One notices, if one will trust one’s eyes,
The shadow cast by language upon truth:

The bright and brutal surfaces of things
Awaited the decision of his eyes,

W. H. Auden, “Kairos and Logos”

Translation to the interview below credit to @eowuli.

“It’s so easy, that’s why so difficult to portray”

Before receiving the script for «Dwelling by the West Lake», Wu Lei had already seen Director Gu Xiaogang’s first movie «Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains». That movie first won the Best Picture Award at the 2019 FIRST International Film Festival, and later was selected as one of the top ten films of the 2020 French «Cahiers du Cinéma», obtaining recognition from numerous authoritative awards. The flowing Shanshui paintings, the rich urban atmosphere, the natural amateur actors… Wu Lei has a deep memory of this last point. He remembers watching «Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains» in an afternoon, thinking about acting for a long time.

In 2022, when he received the script with the director’s name printed on it, Wu Lei was «taken aback», he didn’t expect fate to come so soon.

“Everything is so perfect, so in line with your heart but instead, when this time comes, you chicken out.”

Wu Lei says. Taking this role means he had to challenge an artistic movie for the first time, he was worried of not being ready yet.

“I don’t know if I made myself clear?” Facing the mirror after shaving, another day of work starts and he adds: “I was afraid of not being as outstanding as the actors in the director’s previous movie.” It’s not just a single scene, but it’s the entire performance, he thinks he did not seize it well.

From the beginning, Gu Xiaogang was certain that Wu Lei is the He Mulian he was looking for. «Dwelling by the West Lake» is the second volume of his Shanshui paintings series. Human nature is like plants and trees, he wants to explore the initiatives that humans can take in their passive destiny. The He Mulian in his mind is a son of nature, mythical just as in the Buddhist story «Mulian rescues his mother» and he is also a young man from the city who has accepted the modern culture, following the life trajectory of a young person nowadays. Wu Lei is healthy, sunny, athletic and his appearance fits the image of a son of nature he had in mind. More importantly,

“Wu Lei has also a pair of limpid eyes, those eyes will make the person in front of the camera believe that he has a mysterious and subtle connection with nature.”

Jiang Qingin plays Wu Taihua, He Mulian’s mother, in « Dwelling by the West Lake ». She believes Wu Lei is an actor who has a clear understanding of himself and acting. Because he has a sense of responsibility, that’s why he thinks a lot.

The movie is divided into three acts, ‘tea’ signifies human in the grass and trees, corresponding to tea mountains, human world, the forest. Wu Lei is not so willing to recall the details of the second act’s filming. In this act, mother Wu Taihua accidentally joins a pyramid scheme organization after losing her job of picking tea leaves and son He Mulian tries hard to save her resulting in a series of conflicts between mother and son. Later, the highly discussed scene took place under the bridge, with the mother slapping and yelling at his son who reported her to the police, “Even if I don’t earn a single penny, I’m still willing to, I’m happy to.” The two actors’ crying were gut-wrenching, Wu Lei says, “It was a painful and somewhat an embarrassing memory.” But at that time, he just said to Jiang Qinqin who plays Wu Taihua, “Sis, just slap me. Just hit me, you are helping me.” After finishing that scene, he cried for an hour.

How to understand Mother’s outburst? Wu Lei tells, “People’s joys and sorrows are not intertwined, and intention and love don’t always adapt to each other.” Wu Taihua’s desire for love has always been overlooked by her son. She attempted to ask him, “What do you think of Uncle Qian?” The son couldn’t hide his dissatisfaction and replied, “Mom, I can take care of you.” The son has never stopped looking for his father who has never given news, seeking the truth that Wu Taihua refuses to reveal. “They don’t fully understand each other.”

One scene that Wu Lei likes is when Mulian and Taihua lean against each other at the Leifeng Pagoda, discussing about settling down in Hangzhou. The mountains fade away in the distance, and the opposite side brings the sound of the Nanping Evening Bell. Poetic visuals, warm emotions. When filming in the mountains during breaks, he would lie directly on the ground, watching the heart shape outlined by the trees in the air.

He thinks He Mulian is not complicated at all, he is very simple, that’s why he is so hard to portray. “He is like a lotus that emerges from the mud unstained, pure, without distracting thoughts. This kind of simplicity is not possessed by a lot of people, including me who needs to make a lot of efforts to find this feeling of simplicity.”

