Category: Magazine
231225 [Photo] Wu Lei for GRAZIA Magazine
[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for L’OFFICIEL HOMMES (April 2021)
Wu Lei: Spring Portrait of a Young Actor
To live, to win, to use life to create life again.
Thirteen years ago, Wu Lei filmed the TV series “The Sword and The Chess of Death”, in which he played the role of “Guan Yunbao”, the son of the hero “Yan Cangfeng”. In the stills, 8 years old Wu Lei is not much taller than the desk, wearing a garcinia-yellow cloth scarf, with the collar of his warm white underwear is exposed. His head is slightly tilted forward, and the child’s round, almond-shaped eyes look at the audience in front of the camera, like the lovely peach tree in full bloom in spring in Van Gogh’s oil painting “Peach Blossoms in Bloom” (1888).
Thirteen years later, Wu Lei starred in the comic-adapted TV series “The Long Ballad” as the East Turkestan Tegin Ashile Sun. In the trailer, Ashile Sun’s long black hair is tied into a helmet, and the silvery desert wind blew it away. In the young man’s cold eyes, the lively child named “Guan Yunbao” seemed to have disappeared long ago. Wu Lei still reminds people of Van Gogh’s oil painting “Peach Blossoms in Bloom”, with the scorching peach tree in the center of the painting. However, the growth of young people is more like the spring itself evolving in the wind, rain and cold rather than the bright petals burning in the transparent sunlight – the latter is longer, vivid and meaningful than the former.
“You are a person who is not surprised when things happen. A battle-hardened warrior”
The air leaked out from the half-open door. Wu Lei walked briskly out of the lounge and walked towards the well-lit shooting location. He put the hood of the sweatshirt on his head, like an ancient knight putting on a cape. This “cloak” now protects the owner’s face, which is slightly aggressive due to entering the shooting mood.
Since entering the entertainment industry in 2005, Wu Lei has appeared in dozens of film and television works. In the audience’s memory, he is the innocent and wonderful Fei Liu in “Nirvana in Fire”, Li Cu in “Tomb of the Sea” who is burdened with a huge secret; he is the blind middle school student Chen Leyun in “Adoring”, and the wheelchair-bound Lu Xiaobei who never give up in “CrossFire”. He is also the Wu Lei who performed ten poses in ten seconds under the flaming red light at this moment, and was praised by the editor as having “an extremely high production rate.” Wu Lei during the filming is like the embodiment of the sound coming from an empty stage, his eyebrows raised high, and his still posture with a serious expression flashed quickly on the monitor screen. The next second after the filming ended, Wu Lei squatted down to take a rest. Unexpectedly, a new smile suddenly appeared. He was completely different from the wild one in the red shadow just now, who was more like the brave and capable Ashile Sun.
Read More »[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for ELLE MEN (April 2021)
Wu Lei: 21 years old, a young man breaking the wind
Child stars who become famous too early often leave the audience feels that there is a lack of surprises because they are exposed to the camera all the time, but Wu Lei does not – spending most of the day with 21-year-old Wu Lei, we also saw the liveliness and enthusiasm of a young man in him. The ambition of young actors and the calmness of mature artists
“I got hungry on the way. There was a restaurant on the national highway so I stopped to eat. There were workers at the next table who had just come from the construction site. I listened to them chatting about their girlfriends in dialect. I felt very happy.” – Wu Lei shared with us in the RV the last time he felt happy. One day when he was not on set, he rode more than 90 kilometers along the national highway in a different place.
On many occasions, Wu Lei has been asked what his mental age is. The last time he was interviewed by us, he said he was 35. This time, he told us that age is not that important. He just celebrated his 21st birthday at the end of last year. When asked about his age, he jokingly said, “I want to be 18 forever”. But he immediately added seriously that at the age of 21, he wanted to make himself better, “work, family, friends, emotions, you will indeed face more things.”
