Cycling is a time when Wu Lei can be himself. At this time, he does not have to become another character in the ups and downs story, nor does he have to bear the public spotlight. In his words, he is like a falcon, flying close to the ground, and the wind in front of him is also free. Growth has never been an earth-shattering event like shouting slogans. Wu Lei, who no longer claims that his “mental age is 35 years old,” understands that at this moment, it is happening silently in his body.
Wu Lei seemed to grow up overnight. Perhaps because he was standing in the spotlight at a very young age, whether ordinary viewers or fans, watching him grow up a little bit, it is always difficult to detect the silent moisturizing (润物无声)*. Until “The Long Ballad” aired, more and more people said that he “grew up”. “I think it’s a good thing, at least it proves that this role is a success in a certain sense, because Ah Sun is a mature man who gives people a sense of security. If one day he’s starred in another role, it will be another kind of success.” For a character, everyone said how Wu Lei is still a three-year-old child! I think that last year Wu Lei published a book “Flying on the Ground”, which was a commemoration of his 20-year-old. He talked about “self” in it, and disassembled the word into “freedom and me”. Balancing them is the process of self- shaping.
*Explanation: refers to those who have a big mind, who have made contributions without publicity, and silently contribute.
Riding a bike happened to let him find the existence of “freedom and me”. “I really like (this) one sentence. If you want to see the scenery, drive too fast and walk too far to complete all kinds of shooting. At night, you can finally have your own time and you can ride home.” In Beijing, sometimes working till late night, if the place of work happens to be in the west, he will choose to ride back alone.
Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story of a smart solar-powered robot Klara accompanying the young master Josie in his new book “Klara and the Sun”. Josie was poor in health due to genetic modification and was eventually cured by the sun (Klara thinks so) and Klara completed her mission after Josie entered the university. It seems to have a science fiction shell, as if it is depicting people’s minds, with no distance from reality. Every child who is under the pressure of parents and class, the one who needs a companionship is Josie. And Wu Lei, right next to his fans, sometimes plays Klara and sometimes plays the Sun.
Is he Klara or the Sun?
In 2002, 3-year-old Wu Lei was invited to perform in the first commercial “Golden Partner”. In two years, he performed more than 50 commercials in succession, and his talent was discovered at the same time. From 2005 until now, he has produced film and television dramas every year. There are various counts of how many celebrities he has been the son of and which celebrities he has been embraced by. In 2018, he was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy with the first place in the professional course. From cute to good-looking to handsome, from talented to acting to acting professional, from childish to sensible and comprehensive, these are all with him. If “Wu Lei” is entered on the search engine, these descriptions can be seen everywhere. The little baby gradually grew into a graceful youth and a sunny youth in everyone’s sight. It’s not the kind of child star who was suddenly discovered to grow up. He grew up little by little on TV and on the screen.
Everyone’s requirements for “child stars” have always been harsh, and they often compare the appearance of child stars when they were young with the present time. Wu Lei has never been attacked. He has grown into a model that an idol should have. Everyone likes to use magnifiers to show off “bad deeds” and make a fuss on these self-named children. Wu Lei did not give them a chance, and was wrapped up by the compliments of the predecessors all the way. Qin Hao said, “I like Wu Lei’s performance very much. The performance is very sincere”; Hu Ge said, “I am far inferior to him at his age”; Zhang Yimou said that Wu Lei is modest, low-key, conscientious, and promising…
At the entrance ceremony of Beijing Film University, as a representative of the freshmen, his speech was simple and sincere. He wanted to “keep his feet on the ground (down-to-earth), work with the most modest attitude, and the most authentic enthusiasm for artistic creation, and become a true art professional”. He is determined to professionalize his passion and improve his profession in practice while studying.
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.
Wu Lei has always liked the term “Ground-based Flight”. He used this word to describe an ideal state of life in his mind, “moving forward at a constant speed on his own life path”, like walking against the wind. He seems to follow his heart, no matter where the goal is, the direction is firmly in his hands, and the traces left when flying gradually lay the foundation for the meaning of his life.
