Meeting Wang Zha in "Safe Evacuation from the 21st Century" made actor Zhang Ruoyun feel ecstatic as if he had found a kindred spirit.

It is also a "time travel", but this time, unlike Mr. Xiao Fan who has lived two lifetimes and is "mature at a young age", on the contrary, he is an 18-year-old soul entering a 38-year-old body, so he can be "justifiably childish".

In the imaginative setting of director Li Yang, three teenagers on the distant planet K can travel back and forth in time and space by sneezing. The story of saving the world is intertwined with fancy and dazzling strange tricks, hiding a pure, passionate and sad core. Wang Zha is the one who is least likely to "go bad" in the trio. He is like an anchor and observer of time, turning the endless cycle in the Möbius strip into a series of passionate and resolute rushes.

Poster for "Safe Evacuation from the 21st Century"

The film's director, Li Yang, was a famous animation genius who became popular on the Internet ten years ago with "The Adventures of Li Xianji". However, his creation stagnated after the live-action short film "Bad Future" in 2013. The script of "Safe Escape from the 21st Century" has long been a "bottom of the box" stock because it is too abstract and "incomprehensible". Until this script was handed to Zhang Ruoyun, the two equally imaginative people hit it off.

In a media interview after the premiere of the movie, a media asked, if they could travel back to the past, which moment would the creators want to go back to? Zhang Ruoyun's answer was sentimental and romantic. "I am not particularly interested in changing the bad things in the past. All the painful things that happened are a shaping of myself. But if I could, I would like to go back and watch every fireworks in the past. Because those beautiful moments cannot be replicated, pessimistic people will start to feel sad the moment the fireworks bloom. But if I can go back and forth infinitely, at least when I watch it, I can simply enjoy its beauty."

Zhang Ruoyun as Wang Zha

Zhang Ruoyun was a serious and sensitive child since childhood. He was always curious and asked adults all kinds of profound questions, trying to find the true meaning of life from them. The complicated answers and the twists and turns of growing up made him gradually fall into deep depression. He was completely different from the sunny and cheerful boy that the audience is familiar with today.

Director Li Yang described the tacit understanding he and Zhang Ruoyun felt when filming the film, "We have all seen the fangs of tragedy in life, but we dare not retell the true face of tragedy, so we are like two big braggarts, telling the story in a joking tone. If there are people like us in the crowd, they will understand that there are people like him when they see the joke."

The film was officially released nationwide on August 2. In the two weeks of previews before that, the film has already gained a lot of "explosive" good reputation.

Before the movie was released, Zhang Ruoyun was interviewed by a reporter from The Paper. He talked about his unique experience of asking his 18-year-old self for help during this "righteous and naive" creation. He also recounted his own mental journey from seriousness to relaxation as he grew up.

Meet a director with the same brainwave frequency, telling the story of sadness with jokes

The Paper : You worked hard to get the role in Joy of Life because you liked the role. What was the process of deciding to star in this movie this time?

Zhang Ruoyun : This role was quite unexpected. I didn’t expect that this script would be handed to me. When I got the script in 2019, Joy of Life had not yet been aired. The company sent me some movie scripts, but for various reasons, some of them were not suitable for me or I didn’t like them very much. Later, they had to give me the most "stuck in the bottom of the box" weird thing. As a result, when I saw it, I thought, how could this thing be left until the end without anyone taking a fancy to it! I took a fancy to it immediately and loved it so much!

The Paper : What is it about this “hidden treasure” script that impresses you?

Zhang Ruoyun : Because I am a fan of the director's "The Adventures of Li Xianji". I did have some preconceptions and doubts before opening the book, wondering how that set of things would look like in a live-action feature film. Because at the beginning, the actors saw the text book, which did not have so many animations and visual effects, and a lot of it depended on imagination.

Everyone's first reaction to the finished film is "upside down", but the text version will not be that big, because there are no colorful visual effects or transitions, but you can calm down and look at the character logic of the whole story. Although the story is not complicated, the character logic is very clear, and you can feel that there is a hidden version behind this script. This is probably the feeling.

At the same time, I also like "Bad Future". I think "Bad Future" particularly reflects the director's ability. Animation can rely on post-production to add, but "Bad Future" is obviously shot very cramped, and after shooting, there is no way to correct it by reshooting, but this film still completes everything the director wanted to express, and it is very complete.

What impressed me most was that it was the first script that marked the BGM for you. When I watched each scene, I knew which song I should search for and listen to, and I could roughly match the director's sense of atmosphere and editing points in my mind.

