Category: Interview

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for VOGUE ME (December 2019)

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Wu Lei: A young and steady man

At the end of the year, we start to summarize the gains and losses of the year. Vogue Me’s December issue launched the topic ME’s 2019 emotional keywords. We have summarized the top ten emotions that appeared most frequently among young people this year. Today we will reveal the first of them, the annual emotional keyword for cover character Wu Lei – stability.

The intensity of emotions seems to be assumed to be inversely proportional to age. When it comes to 20 years old, the ups and downs of emotions are probably always intense, good and bad, like a stone that breaks the calm surface of a lake. The bigger the waves it stirs up, the more energetic it is. I met Wu Lei, who is about to turn 20, with my predictions about what a 20-year-old’s emotions should be like. The key words did not fall within the expected range, but it was satisfying. The key words did not fall within the expected range, but it was satisfying.

Age does not apply to the above assumptions, because Wu Lei’s stability is consistent throughout.

Stable Career

Acting as an Actor is My Destiny

“Acting may be my destiny. If I weren’t an actor, I really don’t know what I would do.”

Wu Lei starred in his first commercial at the age of 3, made his screen debut at the age of 5, and has been in the industry for 17 years. He is a boy that everyone has watched grow up. This kind of intimacy that is naturally built up over time not only brings extra love from the audience, but also attention and expectations. There are many children who grow up in the halo, but not everyone can clearly distinguish between true and pure love and giving back to the outside world’s excessive expectations. Is being a good actor really motivated by pure love?

In 2014, 15-year-old Wu Lei could answer this question. If when he was a child, the praises from the crew were more or less “a cute and smart kid”, then starting from the filming of The Return of the Condor Heroes that year, Wu Lei truly felt the difference between “being recognized” and “being liked”.

“Because I debuted relatively early, everyone in the crew calls me Wu laoshi. Although I know that 80% of them are joking, the feeling of being recognized by everyone is very gratifying.” When the efforts I put in as an actor are sincerely rewarded by everyone, from the encouragement from the director to other actors, the joy in their eyes and the sparks that collide in the cooperation, these things begin to truly stimulate the idea of ​​”becoming a good actor” and turn it into a belief.

In 2018, like any other high school student, after a year of getting up early and going to bed late to prepare for the college entrance examination, Wu Lei was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy and began his college life. It is hard not to wonder, for a kid who grew up on the set and in the crew, after more than a decade of acting experience, can the theory and practice on campus still excite him?

College student Wu Lei gave an affirmative answer. “In fact, the only difference between me and normal children is that I knew what I wanted to do from a young age. Most people start to do their favorite jobs and start a career after graduating from college. The difference between me and others is that I entered the industry I like early, nothing else is different. So I’m still excited about college life. Learning professional knowledge in school and learning how to enrich and improve myself are very helpful for the performance that I love.”

The staff who has been with Wu Lei said that the older he gets, the stronger his love for acting becomes, and the clearer he is about what he is doing and what he wants to do. He also thinks more unconsciously. He watches a wide range of movies and art works. Absorbing nutrition, broadening boundaries, and considering one’s original intention as an actor. In an era when original intention is widely discussed, the criteria for consideration have become uncertain.

As an actor, it is an ideal state to fully achieve self-satisfaction, director’s expectations, and audience’s feedback, but most of the time, the three are in conflict with each other. When you have achieved your own and the director’s expectations but are still not understood by the audience in an ideal way, should you explain?

Wu Lei spent a little longer thinking about this question than the others. If we have to choose one of these three as the standard to measure actor Wu Lei’s performance, it seems difficult to establish.

“If you feel that a work has met your expectations and the director also thinks it is good, but the audience’s feedback is not so satisfactory, I think that is my own problem. I used to have the urge to explain to the audience, but it is better to reflect on myself. In the final analysis, I must have done something wrong to cause this situation.” It can be seen that he was seriously looking for his feelings as a viewer in his memories, and then comparing them with his expression as an actor. The conclusion is that Wu Lei chose not to respond with the argument that “you just can’t understand my work.”

“If the audience can’t understand a work, then the work is meaningless. I don’t act to amuse myself.” This is probably my favorite answer when we talk about acting, an answer that may be misinterpreted, but it is powerful. Expression is the original intention of actor Wu Lei. He clearly knows that although there is no right or wrong in the form of expression, it is something that should be insisted on to find a suitable method within the scope of one’s ability.

Emotionally Stable

An emotionless formidable e-sports player

“Besides being an actor, how would you like others to introduce Wu Lei?” “As an e-sports player! Haha.”

Sure enough, no matter what era or form electronic games appear in, they have always firmly controlled the hearts of boys of all ages. I have seen too many male classmates who either howl in battle or kill with red eyes when playing games, so I can’t help but be curious, what does e-sports player Wu Lei look like? After a day of getting along with him, I confirmed that when Wu Lei plays games, if you don’t look closely, you probably don’t know he is playing games. He is so calm that it seems like the game is not fun.

“When I play video games, I’m very serious. I will analyze data, observe the enemy’s attack methods, reflect and review. Unlike others who play games for fun, I play games to win, and I’m very serious. It is actually very similar to acting.” Unlike the excitement of the virtual world in games that many boys are obsessed with, what attracts Wu Lei most about games is that “playing games well actually requires a lot of skills, teamwork, data analysis, etc. It is not a particularly easy thing.”

“Don’t get carried away, don’t show off, play it safe” is the missing option in the 20-year-old emotional prediction form, but it is truly reflected in Wu Lei’s emotional coping from childhood to adulthood. For Wu Lei, who grew up almost in front of the camera, pressure is an unavoidable theme. While the audience is rating his performance in front of the camera, the outside world is also curious about his life behind the camera. With the development of the Internet, there is no privacy now, let alone losing control, Wu Lei has never even subconsciously released negative emotions.

“I do feel that the attention from the outside world can be a pressure, which can be both good and bad. As an actor, of course I want to be noticed, but I’m used to it. People will ask you what the difference is between you in front of the camera and behind the camera, but the camera really exists in most of my lives. So the Wu Lei in the camera is the normal Wu Lei. “He doesn’t use games as an outlet to relieve stress, nor does he need to. Wu Lei’s stress relief system is all about competing with himself.

“Many times, pressure is self-imposed. The outside world will have an impact on us, but we still put pressure on ourselves. When acting in an important scene, the pressure is particularly great. There is no way to relieve it, it will be fine after the performance. Facing the pressure directly is the only solution.” In addition to solving his own pressure neatly and simply, not transferring the pressure to others is one of the things that people admire about Wu Lei during the filming process.

The day of the shoot was the first time Wu Lei met Céline. The time was short and the shoot was intensive, so the makeup and hair styling times were staggered to improve efficiency, so the two had no time to get familiar with each other in advance. It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t embarrassed at all. Fortunately, “shooting for magazines is different from acting. It’s the same as the NBA. Acting is like the playoffs and you have to be serious. Shooting for magazines is more like the All-Stars, just for fun.” Wu Lei’s kindness and friendliness made people feel that everything was not just politeness. He greeted people naturally and taught Céline simple Chinese. When the two of them started laughing at each other in front of the camera, it felt like a “click” between them.

“Besides being an actor, how do you want others to introduce Wu Lei?” The e-sports player gave a more serious answer: “It would be nice if people introduced Wu Lei as a pretty OK person.”

Steady

Zero-conflict energy release

During a break in filming, I asked Wu Lei’s mother: When was he the most rebellious since he was a child?

His mother thought about it seriously and gave me an unexpected answer: now. When I asked Wu Lei a similar question, he answered: the upcoming 20th birthday is not much different from the 19th birthday. Instead, “after my 18th birthday, I really felt that I had grown up.”

