In Li Mu's eyes, there were only a handful of outstanding Hua Xia actors, and top-notch actors were even more difficult to find.
Although he did not want to worship foreigners in this regard, he had to admit that Hua Xia's film actors were far inferior to Hollywood's. It was completely incomparable. Any Oscar film in the United States could almost kill the entire Hua Xia film industry in terms of the quality of the actors' acting skills.
However, Teacher Li Xuejian was one of the very few top-notch actors in his eyes, the Hua Xia actor.
Li Mu felt that Teacher Li Xuejian and Tom Hanks could be said to be the same type of actor. They looked like whoever they played. Even after portraying an iconic role, they would not solidify their image and temperament. When playing the next role, they could easily jump out of the constraints of all previous roles and create a new image.
It sounded easy, but for most actors, it was too difficult.
Li Youbin, who played Li Yunlong in Drawing Sword, was also a very good actor in Li Mu's eyes. However, he was not the best because after portraying Drawing Sword, his acting style could not escape the traces of Li Yunlong. Such a thing would not happen with Teacher Li Xuejian and Tom Hanks.
When Teacher Li Xuejian was 26 years old, he once played Lin Biao. In order to get a good image, he hung Lin Biao's photo all over the room and desperately lost weight to achieve the emaciated appearance of the other party. In the end, his appearance was so similar that it made people want to slap the table and praise it. This was the noble professional ethics of the older generation of actors.
For the older generation of actors, what they pursued was acting itself. They never used acting to gain fame and fortune for themselves. In their eyes, acting was no different from being a welder, a fitter, or a lathe worker. Therefore, all their experience was spent on studying how to act well, just like a welder who wholeheartedly wanted to practice welding skills. That was why their acting skills reached the pinnacle and they became true artists.
However, as the economy continued to develop and the public's demand for entertainment continued to increase, the entertainment industry truly took shape. At that time, the actors and actresses understood what business was and knew that the operation of business represented endless wealth. Therefore, they spent most of their energy on how to improve and obtain more resources, how to increase their influence, and how to earn more money. When actors and actresses did not study their acting skills, how could they hope for the birth of good actors and good works?
At this moment, Spielberg was also very interested in the Teacher Li Xuejian that Li Mu mentioned. He rarely heard Li Mu praise an actor like that. He believed that this actor's acting skills must be quite good.
Soon, the staff came to the hotel's VIP reception room, found Mr. Li Xuejian, and said to him, "Mr. Li, our director Li Zong and director Spielberg are supervising the post-production of the documentary, so we would like to invite you to have a look. Are you interested?"
Teacher Li Xuejian asked curiously, "Documentary? Pardon me for asking, but what documentary are Li Zong and director Spielberg working on? "
The staff knew that for the sake of confidentiality, these leading actors had not received the relevant information. Therefore, he explained, "Li Zong has been in Spring City recently doing public welfare activities to find the surviving Flying Tigers. He is preparing to edit it into a documentary."
"Oh?" Teacher Li Xuejian said in surprise, "Then please bring me there quickly."
…
Teacher Li Xuejian, who was almost 50 years old, had not been as excited as he was today for a long time. For him, to have the opportunity to act in such an extraordinary film like "Flying Tigers" was not only a kind of affirmation, but also an honor.
As early as when Li Mu announced in Hollywood that he was going to start a movie like this, Teacher Li Xuejian was attracted by the special history of World War II. He specially studied a lot of information about the Flying Tigers that year, not for anything else, but just to be able to understand the real situation of this period of history.
At that time, Teacher Li Xuejian had never thought that he would be invited to act in this movie, because he was very clear about his position. He was just an old actor, not commercial enough, not popular enough. A young man in his early twenties like Li Mu would probably not know him. Even if he knew, he wouldn't think of him. As for a world-class director like Spielberg, it would be even more impossible for him to know about him. It was already very rare for him to know a few actors like Hua Xia who had some international fame.
After studying that period of history, Teacher Li Xuejian realized that history was more admirable than he had imagined. At that time, Teacher Li had an extravagant wish in his heart: If he could wholeheartedly play a role in such a movie, no matter how big or small the role was, it would be the happiest and most satisfying thing for an actor.
What he never expected was that this seemingly impossible wish of his had come true.
Li Mu had some "negative impressions" of Teacher Li Xuejian. This negative impression came from his portrayal of Song Jiang in "Water Margin". This TV series created by CCTV premiered in January 1998. At that time, Li Mu was still in high school. He was relatively angry and hated the character of Song Jiang, which was played by Li Xuejian.
