For an actor, it is undoubtedly a supreme honor to be able to successfully portray a character and win the recognition of a national audience. But one actor said it wasn't enough.
He is Sun Feihu, with his outstanding performance in "Xi'an Incident", he successfully deepened the image of Chiang Kai-shek in the hearts of the people, and was highly praised by Chiang Ching-kuo and others, and played Chiang Kai-shek at different stages more than 20 times in his life, and was regarded as the representative image of Chiang Kai-shek by the audience, and even Chen Daoming had to accept his criticism.
However, when he was at his peak, he gave up the role of "Chiang Kai-shek", which had been recognized by the whole country, and chose to play a small supporting role. In this regard, he explained that he is not a special actor of Chiang Kai-shek, but an actor who can play a special type well.
Born in Shanghai in 1941, Sun Feihu graduated from the acting department of the Shanghai Theater Academy at the age of 23 and then joined the Guizhou Repertory Theatre as a drama actor.
If it had not been for that turn of fate, this "Chiang Kai-shek", who would later become known throughout the country, might have been buried. However, in a drama called "Maple Bay", Sun Feihu meets an important person in his life - his wife Dai Huiyao.
In "Maple Bay", Sun Feihu plays the landlord Tang Hanchi, and Dai Huiyao plays a female underground party member. During the rehearsals, they were full of praise for each other's acting skills, even though they were actors in rival plays.
As they got to know each other better, the two secretly fell in love and finally came together.
In 1976, 35-year-old Sun Feihu and 21-year-old Dai Huiyao tied the knot despite the world's eyes, and began their lifelong journey together. It was this mutual appreciation that allowed Sun Feihu to win the opportunity to perform in the movie "Xi'an Incident", and became famous overnight.
This movie makes the image of Chiang Kai-shek played by Sun Feihu deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and makes the past history re-show in front of the audience. However, until the film was born, no one knew what the final outcome would be.
In 1980, Cheng Yin accepted the responsibility of directing "Xi'an Incident", but encountered difficulties in the selection of actors. After the suggestion of the comrades of the Xi'an Film Studio, the director team began casting across the country, hoping to find the actors who could best reproduce the characters at that time.
With the support of **, the casting documents were sent to the major drama troupes and art departments across the country. After being shelved for nearly 20 years, "Xi'an Incident" was finally brought to the screen in 1978 after the drama "Xi'an Incident" by the Gansu Provincial Repertory Theatre and Xi'an Drama Theater was well received.
In the nationwide actor selection boom, Sun Feihu ushered in a major opportunity in his life. At first, he had no intention of participating in the selection. In a later interview, Sun Feihu revealed the real situation when he was casting.
When he learned of his selection, his first instinct was to give up, as he thought it was too unlikely. "There are so many performance groups across the country that it's as difficult to pick a person out of them as it is to find a needle in the ocean, and I didn't meet the requirements on the outside, and although I looked okay on stage, I definitely couldn't do it under the big screen lens. ”
In Sun Feihu's view, there is no need to waste energy to fight for this kind of extremely low probability thing, because if it fails, it will be a very shameful thing.
Sun Feihu was about to miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and his virtuous wife, Dai Huiyao, finally persuaded him to give it a try. In this attempt, Sun Feihu successfully shaped the nationally famous "Chiang Kai-shek", and awards such as the Golden Rooster Award and the Hundred Flowers Award also became his honors.
The family has a good wife, and the contribution is indispensable.
Despite Sun Feihu's acclaim, he regrets his most well-known work. Because in his early performances, he felt that his performance was too ordinary. Since he has been engaged in drama performances in the past, Sun Feihu has a strong stage style, which is somewhat out of tune with the audiovisual language of the film.
Although Sun Feihu has been trying to correct it, the habits he has developed over the years often make director Cheng Yin angry. In addition to being prone to falling into a specific character state, he also has difficulties with his lines.
He mentioned in the interview that at the beginning, he pursued the ups and downs of form, always deliberately emphasizing the modulation and frustration of words, hoping to add color to the character in this way.
But this overly focused approach to form and ignore the character itself makes his performance very unnatural, and also ignores the accuracy and subtext of the verbal movements. In order to adapt to the filming of the film, Sun Feihu privately found Cheng Yin, who showed him the way: "Abandon the disguise in the performance and live authentically." ”
The guidance of Sun Feihu and Chiang Kai-shek was certainly beneficial, but it was difficult to realize. First of all, the problem that Sun Feihu needs to solve is how to play Chiang Kai-shek accurately.
For an actor to create a character, he first needs to know what kind of person the other party is, what characteristics they have, and how they should be presented. This requires an in-depth understanding of the characters.
In order to bring Chiang Kai-shek to life, Sun Feihu felt that he needed to have a theoretical basis first, otherwise he would easily make the mistake of the theory of human nature and beautify or whitewash Chiang Kai-shek.
Sun Feihu found a realistic method of shaping the image of the character in the works of Marx and Engels. He realized that in a class society, although people's psychological phenomena and social life are influenced by class stigma, there are still certain things in common emotionally.