This boy, who entered the entertainment industry at the age of 5 and has been working for 15 years now, is clearly a mature artist. This is reflected in his speaking speed, which is almost 1.5 times that of ordinary people (supporting this constant speaking speed is his fast-running brain), standard Mandarin with even naturalized pronunciation (and he is from the south), clear control of each work content (during the interview, he spoke very quickly and mentioned to the staff his idea for the video script, which “should arouse the audience’s interest within 15 seconds”, and then seamlessly answer my previous question), and clear understanding and control of self-state ——He mentioned several times that when entering this stage of life, he wanted to slow down, reduce stress, and “lower desires.”
This must be different from peers who are accustomed to being glued to large and small screens in their work, academic and life. One day, Wu Lei was watching a talk show, and it was said that modern people live with more screens in front of them. “With mobile phones, iPads, computers, and Kindles, I wish I could have screens all over my face, taking in all the information in the world today into my brain.” In his own mind.” He realized that he was also talking about himself: after work, he always wanted to watch movies, read scripts, check Zhihu and Moments, and use various electronic products. At the same time, his mind was racing with various tasks, it seems to be spinning around like gyroscope.
“It’s already very complicated, too complicated.” He lamented.
Read More »[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for BAZAAR MEN (May 2021)
Wu Lei: Simple Method
The most wonderful moments in filming are the small moments. Often when you are waiting for something together, the more you realize that waiting and working hard for something gives you a sense of peace and tranquillity.
Just like some shooting scenes, there will be planes flying by. The sound of the aircraft interferes with the recording when filming is necessary. As a result, everyone will wait for a plane to fly by.
The whole group stopped until you heard the plane zooming by.
When Wu Lei talked about this part of the story, he imitated the sound of an airplane flying by, and he learned it a lot, which was surprising how similar it is.
When the sound of the plane “shooting” passed, everything started again.
He deals with the world in his own way
Full of surprises and unknowns
Wu Lei has been filming for more than a year, and even only took two days off during the Spring Festival. One day he accompanies his family to make dumplings, and another one day he plays video games with his friends. When he waited until the first day of the new year, he went out to work.
Such a long work means that after the filming of this scene, Wu Lei will enter a period of rest. At the same time, this also means that even if he takes a short break, Wu Lei will have a lot of new dramas to meet with everyone next time. For Wu Lei’s fans, this year is a good year.
On the second day after our filming ended, Wu Lei was filming on the Hongjialou campus of Shandong University. During the filming, he used a character board to communicate with the onlookers. He stepped on a wooden box and held up the word boards one by one”Hello”. -“Please support”-“The Long Ballad”- “Our Times” “Midsummer/Upcoming””I am Xiao Fang””Thank you”-“Goodbye”. The word boards are all black on a red background, and they look neat and serious. Wu Lei smiled throughout the whole process, he recommended it sincerely and in such an unexpected way.
If you know Wu Lei better, this is just how Wu Lei is. He is willing to share and communicate with others, and get along with the world with the most friendly and open attitude. Take other things in his recent period as an example. There are similar examples readily available to share with you.
For example, Wu Lei often publishes vlog records daily on social platforms. The subject of Vlog is the flow of daily life for many people, getting up early to make up, filming and working, healthy eating, exercise and fitness, plus good things recommendation and experience sharing. But in Wu Lei’s vlog, every video is not so plain and has no new record.
In those vlogs, several records recorded his experience of riding a bicycle from Quanzhou to Xiamen alone. This is actually a transition of the crew, returning from the filming location in Quanzhou to the filming location in Xiamen. Because Wu Lei had no drama filming on the day of his transfer, he chose to use his rest time to complete the journey by himself.
This is no joke. This section of the road is about 90 kilometers in length. He set off in the afternoon the previous day, stayed one night on the road, and rode from morning to evening the next day. Because he promised that the makeup artist of the crew could not tan his face, he kept his promise and waited for a container on the road when the sun was strongest before continuing on the road until the sun diminished. This prolongs the time on the road. It can be seen in the video taken by himself with a sports recorder that he waited until the darkness was over before he arrived at the place where the crew was stationed.
