Tag: Wu Lei

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for Harper’s Bazaar (October 2018)

WuLei GalaxyLeave a comment

Wu Lei: Growth is always happening

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

This is a line from a superhero, and it’s also a line that Wu Lei likes.

From a child star to a leading actor in a big drama, how much pressure will it be to grow up under the expectations of everyone? This question cannot be answered by you and me, but you must “tag” Wu Lei to answer.

2018 can be said to be a “Wu Lei year”, especially in the second half of the year, when he directly started to dominate the screen. In a schedule that is so busy that it is hard to breathe, searching and watching your own emoticons is one of the best ways to relax and make Wu Lei laugh to tears. The focus is not on the pictures, but on the imaginative words that netizens have added – “I’m only a teenager. I’m so tired. I’m dancing ballet in the desert.”

The interesting screenshots and the imaginative emoticons are really hilarious, and the key is that they are all true. He’s just a teenager, and it’s just very tiring – of course, that’s not Wu Lei in real life, that’s Li Cu in “Tomb of the Sea”, a leading actor whom he played with great enjoyment and sadness.

“There are green screen shots and many real scenes. It is very exciting to run and fight. It really feels like an archaeological excavation. Li Cu is not a perfect male protagonist, he is just a high school student, and because of his family background, his character is flawed. He is quite extreme and not very good at making friends. In fact, he doesn’t have many friends around him. I think it’s interesting and challenging for an immature and mentally fragile teenager to experience such an adventure, but sometimes it’s a bit sad – he’s in such a bad situation, and this male protagonist is not pleasant.”

The high school student who impulsively searched for treasure in the desert during the summer vacation turned into a counterattacking teenager in “Fights Break Sphere” in the autumn.When Wu Lei knew that he could act in this drama, he described his mood as “stupefied”.

From the perspective of honing his acting skills, he want to challenge playing Li Cu. But from the heart of a young man, Wu Lei is more excited to play Xiao Yan. “It’s very inspiring, from being a loser to finally achieve his goal and become the strong man of his dreams.” Needless to say, he is a huge fan of the original book.

“I went to class during the day and read at night. I hid under the covers and used the flashlight on my phone to stay up late to read.”

As a young celebrity, Wu Lei is very busy. “It’s much better now. I remember when calendar software was first introduced, it was really scary. I felt dizzy when I opened it. There were all kinds of notes and colors, and the whole calendar was like a rainbow.”

Gradually, he got used to the current rhythm. At least in Wu Lei, this energetic young man, we can deeply feel the saying “human potential is infinite”. “Fights Break Sphere” following “Tomb of the Sea” and Zhang Yimou’s new film “Shadow”, has also released a promotional special. Wu Lei, who is wielding a big sword, can make people feel his heroic spirit across the screen. From “Tomb of the Sea” to “Fights Break Sphere”, and then to “Shadow”, Wu Lei has challenged action scenes of different difficulty and types, and has done a good job in helping these action scenes to shape the characters. This is inseparable from the foundation he has trained in martial arts since he was a child, and his temper of striving for perfection in every action.

Compared to those young men on the screen, Wu Lei in real life has the same brilliant innocence, as well as admirable high emotional intelligence and thoughtfulness. When he encounters a question he is not sure about, he will stop and calculate the interview publishing cycle. “Well, it should be available for publication by then.”

“Rebellious period? I’m probably still in it now. I tend to stick to my own ideas, and sometimes I have some arguments with my family over work, but I never do anything out of line… Yes, yes, I’m seriously attached to my mobile phone. What app do I use most? WeChat is the most used, Weibo is the second, and the others are tied for third. As long as I download and use various software, I basically won’t delete them. I keep them all in my phone.”

As he gets older and has more room to shape his roles, “Young Hero” Wu Lei is gradually being asked a new question: “Will you consider taking on art films?”

“I will consider it if there is a suitable one. There are many kinds of art films, and I want to choose the ones that are close to reality and down-to-earth.”

