zu Feng: Because we all shoot in real locations, most of the time the factory’s own furnishings are there, and the texture presented is already more than half of the success. Of course, the artist will also make many adjustments, such as the factory dormitories where the homes of the leading actors in the film are located, how to place the rows of buildings, and what props to add to the interior furnishings. Including the security department's office and gun warehouse in the film, the art team made a lot of changes. Professional people do professional things. As small as a table in an office, it must first have a sense of age. At the same time, how to place it indoors to facilitate shooting must be taken into consideration.
When it comes to chronological details, there are a lot of them in this movie. For example, Xiao Jin (played by Qin Hailu) rides a flatbed truck to unload old clothes. I saw this when I was a child in the 1980s. At that time, there were not so many fashionable clothes in China, and there were no formal channels to import clothes. This concept is different from the current concept of vintage stores and boutiques. At that time, the country had just opened and people's ideas began to change, but the supply on the market was not abundant yet.
Stills from "Old Gun"
The Paper: Before the filming of started, you must have had contact with the security department of this special metal factory. What details did you discover from them about how to be a good security officer?
Zu Feng: In that era, the security section officers of large factories were similar to the public security police. They both belonged to the same system, especially the security section of large state-owned factories. Before the country promulgated the Gun Control Law in 1996, they were They can be equipped with guns, but they are responsible for the security and order of their factories and investigating and handling security cases in the factories. After getting in touch with the real Bao Gan (security officers), they looked more like people like Lao Tian (played by Shao Bing ) and Gangzi (played by Zhu Haiyu) in the film. Most of them were veterans and were relatively tall and powerful. On the contrary, Gu Xuebing was born as a shooter. Shooters are not muscular. They often look gentle and elegant, and their temperament is more like intellectuals.
I have also filmed some police dramas and gangster dramas before. When communicating with criminal police officers, I can also observe that as law enforcement officers, they often have to face those extremely vicious criminals, including sometimes having to disguise themselves for investigation. How much they put on themselves for work It will also have some roughness and must look powerful, otherwise it will not be able to deter criminals. This time Lao Tian has this kind of aura about him. The Gu Xuebing I played is quite different. His temperament is more elegant.
Shao Bing as Lao Tian
The Paper News: Speaking of large state-owned factories, you have worked at the Nanjing Automobile Manufacturing Plant. Did this experience also make it easier for you to enter the role in this performance?
Zu Feng: I have worked in Nanjing Automobile Manufacturing Plant for 4 years. Let me mention one model, Iveco, which was very famous in China in the 1990s and was produced by Nanjing Automobile. At that time, Iveco imported a production line from Italy, and I was on another production line that manufactured purely domestic buses. The name of the model was very contemporary, called "Yuejin".
In the "Yuejin" production line, the part I am responsible for is manufacturing the engine. To be more specific, there is a component of the engine called the crankshaft, which requires a lathe, so manufacturing the crankshaft is a large workshop. The cast workpiece is brought here, roughed first, and then semi-finished. I work in the semi-finishing process. At that time, the factory had just introduced a CNC lathe. The team saw that I was relatively young when I first joined the factory, so they asked me to be responsible for computer operations and adjust the advance and retreat dimensions of the turning tool by inputting numbers. It is more or less a technical job, including if the cutter head is broken, you have to replace the cutter head manually. That's when I got into computers. Later, friends in the industry came to me if they wanted to install computers or something.
The Paper: In the movie, Gu Xuebing has been making his own "old gun". You have experience working in a factory and are good at seal engraving. Did you also participate in the production of this prop?
Zu Feng: This is not difficult for people who have worked in factories. I originally studied machining, which is a lathe in the usual sense, using various machine tools to process parts. At the same time, I also learned benchwork, which involves using tools to process parts by hand. To put it half-jokingly, you just need to give me the drawings and I can make it. Specifically, Gu Xuejun's gun in the movie is basically a prop made by an artist. I saw him first dig out a hole between two pieces of wood, then use a wood file to remove the excess part, making a curve that fits the palm of his hand, and finally use sandpaper to polish it.
The Paper News: Gu Xuebing is an air pistol athlete who retired due to injury. You must also experience life in a professional shooting sports team. For example, you need to bend your shoulders and elbows when shooting. How can these essentials be incorporated into performances?
Zu Feng: I am actually interested in shooting sports. I didn’t pay attention to it because of this movie. I have gone to the shooting range to practice before. In every Olympic Games, the first gold medal or medal that our Chinese team wins must be in the shooting event, because this event (competition date) is often ranked first. From the 1984 Olympic Games when Xu Haifeng won the first gold medal in history for the Chinese team, to the subsequent games of Wang Yifu and Du Li, including the games of two post-2000 young players Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao at this year's Paris Olympics, I watched them all the way. down.
