In Li Mu's eyes, there are only a handful of outstanding actors in China, and top actors are even harder to find.
Although he does not want to worship foreigners at this point, he has to say that Chinese film actors are far behind Hollywood and are completely out of reach. Any Oscar-winning film in the United States can almost kill the entire Oscar-winning film in terms of pure acting skills. Chinese film and television industry.
However, Teacher Li Xuejian is one of the very few Chinese actors who can be considered a top actor in his eyes.
Li Mu feels that Mr. Li Xuejian and Tom Hanks can be said to be the same type of actors. Whoever they play looks like the other. Even after they have portrayed a classic role, they will not solidify their image and temperament before playing the next role. At this time, he can easily break out of the constraints of all previous roles and create a brand new image.
This is simple to say, but for most actors, it is too difficult.
Li Youbin, who played Li Yunlong in "Bright Sword", is also a very good actor in Li Mu's eyes, but he is not considered top-notch, because after he created "Bright Sword", his acting style cannot escape the traces of Li Yunlong. Things like this would never happen to Mr. Li Xuejian and Tom Hanks.
Teacher Li Xuejian once played Lin Biao when he was 26 years old. In order to get this image right, he hung photos of Lin Biao all over the room and tried his best to lose weight to achieve the emaciated look of the other person. In the end, he looked like him and made people look like him. The performance is stunning, this is the noble professional ethics of the older generation of actors.
For the older generation of actors, what they pursue is acting itself, and they never gain fame and fortune for themselves through acting. In their eyes, acting is no different from welders, fitters, and lathes, so all their experiences are used in research How to act well is like a welder who wants to master the skill of electric welding, so their acting skills will reach their peak and they will become true artists.
However, with the continuous development of the economy and the increasing demand for entertainment by the people, the entertainment industry truly took shape. At that time, the actors understood what business was and knew that behind business operations, they represented endless wealth, so they put most of their money into it. Part of the energy is spent on how to obtain more resources, how to increase influence, and how to earn more money. When actors don't study acting skills, how can they expect good actors and good works to be produced.
At this moment, Spielberg also became very interested in the teacher Li Xuejian mentioned by Li Mu. He rarely heard Li Mu praise an actor so much, and he believed that the actor's acting skills must be quite good.
Soon, the staff came to the VIP reception room of the hotel, found Teacher Li Xuejian, and said to him: "Teacher Li, we, Mr. Li and Director Spielberg, are supervising the post-production work of the documentary, so I would like to invite you to come and take a look. I wonder if you are interested?"
Teacher Li Xuejian asked curiously: "Documentary? I'd like to ask, I wonder what kind of documentary Mr. Li and Director Spielberg are making?"
The staff knew that due to confidentiality in advance, these leading actors had not received relevant notifications, so they explained: "Mr. Li has been doing charity activities in Spring City during this time to find the surviving Flying Tigers, and is preparing to edit it into a documentary. "
"Oh?" Teacher Li Xuejian said in surprise: "Then please take me there quickly."
…
Teacher Li Xuejian, who is nearly 50 years old, has not been as excited as he is today for a long time. For him, having the opportunity to star in such a meaningful film as "Flying Tigers" is not only an affirmation for him, but also a blessing. an honor.
As early as when Li Mu announced the launch of such a movie in Hollywood, Mr. Li Xuejian was attracted by the special history of World War II. He specifically studied a lot of information about the Flying Tigers, for no other reason than to be able to Learn more about the true history of this period.
At that time, teacher Li Xuejian never thought that he would be invited to star in this movie, because he knew his position very well. He was just an old actor, not commercial enough or popular enough. A young man in his early twenties like Li Mu, I am afraid that he will not know himself, and even if he does, he will not think of himself. And it is even less likely for a world-class director like Spielberg to know himself. He can only know a few internationally famous Chinese actors. It’s already very rare.
After studying that period of history, Teacher Li Xuejian realized that history was more admirable than he imagined. At that time, Teacher Li once had an extravagant wish in his heart: If he could play a role wholeheartedly in a movie like this , no matter how big or small, it is the happiest and most satisfying thing for an actor.
What he never expected was that this wish, which he thought was almost impossible to realize, came true.
Li Mu has some "negative impressions" of Teacher Li Xuejian. This negative impression comes from his role as Song Jiang in "Water Margin". This TV series produced by CCTV first aired in January 1998. At that time, Li Mu was still in high school. The more angry young people hate the role of Song Jiang played by Li Xuejian.