At the age of 20, Wu Lei published his first book, “Ground-Based Flight”. He wants to keep the past time and the once-in-a-lifetime 20-year-old as a souvenir. He defines this book as “a landing in flight” – leaving a temporary stop in the constantly superimposed life experiences, review the past transit points, pack your luggage and storage before setting sail again. In the concluding chapter of the book, he describes the process of landing and taking off countless times in his life as “ground-based flight”. “Flying is to keep moving forward on the chosen path; and constantly touching the ground is to accumulate stronger take-off boost.”
This sentence he wrote when he was twenty years old became the yardstick in his heart. So, the cycle started over and over again. Even though the flight was bumpy most of the time, he always crossed the sea of clouds and flying slowly on that flight path.
01. Learning is Learning
Recently, in order to promote the Beijing Winter Olympics, Wu Lei went to the original “Water Cube” venue to experience curling – during the conversation, he seriously corrected me, “Now it has been renamed the ‘Ice Cube’ – in In the arena where fierce competitions will soon be presented one after another, for the first time in his life, he tried this sport that he could only see on TV in the past. “I used to think that only national athletes could enter it (the Water Cube). This rare experience made me feel so sacred. After actually experiencing curling, I was much more tired than I imagined.”
At the end of last year, Wu Lei came to Ulan Butong, a six-hour drive from Beijing, and welcomed the first ray of dawn when he was 22 years old in the ice and snow. In the next three days, he walked through the grasslands, woods, rivers, and canyons there. Crossed glaciers, looked for the Milky Way, and battled wits and courage with thirty horses. It was a journey that “doesn’t exist in daily life.”
Wu Lei took it as a challenge at first. Especially on the first day of camping in the snowfield, “No one supports it.” It was his first time to go to Ulan Butong, and it was also his first time camping in his life. It was also during the winter fire prevention period, so no fires were allowed. The temperature at night was as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. If you are not careful, you will suffer from hypothermia. The vehicle was always on standby, and everyone felt that he would return to the hotel soon. In the end, Wu Lei wrapped himself in a freezing sleeping bag, covered his body with warm patches, and slept in a tent in the wilderness.
Wu Lei: Growing like the wind, heading towards the future
As the first cover character of the first issue of “Esquire FineUP” e-magazine, we invited Wu Lei, a big boy who is passionate and thoughtful. Youth embodies endless creativity in him, “one section after another, one thousand branches and ten thousand leaves*.” In his most prosperous age, he went to snowy mountains and swam mountains and rivers, polished himself in his works, and explored the most consistent way of acting in life.
Note:*this saying come from a poem. The poem describes the integrity of the bamboo, which does not compete with the flowers for beauty and fragrance. It also refers to the author's own clean, self-contained, detached and close-to-nature way of life.
As we hope this magazine can convey to readers – the most interesting thing in life must be every moment now.
Actor Wu Lei
Become a “partner” with the character
When asked if he was worried about his acting career being restricted, Wu Lei replied without hesitation: “I’m worried”.
For many good-looking young actors, transition is always one of the biggest problems. But under the still youthful face, 22-year-old Wu Lei has a rationality and calmness that is rare among his peers.
Compared with pure anxiety, he feels that it is more important to find a solution, that is, to not presuppose the future and to perform every drama well in the present.
“Although I want to try all different types of roles, being an actor is a career that is choosen. I can’t act whatever I want. It often depends on fate.”
How much do you know about Wu Lei’s “little secret”?
Wu Lei is like a carrier wave with instantaneous frequency changes. When you first come into contact with it, it seems that you need to turn the knob carefully to accurately correspond to his frequency. However, once exposed, all the information unfolds in a straightforward way in front of the ears and eyes, making people pause for a moment, like waking up from a dream and realizing that there is no need to beat around the bush, the world can be so simple and magnanimous.