Poster for "Safe Evacuation from the 21st Century"

The Paper : You also said that you and the director have the same brain waves, so is there anything special about the interaction after you met?

Zhang Ruoyun : When I met with Director Li Yang, it was strange that we didn't talk about anything more related to the script. We just felt each other's "atmosphere" and started chatting non-stop, about comics, movies, and books. Anyway, we just talked about random things. It felt really good. I didn't want to ask him why he wrote these stories and characters. I think for people who have already resonated, it's meaningless to explore the origins of the creators, because he has already moved you.

My feeling is that after watching this story, I felt quite sad, especially after reading the first narration for the first time, the code that the whole film wanted to express was all in this narration. If I were to say what I understand about the director today, and what similarities we have, I think some sadness is too great to be properly expressed. If you tell others, you are afraid that others will think you are sighing and worrying about you, so we are more accustomed to telling jokes, as if as we grow up, we will learn to face some things more and more with jokes.

Stills from "Safe Evacuation from the 21st Century"

Desk work is done in the heart, and performance must have improvisation

The Paper : In the past, you have been more active in the field of TV dramas, which have long lay-outs of specific situations. However, this movie is more concentrated and extreme than ordinary movies. What challenges does this bring to your performance?

Zhang Ruoyun : I don’t actually have much homework, especially for this movie. But the homework I usually do for TV dramas is not as much as people usually imagine. I usually do my desk work in my mind, feel the character or think a lot about it before shooting, but I don’t take notes to mark which part is how to act. Because you don’t know what the scene is like, what the camera scheduling and the director’s preset are. If you have so many presets and take a lot of notes, you will think I am very reasonable, and you will become very stubborn and not accept other things.

My acting method is to think clearly about the inner logic of the character. Before I arrive at the set, I don't pre-set how I will act tomorrow. After I arrive at the set, I will first look at what is there in the place, and when I put on the costume, I will look at the place with the psychological preparation and the perspective of the character, and find out what things in the place can interact with me. I rarely do a lot of traditional desk work.

My scripts are usually messy and abstract, and my handwriting is poor. I basically cannot write down complete sentences for what I think of at the time. What I write now will only be valid for me tomorrow, or within half a day. It is the inspiration at this moment. I am afraid I will forget it after half a day. So if I don’t shoot it for more than three days, I have to look for inspiration again, because I may not understand my notes at the time, or I may feel that they are "shitty". My performance must have an improvisational element.

The Paper : So the director’s approach of using animation to shoot live-action movies, with lots of cartoon-like and game-like performances, should be very much to your liking when you were performing?

Zhang Ruoyun : Yes, the best thing is, looking back now, I resisted my curiosity and didn't ask the director for the storyboard, which was a very right decision. I don't know how he would storyboard, but I trust his judgment. I have no doubts about his storyboard. I think no matter whether he used to shoot cartoons or something else, the working habits of actors are still to feel the role based on the literary script and then collide with other actors.

Directed by Li Yang, starring Zhang Ruoyun

The Paper : Compared with the other two brothers, Wang Zha is the only one who grew up without becoming bad. In your understanding, why is Wang Zha the only one who remains unchanged?

Zhang Ruoyun : Actually, he has changed too. There is a hidden clue in the movie. You can think about it. When the 18-year-old Wang Zha first traveled to the age of 38, he was already with Liu Lianzhi, but they were obviously not lovers. When we watched it in a loop, it seemed that at the end of the film, Liu Lianzhi hoped that Wang Zha would go back to the past to find her, but Liu Lianzhi did not do what he hoped. If the 18-year-old Wang Zha went back and found Liu Lianzhi at the age of 19, he would definitely confess to her immediately and say, "I know you like to "catch shrimps in a sunny pond." What made Wang Zha not have the courage to say this and exchange secret codes with Liu Lianzhi, but chose to sit in her co-pilot seat, indicating that in another timeline, Wang Zha might not be young anymore when he found Liu Lianzhi. Wang Zha's cowardice is based on his own heart, but Liu Lianzhi said, "There is no difference between you at the age of 18 and 38." I think this is very romantic.

Liu Lianzhi (played by Zhong Chuxi) and Wang Zha

Chuuniburi is not a disease, but a medicine

The Paper : In the movie, Wang Zha is a character who travels through time from 18 to 38 and still retains the spirit of a young man. The audience summarizes him as a kind of "middle school student". How do you think this character resonates with yourself?

