The movie "The Trilogy of Conferred Gods" is the Chinese own hero myth epic, and it is a masterpiece of myth epic that director Wu Ershan has honed his sword for ten years. In the first part, the "Proton Brigade" next to Shang Wang Yinshou left a deep impression on the audience, and it is also a major innovation in the screenwriting of the film. Wu Ershan created a young proton brigade headed by Ji Fa and others for Shang Wang Yinshou. Among them, Ji Fa's growth path and personal choices played by young actor Yu Shi have also become one of the important main lines throughout the trilogy.
Stills of "Fengshen Part I", Yu Shi as Ji Fa
The later King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa, was the most different of all protons. What is a proton? "East, west, north, south, eight hundred princes, each sending their sons to pay tribute to the big merchants, is a hostage. If the princes dare to rebel, they will kill their protons first, and then the family will be wiped out." Under this setting, the movie "Feng Shen No. 1" also gave birth to the most dramatic scene in the whole film "the confrontation between father and son in Longde Palace". At that moment, for the first time, Ji Fa, the son of Xibohou who admired Yin Shou infinitely since he was young, chose to disobey the king's order, and used his wisdom to explore the truth, what did Yin Shou do, and whether he was still a hero in his heart.
Director Wu Ershan said: "The actors I need are young, resolute, and masculine. They not only need solid acting skills, but also have all the skills of ancient warriors." It takes two years from training actors to completing filming.
Yu Shi and more than 20 young actors were selected from 15,000 people. After 24 weeks of professional courses and high-intensity closed training, they finally selected the roles of Ji Fa, the son of Xibohou Jichang, Yin Jiao, the son of Shang Wang Yinshou, Chongyingbiao, the son of Beibohou, Jiang Wenhuan, the son of Dongbohou, and Eshun, the son of Nanbohou.
Stills of "Fengshen Part I"
Yu Shi, born in 1996, was a basketball player trained under the youth training system before signing up for the "Fengshen Yanyi Training Camp". Although he debuted as Air Force test pilot Deng Fang in this year's May 1st "The King of the Sky", "Fengshen Part 1" and "Fengshen Performing Arts Training Camp" are the real starting point of Yu Shi's career as an actor. The basketball boy was spotted by the casting team of the "Fengshen Trilogy" crew through the shooting of a sports advertisement, and was invited to participate in the audition for the "Fengshen Performing Arts Training Camp". At that time, Yu Shi, who was not a major, began to try on the road of actor. The training camp provided students with 6 months of free training courses, which made him very excited. On January 2, 2018, Yu Shi started 24 weeks of professional courses and high-intensity closed training in the training camp with the idea of learning after multiple selections.
No one knows what role they will play. The young actors are constantly improving their performance skills in the training camp, learning professional skills such as equestrianism, riding and archery, martial arts, swordsmanship, ancient etiquette, and sculpting their body lines. It is not until two weeks before the start of the film that each person's role in the play is determined. Wu Ershan said: "Anyone who is not strong enough in will and does not love acting enough can't bear this kind of tempering." In the character description class, the change in the emotional connection between Yu Shi and his father made the director see the irreplaceable true emotions needed to play Ji Fa. Since then, Yu Shi has been practicing his character's best skill of riding arrows. "That's what I had to do. But looking back, I could have done better."
Now, Yu Shi, who has two "blockbuster" heavyweight roles in "The King of the Sky" and "The First Part of Fengshen", as a new actor, is undoubtedly in the limelight in the eyes of others. But only he himself knows the ups and downs and hardships in this process. From the youthfulness of a fledgling newcomer from a non-disciplinary background, to the pressure of knowing that he has won a heavy role before the start of the film; from the full expectation of just finishing the filming, to the precipitation and growth during the long waiting process. Now that the film is released, looking back at the years he experienced with "Fengshen Trilogy", Yu Shi also has a lot of emotion. Continue to be an actor, and finally his love for the industry made him give himself an affirmative answer. "Even after going through so many ups and downs and sufferings, when I look back, I will find that I love acting very much, and it can bring me a lot of satisfaction."
Before the film was released, Yu Shi accepted an exclusive interview with reporters from The Paper, recalling his life in the "Fengshen Performing Arts Training Camp", detailing his experience of acting with teacher Li Xuejian, his experience and understanding from director Wu Ershan, and sharing how he became Ji Fa step by step.
Yu Shi accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper. The Paper reporter Xue Songtu
【dialogue】
Ji Fa, the designer, took the initiative to ask to be a proton, which is similar to my growth experience
The Paper : When is it decided that you will play the role of Ji Fa? What was your reaction when you heard the news?