The pistol shooting events in sports competitions are divided into air pistols and small-caliber pistols. Air pistols are used for 10-meter events; while small-caliber pistols are used for 25-meter and 50-meter events. The 50-meter event was canceled in the Tokyo Olympics in previous years. . Gu Xuebing's identity as a shooting athlete is set in that he practices small-caliber pistols, so in the movie after he retires, the gun he makes should be a small-caliber pistol. Although the caliber is small, it relies on gunpowder gas to propel the bullets. In order to present a sense of reality this time, the director and the crew did a lot of homework and research. It can be said that every gun that appears in the movie has been carefully researched and each one has its origin.
The Paper: Let me mention two details. In one scene, Gu Xuebing gave a demonstration to Geng Xiaojun ( Zhou Zhengjie ). He held a piece of white paper with his middle finger up and the other three fingers down. How can you tell how a person shoots? talent?
Zu Feng: This mainly depends on whether you have the endurance if you want to practice shooting, because your hands cannot shake when holding a gun. We all know that when you pick up a heavy object, your hands tend not to shake. The lighter you pick up something, the easier it is to shake. This is like a TV station cameraman who is very stable when shooting with a big machine, but sometimes it will shake when shooting with a handheld camera.
Stills of "Old Gun"
The Paper News: In the last scene of , when Gu Xuebing fired a precise shot at the bandit leader, I noticed that before pulling the trigger, you put your left hand in your pocket, showing the character's "energy recovery" , Calm and relaxed.” Tell us about your design for this scene. In particular, at this year's Paris Olympics, Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikai was dressed in casual clothes and shot with one hand in his pocket. His short video of the game was widely circulated on the Internet, and he was very similar to Gu Xuebing's state when he fired the last shot. .
Zu Feng: Ha, I also saw that video, and netizens said he looked like a "killer". Maybe you don’t know much about shooting sports. I have filmed some criminal investigation dramas before, and this time I also had contact with professional shooters. The police's shooting posture with pistols is to hold the gun with both hands and face the target head-on. But in shooting competitions, air rifles must also be held with both hands. When shooting air pistols and small-caliber pistols, athletes always face the target with their torso sideways, hold the gun with one hand, and usually put the other hand in their pocket. , this is their habitual action.
When we were filming this scene, it happened to be raining and the scene had to be shot consecutively, so the scene was shot intermittently for several days. But what is very interesting is that when Gu Xuebing fired his last shot, it had been cloudy before, but that day the sky suddenly cleared up and the sun came out. Both the director and the photographer thought it was very good, and it had a good meaning.
The Paper: In the scene in the film, Gu Xuebing and Geng Xiaojun escorted the suspect who stole factory equipment to the public security bureau, but were intercepted by the factory leader on the way. Faced with Geng Xiaojun’s questioning, at that moment, with the cooperation of the film’s sound effects, Gu Xuebing’s tinnitus was revealed physiologically. Pain and inner moral self-blame are wrapped together. Let’s talk about your performance.
Zu Feng: Gu Xuebing retired from the army because he had hearing loss in one ear and was almost deaf. This is the through line that the director and screenwriter set for this character when creating the text. In the movie, he has two or three symptoms of tinnitus. The opening scene shows him going to the hospital for a hearing test. My understanding is that this kind of tinnitus symptom is sometimes caused by psychology and is accompanied by his incompatibility with real society.
Zu Feng (right) discusses gun-holding postures with the crew's gunsmith
"I prefer to hide some things when acting"
The Paper News: The emotional scenes between Gu Xuebing and Xiao Jin in the movie, including singing "Who's beating" to Xiao Jin "My Window", your performance is very restrained and subtle.
Zu Feng: In that era when the pace of life was extremely slow, the emotions between people were very reserved. Although Gu Xuebing in the film did not express his love for Xiao Jin, in my opinion, they understood each other and many things did not need to be expressed in words. In the process of accompanying each other, they had already regarded each other as family members. Gu Xuebing was a late bloomer and was particularly shy when pursuing Xiao Jin. Although they liked each other, they never clearly broke through the window paper.
Qin Hailu plays Xiao Jin
The Paper News: The brotherhood between Gu Xuebing and Tian Yonglie in the film was also perfectly performed by you and Shao Bing. There were also many rival scenes between the two. They are both veterans in the entertainment industry. Let’s talk about the exchanges on the set. story.
Zu Feng: In a sense, the relationship between them is like the relationship between Gu Xuebing and Geng Xiaojun. A social novice has such a mature man beside him who can protect him and guide him. Gu Xuebing was incompatible with the society around him. Lao Tian was like an elder brother by his side, giving him a lot of care and attention. He also recognized this big brother very much. They grew up in the same environment. One joined the army, the other went to the shooting team, and finally both returned to the factory and became Corey's colleagues. In the factory, apart from Xiao Jin, Gu Xuebing was Lao Tian's only close friend. So after Lao Tian went dark, Gu Xuebing was very broken.
When I was in film school, Cui Xinqin was my teacher. Teacher Cui also taught Shao Bing. We are both in the same school.Most of the time on the set, they each try to figure out the inner drama of the character. For example, he designed a smoking action. When smoking, the burning end is always held in the palm of his hand. This is just like the character who has been on the battlefield. Related to my experience, no open flames can be seen on the position, otherwise it may lead to cold shots from the enemy. For me, of course I have done a lot of preparation and design, but when I interpret this character, I may not necessarily show it. I prefer to hide some things when acting.