For Wu Lei, turning 18 not only means a grand birthday party, facing the fans’ love head-on and giving back seriously, but also means legal adulthood, a node where he begins to be completely responsible for his own words and deeds; it means starting a new college life, clarifying the direction of his performance and working hard; it also means that the time he will spend away from his hometown Shanghai will only get longer and longer, and the unfamiliar circles he needs to enter alone will be wider, and the thinking that comes with it will be more frequent. This also explains why his mother feels that Wu Lei’s rebellion has only just begun. Wu Lei is clever and straightforward, and his mother was always by his side when he was young, so he could more or less grasp and find the right balance. After turning 18 and starting college life, he inevitably had to take charge of everything himself.

His mother’s worries are not unnecessary, but I can feel that when Wu Lei is gradually finding and releasing his own energy, he may be rebellious, but he has direction.

He understood the freedom at this moment as “eat whatever you want, shoot whatever you want, do what you like, and don’t force yourself to do things you don’t like.” It was an answer that came out of his mouth, just like answering what he had for lunch today. The content was simple and flawless, and there is no room for doubt.

Putting aside every aspect of Wu Lei as an actor on the screen, regarding Wu Lei himself, I recorded this day’s interaction with him with many questions and blank feelings. After watching all his video interviews and text conversations in the past five years, his cleverness, quick response, sunshine, and love of joking can be felt across the screen. But perhaps it is because the energy he conveys is too positive that it is hard not to be wary and guess that it is “too good to be true.”

In order to get rid of the interference of vigilance as much as possible, we did not record the conversation throughout the day. After chatting for a while, he went to change his clothes for the photo shoot, and I immediately typed down the content of the conversation.

I remember very clearly that there was a video shoot of Wu Lei, and the director gave intense instructions on how to perform emotionally. I was typing in the back room, and heard deafening roars from the studio across the wall, followed by the director’s “cut” and a satisfied “bravo”. The whole audience burst into applause, and that was the first time everyone was touched by his explosive power.

After the shoot, he went backstage to change his look and passed by the cubicle where I was typing. He crouched down and quietly approached me from behind, pretending to peek. When I turned around and he found that he had failed, he just laughed and went to change his clothes. Like a boy in middle school who failed to pull a prank, his childlikeness is oozing out. Not only the contrast between these two moments, but also many times, Wu Lei makes people feel that this boy is a tangible existence, not a perfect mannequin in a wax museum. When he needs to focus, he can do it in one take, and when he turns around, he is naughty like a 20-year-old boy who doesn’t need to hide. When the makeup artist held an umbrella for him in the glaring sunlight on the rooftop, he turned around and naturally looked into the other person’s eyes and said “thank you”. When there was a small incident in the middle of the shooting and a scene needed to be re-shot, he didn’t frown, but comforted the on-site dispatcher first, saying “I’m OK”.

There are many people on the set, and the team is not only new, but also mixed with English, French and Chinese. Sometimes when he was waiting for shooting instructions or scene setting, he was the only one in the brightest spot in the huge studio. His eyes were not wandering, his hands were not uneasy, he didn’t ask anyone to pass him water or play with his phone. He just stood naturally in the bright spotlight, and he was relaxed.

I can’t say if this is a habit of facing the attention from the outside world, but Wu Lei, who remains at ease under the blazing attention, will be particularly OK facing the countless uncertain possibilities in the future.

Source: VOGUEplus

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for Esquire Fine (October 2020)

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Everyone, Wu Lei is having a party, come quickly

Wu Lei rushed into the room, his hair looked messy.

He was called up at 6 o’clock this morning, and set off from home before 7 o’clock. The car drove for more than an hour, or perhaps close to two hours. Wu Lei, who was sleeping all the way, could not give an exact time. Finally, he arrived at the “Dishui Lake” more than 70 kilometers away from the center of Shanghai. This distance makes it hard to believe that you are still in Shanghai, but Dishui Lake does belong to Nanhui, Shanghai. This lake is “younger” than Wu Lei, who was born in 1999. It is purely “out of nothing”. It is an artificial lake created by enclosing the sea and is in a perfect circle. Even though he was born and raised in Shanghai, Wu Lei is not very familiar with this place. He walked slowly to the window, looked at the calm lake not far from the window, and said to himself: “Oh, this is Dishui Lake.”

Not hearing anyone’s response, Wu Lei turned around and looked around the room again, then chose a sofa and lay down on it. “It’s too far, I need to rest for a while.” He added calmly, “I’ll wake up in a while.”

Perhaps this not-so-conscious state is very suitable for this interview. The topic we are discussing is about “party”, but at this moment we are sitting in a hotel room, the makeup artist and hairstylist are busy, there is no “party” atmosphere. I can only say to Wu Lei directly:

“Okay, why don’t we imagine a party of yours, what will it be like?”

Wu Lei still looked at the mirror and hesitated for a moment.

Next, we will enter an unknown party, which is also “created out of nothing”. In Wu Lei’s words: “The unknown is the most interesting thing.”

“Who to invite?”

“Friends who called in the middle of the night.”

Mention the word “party” and we may think of the scene in F.S. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, or, for most post-millennial visual creatures, the memory of the film by Baz Luhrmann. Gatsby’s grand parties take up the entire third chapter, detailing the list of visitors to Gatsby’s mansion, and in Fitzgerald’s words: “Every morning you wake up to a world of indescribable splendor and promise.”

In his blue gardens, men and women flitted like moths among laughter, champagne, and stars… Caterers came down from the city with hundreds of feet of canvas tents and countless colored electric lights… Before seven o’clock, the band arrived, not just a five-piece band, but a full-fledged team, with oboes, trombones, saxophones, violins, cornets, piccolo, treble and bass drums, everything you could think of…

“Wait a minute.” Wu Lei shook his head and quickly stopped his endless imagination. This was not what he called a “party”: “If… only this can be called a ‘party’, then ours should be called a ‘tea party’.”

What does a tea party mean? Is it a group of people sitting together and chatting quietly?

“Almost. I don’t like noisy places.” The 20-year-old Wu Lei has a deep voice, “I don’t like crowds either.”

Aren’t parties supposed to be social events – getting to know another group of people through a group of people, getting to know his friends through friends, drinking and chatting, and expanding personal connections.

“This deliberate way of getting to know people…” Wu Lei doesn’t like that kind of utilitarianism. “It’s best to get to know people by chance. It’s more interesting to become friends without any reason or purpose.” He mentioned that when he was in college, he was taking a public English class. A classmate quietly sat in the last row near the corner, which was also Wu Lei’s favorite seat. Wu Lei believes that this classmate can’t immediately recognize him with a mask and a hat on. The two boys chatted about games and then made an appointment to go to the cafeteria for lunch. This is what he called a casual acquaintance – if you want to be friends with Wu Lei, “first don’t think about ‘how to become my friend'”.

I said, in case Wu Lei organizes a party, it might be a “Slumber Party”.

“After work, a group of people gathered in someone’s room to eat barbecue and drink something together.” Then we took a closer look at Wu Lei’s pajamas. His pajamas are made of pure cotton with plain patterns, a complete set. “In my sister’s words, they are ‘sunset red pajamas’.”

Wu Lei thought about organizing a horse riding trip with his friends. Horse riding is one of his favorite things to do, but it is difficult to find like-minded friends in this regard. Everyone seems to be afraid of horses. Wu Lei tried to invite them, and the answer he got was: OK, let us know when you finish riding, and we will have dinner together.

The number of people in the party will be about ten, super small.

Too many people would be awkward, Wu Lei carefully selected the people who would attend the party. He is a cautious, considerate, observant host who tries his best to make all the guests comfortable: “When I call friends together, everyone must like each other and know each other. I will not make any one of them awkward.”

Most of his friends are from the film and television industry. To be his friend, it is very important that they “don’t gossip”.

“Don’t tell others about your affairs or what you said.” Similar things have happened before, so Wu Lei can’t help but worry, “If it’s a reliable friend, everyone can speak freely. I’m not a person who gossips behind others. Of course, if it’s my friend, I will definitely want to know about him – if there’s no desire to know, we can’t call him a friend, right – but it’s important to keep other people’s privacy secret.”

