"This is the glory of my life." Interview with Wang Renjun: The fifth time he played a young Mao Zedong in Hengdian, Zhejiang. Shanghai | Shooting | Youth

Recently, after 127 days and nights of filming, the major revolutionary drama "Asking the Vast" was completed in Hengdian, Zhejiang. This is the fifth time that actor Wang Renjun has played the role of young Mao Zedong in film and television dramas.

The first time the reporter saw Wang Renjun was on the evening of July 1, 2021, in the backstage dressing room of the Shanghai Grand Theatre. He will soon play the role of young Mao Zedong on stage, which is also the day of the official release of the movie 1921. In the relatively small dressing room, Wang Renjun, who was 1.83 meters tall, recalled his experience of going to the revolutionary old area of western Fujian to experience life for the movie "The Gutian Army". "The room where the chairman lived was even smaller than this dressing room. In a small attic of less than 5 square meters, he had to side his body when climbing stairs because the chairman's feet were large. It was in such a small space that the revolutionary predecessors completed a great feat."

From the movies "The Gutian Army" and "1921", to the TV dramas "The Midstream Hits the Water" and "Bathing in Blood and Glory", and then to "Asking the Vast", Wang Chuanjun said that shaping great people is also a "process of personal growth and experience".

Creating characters is not imitating them

Before shaping the young Mao Zedong, Wang Renjun was the "Sheng Changbai" in the popular costume drama "Do You Know If You Should Be Green, Fat, Red, and Thin", as well as the "Water God" in "Honey Sinks Like Frost".

Playing the role of a well-known great person, from any perspective, is a very different experience. "When taking on this role, there was a lot of pressure because he had to accept the test of the whole nation." Wang Renjun remembers that when he was casting for "The Gutian Army", he was filming "Do You Know It or Not" and asked the crew for half a day off to get his makeup done. "I was 36 years old that year and I didn't know which role to try. When I was setting up my makeup, I saw a photo of the chairman hanging on the wall when he was young. After setting up my makeup, director Chen Li said it was you, and it lasted for more than ten minutes."

This is Wang Renjun's first time playing the role of young Mao Zedong. In previous films and TV dramas, senior artists such as Tang Guoqiang and Gu Yue had unique portrayals of great figures. "The director said, 'You should never look at how your predecessors perform, because you are playing historical characters, not imitating the ready-made products presented by others, so that you will be further and further away from the characters.' This sentence had a great impact on Wang Renjun, who constantly explored his presentation methods, 'By reading the works of great figures and accumulating and shaping so many scenes, emotions and characters can blend in both directions.'"

In Wang Renjun's view, shaping characters is not imitating them. "The image materials and works of great people are important foundations for shaping characters, but if we stand still on this basis and only imitate the accent and signature movements of great people, we cannot convey their spirit and spirit." He said, "Many of the image materials we see now are from the old age of great people, and it may not be appropriate to place the signature movements of old age in their youth. I went to revolutionary old areas such as Fujian and Jiangxi through artistic processing, trial and error, and had discussions with many experts and scholars, to experience life and meet those centenarians who have met Chairman Mao. This has been of great help to me."

In the movie "1921" produced in Shanghai, young Mao Zedong had a classic running scene. On that day, it was French National Day, and French people in Shanghai sang "Marseillaise" to celebrate the festival; Young Mao Zedong mistakenly joined the celebration team, but was pushed out by the French patrol. The iron gate has become a wall isolated from the world, with singing and dancing on the inside and life on the outside. Mao Zedong, 28 years old, looked at the warships on the Huangpu River and the fireworks from foreigners, determined that one day the Chinese people would celebrate National Day on their own land.

Young Mao Zedong began to run, with memories of his hometown, scenes of boycotting Japanese goods, and scenes of chatting with his lover about his ideals flashing through his mind. "Through this run, he achieved his growth process." Wang Renjun remembers that when he first joined the group, director Huang Jianxin asked him "How did you run?" At that time, he didn't know why, but he never forgot to exercise. "The description of this script is very simple, which is to run with great strides on the streets of Shanghai, holding his head high. At that time, Mao Zedong had a more mature understanding, a level of stability, and a good listening state than his peers, and also needed to showcase a young person's youthful passion."