During this time, Wu Lei was filming “Nothing But You” in Shenzhen. In the evening, the afterglow of the setting sun has not completely sunk into the sea. In the dusk, the modern buildings as dense as a jungle have just been lit up. This is Wu Lei’s favorite time of the day.
“If you happen to be at a high place, it’s best for overlooking the entire city, such as watching the traffic jam downstairs.”
With just one sentence, the soft atmosphere just now cracked crisply, making people feel convinced: it was Wu Lei who was speaking.
This was of course a naughty joke from Wu Lei. He said it in his trademark scrolling voice and a pretending-to-be-serious tone. The staff on the side couldn’t help being amused. The atmosphere, which had not yet fully relaxed due to getting up early to start work, immediately began to flow.
In fact, Wu Lei, who started filming at the age of 5 and now has 18 years of “artistic experience” and more than 70 works and counting, is already a mature and comprehensive young actor. Facing the outside world, he responds and controls it with an astonishing ease. He always sincerely shares his feelings about roles, works and sports hobbies, without hiding his ambition to become a better actor. What’s more important is that while many people weigh the ideas in their minds and assemble them back and forth in their mouths, he never hesitates and speaks out directly what comes to mind.
Around him, the camera seems to have erased its presence. In Gutongjing in “Tomb of the Sea”, he “breathed out a ounce of sand, smelled of wine, and lay down on the ground”, killed everyone behind the screen on “Cross Fire” , and galloped on the grassland of “The Long Ballad” , behind the deck in “Upcoming Summer” , he hung up his headphones thoughtfully, then covered his ears with his hands, pretending to just support his head… Or in the summer of 2022, he looked back, laughed, and several times he climbed up the tree, and then held the water pipe up to the sky and Xiaobei (Guangxi native hound) by the swimming pool, which provoke the “female star” Xiaobei’s dislike. Every moment in the image is a part of himself.
He is also willing to further extend himself for the role. During the filming of “Love Like The Galaxy” , Ling Buyi’s sinister, machiavellian and self-willed behavior was beyond ordinary life experience. During the few months that Wu Lei was in the group, he insisted on exercising for 1.5 hours a day no matter how late he finished work. “That was when I had the strongest willpower.” He wanted to maintain a tight state and directly experience the life of “pushing yourself very hard every day and never allowing yourself to live a serious life” from the body.
He gets infinitely closer to the character by reshaping himself, and the character also leaves some unconscious traces on him. But in the end, he is still himself.
Half a year ago, Wu Lei was still a “newbie about plants”. The last time he raised plants can be traced back to his elementary school days.
This time, he moved the happy tree, panax notoginseng, mangosteen, cactus, and amaryllis home, and went to see how his plants were doing when he got up every day. He said that silent plants have a graceful and wonderful world.
“Plant Newbie”
When spring just emerged this year, Wu Lei posted three photos of small potted plants on Weibo, from seedlings to dense branches and blooming flowers. “Recent achievements,” he wrote. This young man born at the turn of the millennium also started raising plants.
He picked these plants in pots from the flower and bird market in Beijing. When he went there for a walk half a year ago, Wu Lei was still a “plant newbie”. The last time he remembered growing a plant dates back to his distant elementary school days. It was an onion-like Daffodil. After being immersed in water, white flowers bloomed soon after. It was easy to raised.
This time, he chose plants based on his “sight” – this one is good, this one is quite small, and this one looks easy to grow. As for habits, there is no clue. You still have to ask the shop owner how often to water and what does “watering thoroughly” mean? The uncle naturally cast a distrustful look at him – young man, these guys will definitely die if you raise them for two days. Especially this amaryllis, it takes three months to bloom. You may not be able to grow it for three months, right? “Ouch! Do you know the desire to win in my heart? He probably thought that a kid like me would only be passionate for three minutes. I just thought, it just so happens that there is nothing going on during this period, I can definitely grow flowers.”