Most of his friends are older than Wu Lei, and some are so close that they can confide in each other, and they are called “friends who call in the middle of the night.” “At that time, when the phone rang, I didn’t even need to look, I knew it was him.” With this trust, Wu Lei is happy to play the role of a listener, “Many times, many people just lack someone to talk to – He can’t be sitting on the toilet and talking to himself, I just need to listen quietly. They don’t really need my advice. Just like when I need to talk, I already have the answer in my heart, but I need a word of guidance from someone I trust.”

What about you, will you share your secrets and thoughts with others?

“Maybe… it was only once or twice.” Wu Lei showed a maturity beyond his 20 years, which is very consistent with the public’s impression of him. He is rational and introverted when encountering difficulties. “I am willing to find a way to solve the problem instead of repeatedly entangled in the problem.”

“What do you want to eat?”

“You had to eat it blindfolded”

We have all seen Wu Lei’s cooking skills (across the screen, through a Vlog): he dug out an old mobile phone, set up two cameras, and methodically filmed the entire process of making a Western breakfast with skillful techniques and clear procedures.

“I have shown my best skills!” Wu Lei announced to everyone. “I searched for cooking tutorials on Bilibili, and then followed the steps in the tutorials – I also played around a bit. This was completely forced during the epidemic, because I couldn’t order takeout.”

Before this, Wu Lei never touched the kitchen utensils. This breakfast is the result of two months of “training”.

May I ask, is there anything else you can order on Wu Lei’s menu?

“Sorry.” Wu Lei smiled awkwardly but politely. “Frying is my main method of cooking. I fry steaks and lamb chops. As for stir-frying, I’m not so good at it. Stir-frying requires a lot of attention to what to put in first and what to put in later, when to put them in, and how long to stir-fry… When it comes to frying, I only need to focus on one thing. As long as the ingredients I buy are good enough, it won’t taste bad no matter how I cook it.”

As a very nice host, Wu Lei has also met “customized requests”. Once, Wu Lei showed off his cooking skills at home to entertain friends. “They said that the food was delicious, but you had to eat it blindfolded.”

On a whim, he made pasta, but it was not in tomato sauce. Wu Lei mixed cream mushrooms himself. The “guest” asked to add eggs, and Wu Lei tried his best to satisfy him. He added eggs and mixed them together, and finally it became a mess.

“It smells and tastes good!” these “food critics” commented, “It makes up for the visual ‘loss’!”

Wu Lei was particularly happy during the retelling process, and he didn’t mind the harsh food reviews at all. If there was anything he really disliked, it would be the finishing touches of cooking:

“Washing dishes. I can’t accept that I have to wash dishes after cooking. You will find yourself spending the whole day in the kitchen. In the morning, I have to cook, wash vegetables, and cut vegetables for an hour, which is already very tiring. When it’s time to eat at noon, I have to wash the dishes first – I don’t have that many dishes. After dinner at night, sometimes I really don’t want to wash the dishes, so the first thing I do the next morning is to wash the dishes! I just woke up and I’m still in a daze. I don’t want to wash the dishes at all.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t keep scolding. Don’t keep praising.”

“I watched CrossFire!” At this unknown party, someone would probably raise their hand and mention this drama, “It has a pretty good reputation.”

Wu Lei was quite proud about this topic: “It means everyone is enjoying my performance!” In return, he slyly revealed a little behind-the-scenes secret: “Do you know what we were playing when we were performing the scene where we won the ‘championship’? Minesweeper and cards! Hahaha.”

But it’s good enough. Just pay attention to one thing: don’t keep scolding him, and don’t keep praising him.

“Anyone would feel uncomfortable if you attack me, but I would also feel embarrassed if you keep praising me.” Wu Lei rarely showed shyness, and immediately changed his expression to a serious one. “Of course I know that as an artist, I live in flowers and applause most of the time. This kind of thing will definitely be addictive. After all, where is the success of an actor reflected? When others say that you act well!”

Wu Lei has always been vigilant. He was used to hearing a saying since he was a child, “honest advice is unpleasant to the ear”, so much so that he believed it too much, and sometimes he even thought that all the insults against him were for his own good. As he grew up, he gradually realized that “some people simply don’t like me.”

Friends feel sorry for Wu Lei. Why let those people ruin his mood!

Instead, he tried to comfort his angry friend: “This is part of an artist’s job. When you appear under the spotlight, you become a target for emotional venting. If you act well, you make everyone happy; if you let everyone scold you, doesn’t that also relieve other people’s pressure?”

This is not just talk. Wu Lei knows that no one who attacks without reason really understands him. They are just scolding the character “Wu Lei” – a public figure played by him. Is that him? Not entirely.

He can distinguish between reality and fiction, front and backstage.

That’s why when someone suggested “Wu Lei, please give us a show” at a party, he declined politely and showed a cold attitude, leaving no room for negotiation. The person who gave the suggestion must not really understand Wu Lei. His friends will not force him. He is an actor: “Performing on stage is out of my comfort zone. I feel uncomfortable doing anything other than acting.”

He is suitable for facing everyone in various roles, and he pushed “Wu Lei” to perform on stage: “Sorry, I’m not good at this.”

Truth or Dare: The Invisible Stand Army

Before the magazine shoot started, we asked Wu Lei the “truth” question.

At this moment, he is staying in the RV. Next to the RV is Nanhui Beach and Donghai Bridge. On the hottest day since the beginning of the dog days of summer in Shanghai, staff are setting up the scene on the beach. There are several long tables covered with white tablecloths and various snacks on them. Parasols have been put up, casting shadows on the beach. Gold glitter paper covers the entire wall, and there is a disco ball… The empty beach creates a surreal feeling. Occasionally, tourists passing by look curiously. Perhaps they think there will be an open-air party here.

The speakers blast out music, and the sound waves do their best to drive the atmosphere. If you connect Wu Lei’s playlist to Bluetooth, you should hear Japanese ACG (Animation, Comics, and Games) music. Most of the time, Wu Lei doesn’t need to know what the lyrics are, the music will take him back to a certain anime scene, maybe losing a loved one, maybe reuniting with a lover, maybe being seriously injured, or maybe a Jedi counterattack…

The emotions in the story give him strength.

With this kind of music, it is very suitable to answer this question in the truth – what does the role bring to you?

Wu Lei thought of an anime called “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”, in which there is a superpower called “Stand“. He feels that after each performance, it is like having a Stand. “They protect me and accompany me. If I lose motivation or feel tired, the character will tell me, ‘Wu Lei, you can do it.’ I need to be as courageous as the character. When I play a role, I gain a friend and a mark on myself.”

So he wrote the answer behind the question: Courage.

Maybe, there really is an invisible army of “Stand” behind him.

A little memory, the scenery recorded by eyes

Wu Lei, the host of “Open Air Party”, appeared on the summer beach.

Looking at the sea, he suddenly said: “My mother took me to see the sea when I was a child.” The sea around Shanghai is actually similar, earthy yellow, not clear blue. But this did not dampen Wu Lei’s playfulness. He put on a loose shirt, swung his sleeves and ran towards the sea, breaking away from the photographer’s command…

He really wants to travel. When talking to his friends this year, the thing he regrets most is that he can’t travel.

“Originally I had a vacation,” Wu Lei started planning this vacation last year. “I would take my parents to an island first, then go to Japan alone, and if there was still time, go to Europe – but because of the epidemic, everything went down the drain.”

If work is not counted, Wu Lei’s only official solo trip was the “seven-day tour” two years ago. “So far, I have only traveled alone this once, the only time in 20 years.”

He was 18 years old that year, and just after the college entrance examination, Wu Lei felt that he should take a break. He told his agent to take some time off, without any special reason.

“People still need to spend some time with themselves,” he said again.