Yu Shi : It was already two weeks before the start-up. We always have staged reporting performances in the Fengshen Performing Arts Training Camp, but everyone has never known what kind of role they will play. They just roughly know that we will play Proton, but we don’t know the name of the specific role, or whether the role is important or not. In the last few days before the filming started, I said to me: "You are going to shoot the first scene, are you ready?" It was the first scene of "Fengshen Part I", and it was also my first scene. I went to Xinjiang to shoot.
"Fengshen Part I" stills, Ji Fa went home
When I heard the news, I was briefly happy, knowing that my hard work was not in vain, and I got a very important role, but the pressure came immediately, and I didn't know whether I was qualified for this role. Because in the training camp before, no matter how good the performance was, it was only at the theoretical level, lacking in actual combat, and had not really performed in front of the camera, so I was very uncertain and under a lot of pressure.
The Paper : Ji Fa is the most important character in Proton Group. What is your understanding and design of this character?
Yu Shi : In the script of "Feng Shen No. 1", the character of Ji Fa has been slightly adapted. He is a proton, and he has been training with Yin Shou since he was young. It is similar to our training camp. Everyone came to the training camp from all over the world to train martial arts and learn skills together. The biography we got at that time actually only talked about his general background. He is the youngest son of Xibohou, a warm-blooded man, upright and kind. The director gave us another task to write a prequel for this character. I added some of my own experience to the character, which gave rise to a lot of my thinking and understanding of Ji Fa.
I set Ji Fa to go to Chaoge to be the proton on his own initiative. Before going to Chaoge, Ji Fa had already heard that there was a very great general in Chaoge, he was a prince, and he had been fighting in the battlefield with great achievements. And I also have some prejudices against my biological father, Ji Chang, who is good at divination and peaceful. I don't want to live a life of farming in Xiqi, but I want to join the army and become a soldier when I was young. That's why Ji Fa worshiped Yin Shou and regarded him as an idol even though he had never met Yin Shou. In the play, we also know that Ji Fa beat his elder brother Bo Yikao by tampering with the arrow, and took the initiative to go to Chaoge to be the proton. In this way, his sense of admiration for Yin Shou will be stronger, and it will also make the drama of Ji Fa's belief collapse at the end of the film and the contrast between the character's psychology before and after.
Stills of "Fengshen Part I"
The Paper : Do you think there are any similarities in personality between yourself and Ji Fa?
Yu Shi : When choosing each of our roles, the director chose the actor who is closest to the role. It was the third stage at the end of the training camp, and we would have a "character storytelling class". The director asked everyone to sit in a circle, and he sat in the middle, first telling a part of his life experience, and then everyone spoke in turn. Through our narration of unforgettable childhood events, the director identifies roles that are closer to each actor. I am very lucky that I have a similar character to Ji Fa.
Why did the character prequel I wrote for Ji Fa set him up to take the initiative to go to Chaoge to be the proton? This is the same as my family's growth experience. My family members also hope that I can go home and find a job after graduating from college, but this is a life I don't like very much. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to do what I loved. I did well academically in junior high school, but I loved sports very much. I remember watching Liu Xiang and knowing that being an athlete can win glory for the country. I thought it was so cool, so I kept telling my dad to let me become an athlete. My family objected, but my dad was quite wise, so he said, "Okay, I'll take you there." He signed up for a summer camp for me, but in fact he thought I would not be able to bear it. After two months, I would definitely come back to go to school steadily, but I didn't expect that I was not at all. I said that I had made up my mind, and I would be an athlete. This is similar to the prequel I wrote for Ji Fa, and the plot in "Fengshen Part I" also reflects my real experience.
I also did not understand my father, and I was not reconciled to the life he tried to arrange for me. One time when I went home during the Chinese New Year, my dad said to me "Why don't we have a drink" for the first time. It was the first time I drank in front of him. We chatted a lot, just like Ji Fa in the film, and suddenly understood my father. I gradually understood him. This time, I put my true feelings in the world three thousand years ago, so the performance came naturally.
The Paper : When it comes to the relationship between father and son, your rivalry with Teacher Li Xuejian is very impressive. What benefits do you feel from working with Teacher Li?
Yu Shi : Teacher Xuejian is an experienced artist, and he has a great impact on me. As an actor, from the beginning of learning acting, the acting teacher told us the words "hearing, seeing, and feeling" and it has always been engraved in our minds. I will also try to get close to these words when performing. But when playing with Mr. Xuejian, he directly caught me in. His performance can make me completely forget about all the designs, forget about all the plots I imagined in advance, focus on listening to his lines, watching his expressions, and truly feel every word he said to me.
