2019 August - Nandu Entertainment Weekly Magazine
We were reunited again in the spring of 2017. He was a guy in "a casual white shirt, thin, tall, polite and considerate". At that time, he was constantly touring around various production crews, The direction of his development in the film and television industry has been clearly defined.
This summer [2019], we met with Xiao Zhan for the third time. He had just recently gained popularity and recognition with his outstanding performance. He shared with us all the experiences actors encounter on the way. Xiao Zhan also talked about his childhood, looking back on the past, summing up the present, and looking forward to the future. Witness him along the way, "Effort" and "Sobriety" are Xiao Zhan's keywords, and more exciting stories will also be told in this magazine interview.
A Hard-Working Actor
"Wei Wuxian
already has 70 points by himself. I dare not take credit"
Acting is what Xiao Zhan has been trying to do.
"Of course I want to say that I have talent" When it comes to talent and hard work, Xiao Zhan answered frankly with a smile. There's no doubt that he wanted to have the talent and Reiki*. As to whether they're actually present, it's still unclear. The only thing Xiao Zhan can feel is that he has changed from being ignorant a year or two ago, to "having some understanding and ideas" today. He now tries to perceive a different life in each role. "Anyway, I am not the kind of actor who can achieve this state in a single step, so I will need talent, temperament and hard work." He concluded.
(*灵气 Reiki as in that Japanese Reiki you must be familiar with, they have the same origins. In Chinese, it refers to the ability of people to feel and understand things, knowing the temperament of others.)
When he first started as a newbie actor, Xiao Zhan has also experienced "rejection". Xiao Zhan regards the previous audition experience as a process of "disintegration and reconstruction": During the audition, an actor must establish the "I gave my best act" confidence, and when this confidence is broken, then he should rebuild. He believes that in such a continuous "disintegration and reconstruction" he slowly "became stronger".
Although he didn't have the professional background, Xiao Zhan has been studying how to act ever since he joined the industry back in 2016. This summer, we saw the results of Xiao Zhan's efforts. Perhaps this time last year, when people talked about Xiao Zhan as an actor, the topic was more focused on "Oh! My Emperor" when he made an eye-catching appearance in an ancient costume. A year later, Wei Wuxian's role in "Chen Qing Ling" not only gained him massive popularity, but his acting skills were also recognized by the audience.
Right from the beginning, Xiao Zhan already made a lot of efforts to win the role of Wei Wuxian. The audition experience of "Chen Qing Ling" was somewhat different. Producer Yang Xia once mentioned in an interview that Xiao Zhan did not go through an acting audition at their first meeting but instead talked to him about his personal interpretation of the character. "Although he wasn't a professional graduate*, he had a rich experience in life and society. His understanding of the script is much more mature than that of his peers."
(*科班 Historically, refers to the establishment that recruits children and then trains them to become opera talents. These days, it means that an actor had gone through formal education or training from a specialized art institution/acting degree in a university.)
It's obviously not easy to play a *big IP's protagonist, Wei Wuxian. They have to face not only a character with a vivid and multifaceted personality and a 16-year age span, but also two major hurdles: The book readers* and the Donghua fans.
(*Intellectual property (IP), in this case, a popular webnovel)
(*原著党 literally Original Party, meaning fans of the original work. I used book-readers instead since it's more familiar to us due to Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, where some loyal book fans didn't like the adaptations)
At the same time, Xiao Zhan also divided Wei Wuxian's role into stages. In the early stage of the storyline, Xiao Zhan attached great importance to how to show the Ah Xian's adorable and frank nature by being more "likable" and "just right".
"On how to interpret such a strange and ghostly character, we actually discussed it with the producer at that time. It would be 'greasy' if the performance was not good, so we were discussing the scale [of emotions] as well."
As for the later part of the character, Xiao Zhan paid more attention on how to make an ingenious transition showing Wei Wuxian's inconspicuous growth and changes. For this reason, he made a breakdown on the part of the eye play: The former Wei Wuxian could look directly at others, while the latter Wei Wuxian, who was forced to grow up, was "deprived" of this naivety. In this stage, Xiao Zhan is more likely to deal with it by glancing sideways. It wasn't until Wei Wuxian truly understood Lan Wangji that his erratic uncertain gaze and insecure wandering eyes was finally eliminated and he returned to looking at others squarely in the eye. All sorts of subtleties shows Xiao Zhan's experience and understanding of the characters.