The high-spirited and unrestrained young man is vividly reflected in Wu Lei. Even if it is an unconstrained idea, he will try it vigorously and vigorously. Experience life in his own unique way, live to the fullest, enjoy life, and then give back everything you gain to the career you love. For him, youth is a bargaining chip, it doesn’t matter who wins, as long as he has the courage to start, it grand enough.
01. Pass
If you search Wu Lei’s name in real time recently, you will find that netizens are sighing: Wu Lei has grown up. Whether it’s in “The Long Ballad” or “Love Like The Galaxy”, Wu Lei’s characters have experienced an image change compared to before, losing their childishness and becoming mature. Some people say that watching Wu Lei’s growth has made them “experience the power of transformation”, while others have not yet recovered from the visual impact of his dazzlingly good figure.
Actors who started acting when they were young may face a stage where the audience is so impressed with their childhood that they need a long adaptation period to accept the changes in the actor’s character image. However, Wu Lei is very open-minded about this issue, “Everyone has an ‘inherent impression’ of me, which is at least an impression. As long as there is an “impression”, it is a good thing for an actor. The biggest fear is that people have no impression of the characters you have played, right?” he asked. “I accept all the impressions everyone has of me. I’m an actor, I’m still young, I can do everything I can to perform every role well, and then do my best to make each role vivid, so that the image of each role is independent, and everyone can gradually feel the different me.”
In addition to carefully studying the script and discussing the plot with the director, Wu Lei described his way of thinking about acting skills in one sentence, that is: living with the character . “Actually, every time I play a character, I really live the same life as the character. I try to live his life every day to experience his inner fluctuations.”
The young general Ling Buyi in “Love Like The Galaxy” is actually not an easy role to play. Even Wu Lei himself said that this is one of the “most tiring” roles in recent years. It does not refer to physical suffering, but to inner “torture”. “There is nothing sloppy about him, and he does everything to the extreme. If you love someone, you must love it to the extreme, and revenge must be done to the extreme. It is black and white, and there is no in-between. He is suspicious, scheming, and scheming every day. He obviously has many ways to seek revenge, but he always chooses the one that feels the most satisfying in his heart, and forces himself to do everything to the extreme.”
In Wu Lei’s words, this is a somewhat “crazy” character. He was afraid that such an “emotional” character will be interpreted in a hollow and superficial manner by himself, so he hopes thope that through some performance details, the audience can intuitively feel Ling Buyi’s subtielty and gloom. “Ling Buyi did a lot of unexpected actions. As for me, I hope to rationalize it all. Everything has a cause and effect, and everything has a trace. So I studied a lot on the script and original work, and the director also gave me a lot of help.”
In order to experience Ling Buyi’s feeling of carrying a blood feud, and thus tempering his character and clarifying his own feelings every day, Wu Lei put a lot of effort into himself in order to resonate with the character’s heart. “I saw a lot of people on the Internet saying that I was too thin. In fact, I did it myself. You know, right? When I was filming this movie, I worked out almost every day. For example, when I finished work at 11 o’clock and went back, I would be 12 I will go to the gym at 12 o’clock, so I will start working out at 12:30. If it is too late, I will also do a set of simple aerobics. I also eat vegetarian diet, to keep myself in a capable and lean state, in order to find a little bit of Ling Buyi’s real sense of life in my own life.”
When talking about the topic of breakthroughs in acting, Wu Lei bluntly said that in fact, every role will encounter various difficulties, and he will use different methods to get close to the inner world of each character. In the eyes of the audience, the contrast between his characters in a certain drama may be particularly great, but for Wu Lei himself, these are all works that require hard work to achieve. “The most important thing is that I need to understand life more and enrich my experience and inner qualities, so that I can deal with different scenes more freely.”
At this moment, you seem to feel that the young man Wu Lei and the character Ling Buyi overlap to some extent, and they use their own way to overcome the obstacles.