As a result, he no longer looks ahead and is confused, but instead focuses on grasping those emotions that are common to all human beings. He believed that Chiang Kai-shek was not a monster who did not eat the fireworks of the world and had no emotions and six desires, but a living person with his own joys, sorrows, and sorrows.
When his life is at stake, he will also feel panic, when he is frightened, he will also be frightened to retreat, and when he feels cold, he will also walk around with his shoulders crossed.
Sun Feihu realized that as long as you really live in the role, you will have faith. When he played Chiang Kai-shek, every word and action was convinced that it was right and should be so.
When performing the scene of Chiang Kai-shek's Lishan**, Sun Feihu's acting skills reached their peak. He did not deliberately show Chiang Kai-shek's embarrassment, because that did not fit Chiang Kai-shek's character traits.
Chiang Kai-shek has always been thoughtful, even if he is terrified in his heart, he shows a proud appearance to the outside world, even if he **, he still maintains a lofty image, which is consistent with historical records.
Through theoretical study and persistent training, Sun Feihu's image became closer and closer to Chiang Kai-shek, and he also began to put forward higher requirements for himself, hoping to move from being like to being like a god.
In order to understand Chiang Kai-shek more deeply, Sun Feihu adopted a variety of methods. First of all, he collected various ** and video materials of Chiang Kai-shek in different periods, and found some habits of Chiang Kai-shek, such as he would look left and right whenever he went to a place, wave his right fist from top to bottom when speaking, and point east and west with a cane.
In addition, he went to interview some people who were familiar with Chiang Kai-shek to find out what they observed about Chiang Kai-shek. Among them, he also made a special trip to Chengdu to visit a former Kuomintang lieutenant general who had worked with Chiang Kai-shek in Whampoa.
In these ways, Sun Feihu hoped to more accurately imitate Chiang Kai-shek's words and deeds.
Through his contact with him, Sun Feihu gained a deep understanding of the unique details of Chiang Kai-shek's life. Chiang Kai-shek walked steadily and slowly, and sat upright and full of energy, revealing his background in the Japanese non-commissioned officer school and strict requirements for military appearance and discipline.
His smile is rare, and even if he laughs, it is only a light smile, and his gaze is sharp and cold, and sometimes it can even make people feel frightened. By consulting a large number of first-hand materials about Chiang Kai-shek, Sun Feihu not only understood his external characteristics, but also deeply studied his speech records and official documents in order to gain a deeper understanding of his inner world, which is also the key to shaping the godlikeness.
Sun Feihu successfully created a lifelike image of Chiang Kai-shek with his superb acting skills. In his performances, he always uses sharp eyes to interpret Chiang Kai-shek's gloomy and complex inner world.
For example, when meeting Zhang and Yang, he played Chiang Kai-shek, although he smiled on the surface, saying, "I took advantage of Luoyang to come and see you." But those cold eyes conveyed Chiang Kai-shek's inner thoughts unreservedly: "I see what you are doing." ”
And after **, in the face of Zhang Xueliang's visit, Sun Feihu's eyes turned from cold to **, as if he could see people through.
In Sun Feihu's view, if you want the audience to recognize you, it is essential to look like and look like. If your characters and actions are not similar at all, even if they look like each other, it will make the audience feel out of the play.
And if there is only an external image and no inner temperament, then this kind of performance is a skin performance that lacks vitality. In order to achieve the effect of being both similar and godlike, Sun Feihu has put in a lot of effort.
When Sun Feihu played the role of Chiang Kai-shek, he fully considered the characteristics of Chiang Kai-shek's strong Zhejiang native accent. He did not simply pursue the likeness, but skillfully used the combination of the local dialect of eastern Zhejiang and the vernacular of Shanghai, which not only retained the similarity, but also achieved the effect of god-likeness.
In the process of creating the character, Sun Feihu deeply thought about Chiang Kai-shek's psychological state and behavior in a specific environment, and strived to be true in details. For example, in the scene of looking at the map in the conference hall of the Kuomintang Military and Political Department, Sun Feihu stared at the map intently, thinking about how to deploy troops and generals, avoiding all small actions that might destroy the charm of the character.
Only by truly understanding and figuring out the mentality of the character can we create a character image that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
In his portrayal of Chiang Kai-shek, Sun Feihu devoted tremendous energy to capturing his complex personality. Chiang Kai-shek was a contradictory figure, a man who was both a leader and suspicious and duplicitous.
In order to express these characteristics of Chiang Kai-shek vividly, Sun Feihu carefully shaped his image in the play. For example, in the scene where the soldiers deliver clothes, although Chiang Kai-shek was still wearing pajamas after **, it was already very cold at that time.
Seeing the soldiers who delivered the clothes, Sun Feihu immediately pretended to be tough, angrily scolded Zhang Yang for the two defections, and refused to accept the clothes. However, when the wind blows, Chiang Kai-shek, played by Sun Feihu, shuddeers and begins to regret his actions.
When the soldier returned, he took the clothes downhill, took the clothes with "It has nothing to do with Zhang and Yang, I will wear it if it is yours", and pretended to let the soldier leave his name. This series of changes fully demonstrates Chiang Kai-shek's complex personality and makes his characters more fleshed out and vivid.