At that time, Li Mu felt that among all the good men in Liangshan, only the hypocritical Song Jiang was the biggest scourge. In the end, everyone died, which made Li Mu feel very sad for a long time, especially Song Jiang, who wanted to be punished by the imperial court. His thoughts, as well as his servile appearance when he knelt down in front of the court, made Li Mu particularly disgusted when he was a boy.
It is also because Teacher Li Xuejian's interpretation of the character Song Jiang is so perfect and appropriate that Li Mu can't help but have some negative impressions of him. But fortunately, he is a reborn soul in his thirties after all. He has watched Teacher Li Xuejian play the role. Many characters have completely lost the inexplicable resistance they had at the beginning.
The staff guided Teacher Li Xuejian to the room, and Li Mu took Spielberg with him to meet Teacher Li Xuejian for the first time.
Li Mu first shook hands with Teacher Li Xuejian and said, "Teacher Li, I have admired you for a long time and finally have the opportunity to meet. Thank you for joining the production of "Flying Tigers"!"
Teacher Li Xuejian hurriedly said humbly: "No, Mr. Li, you are the pride of us Chinese people. I am just an actor. Besides, it is my honor to join "Flying Tigers". I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity." !”
Li Mu said: "You don't have to be so polite. As a top actor in China, having you join "Flying Tigers" makes me look forward to it a lot more!"
After that, Li Mu said: "Let me introduce to you, Director Spielberg of Hollywood."
Li Xuejian hurriedly said: "Director Spielberg's name is well known to me!"
Immediately, Li Xuejian reached out to Spielberg and said in less than proficient English: "nice-to-meet-you."
Spielberg also hurriedly shook hands with Li Xuejian and said in Chinese: "Hello, nice to meet you."
Li Mu immediately acted as the translator and introduced the two to each other.
For Li Xuejian, it is indeed a great honor to meet and work with Spielberg, the legendary director. Spielberg is eight years older than Li Xuejian and is a truly world-renowned master in the film industry. , In comparison, Li Xuejian is not only much younger, but also has much lower achievements than him, so he is particularly humble in his heart.
After introducing the two to each other, Li Mu said to Li Xuejian: "Teacher Li, the reason why I invite you and other actors to Spring City today is because I want to arrange for you to meet and get to know the surviving Flying Tigers we have found so far. After all, we are interpreting their stories, and we should respect them face to face."
Li Xuejian nodded repeatedly and said: "Before receiving the invitation for this role, I had already checked a lot of information about the Flying Tigers. They are indeed a great group worthy of our respect and love. If we can pay tribute to them in person, it would be really great." It couldn’t be better.”
With that said, Li Xuejian asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, how many surviving old Flying Tigers did you find this time?"
Li Mu said: "We have found a total of more than 70 people so far, including more than 40 people from the United States, about 30 people from China, and a total of 50 people who came to Spring City this time."
"So many!" Li Xuejian exclaimed: "A lot of them are from the United States?"
"Yes." Li Mu nodded: "More than 20 veteran Flying Tigers and their families came to the United States this time."
Li Xuejian said hurriedly: "Then when can we arrange to meet them? I want to visit them now."
Li Mu said: "Today our staff took them to visit the outskirts of the city. They will come back in the afternoon. We have arranged a dinner in the evening and will introduce you to everyone."
Li Xuejian sighed: "I just heard from the staff that you are doing a charity event to find surviving Flying Tigers members. Why haven't I heard any news in Yanjing?"
Li Mu said with a smile: "My two companies and I jointly funded the establishment of a Veterans' Immortal Charity Foundation, which is dedicated to solving various difficulties and problems encountered by surviving veterans of World War II. Finding surviving Flying Tigers is only our foundation's mission." One of the activities, the reason why I didn’t start publicizing it, is because I wanted to combine the two things of the foundation and finding the surviving Flying Tigers with the release conference of our movie characters. It is the so-called blockbuster. Well, this can also maximize your influence.”
Li Xuejian nodded repeatedly, and Li Mu said, "By the way, Teacher Li, let me show you some of the video clips we shot during this charity event. After reading them, you can give us your comments and see if there is anything that needs to be modified."
"good!"
Ten minutes later, Teacher Li Xuejian stared at the computer monitor, as if he had lost his mind.
The promotional video used for this press conference is generally 90% complete. In the video interspersed with history and the present, accompanied by the sad and majestic background music, teacher Li Xuejian burst into tears.
A few minutes later, Teacher Li Xuejian finally regained his composure, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with the thumb joints of both hands, and sighed: "These old people are so great. I am really ashamed. I am also a soldier. But I have not paid attention to the current living conditions of the veterans of the Anti-Japanese War. I am really ashamed of my status as a soldier. I am extremely ashamed! I am extremely ashamed!"
(End of chapter)