02. Call
“As many roles as I have played, there are as many past lives as I have played.” Wu Lei himself said this. When we mentioned his “famous saying” again, Wu Lei was a little embarrassed and said that he actually wanted to take it back. “This is all said before, but now it always sounds a bit unconventional.” He said frankly with a smile: “But there is indeed nothing wrong with the truth. An actor is like a modern person walking around in the world with memories of past lives. Those “past events” will more or less produce “body memories” for the actor himself.” Wu Lei also feels that every time he plays a drama, his whole state will be affected by the character.
“A friend of mine once said that every time I play a different role in a movie, my whole state will change. For example, when I played Xiao Chuang in <Our Times>, I was laughing and carefree, but when we met again when I was filming “Love Like The Galaxy”, he felt like I was a bit fiercer. The characters will indeed have an impact on me. This impact will gradually weaken after the filming is completed, but they will still affect me to some extent.” Whenever he encounter difficulties, Wu Lei will ask himself: What would Xiao Chuang do? What would Ling Buyi do? Ling Buyi had to overcome so many difficulties to achieve his goal. What would he think of his minor injuries and pains? “For example, when I’m working out,” Wu Lei gave me an example, “the last one or two super sets are too demanding on the body. Sometimes I’m too tired and can’t push, so I’ll yell Ling Buyi name in my head, and then it seemed like he would really come out and help me push up.”
Wu Lei often uses a similar method to “summon” Xiao Yan in <Fights Break Sphere>, “Because he is a different type of male protagonist and he is very cool.” He gave me boyish answer. Maybe every boy has a heroic dream in his heart: “Whenever you encounter something that you can’t handle in life, you will wish that you are Xiao Yan.”
What’s interesting is that he often feels that although each of his characters is different, they all have similar qualities: persistance and perseverance . He hopes that both the energy inherent in the character and his own hard work and enthusiasm when playing the role can always be maintained and preserved. “Like elves,” he defined these spiritual companions who had been with him for several months. “When I need help in my heart, I will call them out, accompany me on a journey, and cheer me up.”
Filming also gave Wu Lei a lot of new skills to hone. His big data recommendations on the homepage will be changed every three months on average, and the content will always change according to the needs of the work being filmed. When he was filming <Upcoming Summer>, the screen was filled with electronic audio and video, and when he was filming <Dwelling By The West Lake>, everything was replaced by plants. When he accepted this interview, he was in the filming period of <Nothing But You>. There is no doubt that the recommendations on his homepage will become tennis-related.
“In <Nothing But You> I played a tennis player. Although the filming has not been completed yet, I have a hunch that I will play tennis often in the future.” These new skills acquired have also become interests and hobbies in Wu Lei’s private life. A pot of flowers, a starry sky, a horse… Everywhere posted on Weibo is a trace of Wu Lei’s filming, and every place is a trace of Wu Lei’s life.
Young people always have endless energy and are full of freshness and curiosity. “These skills are firstly really interesting, secondly they are necessary for shooting, and thirdly, after you learn them, you find that they are indeed worthy of liking and persevering.” Perhaps it is precisely because of his youth that he isn’t afraid of trial and error, have no worries, and want to try everything. He said, “when you like it in your heart, nothing is really difficult.”
The movie <All Ears> also unlocked another “achievement” for him, which was his third time collaboration with Hu Ge. “I was still young at that time and knew little about acting, but now that I have had time and experience to polish it, I can now try to talk about acting with Lao Hu!” Talking about this cooperation, he sounded a little happy: “I have changed a little bit, and I am no longer a child in terms of age. But the feeling of Teacher Hu Ge has really not changed at all, he is still the same as before, he has always been so gentle and elegant, and has never changed.”
In fact, it’s not just Hu Ge. In other reports, we often see comparison photos of Wu Lei and other senior actors “before and now” on the hot search. He used to play a son, but now he plays a younger brother; the boy who used to play a cute little boy now has his own love interest in the drama. For Wu Lei, this is just a gradual growth process, but from the perspective of the audience, it is accompanying him through growth and transformation.