The team didn’t know where he went specifically, and Wu Lei arranged the trip himself. The hotel is located on the Kawaguchiko Mountain. As soon as you open the curtains, you can see the entire Mount Fuji standing in front of you. It often rains in the mountains, and there are always rain boots and umbrellas at the door. The room key is old-fashioned and comes with a whistle. There are all kinds of birds in the forest. When you blow the whistle, the birds will fly over.

I’m beginning to understand why Wu Lei doesn’t like crowded parties. He won’t go around calling out to friends. He likes quietness and freedom. If possible, he would rather avoid the crowd and enjoy some alone time, even if it’s just hiding in the room to play games or watch movies.

He originally wanted to book a hot spring hotel, but he heard that there were a lot of Chinese tourists in that hotel and was worried that he would feel uneasy. “When I travel, I don’t like to check in or make any plans. I just do whatever I want today and whatever I want tomorrow. I choose a place with good scenery and walk around the hotel every day, and I’m satisfied.”

Occasionally he would go down the mountain and stroll around the local town. It happened to be the summer festival. “There were spontaneous performances by residents. Although they were not professional enough and I could not understand what they were singing, I could feel their happiness.” This idle state reminded him of a time when he was filming in Hengdian. He took a walk with his assistant on impulse and met a street performer. He stood by and watched the performance. “It was not until the next day when I read the report that I found out that my entire walk was filmed. Even me scratching my head and picking my nose were photographed.”

Outside of work, Wu Lei not only does not want to be photographed, he also doesn’t like taking photos.

A friend wanted him to share some travel photos. Wu Lei flipped through the album on his phone and said, “I just took some random photos of the scenery. They are not pretty. It takes time to take good photos. I just picked up my phone and took some random photos. I just took photos of what I saw, not for the purpose of taking good-looking photos.”

“People today are used to using cameras to record their lives, but eyes are the best tool for observing the world. The most beautiful scenery is seen with the eyes and remembered in the heart, not recorded by a camera.” He paused and added, “After all, the pixels of a camera are not as high as those of the eyes.”

The End of the Party

The party scene on the beach has not been removed yet. The sea water behind is unaffected and rolls on its own. The sun is still dazzling. “As children we lived in a world of eternal light—heaven was near us, as real as the beach,” Graham Greene wrote in a book.

But no matter what kind of party it is, it will eventually end. The music will eventually stop, the atmosphere will eventually cool down, and friends will eventually wave goodbye.

Wu Lei is used to separation because he has been in the crew since he was a child.

“Comrades who often spend three or four months together and develop revolutionary friendships have to separate. This is the norm in life.” He recalled a line from his character Lu Xiaobei in “Cross Fire”, “No one can accompany anyone to the end. But I still force myself to look forward. That’s it, all we can do is cherish the present.”

On the beach where there were no guests, he waved to the camera.

Source: Esquire Fine

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for DAZED (October 2020)

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Wu Lei ｜ Getting better

A Japanese song about wind, mountains, sea and youth was played in the interview room. Wu Lei hummed softly, his voice was clean and the melody was lyrical, which had a magical power to calm and relax people. Isn’t this the tune that young people in their early twenties would like?

“Sorry, please turn down the volume a little, we are ready to start the interview.” I said to the staff on the scene. “Don’t you like my songs?” A joke came from behind my head. Wu Lei’s slightly teasing opening remarks livened up the atmosphere. The greeting of the first meeting made me realize that the young man in front of me might be a little different.

When Wu Lei played Nezha in the 2005 filming of “The Legend and the Hero”, he was only five years old. In the play, he played a clever, courageous and cute little devil king, which made everyone remember this handsome and talented actor. Since then, he has received many invitations and almost spent his childhood on the set. “The first time I felt grown up was when I was very young.” Wu Lei emphasized, “Once when I was filming a scene, I suddenly realized that the adults around me didn’t treat me as a child, but as a work partner. At that moment, I felt very accomplished, as if I had gained the respect and recognition of the brothers and sisters around me.”

While growing up, Wu Lei took on various costume dramas. In the 2015 drama “Nirvana in Fire”, he played Xiao Feiliu, who is a good friend of Mei Changsu (Hu Ge). The audience was amazed at the natural expression of the characters’ true feelings, but they didn’t know that it was their second collaboration. With his outstanding performance in the drama, Wu Lei won the Most Promising Actor Award at the 2015 National Drama Festival. After that, he passed the selection process and was chosen to play the role of the young general Yang Ping, participating in the filming of the film Shadow directed by Zhang Yimou… Although he does not have the rich experience of his predecessors, the young Wu Lei was praised for his outstanding talent and humble hard work. A bright and handsome boy under 20 years old, leaping out of the screen under the spotlight.

For Wu Lei, pressure always comes before age. He accepts pressure with pleasure, internalizes it into action, and does not shrink from it. This means growth.

Last spring, Wu Lei announced that he would join the crew of “Cross Fire”. This inspirational web drama, which is mixed with youthful passion and sci-fi, may be a new starting point for his career. In the play, Lu Xiaobei, a high school student who dreams of becoming an e-sports player, is invincible in the gaming world, but an unexpected accident ruins his dream of joining a professional team. In the entertainment industry, most of the roles played by young actors are ordinary roles. If you want to challenge some unconventional characters, the key to outlining the image is the psychological preparation in advance, which is also inseparable from the actor’s interpretation of the meaning of the lines and the control of body language.

Gamers in real life are different from e-sports players. They trained day and night with high intensity and repetition, and were repeatedly hit by failure, but they never gave up. In order to play the role of Lu Xiaobei, a young e-sports player in the play, Wu Lei has obviously made sufficient preparations. “I watched a lot of documentaries related to e-sports, trying to figure out the real state of the teams during training, drawing on their unique movements and language, and restoring them to the screen.” Wu Lei gestured excitedly. E-sports must be the heroic dream of this big boy buried in his “secret garden”.

After the web series was released, netizens commented that “the young man is particularly suitable for playing a young man”, and Wu Lei’s acting skills also surpass his actual age, with natural emotions. In the play, he seems to have really become Lu Xiaobei who has been in a wheelchair for eleven years. He is a professional in e-sports and is also very good at wheelchair acrobatics. He is so skilled that he can do acrobatics with his wheelchair.

Fans and audiences applauded Lu Xiaobei’s performance. Netizens mentioned his acting skills, saying that his emotions were on point, and that many micro-expressions and small movements in details were just right, as if this character and this story really existed. “Because Director Xu Hongyu requires the performance to be natural, and Director Xu gives the actors a lot of room to perform. As I acted, I felt that I was immersed in the film. Filming was just like life. I felt that I was not playing a role, but living on the scene. It is completely different from the costume dramas I filmed before. It can’t be said that it is easier to act in modern dramas. It is closer to a real experience in real life.

Not only is he facing an audience with a more realistic experience of the characters and storylines, but he also has to try to bring out the rich flavor of life and authenticity on the screen without leaving any traces. Wu Lei understands what kind of test he is facing. “The character I played needs to sit in a wheelchair. I carefully learned how to use a wheelchair and carefully observed how people who actually use wheelchairs operate, from how to push the wheelchair to where the balance point of the body is…

As he said, “When I was a kid, I didn’t think about the day or the moment when I would grow up. Dealing with the adults on the set, their understanding of the characters helped me grow subtly. I had not originally intended to take such a long vacation. However, the energy of the universe, in a surprising way, last winter and this spring, allowed everyone to take a quiet vacation in their own place. During this period, I stayed at home and had a very different life experience from before. During the epidemic, I stayed at home. I watched a lot of movies, read a lot of books, spent a lot of time with myself, and gained a new understanding of myself, and thought a lot about individuals, life, and social life. “

This year is the most extraordinary year for many people, and the actors must feel it even more deeply. From working on the set day and night and interacting with people freely, to staring at the ceiling at home all day and rarely seeing people. Wu Lei rarely has time to be alone and talk to himself. In addition, he also shared his usual “way to relieve stress is to listen to music, play games, and watch movies. Having a time and space of your own, a world of your own, and then doing what you want to do, is very stress-relieving and makes people relax and comfortable.” In this state, it is easier for people to concentrate. Only clean empty bottles can store more living water. This is especially important for actors. What seems simple to ordinary people is different for actors. Whether he is filming or attending an event, there is always a lot of excitement around him, and Wu Lei is also an experienced person.