“Clean eyes”

Eyes. The directors who have collaborated with Wu Lei often mention those eyes. Director Li Xue of «Nirvana in Fire» said in an interview that during the casting of Fei Liu, the initial selected actors did not have this kind of clean things that can be found in this kid’s eyes. If Wu Lei won the Most Promising Actor Award at the China TV Drama Awards for his character Fei Liu as a fifteen or sixteen-year-old child actor, then this consistent temperament he had for Dwelling by the West Lake» is even more precious.

Chen Jianbin plays the second male lead in «Dwelling by the West Lake». During Dong Yuhui’s livestream, he talked about his impression of Wu Lei, “The first time I had a scene with Wu Lei was when I stood in front of the tea house and he was coming down the mountains by bike. I thought he was so full of energy, very healthy. When he is in front of me, I glance at him and I feel like I can catch his heart just by looking through his eyes. He really has a pure pair of eyes.” He debuted as a child star, with nearly 20 years of acting experience, Chen Jianbin says of Wu Lei that he is “a young actor with an old soul”. “After all, he’s been wandering in this complex world for so long, and he spent his childhood in various filming sets. Actually, rude behaviors are hard to avoid but he has really good mechanisms to eliminate these and maintain a good mindset. There’s this force in him that makes me really moved.”

Eliminating distracting thoughts requires full focus on acting itself. Director Chen Changfen of «Nothing but You» once shared, that Wu Lei doesn’t sit on the standard lounge chair, but prefers to sit on a small stool he brought himself. During a summer of over 40°C in Shenzhen, the character that Wu Lei portrays, Song Sanchuan needed to play tennis non-stop. After only playing for 10 minutes, Wu Lei’s makeup started melting off and he simply decided to stay barefaced. He can accept it. Not only does he hope to be as close as his character in terms of tennis skills, but also to demonstrate the sincerity and the health of an athlete.

Few people will doubt Wu Lei’s self-discipline and hard work. He may be the young man who knows how to ride horses the most. You look at him riding a horse across Ulan Butong snowfields under minus 28°C and you have to admire the power he has in pulling the reins in one hand, and his astonishing vision, he can see horses and roe deers when they are only a black dot in the distance. In «My Country, My Parents», «Chengfeng» part, Wu Jing who has collaborated with Wu Lei, described him as «an actor who complies with everything unconditionally», “can you start practicing horse riding one month in advance ? Yes. Can you be shirtless? Yes. Can you tan ? Yes. Can you shave your head ? Yes.” When filming a fight scene with guns, a bullet exploded and Wu Lei’s face got injured. He persisted until the end of shooting to seek medical attention.

Besides being dedicated to his work, Wu Lei is also very intelligent. He debuted at 6 years old, and he obtained Nezha’s role on his own. The assistant director of «The Legend of the Hero» went to his school to cast actors, Wu Lei did not think twice and chased after him. He shouted, “Brother, I’m also an actor. Take a few shots of me too.” When he was still a child, he said in a program,

“I want to be an actor, but I have this thought, I don’t want to be a stupid actor, I want to be a smart actor.”

What is a smart actor ? Having a clear knowledge of how to treat a project may be one of the expressions of intelligence. Although Wu Lei says his criterion of judgment for a script is “I like it so it’s good”, it’s a broad criterion. But a busybody still can find out some clues of “what they like”. When he accepted «Nothing but You», he said the script has a very advanced perception of love and he cannot miss it. It’s proven by facts, this drama is one of the few urban romance dramas that “does not contain industrial saccharin” at all. Looking at each other on the same level, exploring a relationship that they mutually work on, this drama got a Douban rating of 8.2.

He accepted «Love like the Galaxy» because of its complexity.

Later, when he talked about his understanding of the young general Ling Buyi, he would always mention this seemingly unimportant line, “I never eat after lunch”, after noon I don’t eat anymore, if I eat too much, I feel sleepy and I lose my fighting spirit.

This is the key to his character. When he can’t understand a character, he will study the character’s behavior, and will have strict demands for himself. During the filming of «Love like the Galaxy», he would work out no matter how late it was, forcing his body to remain in a tough state. He forced himself to understand the character’s spirit of restlessly seeking for revenge. In the script, Ling Buyi’s line would always start with ‘I, Ling…’, Wu Lei changed every ‘I, Ling’ to ‘I… ‘. His understanding is, considering his emotional journey, Ling Buyi would never call himself ‘I, Ling’.