As far as Xiao Zhan is concerned, Chen Qing Ling would be his first time to be in the leading actor in a long series. This large-scale drama makes him "accompany" the character for a long time, which also makes him more aware of the feeling of "entering the play*". After joining the group for half a month, he began to have the feeling of "becoming Wei Wuxian" that it gradually established the actor's "sense of belief."
(*入戏 To describe actors who put a lot of emotion into the characters they play when performing dramas and/or movies to a point that they are immersed so much into the story's situations, it takes a while to 'get back' to the real world.)
"During that time, you're in the state of your character," Xiao Zhan told us that he had a strong feeling that he still could not completely get out of Wei Wuxian's enviable world for a period of time after the film was finished. Even he himself had changed because of his role. The actor Xuan Lu, who plays the elder sister Jiang Yanli, recalled seeing Xiao Zhan for the first time and said that he was very "reserved", but Xiao Zhan became lively after they finished filming. Like Wei Wuxian, he became just as naughty and coquettish. Producer Yang Xia felt the same way. In a meeting between the two, she also expressed that "You seem to have changed" to Xiao Zhan.
After the broadcast of "Chen Liu Ling", In the eyes of many viewers, Xiao Zhan's performance has a high degree of completion. In our reporter's survey with the online audience, some of the book-readers even directly used "surprise" and "魏无羡本羡" to describe Xiao Zhan's interpretation of the role.
In the face of praise from the outside world, Xiao Zhan had a rational reflection. "Wei Wuxian already has 70 points by himself. I dare not take credit. What I have to do is to earn him a score of 80 points, 90 points, or even full marks."
However with Wei Wuxian's previous success, Xiao Zhan also began to face a problem common to many actors ---How to achieve a breakthrough by himself?
Talking about this, Xiao Zhan, who was smiling almost all the way through the interview, bowed his head and paused for a few seconds. He sighed. "In fact, when I was filming later, I would also remember that I've already used this certain performance back in the time of Chen Qing Ling. So how can I make a distinction? These are all the points that I have struggled with. I will also discuss with the acting teacher whether we can develop some new methods." After saying that, he thought once again after which, Xiao Zhan smile once more, "I still have confidence in myself. Of course, I have to work harder on my own!"
"Step by step" Growth
"Do your best in a limited environment"
This summer's rapid popularity has made the word "Xiao Zhan" a popular "refreshed*" topic in the Internet and among circle of friends.
(*
朋友圈刷屏 means a large amount of repeated information appears in the circle
of friends in a short period of time, occupying the main traffic. In
this sentence, they used 刷屏 as a verb which describes pulling a page
downwards in a repeated manner, say in weibo for example, to refresh the
search page for new posts on Xiao Zhan.)
When
it comes to the name "Xiao Zhan", there is also a wonderful
"coincidence". Nowadays, many fans who love Xiao Zhan
affectionately call him 小赞 (xiao zan, literally 'small praise') because
of his homonym and because his performance is worthy of praise.
As
a matter of fact, Xiao Zhan was almost called 肖赞 (Xiao Zhan). He told
us a funny story when his parents named him at that time. Laughing, he
said, "My name was very casual. The ‘赞’(zan) from ‘点赞’ (dian zan) was
originally the one they intended to use. But my parents also said that
‘赞’ is a bit difficult to write. Can a child write it? So it was changed
to a simple one, 肖战 (Xiao Zhan)."
The reporter put forward the idea: "The
word 战 (War) is cool, but people seldom use it when naming their
children."
Xiao Zhan immediately switched to an Amway* mode on-the-spot "So use it! I think it is quite good, I quite like this word Hahaha!"
(*
安利 Amway, a buzzword which means strong recommendation. It originated
from how Multi-level marketing company Amway tend to sell their
products.)
Xiao
Zhan was born in 1991. In his depiction, he grew up in a rather
traditional Chinese family. His family gave Xiao Zhan a lot of love and
protection and instilled "A very correct concept of three perspectives".
The 3 Perspectives:
Worldview: Cognition of things in the objective world
Outlook on life: What are you going to do with your life?
Values: What matters to you
His
parents not only attach great importance to Xiao Zhan's achievements in
cultural courses, but also pay special attention to the cultivation of
comprehensive qualities. Therefore, Xiao Zhan was a "frequent visitor to
the Children's Palace" in his childhood. As for the "versatile" praise
given to him online, Xiao Zen uttered a long puzzled voice after hearing
it, "Hmmm?!”