In early August, Wu Lei unveiled his wax figure at Madame Tussauds Shanghai. The most vivid interpretation of this running pose is perhaps in this sentence. “I insisted on choosing this pose despite all the opposition. Everyone thought that I should choose a more handsome martial arts pose, but I think this running pose is more representative.”

“No matter how far you go, you must remember why you set out.” From taking the first step in his acting career at the age of 6 to becoming a promising teenager at the age of 18, Wu Lei has never slacked off and will continue to move forward with all his strength in the future.

Source: Harper’s Bazaar

[Interview] Wu Lei Interview for VOGUE ME (April 2018)

WuLei GalaxyLeave a comment

Wu Lei: Young Jianghu

For Wu Lei, the true presentation of youth is perhaps that even if he can only hear the other party’s voice through the phone, he can safely call him “elder brother (ge)” or “elder sister (jie)”. He speaks with full breath and laughs heartily. While chatting, he even broadcasts the details of himself drinking soy milk. Although he is already 18 years old, the burden of the adult world has not slowed down his pace. When the answer is not certain, Wu Lei likes to confess his thinking process. If the conclusion of growth is difficult to express verbally, he will leave it to his footprints.

The Boy Who Reveal His Punchline

Wu Lei’s speech has its own “puchline”. If you don’t listen to the whole thing, you can never guess what his last sentence is. For example, when talking about his experience shooting the cover of Vogue Me in New York with the popular model Lily Nova, Wu Lei said that he was still quite nervous, but the answer had nothing to do with being uptight or being shy. It was just “because the foreign girl was very tall,” Wu Lei said seriously on the other end of the phone. In the story “Tomb of the Sea” derived from “Grave Robbers’ Chronicles”, he is Li Cu, an ordinary boy who “beaten all the way”. Facing the role, Wu Lei already has his own methodology: “First, we need to look at his characteristics in life and then fit in. He… failed the college entrance examination, I can’t learn from him!” Compared with explorers or superheroes, Li Cu is more like a person who discovers a story, and this story has not been told in the original book. Wu Lei also carefully studied the history of “Grave Robbers’ Chronicles”. When talking about the unfinished work, he immediately became a “representative of readers”: “Hey, it’s normal that it’s not finished. Isn’t it often the case with San Shu’s novels…”

“I don’t have any obsession, except acting”

When reading “Fights Break Sphere” as a child, Wu Lei never thought that he would become Xiao Yan one day. The similarities between the two are persistence and unwillingness to admit defeat, but the difference is that the boy living in the world of Dou Qi is “too awesome”. “I can’t do Xiao Yan’s decisiveness now,” Wu Lei paused for a second and added, “Oh, of course, I guess I can’t do it in the future.” When filming “Fights Break Sphere”, Wu Lei, a fan of the book, felt that Xiao Yan’s weapon, the Heavy Xuan Ruler, was different from what he remembered, so he “shamelessly” went to the director for a long time. After discussing many times what this “black object” should look like, Wu Lei succeeded, and he was one step closer to the Heavy Xuan Ruler he wanted. When being interviewed, Wu Lei was actually preparing to catch a flight. He had to finish eating and changing his makeup within half an hour. The boy who grew up in the crew no longer thought it was a big deal. He said that he had no obsessions in life, and it didn’t matter what he ate or wore. Only in acting did he have persistence where he isn’t easily persuaded by others.

Calm love

In the movie “Asura”, he, Tony Leung Ka Fai and Carina Lau have to work together to present a “trinity” state. Wu Lei has mentioned more than once that it feels like taking an exam every day. Fortunately, in addition to taking the exam, he also found opportunities to replenish himself. “Brother Ka Fai once told me that what an actor should be like must be passed down,” Wu Lei thought for a while and explained, “I think professionalism is what Brother Ka Fai said ‘an actor should be like’.” Talking about acting, he put away a lot of his previous cheerfulness. We asked, “So what do you think is the level of achievement that would at least exceed the standard in your heart?” Wu Lei thought for a long time, trying to find a word that was closest to his experience, but when he saw that the atmosphere was about to become as serious as the interview with the old artist, he decided to give up thinking for the time being: “I’ll drink some soy milk first!” Then he really took a sip, and then paused and said: “Maybe it’s just that I can continue to have a calm love for the role.”