Wu Lei, who has been long-awaited and is famous in the audience’s list of “young boyfriends”, finally has a mature woman-younger man relationship in <Nothing But You>, fulfilling the dreams of many netizens. When asked what he thought about love with an age gap, he seriously replied: “All love is equal.”
03. Grow
Halfway through the interview, we realized that we shouldn’t try to guess or pry into his heart. Young people’s minds are always free and unconstrained. When asked if there was anything special about choosing a script, he unexpectedly replied: “It depends on how you feel.” As if he was afraid that we would take it as a joke, he added: “You can just write it in the original words.”
Whether it is netizens, people around him or colleagues, they often give him various suggestions, be it dramas or comedies, movies or TV series. The incoming opinions sometimes even contradict each other, but he thinks clearly, “Because being an actor is a chosen profession, I don’t deliberately pursue any type of script or type of role. I don’t set any standards. If you encounter it, you’ll encounter it. Just let it happen.” Choosing a script is a bit like an exam for him. No one can choose the question type. Don’t think too much, just pick up the pen and answer them one by one.
“So you don’t care much about the outside world’s opinions?” I couldn’t help but ask. Wu Lei denied it, “as an actor, it’s impossible not to care about the outside world’s opinions, because to put it bluntly, being an actor is a profession that relies on the outside world for survival, so I definitely care.” Then he changed the topic: “Everyone gets good or bad comments. I read the good ones and the bad ones. I don’t necessarily agree with them all, but I won’t rest on my laurels and listen selectively. I think I still have to face myself objectively. We must also face others objectively.”
Using “become famous since he was a young teenager ” to describe Wu Lei is not appropriate enough. It should be said that he is “become famous since he was a kid.” As a young actor who has attracted public attention, he has been filming for more than ten years since he entered everyone’s field of vision at the age of five. It is particularly important to maintain his original intention and not to follow what others say. Not only when dealing with external voices, but also when dealing with people around him, Wu Lei will retain some of his own thoughts, “Because I think actors must have their own opinions and attitudes, otherwise they will lose themselves. If you don’t have your own thoughts, then the character you perform may be soulless and lifeless.”
“Where do you think you will be in ten years?” we asked him. “Myself in ten years… I think I should still be acting.” He added humorously: “But maybe my hair won’t be so lush anymore.” ”In this industry, we often need to style your hair and use various glues every day. When I take care of my hair, I feel that it is not as obedient as it used to be.” Wu Lei said with a smile: “Actually, I have not set any special goals for myself in ten years. As an actor, everyone hopes to create a particularly good and shocking work that can bring more touching and positive energy to people, or produce some value. But this is not something I can get just because I want it. I can only take one step at a time, work with a normal heart, enrich my life, and play every role to the fullest. Sooner or later, that moment will come. I still have some confidence in this.”
During the interview, I was amused by his quirky answers from time to time, and I was often impressed by his candor. Perhaps Wu Lei’s personality just confirms his name, which is upright, solid and magnanimous. The young and flamboyant talent and charm are like the spreading grass, growing wantonly on this sturdy stone.
04. Encounter
Wu Lei has recently been watching a TV Series called “Severance” in his spare time: “The setting is very exciting and unexpected.” He likes things that are unexpected, and his life often does not follow the routine. One moment he can sit upright, and the next moment he have a sudden thought. Once, while lying in bed in the middle of the night, he had a whim, and for some unknown reason, he came up with the idea of buying a trumpet. But when the express delivery arrived, he completely forgot about it. “”But I still really studied on my own. For the first three days, I didn’t even blow a sound. I thought: Look, everything is difficult at the beginning, and it is also difficult to play a trumpet. When I blow a sound for the first sound, I felt very accomplished. Xiaobei (my pet dog) was a little surprised when he heard the sound of the trumpet for the first time and ran away.”