Wang Renjun described filming this night run scene as like running a marathon. All the cinemas in Hengdian that can capture Shanghai streets, and every street in Chedun, Shanghai, has his running figure. "When young Mao Zedong ran to Garden Bridge of Shanghai, his mood calmed down, and his eyes revealed his vision and determination for the future. When shooting, he ran to the sun from midnight, and used many ways and angles to take pictures of the whole Shanghai scene and night scene."

The two films were completed and released successively. In the past year, Wang Renjun has returned to a state of daily coexistence with great figures. From "Bloodthirst Glory" to "Asking the Vast", "For 11 months now, I have been playing Mao Zedong every day. I am experiencing what happened to him, writing his words, and reciting his poetry. This process is difficult to describe in words." Wang Renjun said, "Every day is particularly exciting, and you are fortunate enough to put on his clothes and walk his life again. It is a very happy thing."

Playing Mao Zedong requires a nationwide audience review

The recently completed film "Asking the Vast" was written by Chen Jin, an expert in party history, and screenwriter Liang Zhenhua. Directed by Wang Wei, it tells the story of Mao Zedong, a young man who returned from the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China. From 1921 to 1927, he took a "pathfinder" and "early adopter" attitude, rooted down and grew up, and successively devoted himself to the labor movement, agricultural movement, cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and rural investigation, exploring the revolutionary path of China.

"This play is a brand new perspective, and it is all presented from the first person perspective of Mao Zedong's youth." Wang Renjun described that after experiencing the experience of the first four works, he experienced the precipitation, reflection, and summary of his thoughts. With the accumulation of experience as an actor and a strong creative impulse, he challenged this play. "Playing young Mao Zedong is like creating with a topic, your appearance and appearance are different, and you need to be reviewed by audiences across the country."

He revealed that the young Mao Zedong in this play has some differences in character development compared to before. "The director is very young and can unfold the story from a sincere young person's perspective. Who will take care of the child? In this play, you can see his image as a kind father. And he and Yang Kaihui are longing for the future and promised to be inseparable from his partner." Wang Renjun said that after performing this scene, everyone's mood was heavy, and the people in front of the monitor cried, "because everyone knows that reality is not like this."

Chairman Mao spoke with a Xiangtan accent, and when creating art, it may not be appropriate to present it entirely in dialect or Mandarin. Wang Renjun groped for a state that was "most similar but not yet". "Memories of an elderly person who met Chairman Mao: Chairman spoke very quickly, had a high tone, and had a very active mind. Xiangtan dialect was upward, representing the passionate side of his personality." Wang Renjun performed and created in Mandarin in the play, but in some fixed words, he also had distinct characteristics of Hunan dialect. "Hunan people say 'know' and use 'know'; Hunan people do not say 'say', but say 'speak', using some unique words in Hunan dialect to make characters present with a local accent."

"On the snowy wilderness, Mr. Li Dazhao drove a carriage with Chen Duxiu sitting on it, and the three of them were reciting a poem by Mr. Shouchang in the face of the wind and snow." This is the most memorable scene of Wang Renjun in "Asking the Vast".

In 1927, Li Dazhao passed away, and the drama portrayed the emotions of young Mao Zedong with Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu in the form of dreams. This scene was shot very well. In the summer of Hengdian, the sun was scorching hot. The production team laid out a long snow scene at the film and television base, and the wooden wheels of the carriage drove through the snow without any protective measures such as Weiya. People sitting on the carriage almost shook their heads off. "When I read 'With my youth, create a country of youth', I suddenly stood up. In that moment, I forgot about the hot weather and the toxic sun, and was still wearing a cotton robe. It felt like you were driving on a carriage set up by revolutionary predecessors. All you focused on was your longing for the future, your steadfastness in the country, and your steadfastness in faith. At this moment, the young Mao Zedong would definitely not be trapped in the carriage." Wang Renjun said. The intense passion of this scene caught everyone off guard. No one would have thought that reciting a poem could ignite so much, perhaps because you are standing on the shoulders of giants.