Then
he explained: "Many of them were learned when I was little, you know,
Hahaha, it's superficial, just fine, fine." It's true that the
superficial things Xiao Zhan described, such as violin and the weiqi,
were learned at the request of his parents, but taking the art class was
out of Xiao Zhan's own interest. At the age of 8, Xiao Zhan got his
wish and began to formally study painting. He has also persisted in this
specialty. Xiao Zhan's family still keeps a DV, filmed in Xiao Zhan
kindergarten. At that time, Xiao Zhan recorded his dream of becoming a
painter in front of the camera. This ideal later became an illustrator
and designer.
In
high school, Xiao Zhan, like most children, was expected to "go to a
good university." In this general direction, he almost never deviated
from the initially rising to a high stage. Xiao Zhan was admitted to a
key high school in Chongqing. When he was divided into classes, he chose
liberal arts classes. "Because studying arts, liberal arts may not be
so stressful. I can memorize things faster and have a better control
over political and historical subjects."
In
Xiao Zhan's self-narration, he also had an exclusive "rebellious"
adolescent phase. "I liked painting when I was in high school, and my
grades were not so good. I was only at an average level. My parents were
very anxious to let me study and not let me play. Sometimes there will
be conflicts haha, I will also quarrel with my mother and make my mother
drop the plate."
In
the year of the college entrance examination, Xiao Zhan was
unexpectedly "defeated". He failed to get the ideal score in his most
specialized art subject. Xiao Zhan rejected his father's suggestion to
repeat it. At the age of 18, he has learned to "accept". Xiao Zhan told
the reporter, "Although I am not reconciled to it when I think about it
now, (but) at that time, I thought it would be good to accept this
result and just do your best in a limited environment."
If
you look at Xiao Zhan's resume during his university career, you can
come to the conclusion that this is not an empty talk. There are many
"legends" about Xiao Zhan's college days on the internet.The slightly
exaggerated descriptions are mostly to prove that he has both talent and
appearance.In the past, the media have repeatedly asked him for
confirmation, but he always responded that he was just an "ordinary
person". However,If the "textual research" is carefully studied, the
title of "School Master School Grass*" seems to have "traces to follow"
(*学
霸校草 Read as "Xue Ba Xiao Cao". 学霸 is a buzzword on the Internet, refers
to students who are good at learning and have a high score in each
subject. while 校草 School grass refers to the most handsome boy
recognized by everyone in the school .)
During
studying design in Chongqing Technology and Business University (CTBU),
Xiao Zhan was a full-time active "literary activist": He became a
member of the class literary committee when he entered school. As
someone who loved singing since childhood, he also joined the choir of
the school art troupe and later served as the minister of vocal music
and the minister of male voices of the art troupe. At the same time,
Xiao Zhan joined the school language art troupe to become an actor.
During his sophomore year, Xiao Zhan won the honorary title of "Top Ten
Singers on Campus" in the campus singing competition. Later, he took
part in the Chongqing municipal competition on behalf of the school and
won the second prize in the Chongqing Campus Singers Competition. It was
reported that Xiao Zhan was often seen in various performances in CTBU
at that time. During the school's 60th anniversary party, Xiao Zhan also
acted as the opening solo of singing programs.
Xiao
Zhan also performed well in his own professional field. When he was in
school, he won the first prize and the best popularity award in the
public welfare poster design competition held by the school. Xiao Zhan,
who sees himself as someone who "likes to be fussy", started a "college
student's business" with several close friends in 2012. They set up a
design studio and began to undertake some small tasks of LOGO and Visual
Identity (VI) design. At the same time, they also set up a photography
studio, in which he served as the main photographer. Later, Xiao Zhan
went to the design company for an internship and stayed after
graduation. Including the internship, he worked in the design industry
for a total of two years.
In
the impression of many people, the daily routine of "Party B designer"
is often "be in tears when you say too much"
However, Xiao Zhan was especially "lucky"
However, Xiao Zhan was especially "lucky"
"Designers
are relatively weak, but our boss will protect us from unreasonable
demands. For example, the customer only asked for 'color black' hahaha.
It may have already been 'filtered' for us by the boss."
Xiao
Zhan also had the time to "battle" with Party A's customers repeatedly,
but it was also in these work experiences that he felt his own design
ability and communication skills had significantly improved. Not long
ago, in a media interview, Xiao Zhan was also asked "What is your
proudest thing" He said: "In the highly competitive industry, I have
successfully sold a lot of my (design) LOGO. I can proudly say that I
have done particularly well in the previous industry."