When he mentioned his pet dog Xiaobei, he started talking endlessly. Xiaobei’s arrival was also an unplanned event. At Shenzhen North Railway Station in 2020, he accidentally encountered this stray puppy while passing by. The special fate made Wu Lei decide to adopt it. Because they met at Shenzhen North Railway Station, she was named “Xiaobei”. “But her surname was Ling recently,” he said. “Whatever my surname in the play I am playing, she will follow that surname.”
When filming, Xiaobei would follow in Wu Lei’s footsteps and travel with him. She has an easy-going personality and is not afraid of meeting people. She gets along well with everyone and is extremely happy. “I also let her appear in this series of films. It went very smoothly and turned out very well. I am very satisfied.” He praised three times in a row with excitement.
Out of interest, Wu Lei has traveled to many places over the years. He would ride a bicycle for dozens of kilometers from one city to another. He can also ride a horse galloping, and enjoy a happy life on the snowy fields of a foreign lands with fresh clothes and vigorous horses.
The romantic feelings of young people are reflected in the setting sun when they reach the other shore, in the misty mountains and rivers, and in the night when they look up at the Milky Way. “When I went to Ulan Butong, I saw the most unforgettable scene in my life. When I rode up to the highest mountain in the snowy field, I saw the sun pouring on the earth and connecting with the sky. It was so shocking. I will never forget it in my life. When I wait for other seasons in the future, I want to go there again.” When describing the past experiences of witnessing the wonders, his voice was filled with uncontrollable excitement.
He will also make these experiences into Vlogs or personal micro-variety shows as part of his experience of life, recording the beautiful scenery he encounters to share with everyone. Whether it’s “Men’s Riding Club” or “Riding for a Reason”, the vitality that coming upon you demonstrate his smart and true youth.
“Why haven’t you updated your Vlog recently?” we asked curiously. “I don’t have a clue right now.” He seemed a little hesitant. “I mainly hope that my Vlog can continue to be upgraded and bring different freshness and happiness to the audience. I don’t like to do boring things. In fact, everyone should feel it too. My Vlog needs to be upgraded every time. For example, from cycling to horseback riding, I have been trying to record it in more interesting ways and find inspiration along the way.” But sometimes, young people don’t need too much advance planning. “Waiting for fate, maybe one day my big data will push me a beautiful place, then let’s go, let’s go here!”
From these video clips during the journey, people can also get a hint of Wu Lei’s potential in photography and creativity. When we asked him if he had any ambition to develop into producing and directing, he still insisted that he should be an actor first: “I feel that it is not easy to do one thing well, and acting requires technical skills. But it is true that many people have told me that I can try multiple identities. I am still young and may have other ideas in the future, but I am not in a hurry. I will talk about the future later. I need to be an actor first. “
After chatting with Wu Lei, inadvertently you will be infected by his action. You can’t help but have an impulse in your heart, and things that you once wanted to do but didn’t dare to do come to mind. “Has anyone told you that you are a typical Capricorn?” we asked him. He was noncommittal, thought for a while and replied: “I like to use zodiac signs to define a character and grasp the character’s personality. Sometimes when I’m unsure of a character, I will decide on his zodiac sign first.”
“So what do you think is the zodiac sign of Ling Buyi, the character that you played this time?” we asked. “Scorpio!” Wu Lei blurted out without hesitation.
After the interview, Wu Lei had to rush to the next work schedule. Finally, he did not forget to give us a recommendation: “I’m going to the online interactive event of “Love Like The Galaxy” in a few days. Come and watch it when you have time! There will be an update tonight!”
I watched the entire interaction between Wu Lei and the heroine Zhao Lusi. As expected, the audience loved this pairing. There is also good news on the Douban platform. “Love Like The Galaxy” scored 7.4 points upon its launch (*note: the douban score is 7.6 now), which is a good result among domestic dramas. I don’t know if Wu Lei himself is satisfied, but I think he has happily gone to his next trip.
Wu Lei Galaxy 