Wu Lei Rides the Wind (to take an opportunity)

Bite down on the green hills and do not relax, the roots of the original in the broken rock. A thousand strokes but still strong, regardless of the east and west winds.

Zheng Xie, “Bamboo and Stone

When you walk into Lianquanxianggu (濂泉响谷) in summer, the lush greenery comes to you in no time, and as you look around, the trees are shaded, birds are singing, clear water is flowing over the strange rocks, and the sunlight is reflecting through the staggered leaves of the trees. It took nearly an hour of climbing to get here. We found a secluded corner in the middle of the mountain, and here, Wu Lei shared his recent insights with us.

After the busy shooting, I like to ride my bike through the streets and alleys, the breeze fields, when I ride I usually do not think about anything, just listen to the sound of the wind blowing past my ears, that feeling is particularly calm.

At this time, I am just a wanderer, looking at the scenery along the road, looking at the people along the road. I will enjoy this feeling of being treated as a passerby, in this kind of dusty (travel-worn) situation, people will not have a defensive mentality towards you, the randomness of life will make us feel happy, I also always believe that we must have our own life, if you can not find your own life, there is no way to act in a particularly good state.

When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I established my life’s goal – becoming an actor, then I thought acting was very good and wanted to keep acting. I will try to squeeze in more time to read some scripts, and sometimes people will say, “You are so busy filming every day, how can you have time to read the script? What if you miss one (script)?” I said I missed it is not destiny, it all depends on fate. I will keep myself in good shape, when the opportunity comes to seize it, so it is enough.

I usually talk to my friends in my circle and ask them what is good and what is bad about my performance. I think actors must be objective, because if you live in your own world and don’t care about the opinions of others, then you are arrogant, and you can’t make progress. After all, an actor’s performance is for the audience, and the audience represents the aesthetics of different groups of people today. After we have achieved what we want to achieve and what we want to convey, we have to consider the view of the receiver in both directions, that is, the audience’s thoughts and feedback, so that the character we perform is like a real person.

We, as a special group of people who are often selected, everyone is looking at you, and inevitably will be compared. Going to the show/audition is also a comparison. But my mind is actually very calm, now the film industry is always moving forward. We, as young people, competition is a good thing and will promote the whole industry together to progress. My idea is to keep myself in a good state, not think about competing with others, and do a good job. I just want to be myself, it’s useless to think more.

The way I do well for myself is to enrich myself, live well, act well, and improve my acting skills.

I think actors have a special happiness, that is not to think about promotion and other issues, we just need to act well, which is very simple. But if people ask me if I have any pressure, my answer is yes. I always say that I have to put in more effort, to work harder, because we are protected by many people, so when we encounter difficulties, we have to bear these pressures and stand up, which is also a responsibility.

Knowing that the theme of our shooting is “Good Men of China”, it reminds me of my role as Ma Chengfeng in “My Country, My Parents”, as an anti-Japanese fighter, it is a great thing to fight to protect our family and country. Although our parents were sacrificed during the war of resistance, their lives are carried on in us, which is a kind of life heritage. This is true of the soldiers, all walks of life, we actors are also the same, the film and television industry is now left for us by our predecessors, we have to protect it well.

The so-called “Good Men of China” are not only the “strong youth makes a strong country”, but also the courage to face the difficulties encountered. The character I played in “Our Times”, Xiao Chuang, is a boy with a lot of courage, and his name has the word “Chuang (to venture out into the world)” in it, and the most important thing is the courage to get back up after a fall. He only did one thing in the whole drama, that is, fall, get up, fall again, get up again, and the adversity he encountered became more serious and desperate every time, and I felt heartbroken/distressed when I read the script, but he would get up again every time and tell everyone with his most energetic spirit: “I, Xiao Chuang, have not fallen!” This kind of bravery has been passed on to me, and I hope that this kind of strength can be passed on to everyone. In my opinion, we young people should do our best to contribute to our country and not forget our roots. Act well, be a good person, and strive to be stronger are the most important things in my opinion.

translation credit to @wuleiarchive.