At
the end of this nostalgic conversation, we told Xiao Zhan a joke that
has been popular in the industry recently. Because of Xiao Zhan's high
level of cooperation when it comes to work, many people in the industry
joked and praised him, "A Party B artist who can be considerate of
others." hearing this assessment, Xiao Zhan was happy for a long time.
"I think it has nothing to do with not being Party B. It's mainly because of
the influence of a small family environment. My parents told me from an
early age that it would be better to understand other people's
perspectives and to create an environment that would make both parties
comfortable so that everyone could work happier. Isn't that better?"
From Confusion to Becoming Firmer
"If you have an opportunity, seize it."
In
fact, Xiao Zhan never realized his advantage in appearance, nor did he
consider going to show business. On the contrary, he was frightened by
his "Magnified 1.8x" face when he first appeared on the screen, "Wow!
What a big face!" As for becoming an artist later, Xiao Zhanlian used
two "coincidences" to explain it.
His
Dad supported him to "come back after a round", His boss at the design
company told him to "Come back once it's over", Xiao Zhandu was
relieved, but no one thought that he will come all the way to the
present.
Even
with the mentality of "playing", Xiao Zhan never slackened off in the
competition. The first time the magazine met Xiao Zhan was in the
training room on the eve of the finals in early 2016. The first impression reporters had at that time, was that Xiao Zhan was more handsome than "brilliant".
He gives people the feeling is "very calm, warm and gentle". The
opposite of "gentleness" is his stubbornness and persistence. At that
time, Xiao Zhan used "break down" to describe his psychological state
when he was practicing dancing "I haven't been stressed for more than 20
years. All of the sudden I've gotten old and my muscles are getting
cramps. I'm so sad!"
It
was also mentioned in the program that the manicure of his big toe fell
off because of improper exertion during dance practice. But he never
thought of giving up. "It's painful, but since I've decided to come, I
should stick to it and do it well."
Looking
back now, Xiao Zhan felt that his idea at that time was quite simple.
he wanted to prove to those who didn't like him, "If you want to say I
can't, then I must."
Participating
in the competition at the age of 24 was regarded as the third important
point in Xiao Zhan's life. Before that, he once regarded that being a
designer will be his lifelong career. Has there been a struggle when you
have to give up your career as a designer?
"I
don't think so." He replied decisively, "I will struggle with whether
to do it or not I may do it and when. But once I decide to do it, I will go all out with it."
In
fact, when making a decision, Xiao Zhan didn't think too much about it.
"I didn't think about what I would give up or what I would get."
Xiao Zhan is always ready and continues to practice singing and dancing. He did not even let go of his problem with his "eyes drifting away" while he was in the program. "I will consciously pay attention to this problem when looking in the mirror."
"Do you have any regrets these days?"
"No, never." He answered, almost without thinking.
Xiao Zhan had mentioned the topic of "regret" once in a previous conversation. Before taking part in the competition, his father had told him, "Don't regret your decision"
He replied, "There's nothing to regret. I'll just do it."
Once a decision is made in Xiao Zhan's world, one must do one's best because "There is no turning back, you cannot turn back."
Xiao Zhan considers himself a "an extremely insecure person", so when he sets a goal, he will try to achieve it, always reminding himself to "keep that tension". He regards this pressure as motivation. "Only when there's a sense of crisis can I achieve it."
But where did this sense of security come from? Xiao Zhan did not understand either. He analyzed, "If I knew, maybe (this feeling) would be better."
These days Xiao Zhan is no longer as confused and shaken as he was at the beginning, but can now "put aside some noisy voices", become firmer and more "straight to the point". Xiao Zhan believes that these are all changes that performing has given him, that his ability to perceive things has become stronger, and that he has also been able to understand more ways of life. Acting is undoubtedly an important turning point for him.
We were reunited with him in the spring of 2017, when he had already made clear the direction of development into the film and television industry. Our reporter described the situation when he saw Xiao Zhan. "He's very polite and considerate, wearing a casual white shirt, thin, tall. In the meantime, he did not forget to mention the fans who waited for his rehearsal all night, saying that it was very cold at night, and feared that everyone would catch a cold."
At that time, he was about to return to the crew of "Battle Through the Heavens" It has also been recently confirmed that he'll take part in "The Wolf".
"Facts have proved that he was right to follow the path of acting."
Xiao Zhan does not like to think about the far-off future, most of the time he'd just "walk and see",
"Just like mountaineering, when you reach one stage, you can make a climbing plan for the next." Living in the present and doing a good job is Xiao Zhan's philosophy of life. And his current small goal is to "Film every drama well". In his view, to do one's job well is one's basic accomplishment as an actor.
/End