In the scene in the dungeon, he said to me, "It doesn't matter whose son you are; what matters is who you are." His performance made me forget that I was acting. At that moment, I was thinking about this question-what kind of person I want to be, and this is also the relationship and emotion between myself and my father. At that moment, I really felt what "hearing, seeing, and feeling" is. With this feeling, no matter how I act, it will be right.
"Whose son you are is not important; who you are is important."
The Paper : What is it like to train together in the training camp? What changes and gains did it bring to you?
Yu Shi : This period of time must have been very tiring in terms of training intensity. I have been an athlete in the youth training system since I was 13 years old. Participating in the training camp makes me feel like I have returned to the training state when I was a child. I start running at about 5:30 every morning. The courses are very full and end at 9:00 in the evening. Despite my experience in sports, I still feel tired.
For a new actor, the experience of participating in the Fengshen Performing Arts Training Camp is very valuable. Some courses, such as equestrian action courses, may be difficult to access in professional colleges, but they are closely related to actor performance and can be used in future work. The Fengshen Performing Arts Training Camp has transformed me from a person who has nothing to do with acting into a rookie actor, and it has also given me a completely different understanding of the profession of an actor. Actors have a sense of responsibility for every character they create, which is what this training camp and my shooting experience have taught me.
From athlete to actor, I almost gave up
The Paper : Why did you want to sign up for the "Fengshen Trilogy" audition? What are your expectations for this project?
Yu Shi : At that time, I was shooting a sports-themed commercial. The casting team of "Fengshen Trilogy" saw the video on the Internet and contacted me. At that time, I didn't have much experience in filming, and I had participated in some interviews, but even if I really wanted to film, I kept hitting a wall, and I almost gave up during that time. At that time, I had the opportunity to learn about the recruitment of "Fengshen Trilogy", saying that if the interview is successful, as a new actor, I can enter the "Fengshen Performing Arts Training Camp" and participate in multiple courses. So my initial thought was to succeed in the interview and enter the training camp to take classes for free. Because I was not from a major, I really hoped to have a chance to learn acting. At that time, I thought that the opportunity had come and I might as well give it a try, so I participated in the interview for "Fengshen Trilogy".
The Paper : You have been engaged in sports before, when did you start thinking about acting?
Yu Shi : In fact, being an actor was not my dream at the beginning, but I have loved to imitate and watch movies since I was a child. At the beginning, when I was an athlete, I fell in love with music. I have been learning guitar, playing and singing by myself. After going to university, I want to make music, and I hope to express myself through my creation and singing. Through music, I got in touch with some people who are engaged in the performing arts industry. They also thought that my image was not bad in all aspects, and suggested that I should try to be an actor. I will start to try later.
suitable for
The Paper : Does having no professional experience have a great impact on being an actor?
Yu Shi : Yes, I went to the film crew for an interview, and introduced myself afterwards, which was very cruel. Almost every time I was asked, "Where did the child graduate?" I said, "I'm in Liaogong University, a science and engineering school, and I'm still in school." The answers I got were "It's good, go back and wait for news", and then there was nothing else. So I am very grateful to director Wu Ershan. "Fengshen Trilogy" is the first group I joined. He gave so many newcomers the opportunity, including veterans, athletes, and people from different industries. "Fengshen Trilogy" is a platform where the director is willing to watch everyone's performance. When I went to "Fengshen Trilogy", it was the first time I had the opportunity to show myself in front of the director and other main creators. Before that, I only had the part of self-introduction, which was the whole process of my interview, and many times the prepared episodes ended without a chance to act.
The Paper : How does your experience as an athlete and your habit of exercising have any influence and help on you?
Yu Shi : This experience as an athlete has indeed brought me a lot of different things. There is a strong big picture behind every sport, especially team sports. When I was young, I played point guard in basketball. To command every player in the whole game, how to play every tactic, and how to use one’s physical strength reasonably, these also require a lot of wisdom. Just like fighting on the battlefield, it is not only based on skills, but the awareness of teamwork has been rooted in our brains since childhood. Another point is also the "will quality" that the coaches would tell us since childhood. Maybe the coaches of every sport love to emphasize these four words, and they will always be with me.
In fact, when facing a certain degree of difficulty, what makes you better than others does not necessarily mean that your technical skills are better than others. These can be achieved through hard work. If two people have the same talent and the same level of effort, in fact, it is difficult to distinguish the level. Then it depends on the quality of will if you want to break through. Whether you can break through yourself and persist in the most difficult and tiring times. Everyone has experienced despair and wanted to give up.
Waiting is also precipitation, and I will continue the working methods taught by "Fengshen Trilogy"
The Paper : The production process of "Feng Shen No. 1" lasted for many years. As a new actor, what is your mentality while waiting for this film to be released?