From ancient costume dramas to modern dramas, when asked about his considerations for the next work, Wu Lei answered, “I want to try many roles, not limited to type or personality. It depends on the script, the character setting, and the dramatic collision of the character in the script. What attracted me more was the overall feeling of the script, the resonance the characters gave me, and the sense of immersion.”

Regarding the Dazed shoot in Shanghai, Wu Lei said frankly, “I didn’t deliberately try to show you a certain side of me. I just stay the same as always.” He increasingly wants to present his true self, looking forward to “showing a different side of himself that he may not even know himself is in a certain angle or state of shooting.” Of course, he said, “sometimes the ideas are great, but they can’t necessarily be shown, and that’s fine too.” It’s rare to be in this state. The fast pace of the city always chases people, and you don’t know where you will appear in the next second. Just go with the flow.

Youth is the best endorsement for Wu Lei. As the cover character of Dazed, Wu Lei’s views on youth culture are also very direct. “Youth culture is always the most contemporary and fashionable culture. I have always felt that youth culture and young people are an eternal topic. In every era, the most avant-garde and trendy ideas of young people are constantly changing. I’m in this group, and I’m constantly learning while performing. “

After the interview, the handsome boy who spoke slowly and elegantly seemed to be more than just the Wu Lei on the screen. He likes to have his own space and he likes to do things quietly.

Source: DAZED

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for NYLON (September 2020)

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Farewell to “Lu Xiaobei”. In the new semester, let senior Wu Lei accompany you to conquer the stars and the sea

Recently, the online drama “Cross Fire” ended. Wu Lei used a line from “追梦赤子心” to bid farewell to Lu Xiaobei, putting an end to this period of youth – “It is better to burn out than to linger on, and for the beauty in your heart, do not compromise until you grow old.”

Perseverance, vigor and progress, not being swayed by so-called stereotypes, and interpreting life in the way they like, this is Lu Xiaobei, Wu Lei, and all young people of Generation Z. It is the beginning of another September school year, with the stars and the sea in front of us, and the cover boy of Nylon’s new issue – Senior Wu Lei will accompany you to fight together.

Although summer is coming to an end, the story of dreams is still going on. When you were watching CrossFire, did Xiao Bei often make you cry and laugh, and sometimes you wanted to shout: “So handsome!”? Sometimes, like Tang Monk*, chicken soup comes to mind. I can sum it up in one sentence: “There are thousands of northern chicken soups, and there is always one bowl that suits you.”

*Tang Monk here is Tang Sanzang, the main character of The Journey To The West that was accompanied by Sun Wukong.

Of course, as long as everything to the game scene, you can prepare yourself to scream. Okay, let’s stop playing around. In fact, the reason why we are moved by Lu Xiaobei in “Cross Fire” is because of his liveliness, tenacity, unremitting pursuit of his dreams, and the enviable friendship he developed with his teammates and friends along the way.

During our meeting with Wu Lei in the September issue of NYLON, we also had an in-depth chat with him about Cross Fire, a work that made him want to post an 18-grid Weibo to commemorate its completion, and the changes that the role of Lu Xiaobei brought to him.

In addition, Nylon also invited five young boys and girls – Su Hang, Yoii Wang Youyi, Sen Wung, Long Yi, Qiu Ming AKi, to start a weekend camping with Wu Lei ⛺️! What is the most precious and beautiful quality of Generation Z? What is the most admirable lifestyle for young people? Let Sanshi brother* tell you in detail!

*Sanshi didi (Sanshi younger brother) is a nickname for Wu Lei. This is because the character “磊” from his name (吴磊) is composed by 3 stones (石). That’s why Wu Lei also called as 三石 (Sanshi).

Persistence, passion, and vigor. He is a member of Generation Z and also himself

With a sunny smile, sometimes joking, and sometimes listening attentively to the staff’s introduction to the filming, this youth idol who has been involved in the entertainment industry since the age of 3 has undoubtedly demonstrated all the good qualities that Generation Z or today’s young people should have.

“Sometimes I want to make myself more mysterious, but sometimes I want my presence to be noticed by others. In short, I think Generation Z is a very active but difficult to define group.”

Since starring in his first commercial at the age of 3, Wu Lei’s cute image and full acting talent left a deep impression on the director at the time. He then appeared in many film and television dramas including “The Young Warriors” and “Heroes Come from Young Age”. With his extraordinary talent, unremitting efforts and vigorous enterprising spirit, he has left his steady footprints in the entire industry.

Wu Lei, sitting on the chair at this moment, shows the childishness and vigor unique to his age. “I’m not as profound and thoughtful as you think,” he said jokingly when we asked him to describe what kind of personality traits young people should have today.

But having spent his childhood and teenage years in the ever-changing entertainment industry, Wu Lei is undoubtedly more calm and steady in dealing with people than many of his peers. He knows how to be grateful and is more willing to work hard for his ideals, which is also related to the training and teachings given to him by the industry.

“Every work I perform in, or every character I portray, is a choice I make, and I look forward to every new experience,” Wu Lei said. For a young actor, the success or failure of a work actually determines, to a certain extent, his/her career development in the next few years, or even the direction of his/her entire acting career.

With the popularity of many film and television dramas such as “Fights Break Sphere” and “Tomb of the Sea”, Wu Lei’s increasingly rich and solid acting skills have repeatedly won recognition and affirmation from professionals and the public.

From urban dramas to fantasy works, Wu Lei is constantly learning the philosophy of life while exploring his acting path. “I always remind myself to stay true to my original aspiration and to keep my original ideal. This is my motivation to move forward, and it is also what this industry has taught me about being a person and doing things.”

Wu Lei, who is still in the stage of exploring life “freely”, believes that he has a responsibility to young fans. “As public figures, we (actors) should set the right example for young people today. While gaining the love of fans, we should work hard to do what we should do and become better.” When talking about the fans who have always given him encouragement and care, Wu Lei smiled. “When I think of them, I will be more determined in the direction I want to go. They give me the strength and courage to move forward.”

With personality and edges. His treasure boy Lu Xiaobei

With the popularity of “Cross Fire”, Wu Lei’s mature and youthful acting skills have once again become the focus of people’s attention. After creating many popular images, Wu Lei today admits that his judgment and consideration of works have become more objective. “The script is what I value most when judging a work now. It’s back to the work itself. As long as the plot and character setting interest me, even if it is challenging for me, I will not hesitate to ‘face the challenge’: in addition, a team that gives me a sense of security and enough trust will also allow me to go all out to experience the lives of the characters in the play.”

As Wu Lei himself said, as he gets older, roles with increasingly complex plots and increasingly angular personalities are the ones that most inspire his fighting spirit and desire to perform. In the hit TV series “Crossfire”, which is about young people struggling in the world of online games, Lu Xiaobei played by Wu Lei is such a flesh-and-blood character, the passionate young people of today. “This is a youth film based on e-sports, but at the same time, it also reflects the real psychological activities of many contemporary young people. The complex and intricate plot is certainly attractive, but the sincere interaction between the characters is what really touched me.”

Wu Lei thinks that Lu Xiaobei in the play is full and lively. Like many young people, the companionship between him and his teammates and friends on the way to pursuing his dreams is the fulcrum and skeleton supporting the entire work. He also believes that this kind of mutual support between teammates and friends is the most valuable emotional treasure that should be cherished and protected in our lives.