At that time, Li Mu felt that all the heroes in Liangshan were heroes. Only Song Jiang, who pretended to be benevolent and righteous, was the biggest scourge. In the end, everyone died, which made Li Mu feel sad for a long time. In particular, Song Jiang's idea of being summoned by the imperial court and his servile appearance when he knelt in front of the imperial court made the young Li Mu particularly disgusted.
It was also because Teacher Li Xuejian's interpretation of the character of Song Jiang was so perfect that Li Mu couldn't help but have some negative impressions of him. Fortunately, after all, he was a soul in his thirties who had been reborn. He had seen many characters played by Teacher Li Xuejian, so he had completely lost the inexplicable resistance he had at the beginning.
The staff led Teacher Li Xuejian to the room. Li Mu took Spielberg with him and met Teacher Li Xuejian for the first time.
Li Mu first shook hands with Teacher Li Xuejian and said, "Teacher Li, I've admired you for a long time. Finally, I have the opportunity to meet you. Thank you for joining the production of" Flying Tigers "!"
Teacher Li Xuejian hurriedly said humbly, "You're welcome, Li Zong. You are the pride of our Chinese people. I'm just an actor. Besides, it's my honor to join" Flying Tigers ". I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity!"
Li Mu said, "You don't have to be so polite. As a top actor in the country, I have more expectations for" Flying Tigers "with you!"
After that, Li Mu said, "Let me introduce you to Director Spielberg of Hollywood."
Li Xuejian hurriedly said, "I've heard of Director Spielberg's name before!"
Then, Li Xuejian reached out to Spielberg and said in not very fluent English, "Nice-To-Meet-You."
Spielberg also hurriedly shook hands with Li Xuejian and said in Chinese, "Hello, nice to meet you."
Li Mu immediately acted as an interpreter and introduced the two of them to each other.
For Li Xuejian, it was indeed a great honor to be able to meet the legendary director, Spielberg, and to be able to work with him. Spielberg was eight years older than Li Xuejian, and he was a truly world-renowned master in the film industry. In comparison, Li Xuejian was not only much younger, but his achievements were also much worse than Spielberg's. Therefore, he was especially humble.
After introducing the two of them to each other, Li Mu said to Li Xuejian, "Teacher Li, the reason why I invited you and the other actors to Spring City today is because I want to arrange for you to meet and get to know the surviving members of the Flying Tigers that we've found so far. After all, everyone is acting out their story, so we should also show our respect to them in person."
Li Xuejian nodded repeatedly and said, "Before receiving the invitation for this role, I've already looked up a lot of information about the Flying Tigers. They are indeed a great group that deserves our respect and love. It's really great to be able to pay our respects to them in person."
Then, Li Xuejian asked Li Mu, "Li Zong, how many surviving members of the Flying Tigers have you found this time?"
Li Mu said, "So far, we've found a total of more than 70 people. Among them, there are more than 40 from America, and about 30 from Hua Xia. This time, there are a total of 50 who came to Spring City."
"So many!" Li Xuejian exclaimed. "And many of them are from America?"
"Yes." Li Mu nodded. "This time, there are more than 20 members of the Flying Tigers and their families from America."
Li Xuejian hurriedly said, "Then when can we arrange to meet them? I'd like to visit them now. "
Li Mu said, "Today, our staff brought them to the suburbs for a tour, and they'll be back in the afternoon. We've arranged a dinner party in the evening, and we'll introduce you to them then."
Li Xuejian sighed and said, "I just heard from the staff that you're doing a charity activity to find the surviving members of the Flying Tigers. Why haven't I heard any news from Yanjing?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "My two companies and I have jointly invested in the establishment of the Veterans Never Die Charitable Foundation, which specializes in helping the surviving veterans of World War II solve all kinds of difficulties and problems that they've encountered in their lives. The search for the surviving members of the Flying Tigers is just one of the activities of our foundation. The reason why we haven't started any publicity is because I want to combine the efforts of the foundation and the search for the surviving members of the Flying Tigers together with the announcement of our movie characters. As the saying goes, we'll amaze the world with a single brilliant feat. This way, we can also maximize the influence."
Li Xuejian nodded repeatedly. Li Mu said, "Oh right, Teacher Li, let me show you some of the video clips that we shot for this charity activity. After you watch it, please give us some comments and see if there's anything that needs to be changed."
"Okay!"
Ten minutes later, Teacher Li Xuejian's eyes were glued to the computer monitor, and he seemed to be in a daze.
The promotional video used for the press conference was more or less 90% complete. In the video that was interspersed with history and the present, accompanied by the tragic and majestic background music, Teacher Li Xuejian's face was covered in tears.
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