The whole journey is full of unknowns. First of all, the road is unknown. Even if you follow the navigation throughout the entire journey, you will encounter a section of roads with staggered alleys and complex road conditions. Secondly, the person encountered is unknown, which is also something that Wu Lei is willing to accept. While cycling, Wu Lei will take the initiative to communicate with people. When you meet a fisherman, you can chat with them. When you leave, you will leave a sincere wish and wish others for the best. People who help them are particularly grateful for their small acts of kindness, quietly imagining their careers, and praise their virtues.
In addition, there are unexpected sights. In his vlog, there are beautiful views from Wu Lei’s perspective. Even though the journey is short, Wu Lei, who is happy to find out, stops his bike and takes a good look at the scene.
The reason why he wants to accomplish this is because Wu Lei has become obsessed with cycling recently. He often develops various hobbies because of filming. From fitness to DJing to cycling. He is willing to spend time and energy to learn, understand, practice, and immerse himself in the things he wants to understand. In many people with multiple skills and hobbies, similar immersion and practice will make you feel inspired, and at the same time make you feel that they have paid a lot and put pressure on you, but they have a sense of distance to these things. But here with Wu Lei, you will find everything so interesting, relaxing and happy.
Because everything comes from his heartfelt desires. Although likes and impulses will peak during the immersion time, he will not discard these interests after this peak period is over. They will basically stay with him for a long time.
Read More »[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for Men’s Uno (May 2021)
Free growth of youth
In the early summer, the grass and trees are still green, and the force of joy is bred in vitality. Throughout the past few years with us, Wu Lei has grown up a lot now. Every year, his wish is to “be a good person, make a good movie, world peace, and family health”. Like every young boy, he loves to play games and rides his beloved road bike around with the wind; when he talks about acting, he becomes insightful and confident. In Wu Lei, we can always see the blood of the young man, who grew up in freedom, welcoming every surprise.
One day in 2020, Wu Lei suddenly wanted to ride a bicycle. Before walking into that bike shop, he had never been in contact with road bikes. He didn’t know if he would like this sport or what kind of scene he would face in the future. He just bought a bike and started riding it. “It was the first time I rode a road bike that day. I have been riding a regular bicycle since I was a kid. After riding a road bike, I felt amazing. The speed, the weight of the body, and the feeling of breaking the wind were amazing.” Later, we could often see his bike and different scenery in his Vlog.
Cycling brought Wu Lei a lot of relaxation and relieve stress. “Flying on the ground is great,” he said. The only drawback is that it is easy to be “struck” by experts in Beijing. “You know what I’m saying.” Wu Lei could clearly feel our doubts in the words, and explained, “I was overtaken by the big guys, and couldn’t catch up. This is called a “pull-up explosion” in the road lap. I just went back to Beijing and rode my bike. The big guys are just like you. They surpass me, rushing past like lightning, I can’t even look at their back.”
Riding a bike and performing is about making up with yourself. In 2021, actor Wu Lei handed in a beautiful report card. “Our Time” just finished, “The Long Ballad” which is currently on air, and the upcoming “Faith Makes Great” and the “Upcoming Summer” which will be released in the summer, different eras, different personalities, different stories, each of the roles are devoted to Wu Lei’s efforts.
The heat is Wu Lei’s deep memory of the filming of “The Long Ballad”. Under the temperature of more than 30 degrees, he wears thick costumes to shoot the drama. When he received the script of “The Long Ballad”, he was moved by the vast worldview of the original book. “Ah Sun is very handsome, and many of the scenes look cool, exciting and challenging.” In order to restore Ah Sun in everyone’s mind, Wu Lei read scripts and supplemented comics.
Read More »[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for GRAZIA (June 2021)
Wu Lei’s alone time
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.
Read More »[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for Wonderland Magazine (June 2021)
Wu Lei, Klara or the Sun?
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.
Read More »[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for Mini Bazaar (October 2021)
Wu Lei Rides the Wind (to take an opportunity)
Bite down on the green hills and do not relax, the roots of the original in the broken rock. A thousand strokes but still strong, regardless of the east and west winds.