Wu Lei, who has been extremely talented and worked very hard since he was a child, seems to see his own reflection in Lu Xiaobei, “He (Lu Xiaobei) is the character who gives me the most courage. Perseverance is his character.” The most striking feature among them is that whenever I feel tired, I will feel the strength he gives me.”

Dare to speak up for his own ideas. His definition of fashion

Speaking of fashion trends topics that young actors of Wu Lei’s age seem to be very concerned about, this big boy in comfortable clothes once again reveals his uniqueness as a young man of Generation Z. “I don’t think that paying too much attention to appearance is a must for young actors today. A truly “fashionable” person should respect his or her own ideas, make himself or herself more comfortable and confident. This is the definition of fashion in my mind.”

Wu Lei, who dresses comfortably and low-key in private, is extremely concerned about environmental protection. Whether he is participating in the National Geographic’s “Planet or Plastic?” themed road run or calling on young people in public to make their own contributions to the ecological environment around them, this positive and sunny young actor has never forgotten his social responsibilities. In his words, “When small forces come together, we can create huge waves.”

Wu Lei believes that his support for environmental protection and his call for young people to bravely pursue their dreams are all due to his most authentic and natural mentality. As a representative of Generation Z, he also believes that young people today should not blindly cater to other people’s ideas, but dare to speak out for their own opinions. This is a trend and coolness that transcends superficiality.

“Chasing your ideals and being carefree are both ways of life. Whether you choose to strive for success or just be comfortable and do what you set your mind to do, you deserve respect.” Wu Lei even said that even now, in the fast-paced life, he would leave himself enough space to breathe, pause, and reflect before starting again.

Even though he wanted to give himself more time to relax and settle down, his love for acting and his tenacity from the heart always made him spend more time than others to figure out and polish a role he loved. When we asked him how his personality has changed, Wu Lei replied with a humble smile that his personality has not changed much.

But he breaks through himself in each work, devotes all his efforts to it, and then continues to accept new challenges. It is hard not to see his increasingly mature transformation, not only in his acting skills, but also in his mind.

Perhaps from another perspective, Wu Lei today is indeed no different from his original self. He still guards his persistence and original intention in pursuing his dream. When the industry and the audience applaud and embrace him, what he gives back is always more and better than others can imagine.

Source: NYLON

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for L’OFFICIEL (August 2020)

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Wu Lei: Good and Better

Good and better are the questions facing 20-year-old Wu Lei. Becoming a good actor and a better person is the answer he wants to give.

Hengdian World Studios in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province is one of the three places Wu Lei is most familiar with. The other two are places near his home and near his school. Wu Lei, who started his acting career at the age of five, is very familiar with this most famous film and television base in China. He knows how to get around by bus and where there are delicious restaurants. This place seems like a hidden city. The world around it is changing but this place remains the same. He said that returning to Hengdian was like returning to his hometown. “The streets are still familiar, and the people are still familiar.” This is probably the daily life of an actor.

Wu Lei’s life seems to have been written into the word actor very early on. The first TV series he starred in when he was a child became the beginning of his acting career. “I think my acting career has been a tortuous journey, and each role is a small turning point. So my acting career is like an electrocardiogram, because each role is a transformation and turning point for me.” On the other end of the line was his voice imitating the electrocardiogram. It seemed that at that moment he had slightly shed his deep thoughts about his identity as an actor, revealing his playful nature as a teenager.

It seems that no actor has found the acting method overnight. He grew up in the crew, and those tricks and key points that seemed like martial arts secrets were taught to him by those more experienced actors through words and deeds. So he also began to think from the perspective of the character. “When I was a child, acting was more about imitation. The director told you what to do, and you just tried it. Now I will set a lot of frameworks for myself. I will really want to create a character, and then put myself in the shoes of this character and think from the perspective of this character, trying to integrate him into my own ideas, or design his background for this character, hoping to give this character more emotions and more different aspects.”

When he is not filming, he stays in his room watching old movies. Sometimes The Shawshank Redemption, sometimes Al Pacino’s performance in Scent of a Woman. He has watched these clips many times, “because those clips are so attractive to me and can give me strength. They let me see that an actor can actually convey such strong emotions and power to the audience through his performance. I feel that I have also been inspired and healed.”

It seems that when chatting with Wu Lei, we can’t avoid the topic of acting and actors. When asked about pleasing himself and pleasing others, he going around in circles and finally come back to acting. “I think these two things need to be connected, because if you feel happy pleasing yourself, you will try every means to please yourself, and you will forget the feelings of the people around you, and sometimes it is inevitable that you will be a little self-centered. But if you want to please others too much, you will forget yourself, and then you will lose yourself. So I think there should be a balance between pleasing yourself and pleasing others. I think this is actually one of the jobs of an actor. Because the role you play should not only realize your own value, but also be recognized and loved by the audience, so that this role can be objectively vivid and natural” As for Wu Lei outside of the actor, he doesn’t care so much whether he is liked by everyone.

I often wonder if a person will get tired after repeating the same work day after day for more than ten years? However, Wu Lei’s answer was still full of the passion of a young man. He still had a lot of curiosity about himself as an actor. “Sometimes when I’m acting, I often feel surprised at myself. I found out that I actually have this side and this kind of emotions. It’s been a long time since I’ve really been angry or sad. These negative emotions are actually rare in my life. But sometimes when I encounter such a scene, after I finish acting, I also feel that I actually have this side of myself in my body.” It is this passion and enthusiasm that has made this young man grow into “people” on the screen who are within reach.

Putting aside the macro topics of acting, what touched Wu Lei in life were the ordinary and trivial daily life. Those moments that made him feel like he was “really living”. “For example, a moment when you’re talking and playing with your friends, a moment when you’re alone looking out the window and hear the children playing downstairs, a moment when you’re laughing with your friends while playing games, or a moment when you’re washing dishes while cooking.”

Become an actor with great enthusiasm, and then live an ordinary life. It seems that there has never been a second different choice in his life. When asked, “If you could choose a new way of life, what kind of life would you most like to try?”, he only said, “I haven’t thought about this question. I like my current life very much.”

There are thousands of roads in this world, but please keep walking along the one you choose.

Source: L’OFFICIEL

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for Men’s Uno (April 2020)

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Wu Lei: A Young Man Restraint and Love for Freedom

Wu Lei, who just celebrated his 20th birthday, has reached the “20s” of his life. On the road to adulthood, Wu Lei always maintained his passion for acting. He said, “Nothing can attract me more than acting.” Although Wu Lei is becoming more mature in the eyes of the audience, he still has a youthful vibe. He longs to experience the unfettered and free moments, and is willing to stick to what he wants to do. This cool boy is moving forward step by step with his feet on the ground.

On his 20th birthday, Wu Lei finally got his long-awaited driver’s license. He wore a yellow birthday hat and pink cartoon glasses and smiled very proudly. He had been waiting for too long, but he was not particularly excited. He calmly opened the door of the driver’s seat of the business car and drove the driver back. This first trip as a driver was not smooth. Wu Lei was stuck in traffic on the 5th Ring Road for more than an hour, and his foot was so weak when he stepped on the brake.

Due to his busy work schedule, Wu Lei took two years to get his driver’s license and almost missed the deadline. He also likes extreme sports. He wants to go skydiving in New Zealand the most. He especially wants to experience the feeling of freedom of falling freely in the air, but unfortunately he has never been able to do so.

Wu Lei became famous at a young age. Many of his life plans were constantly disrupted by various jobs, just like learning to drive and getting a driver’s license. Sometimes he really wanted to go on vacation, but he “failed again and again.” Fortunately, acting is the moment when he is most focused and enjoys it. When filming the TV series “Cross Fire”, there was a scene where the team won. Lu Xiaobei, played by Wu Lei, hugged his teammates to celebrate and at the same time also ready to accepted the moment of failure together. He said, “At that moment I felt like I was really a professional player. I really had a group of teammates who were united and loving. Sometimes you can’t tell whether they are your friends, your colleagues, or your teammates in the team.”