Others would consider «Love like the Galaxy» as a shifting point. Not only because this is the character that went out of the circle after his character Fei Liu from «Nirvana in Fire», but it is also because in this drama, Wu Lei has once again transformed his image on screen. Ling Buyi’s character is so suspicious, ruthless and dark which is far from Wu Lei’s true nature. To some extent, Wu Lei completed his transformation from a little boy, a little brother to a man, a boyfriend through Ling Buyi.

Regarding acting, Wu Lei may not have ambition written on his face but he has enough patience. “An actor definitely has stages but the limitations of this stage should be determined by yourself, there is no standard answer to what I should film. A lot of things should come naturally, they cannot be forced. I used to think that I can only see such a great script like «Dwelling by the West Lake», such a great story, such a great director only after 35 years old. Who could have thought that I would meet it less than two years after liking «Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains» so much ?” He always thinks that the road is still long. In the early stage of his career, he was lucky enough to be appreciated and favored by the audience, he said it gave him reassurance and he felt tolerated. It made him feel like he has plenty of time to meet each of his character.

“Acting is the happiest profession in the world”

20 years after debuting, “veteran actor” Wu Lei no longer likes sharing his thoughts on acting with the outside world, “It’s not that I don’t want to tell or that there are some untold mysteries but it’s because acting has become more and more private, I feel like I should think about it alone. Many things taste different when told.”

In «Dwelling by the West Lake», He Mulian is a young man who struggles to find a job after graduating with an unclear future. This is a difficulty that many young people will inevitably face one day. Wu Lei started working very early, and it seems his future is not a problem for him. But he states, “My worries are probably similar to Mulian’s. I want to keep on acting, but sometimes actors become jobless after finishing filming. When I’m on break, I still want to film, so I’m similar to Mulian who needs to find a job.”

The outside world’s expectations are one thing, Wu Lei says, what he wants to do most is to prove himself to himself. At age 18, he played the role of young warrior Yang Ping in Zhang Yimou’s movie «Shadow» and shortly after, he was admitted in Beijing Film Academy with the highest score of the country. After reaching legal age, he took a step after another and broke through his image, creating well-loved characters such as Ashile Sun, Zheng Yuxing, Ling Buyi, Song Sanchuan, Lin Yiyang and He Mulian. Wu Lei is overall satisfied with his works in recent years, “Anyway, I have satisfied my expectations.” Doubts appear more often during the daily breaks between filming, worrying and thinking of the characters and details. There are times when he wanted to stop working so hard, but after calming down, after finding reason, he still felt, or rather he increasingly felt, being an actor is the happiest profession in the world.

“After all, aren’t we working hard for ourselves most of the time ? I will treasure it.”

In the past two years, the happiest moment in Wu Lei’s life was probably filming «Ride Now». He likes riding bikes, from Quanzhou to Xiamen, cycling around Qingdao Lake with his friends or stepping alone on the long road around Sailimu Lake. Over the past three years, behind the more and more qualitative production of his videos, is Wu Lei’s wholehearted dedication. He is not only a cyclist, he is also a director, a planner. Executing it is really not an easy task. He always shoots videos when the filming team is changing location or after the wrapping of his work. For him, “being on the road” is also like resting. “I like riding bicycles, I am doing something that makes me happy and during that process, I also received some love, I feel so lucky.”

Lucky, Wu Lei repeatedly emphasized. He didn’t feel tired filming one project after another. In reality, actor Wu Lei has never wanted to take a break,

“In this world, which young person doesn’t work hard ? I don’t work that hard anymore. I’m so lucky to have all of this, so I have no right to complain.”

Wu Lei is good at learning through his roles. He learned from Song Sanchuan what an outstanding boy can look like : respecting women, the sense of responsibility, the courage of a man. He maintains a friendly teacher student relationship with seniors of the industry. In the filming team of «Dwelling by the West Lake», he and «Sister Qin» both got baptized by the script like battle companions and from Chen Jianbin, he learned a more open way to regard performance.

At the same time, Wu Lei is also good at finding fun in life. Gaming, eating takeout all can make him happy. What if we use three words to describe ourselves?

He says he would answer : My gaming skills are extremely high, I know how to order takeout, I can easily remember how long each food needs to be boiled in a lamb hotpot.

After the interview, he started playing with a children’s skateboard, bent over and walked back and forth in the hallway with excitement. He just subtly switched from serious to relaxed, from stable and mature to lively like a young a man. It reminds people of Chen Jianbin’s description, Wu Lei is “a young actor with an old soul.”

Original article: Esquire WeChat