Sun Feihu, with his superb acting skills, successfully portrayed Chiang Kai-shek vividly.
With my outstanding performance, I successfully played the role of Chiang Kai-shek in the 1981 film "Xi'an Incident", which won me a whopping 450 million viewers in mainland China and 250,000 viewers in Hong Kong for more than 20 days.
Wen Wei Po commented: "This is a real blockbuster. "My performance won praise from the audience and critics alike, making me think that Sun Feihu, who played Chiang Kai-shek, became an overnight celebrity and was seen as the best person and template to play Chiang Kai-shek.
With this film, I successfully won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 2nd Golden Rooster Awards. The success of this film has transformed me from an ordinary repertory troupe actor to a high-profile film and television star.
Even director Cheng Yin spoke highly of me in an interview: "As soon as he puts on makeup and goes on the stage, he feels right, how good he acts." ”
The performance of "Xi'an Incident" was so wonderful that ** praised it, and even Chiang Ching-kuo thought that Sun Feihu's performance was very similar to his father. Even scholars specializing in Chiang Kai-shek praised Sun Feihu's acting skills, saying that he fit perfectly with Chiang Kai-shek's image.
In a series of films, such as "Xi'an Incident", "The Founding Ceremony", "Chongqing Negotiations", etc., Sun Feihu successfully created the image of Chiang Kai-shek, making people remember the role he played.
Sun Feihu: Playing Chiang Kai-shek is an accident, but I am an actor who can play a special type Sun Feihu has played Chiang Kai-shek in different periods more than 20 times from youth to old age, and his acting skills have won high recognition from the audience.
However, when people thought that he would continue on this path, he expressed that he was no longer willing to play only Chiang Kai-shek and become a special actor. According to Sun Feihu, playing Chiang Kai-shek was just an accident, and he never felt like Chiang Kai-shek.
And after playing Chiang Kai-shek in the movie "Xi'an Incident", it was out of control. However, in Sun Feihu's view, he didn't want to be tied down because of this and become a special actor who could only play Chiang Kai-shek.
I'm an actor who can play special roles. Sun Feihu's remarks show that he has a higher acting pursuit and a bigger stage. He believes that as long as he perseveres, he will be able to realize his dream of acting.
As an actor, he has always believed that no matter how big or small the role is, as long as he performs it with his heart, he can bring an unforgettable experience to the audience.
Sun Feihu achieved a breakthrough in his career around 2000 with his superb performance in "Zeng Guofan". He has always been committed to self-improvement, no longer content with playing roles such as Chiang Kai-shek, but choosing to challenge more diverse roles, including supporting roles.
He firmly believes that "actors should be responsible for the audience and the historical film and television image." In 2001, he starred in "The Son of Heaven" starring Chen Daoming and Huang Xiaoming.
It is worth mentioning that he once criticized Chen Daoming's Chiang Kai-shek for being too bookish and lacking Chiang Kai-shek's domineering image of being born in the army. Although Chen Daoming is a big name, he still accepts Sun Feihu's professional advice with an open mind.
In 2004, Sun Feihu played Han Anguo in "The Emperor of the Han Dynasty", and his acting skills made a breakthrough again. In an interview with reporters, he said that he did not play Chiang Kai-shek because he was not a special actor, and he could no longer continue to act because he had become fat.
As for the new role, he expressed his satisfaction and explained that Han Anguo was an important politician in the Western Han Dynasty, who had helped King Liang Xiao and the Han regime resolve many crises, and won the trust of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.
Through these new roles, Sun Feihu completely got rid of the shackles of the past with superb acting skills and successfully transformed. From the prince to the minister and general, Sun Feihu's acting skills have been constantly improving.
In order to explore more possibilities, Sun Feihu boldly challenged in 2005 and participated in "Letter from a Strange Woman" directed by Xu Jinglei, challenging modern drama for the first time and playing the role of housekeeper.
His attempt once again proves that an excellent actor can exude his own brilliance no matter how he goes. On November 22, 2014, unfortunately, Sun Feihu, who had unfortunately suffered from cancer, came to the end of his life and passed away peacefully at 1:30 pm in Xi'an at the age of 73.
In the last year of his life, the role of Gan Long in "The Great Qin Empire" 8 years ago became his last wonderful performance on the screen before his death. Because of "Xi'an Incident", he was famous all over the country, and finally died in Xi'an, which may also be a special fate.
Sun Feihu is known as "the first person to play Chiang Kai-shek", which is undoubtedly a high praise. However, what he is most proud of is that he never let the character tie himself down.
He was able to start from scratch and successfully portray the character of Chiang Kai-shek, who was always looking for new breakthroughs even at the peak of his career. He can go deep into the role and jump out of the role, which may be the real spirit of an actor and deserves our respect.
Sun Feihu, a 73-year-old actor who was widely acclaimed for his role as Chiang Kai-shek, unfortunately passed away. He has successfully portrayed the image of Chiang Kai-shek of different ages, which has been recognized by the Chiang family and won the Golden Rooster Award in the movie.
His passing is regrettable, but the classic characters he left behind will always be remembered in the hearts of the audience.