Wu Lei has been in the crew since he was a child, and he can feel the passion of his predecessors for acting every day. When the seniors finished a scene, the staff on the scene couldn’t help but applaud. This passion attracted him.

In real life, Wu Lei is also a person who “loves to act”. During interviews, he can always make people around him laugh. But sometimes, he prefers to be alone and do what he wants to do.

Actor Wu Lei is very stubborn. Every scene is important to him. In “Adoring”, there is a scene where the blind Chen Leyun, played by Wu Lei, walks to the school gate. His mother is holding a white shirt behind him to send him off. Chen Leyun turns around and gives his mother a thumbs up. At this moment of turning around, Wu Lei and the director had different opinions on whether Chen Leyun should smile or not. Wu Lei insisted on smiling, while the director insisted on not smiling. No one could convince the other, so they shot two versions before making the final decision. For Wu Lei, such scenes happen in almost every play.

In “Adoring”, Wu Lei plays a blind person for the first time. In order to prepare for the psychological process of this role, he visited the blind. During the conversation with them, he found that although they have lost their sight, they are still very brave and sunny, and bring beauty to others in their own way. Acting is Wu Lei’s way, and he hopes to bring beauty to the audience in his way.

Compared to when he was 18, Wu Lei feels that he is more patient at the age of 20. He was admitted to his ideal university and is “moving forward step by step with his feet on the ground.”

Conversation with Wu Lei

Men’s Uno: Do you think your mentality has changed since your 20th birthday compared to your 18th birthday?

Wu Lei: My mentality is actually not much different. I had just turned 18 at that time, and I was thinking about how to take the college entrance examination and the art examination. Now that I have been admitted to my ideal university, I’m in a state of mind to study hard, be down-to-earth, and move forward step by step. Maybe I’m more patient and mature now than I was then, and I’m calmer. As I get older, I feel that I’m becoming more and more clear about what I want.

Men’s Uno: What do you want most for your 20th birthday?

Wu Lei: Just do what I want to do, act in the roles I want to act in, and meet the people I want to meet.

Men’s Uno: Although you are growing slowly, what are the things you always want to stick to?

Wu Lei: People change, but what I don’t want to change is my dedication to my work. I don’t want to change in this aspect. I hope I can always do my best when filming or preparing for a play, and give my all to a role very carefully and patiently.

Men’s Uno: Have you ever done anything crazy to get into character?

Wu Lei: There is nothing crazy, it is almost the same, because different roles have different preparation methods. In “Adoring”, I played a blind person, so I looked up a lot of information about blind people, spent a lot of time practicing some of the blind people’s posture, and then understood their inner world; when I played “Cross Fire”, I also spent a lot of time preparing for the role, because that character also had some disability. But if it is a very ordinary character, there are actually many points about him that are worth pondering. No matter how big or small the challenge of this role is, there are many things worth pondering. It takes a lot of time. I spend a lot of time thinking about each character.

Men’s Uno: How long did it take you to prepare for the role of Chen Leyun in “Adoring”?

Wu Lei: You never feel like you’ve taken too long to prepare for a role, you know? You never feel like you’ve prepared enough, you always feel like you’re almost ready, but you’ll still wait a little longer before joining the crew.

Men’s Uno: If you are not preparing for a role, do you occasionally act?

Wu Lei: I would act for fun at school, and sometimes at home I would act while reading the script. I’m also a person who loves acting in my daily life

Men’s Uno: Do you get frustrated when you don’t act well?

Wu Lei: Every time after performing, I always feel that I could have done better, but the director is satisfied and OK. This is a repetitive thing. Because I always feel that I can do better, I feel a little regretful, but I think actors are beautiful because of these regrets.

Men’s Uno: Is there a goal you want to achieve?

Wu Lei: I have a very passionate and persistent attitude towards exploring the role, but as for the positioning and requirements of the role, I just hope to bring beauty to everyone through my work.

Men’s Uno: Do you consider yourself a stubborn person?

Wu Lei: In some aspects, yes. For example, when acting, I’m particularly stubborn about some things. When I read the script, including during auditions, I would repeatedly confirm a point what I want, and I would repeatedly tell the director what I want. In most cases, the director will think that this idea is good. Sometimes the director will also think if it’s feasible, then I will have some exchanges and communication with the director, which may last for a long time. Often in this case, we will shoot two versions because no one can convince the other. I think this is a good thing, because actors have requirements for their performances, and directors also have requirements for what they want.

Men’s Uno: What was the last time this happened during filming?

Wu Lei: This happens in every drama. But most of the time, the two people’s ideas can be combined. Only once in 20 times, for example, will you think that you are good this way and he is good that way, so who will be chosen? When no one can make a choice, we will shoot both versions.

Men’s Uno: Which animal do you think your personality is most similar to?

Wu Lei: I want to become a horse. I think horses are cool, handsome and free. The kind of horse that can run freely.

Men’s Uno: Is it important for you to be a cool person?

Wu Lei: I think it’s more important that my character is cool, because I myself cool.

Men’s Uno: You started acting at a very young age. Have you ever thought about what your other life would be like?

Wu Lei: I have thought about it, but I just can’t imagine it. I once joked with my family that with my personality, even if I didn’t become an actor, I would probably will also make my debut. Who knows, right? If I really didn’t want to be an actor, I would probably do a design job. For example, architect is very attractive to me. I was addicted to reading architecture books for a while. I still prefer to do creative work.

Men’s Uno: Actors are under a lot of pressure. Are there times when the pressure is so great that you can’t bear it?

Wu Lei: Everyone has such moments. Even if there is no pressure, people sometimes get irritable for no reason. So just adjust yourself.

Men’s Uno: Do you like to be alone when you are under a lot of pressure?

Wu Lei: Sometimes I like to be alone and do what I want to do most. I’m very efficient when I’m alone. You can read 25 episodes of the script in a day, but you can only read 5 or 10 episodes in a day when you laugh and joke with many people. The same is true for reading and playing games. Sometimes I can think through a lot of things when I’m alone.

Men’s Uno: Have you ever had a moment when you particularly wanted to escape from your current life?

Wu Lei: I sometimes want to go on vacation. Although I’ve been “trying but failed again and again” (in terms of having a vacation), I’m fine. I think work is a good thing and I like working.

Men’s Uno: Do you consider yourself a workaholic?

Wu Lei: I guess so.

Men’s Uno: Now that you are 20 years old, will you think about your life plan?

Wu Lei: Because the profession of an actor is full of unknowns, it is difficult to really plan anything, and you can only take it one step at a time. If I were to talk about a longer-term plan, I have already embarked on the path of an actor, and my plan is to act well and be a good person.

Men’s Uno: Besides acting, is there anything else you want to do?

Wu Lei: I don’t have anything else I particularly want to do right now. I’m also a “master of backing off”. In fact, there is really nothing that can attract me as much as acting.

Source: Men’s Uno

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for L’OFFICIEL HOMMES (February 2020)

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Wu Lei is in His Prime, Young Man that has Become Adult*

*及冠 means Crown. In ancient China, a man will have a ceremony wearing a crown when he turn 20 years old, which means he has become an adult.

“Youth” is not only an age stage. It is also a unique mark of this age: cheerful and vigorous. Young people are often curious about the world and are full of longing for the unknown. Although Wu Lei has just turned 20, he is already an experienced actor with nearly 15 years of experience. Due to the tight schedule, the filming started before 7 am, which meant Wu Lei had to prepare for the filming at 5 am. At the shooting site, he looked a little tired. In the cold winter morning, the light shines on the handsome eyes of the young man, and everything around him is warm. When the interview started, Wu Lei immediately restrained his somewhat lazy state. His eyes were clear and sincere, and he shared his story with us in his clear voice.