Zhang Ruoyun : There is one thing the director said that particularly touched me. When he feels frustrated and cowardly about life, or when he encounters something that he can't solve, the only way is to ask his 18-year-old self to see if there is any solution. His attitude is consistent with my previous statement that "Chuunibiao is not a disease, it is an antidote." When you are immersed in the complex clues in front of you and can't solve them, Chuunibiao is the only antidote, because only simple and uncomplicated things, and the most thriving things in your heart, can help you break the puzzle and find a solution that belongs only to you.

So the difficulty of acting in this movie lies in that, firstly, it is very abstract, the director does not want you to live like this, and secondly, you have to accept this setting, that there is an 18-year-old child growing in the body of a 38-year-old. I can only do this, and ask for help from my 18-year-old self, but it cannot be the melancholy me at the age of 18, or the introverted, timid me who dares not communicate. He must be the most enthusiastic me at the age of 18. I can only find him and keep this state.

The Paper : So what kind of teenager were you? What kind of imagination did you have for the future?

Zhang Ruoyun : My adolescence was very depressing. There were several key points. When I was 12, I was very serious. I would ask all kinds of serious questions to all adults who were knowledgeable or worthy of help. Recently, during a road show, we met a very serious elementary school student. I thought of when I was 12 years old. If I had a chance to stand in front of the Wachowski brothers and could communicate without language barriers, I would ask all the questions about "The Matrix". At that time, I really wanted to pursue the truth, but I didn't realize that sometimes the truth would make you unacceptable.

The thoughts at the age of 12 became a kind of "origin". Based on this, I started to play games, read comics, or tried to read more profound books. As I read, I became depressed. In addition, the things I encountered during adolescence made me more sensitive. That kind of sadness made me, like many young people now, start to suffer from depression at that time. When I was 18, I didn't seem to be so immature. I started to be a little "ashamed to admit" about myself in the previous period. In high school, I suddenly wanted to be a more "artistic" person.

Zhang Ruoyun at the roadshow

The Paper : How did the transformation from melancholy to funny happen?

Zhang Ruoyun : It was probably because everyone used to post on social networks. At that time, I particularly liked a sentence by Wang Xiaobo, that our lives have so many obstacles, which is really interesting. This kind of logic is called black humor. So at that time, I would write bad things into jokes. Sometimes I would say "I am very sad now" very seriously, but I found that when I said I was sad very seriously, others were very heavy and were unlikely to comment. But when you make sadness into an interesting thing, comments will come. After a while, I found that everyone was interested in what I wrote, but I think I am still very serious. I tried to find the serious 12-year-old me, so I wrote a status saying "I am an honest and orderly young man with rich emotions but serious and pessimistic", and everyone's comments were hahahaha, really, are you? Later, I stopped expressing it easily.

Zhang Ruoyun's early Weibo

I separate the way I communicate with the majority of people from the way I communicate with the minority. There are still a few people among my friends with whom I still exchange “brainwaves” from time to time, and we still talk on the phone for a long time because of sad things. I find myself being extremely long-winded, so I am very grateful to the individual friends who let me “take out the trash”.

The Paper : The movie is about a young boy who keeps traveling between the future and the past, hoping to change the future. When you were young, what was your imagination of the future? Was there a point when you clearly felt that you had "grown up"?

Zhang Ruoyun : At that time, I felt that I was “no longer there” for my future, because there was a “27-year-old club” in middle school. But I was full of confidence in the future of the world, and I felt that the future would definitely be scientific progress and interstellar development.

I didn't feel like I had "grown up". Instead, I felt that I had grown up quite healthily, even younger than I used to be. It was like a trump card in my brain, saving me over and over again as I grew up. I knew that I had not gotten the serious answers to the world as I had imagined when I was 12 years old - after all, I didn't study philosophy, and just thinking about the superficial aspects of it was hard enough for me.

But I also know that my "king bomb" made me grow up very strong. In fact, when I was 18, I was not as "middle school" as I am now, and even when I was 25 or 26, I was not so middle school. In the past, I always wanted to pretend to be a serious adult and a member of society. Now I dare to admit that I am middle school, and I dare to be childish with a clear conscience. This is good, and it makes me feel that my psychology has been healed. Maybe in the eyes of others, I have become childish, but I seem to grow up the more childish I am.

The Paper : We already have the deeply rooted image of Little Lord Fan, and the “brain wave synchronization” experience of Wang Zha. What other expectations do you have for selecting roles in the future?

Zhang Ruoyun : When an actor chooses a role, he must consider what I can give him. So I don’t have any other criteria when choosing a role. I just look at what I can give to the person and whether I can do it. This standard is only in my heart and it is difficult to explain it to others.

Zhang Ruoyun at the roadshow