Yu Shi : During the time I was waiting, it was probably a feeling that I will never forget in my life. It is quite a test for a young man. Later, I thought, if "The First Part of Fengshen" was released smoothly, as a fledgling boy, if I was pushed out by such a big work all of a sudden, I might be overwhelmed. At that time, I was too young to grasp it. The two years of waiting have also been a precipitation for me.
In fact, there were countless nights before, when I was thinking about when the film will be finalized and how I would feel when it was released. As a result, when "Fengshen Part I" was confirmed to be screened with the dragon label, I was very calm at that moment, and only a few words in my mind were "it's finally going to be released".
People always grow up. The waiting time in the past few years feels like it has been stretched out. In fact, two years have passed, but it feels like four or five years have passed. In terms of mentality, there are many things and problems that I think about every day. I have been practicing riding and archery since I finished shooting, and learned a lot about traditional culture. I want to do things to spread traditional culture, learn equestrianism, bow and arrow.
Later, I had the opportunity to film "The King of the Sky", and I thought I would still be an actor. I confirmed that I have the ability to do this, and I also love the film and television industry. Even though I have experienced so many ups and downs and suffered psychologically, when I look back now, I will find that I love acting very much, and it can bring me a lot of satisfaction.
The "long-awaited" "Fengshen Part I".
The Paper : Director Wu Ershan used this production method in the creation of "Fengshen Trilogy", including the method of training actors, which is almost "unique" in this industry. How will this first-time experience affect you?
Yu Shi : Director Wu Ershan is an artist, but also a craftsman. Working with the director has cultivated many characteristics in me. It is better to take the time to do one thing well than to rush for success. No matter how many years it takes, we actors spent 2 years, the director may spend 9 years, or nearly 10 years on this project. In fact, this is an attitude, very pure. With this heart, what is time? There is only tempering. As I practice archery, I know that the longer you spend, the better your results will be. Just like when I look at some shots taken three years ago, I will feel amazing at the time, but looking back, I can actually do better now.
The new roles I may take on in the future may not necessarily give me such a long time to enter the characters like "The Trilogy of Conferred Gods", but I will also ask myself to immerse myself in a role as much as possible in a certain period of time. I will continue to continue the working methods taught by "Trilogy of Conferred Gods". When filming "The King of the Sky", when I played Deng Fang, I would also write a long biography of the character, to perceive this character in advance. Including later, I also filmed a drama series, playing a Kazakh person, and I had to speak Kazakh throughout the whole process. I studied and prepared half a year in advance. It was a completely different language, and it was impossible to act well without spending time and energy. There are many roles that take time to shape. When conditions permit, I think it is necessary to spend time doing one thing.
"The King of the Sky" Stills, Yu Shi as Deng Fang
The Paper : You have always mentioned riding and archery, so do you still have a high enthusiasm for this traditional sport?
Yu Shi : Yes, I have been practicing after the shooting, and learned a lot about traditional culture. I want to do things about spreading traditional culture, learn equestrianism, bow and arrow, etc. I also hope that more people will like riding and archery. It turned out that I, like most people, did not understand this niche sport, but after getting in touch with it, I felt its true charm. There are many excellent traditional cultures in China that suffer from the lack of people to spread, and it is difficult for the public to see and pass them on. If I like it as an actor, my love may make more people come into contact with and fall in love with our traditional culture, which I think is very meaningful.
"Fengshen Part I" stills, Ji Fa rides and shoots
The Paper : As a very important character in "Feng Shen Trilogy", how Ji Fa will grow in the next two parts, can you give us a little "spoiler"?
Yu Shi : Everyone is familiar with the story of "Fengshen". In the end, King Wu defeated Zhou and Ji Fa became king and established a new dynasty. What's more interesting is that after watching the second two movies, the audience may feel that Ji Fa and "Fengshen Part I" saw completely different "three people". Although they all have the same face, the presentation of the characters will be completely different, and everyone can see Ji Fa's different states.
The Paper : For a newcomer actor who has starred in two blockbuster films so far, what are your visions and expectations for your future career as an actor?
Yu Shi : I will still read the characters and scripts, and hope to have space to try more roles. Many people will think that you are suitable for ancient costumes after seeing you take pictures of ancient costumes; if you take pictures of soldiers, you are very suitable for acting as soldiers. But I know that I am a person who loves challenges. I would like to take on unexpected roles and bring more surprises to the audience, instead of working step by step within the audience's expectations. Now I want to act in some more realistic films, break the traditional sense of modeling, and create a very down-to-earth character.