On his 20th birthday, Wu Lei released a set of film photos. In the photo, the young man in white stands on the snowy peaks. His eyebrows are like paintings, his eyes are like ink dots, and there is a smile on the corners of his lips. He has lost some of his youthful immaturity and gained a touch of trustworthy maturity.

From the time when he was a little boy playing the cute and clever little Nezha in “The Legend and the Hero”, to his teenage years where he played the 19-year-old Li Xiaoyao in “Pal Inn”, the hidden** senior Hu Yifeng in “The Whirlwind Girl”, and the intellectually disabled guard Fei Liu in “Nirvana in Fire”, to his adult life where he played the ill-fated genius Xiao Yan in “Fights Break Sphere” and the impulsive adventurous high school student Li Cu in “Tomb of the Sea”. For more than a decade, Wu Lei has continued to bring new works and new roles to meet the audience. The style of the work and the character’s personality are very different. Wu Lei’s acting skills are always on point, and the audience in front of the screen have also witnessed his growth along the way.

**: 深藏不露 is a person who has knowledge and talent but is reserved and does not like to show off his or her talents in front of others.

Although he already has a rich acting experience, Wu Lei is still full of expectations and awe for acting. Being young is not an invincible asset for him. On the one hand, he is pleased that he still has a lot of opportunities to learn and try, but on the other hand, he is also worried that his lack of experience will limit his ability to perform roles, and he hopes to accumulate and learn more comprehensively. When asked about his future plans, his answer was surprisingly simple: “To act well and be a good person. I will hone my acting skills and improve my basic skills. I have to work hard.”

Contrary to his handsome and gorgeous appearance and his unique experience as a child star, Wu Lei is steady and down-to-earth in real life, and he always defines himself as an “ordinary person.” He believes that all the characters he has played had extraordinary experiences. Those extraordinary lives are impossible for him to have in real life. Using the character to participate in other people’s stories and enriching your own experience while talking to the characters is also a wonderful journey of life. The boy is active and loves the new and interesting world. He enjoyed his performances in “Fights Break Sphere” and “Tomb of the Sea” very much.

At the time of the interview, Wu Lei was promoting the movie “Adoring”. In this movie, Wu Lei plays Chen Leyun, a talented fencer who suddenly becomes blind. How to play a blind person, how to show the psychological gap and despair of the character after he becomes blind, how to show the difference between a blind person and a sighted person through action, these are all difficult problems.

In order to overcome the difficulties, Wu Lei visited and observed blind people in advance, experienced the lives of blind people, and fully immersed himself in his role. Even the actors who were acting opposite him were blurred in his eyes. Wu Lei joked: “My eyes were always out of focus when I was acting, and I was always immersed in my own blindness. Others were just blurry figures, and I couldn’t see clearly how they were acting. Everyone was a mosaic in my eyes.” In “Adoring”, Wu Lei and Zhang Zifeng acted together, playing a pair of childhood sweethearts. Wu Lei said that the atmosphere between the two of them was relaxed, and Zifeng was a very nice person.

Perhaps it was because the staff member’s mobile phone suddenly rang with a ringtone similar to the sound of a game that gave Wu Lei inspiration, the topic suddenly jumped to games. If acting is the most frequent topic for Wu Lei, who is not talkative, then games are his second most active topic. Like every boy of his age, Wu Lei likes games and e-sports, so when he mentions the TV series “Cross Fire”, Wu Lei seems to have pressed a mysterious switch, and the frequency of his talk can even be doubled. “I really want to introduce Lu Xiaobei. He is a person who is in a wheelchair but is very good at playing games. This role is very complicated, and it is really fun for me to play it.” When he said this, you could feel the light in Wu Lei’s eyes, which was the excitement that was hard to conceal when he talked about how his favorite things and his career could be cleverly integrated.

Wu Lei cherishes the relationship between his colleagues in the crew. In his opinion, the most important thing for an actor is to maintain enthusiasm in shaping the character, and the second is to have confidence, not only in oneself and one’s role, but also in colleagues in the crew, believing that everyone can create excellent works together. In addition to being busy in the crew, Wu Lei also participated in many variety shows. Talking about the recently aired “The Inn”, Wu Lei said that the most useful skill he gained during the recording was riding an electric tricycle. Seeing that the writer (journalist) was amused, he emphasized seriously: “Really, this skill is very practical. We often use electric tricycles to pull large equipment or props in the crew, and I ride better than some professional staff!”

Even with his rich acting experience, Wu Lei is still touched by every wrap-up. For him, every time he plays a play or a role, he enters a different body and experiences a different life. When the play is finished, he is separated from the role and loses the body in the play. He will feel a sense of loss and emptiness. Wu Lei describes it as “the feeling of graduating from junior high school”: “Finishing a role is like graduating from high school. Although everyone says goodbye to each other, you actually know that this may be the last time you see each other in your life; the same is true when you leave the play. You know that you can never return to his world and you can never work with the crew again. Sometimes you feel lost and the feeling is very complicated. Of course, you may meet familiar people in the next play, but the state is different from this play.”

For Wu Lei, the biggest challenge in life is always acting. After reading the script and seeing the particularly difficult scenes, Wu Lei will be mentally prepared to challenge the difficulties. On the day of shooting, he will be very excited when he walks from the lounge to the set, like a soldier rushing to the battlefield, fighting to play a good role.

After each work is released, Wu Lei will take the initiative to understand the audience’s evaluation and cares about the overall performance of the work. He is grateful for the good reviews. As for the bad reviews, he will also carefully record and analyze them as a reference for future performances. He defines the relationship between himself and his fans as a relationship of mutual companionship and growth together. The presence of fans always makes him feel relaxed and powerful. When he feels that the work is hard, he will think: “Fans are also working hard to support me, I can’t let them down”.

Outside of acting, Wu Lei is just a simple boy. His wardrobe is filled with loose and comfortable clothes. Outside of work, he wears whatever he wants. The only thing that can be associated with fashion is a variety of hats. When he need to vent his stress, he listen to music, play games, read books, or go for a run. He switch to the random play mode to enjoy the random surprise. He will be very happy if he randomly listen a song that he like.

Wu Lei has no particular preference for movies. He will watch any movie that has good reviews. The more special ones are “The Intouchables” and “Scent of a Woman”, one of which gave him the strength to keep going in adversity, and the other made him appreciate the charm of acting. “I really like Al Pacino. When you watch the works of a great actor, you will be yearning for it,” Wu Lei said. “Of course, I will also watch the works of my favorite (Robert Downey Jr.)” Wu Lei playfully added his own recommendation.

20 years old is really the best time of life. The purest curiosity and natural sensitivity about the world still exist, and there is also the tolerance and responsibility cultivated in the process of growth. If the young Wu Lei is an unpolished jade, the current Wu Lei has begun to emit a soft glow under the polishing and nurturing of time. His early fame did not make him lose his clear self-awareness. Sincerity, steadfastness and simplicity are still his most precious qualities. Just as the audience who grew up with him expected: Wu Lei has grown into a gentle and steady gentleman, but in his bones he is still a fearless and cheerful boy.

Q&A

What was the last movie you watched in the cinema? What are the most memorable scenes?

After the filming of “Adoring” was completed, I watched “The Wild Goose Lake”. The part about the gangsters’ sports meeting made me laugh, and the part about them at the station and the restaurant left a deep impression on me.

Among Marvel heroes, besides Iron Man, who is your favorite superhero?

Doctor Strange.

Will you update the VLOG that has been inactive for a long time?

There is still a plan to update, but I just haven’t found the right time.

Do you stay at home or go out to relax during your break?

Both are fine. I stay at home more than the average person, but if I want to go out, I can go to a faraway place by myself.

Share your secret to controlling your body shape with your fans?

I can control myself freely. I won’t gain weight even if I eat more and exercise less, right? (Writer: Fans will be angry if you say that, right?) Haha, it’s no use to make fans angry.

Source: L’OFFICIEL HOMMES