Young Jianghu

In Zhang Yimou’s film Shadow, he played the young warrior Yang Ping while observing the director’s work. “He is the most energetic person I have ever seen. It feels like he is focused on his work 24 hours a day. Moreover, the director already knows how to shoot the scene before filming. He is efficient and energetic on the set.” The bigger the play, the clearer Wu Lei is. Whether it is a movie, a TV series or an advertisement, it is an objective fact that actors are surrounded by hundreds of people. It is precisely because of this that the final result is not the credit of the actor alone. Speaking of the relationship between artists and the audience, Wu Lei said honestly: “Of course I care about everyone’s evaluation of me and the role. To put it bluntly, the actors’ jobs are given by the audience. Many seniors have talked to me about their own suggestions and experiences. I can do these things now because of everyone’s words.” In the practice of acting, Wu Lei is a child who has absorbed the “strengths of a hundred schools”, so you will find a sense of brotherhood in him that is not too unruly.

I’m getting older

Wu Lei admitted that he has very high requirements and expectations for himself. However, when we asked him what specific efforts he made in private, Wu Lei tore through the routine and said: “Exercise, and then nothing else.” When talking about the changes that have happened to him in the past two years, Wu Lei chose to continue to be honest: “Well… I’ve gotten older.” After a round of jokes, Wu Lei told us seriously that he actually uses a time period as a unit of self-management, “I will determine the schedule for the next day every day, and then strictly follow the plan, or just relax the next day. In short, once it is determined, the plan will be completed.”

Oh, yeah!

When chatting with Wu Lei, you will find that his thoughts are always so jumping. For example, Wu Lei said that he likes to record variety shows because it is like “a holiday, I can treat it as a game and play it seriously.” Like most boys, Wu Lei also devotes most of his time to animation and games when he is not working. So when he heard someone complain that he was too serious in the game session of the show, Wu Lei responded: “I’m very serious. When recording, I only think about how to play the game well and what to eat after recording.” At this point, Wu Lei suddenly asked back: “Eh? You haven’t recorded a variety show before?” One second ago, he was still explaining a complex attitude by playing games seriously, and the next second, his jumping thoughts in his brain began to become active again. He actually jumped directly from the serious attitude when participating in variety shows to his relaxed state in fashion occasions: “Compared to variety shows, participating in fashion events feels like going to a party for me, wearing beautiful clothes to meet good friends.” For Wu Lei, growth is nothing more than the accumulation of daily life. However, the most unexpected thing is that after we said goodbye, Wu Lei suddenly came back to the phone and said, “Oh yeah! I remember now! Didn’t we just get stuck on ‘what do you think is the level of achievement that would at least exceed the standard in your heart’?” This time, Wu Lei said with certainty, “Ongoing passion to explore the inner world of the character.”

V: What is something that must be in the refrigerator?

Wu Lei: Fresh fruits and vegetables

V: What is the most meaningful gift you have ever received?

Wu Lei: Everyone’s love and support

V: Do you talk a lot in private?

Wu Lei: A lot!

V: When you are with friends, are you the one who is responsible for being funny or the one who is responsible for giggling?

Wu Lei: Both~

V: What is your favorite and least favorite aspect of your personality?

Wu Lei: Persistence, and too much persistence…

V: When you are interacting with friends, what qualities do you care about most in them?

Wu Lei: Just be happy with friends, be sincere and simple.

V: Can you recommend a good movie or book that you have watched recently?

Wu Lei: I don’t have time to watch movies recently because I’m studying. When I have time, I will read some detective books.

V: What is the song that has been played the most times recently?

Wu Lei: (This is a secret)

V: Do you have obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Wu Lei: I have it when I’m filming.

V: People always say that you have boyfriend power. What do you think boyfriend power is?

Wu Lei: Responsibility.

Source: VOGUEme