Zheng Xie, “Bamboo and Stone
When you walk into Lianquanxianggu (濂泉响谷) in summer, the lush greenery comes to you in no time, and as you look around, the trees are shaded, birds are singing, clear water is flowing over the strange rocks, and the sunlight is reflecting through the staggered leaves of the trees. It took nearly an hour of climbing to get here. We found a secluded corner in the middle of the mountain, and here, Wu Lei shared his recent insights with us.
After the busy shooting, I like to ride my bike through the streets and alleys, the breeze fields, when I ride I usually do not think about anything, just listen to the sound of the wind blowing past my ears, that feeling is particularly calm.
At this time, I am just a wanderer, looking at the scenery along the road, looking at the people along the road. I will enjoy this feeling of being treated as a passerby, in this kind of dusty (travel-worn) situation, people will not have a defensive mentality towards you, the randomness of life will make us feel happy, I also always believe that we must have our own life, if you can not find your own life, there is no way to act in a particularly good state.
When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I established my life’s goal – becoming an actor, then I thought acting was very good and wanted to keep acting. I will try to squeeze in more time to read some scripts, and sometimes people will say, “You are so busy filming every day, how can you have time to read the script? What if you miss one (script)?” I said I missed it is not destiny, it all depends on fate. I will keep myself in good shape, when the opportunity comes to seize it, so it is enough.
I usually talk to my friends in my circle and ask them what is good and what is bad about my performance. I think actors must be objective, because if you live in your own world and don’t care about the opinions of others, then you are arrogant, and you can’t make progress. After all, an actor’s performance is for the audience, and the audience represents the aesthetics of different groups of people today. After we have achieved what we want to achieve and what we want to convey, we have to consider the view of the receiver in both directions, that is, the audience’s thoughts and feedback, so that the character we perform is like a real person.
We, as a special group of people who are often selected, everyone is looking at you, and inevitably will be compared. Going to the show/audition is also a comparison. But my mind is actually very calm, now the film industry is always moving forward. We, as young people, competition is a good thing and will promote the whole industry together to progress. My idea is to keep myself in a good state, not think about competing with others, and do a good job. I just want to be myself, it’s useless to think more.
The way I do well for myself is to enrich myself, live well, act well, and improve my acting skills.
I think actors have a special happiness, that is not to think about promotion and other issues, we just need to act well, which is very simple. But if people ask me if I have any pressure, my answer is yes. I always say that I have to put in more effort, to work harder, because we are protected by many people, so when we encounter difficulties, we have to bear these pressures and stand up, which is also a responsibility.
Knowing that the theme of our shooting is “Good Men of China”, it reminds me of my role as Ma Chengfeng in “My Country, My Parents”, as an anti-Japanese fighter, it is a great thing to fight to protect our family and country. Although our parents were sacrificed during the war of resistance, their lives are carried on in us, which is a kind of life heritage. This is true of the soldiers, all walks of life, we actors are also the same, the film and television industry is now left for us by our predecessors, we have to protect it well.
The so-called “Good Men of China” are not only the “strong youth makes a strong country”, but also the courage to face the difficulties encountered. The character I played in “Our Times”, Xiao Chuang, is a boy with a lot of courage, and his name has the word “Chuang (to venture out into the world)” in it, and the most important thing is the courage to get back up after a fall. He only did one thing in the whole drama, that is, fall, get up, fall again, get up again, and the adversity he encountered became more serious and desperate every time, and I felt heartbroken/distressed when I read the script, but he would get up again every time and tell everyone with his most energetic spirit: “I, Xiao Chuang, have not fallen!” This kind of bravery has been passed on to me, and I hope that this kind of strength can be passed on to everyone. In my opinion, we young people should do our best to contribute to our country and not forget our roots. Act well, be a good person, and strive to be stronger are the most important things in my opinion.
translation credit to @wuleiarchive.
[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for Madame Figaro (January 2022)
Wu Lei: Keep flying
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.”
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Wu Lei Galaxy 