Stills from "Old Gun"
The Paper: Is your bookishness also related to the living environment in Nanjing when you were a child?
Zu Feng: My father is a construction engineer and my mother is a worker in Nanjing Automobile Manufacturing Factory. Similar to children born in the 1970s and 1980s, I didn’t have many toys when I was a child. I made my own match guns, rolling hoops and so on. When I was studying at Jinling Middle School, there was a Jinling Painting Shop next to the school. In addition to selling calligraphy and paintings, it also sold seal cutting materials and knives. I remember that seal materials and knives were very cheap at that time, so my classmates bought them and figured out how to engrave characters on the seal materials. There are calligraphy classes in middle schools, but no one teaches seal cutting. It’s not like now when you search online and you can find instructional videos. I just play with carving, but I have never scratched my hand. This was probably my first serious hobby as a teenager.
After graduating from Jinling Middle School, the company's profitability was still very good at that time. I studied in a technical secondary school for three years. In 1992, I entered the factory directly at the age of 18. It can be said that I entered society all at once. I felt at a loss at first. At that time, there were still masters in the factory, and some workers and masters were about to retire, but you were actually colleagues with them (laughing). My co-workers commented on me that this child has a student-like attitude. I loved watching movies since I was a child. It was only after I started working that I learned about the Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama. I applied for the Film Academy in 1994, took the exam three times, and passed the exam in 1996 (laughs).
The Paper: In the past thirty years of your career, you have contributed many classic images on the screen. You have also directed your own film "Six Desires". This time, you collaborated with the young director Gao Peng on his big screen debut. Let's talk about it. Observations from current young directors.
Zu Feng: Although "Old Gun" is director Gao Peng's debut, he has filmed TV series and many commercials before. He is quite stable in making movies. From the first time we met and communicated, I felt that he was very mature. Whether it was talking about characterization, narrative rhythm or image style, he was very sure. One indicator for evaluating new directors is the degree of completion of the finished film. After getting the script, shooting and editing, sometimes you will feel that it is far from the vision you had when you read the script. However, "Old Gun" has already been included in literary works. The poetry of the film also exceeds the power of words given by the script.
The Paper: Whether it is Li Ya in "Latent" or Gu Xuebing in "Old Gun" this time, we can see that you not only present the character's sense of belief, but also interpret your own sense of belief as an actor. After graduating from Nortel, you stayed in school to teach acting classes. Please recall how you taught students the sense of belief as an actor?
Zu Feng: There is a saying in the industry that it is very difficult to act with animals, especially with children. This is because children have a strong sense of belief. When they were playing house, you played the father and I played the mother, holding a plastic doll to feed and give injections. It was easy to believe that this was real. But as an adult, when you get the script, you know it's fiction. So when I teach, I tell my classmates that you have to be as "gullible" as children. Good actors are often simple at heart. People who are too narrow-minded will have too many worries and will not be able to act well. On the set of a film and television drama, at least a real environment will be created. On the theatrical stage, facing the audience through the "fourth wall", this "gullibility" is especially important for actors.
The Paper: Speaking of the theater stage, many years ago I saw "Impression of Love" starring you and Zhou Yun at the Experimental Theater of Beijing People's Art Theatre.
Zu Feng: About two or three years after finished playing "Latent", I collaborated with Hu Jun, Qin Hailu, and Zhou Yun in the TV series "Golden Wedding and Stormy Love". Maybe in Zhou Yun's impression, I am a person who loves acting and doesn't care about anything else. Then he invited me to star in "Impression of Love". The screenwriter of this play is translator Li Jianming. She is an old friend of Mr. Shi Tiesheng and adapted his "Retreat Notes" into a drama. There are only two actors in the play, Zhou Yun and I, which can be said to be a challenge.
The first time I acted in a play was "Four Seasons of Love" in 1997, which was also performed at the Beijing People's Art Theater. The script was written by three friends who had just graduated from the drama department of China Opera 93, including director Guo Junli. In 2006, Guo Junli directed the drama "I Love Love" and invited me to star in it. "Impression of Love" is the third drama I have starred in. If I have the opportunity in the future, of course I still want to act in a drama. Actors in drama performances can make adjustments for each performance based on the performance conditions of each performance, including feedback from the audience, and the actors have greater autonomy. After all, movies are the director's art. For actors, although the creative methods are similar, the director has the final say on the editing table.
The Paper: Last question, talk about your future plans for art life.
Zu Feng: I am a casual person. Although there have been some changes in my life in the past, I am generally happy-go-lucky. I hope that I can still encounter good scripts and cooperate with professionals, so that I will be more worry-free.
In the first half of this year, I was relatively free. I stayed at home and just enjoyed life, reading, writing, and playing the game "Chicken" (a shooting mobile game). Sometimes I invite friends to play basketball and tennis together. It turns out that I also play football and played against the "Sirius" screenwriting football team organized by teacher Quan Yongxian. I even joked with him, if you get injured, don't delay your work. If I get injured, I won't be able to act.
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