＂Crossing the Wire＂ subverts itself, and Lu Han, who steps in and stands, is starting again
1905 movie network feature A year ago, we wrote a manuscript, "Laughing at Lu Han is the real tragedy of the year". At that time, the manuscript wrote: Failure does not mean that Lu Han should really be laughed at by the crowd. This film should be a warning that we allow failure, and failure is for future progress.
After the manuscript was sent out, various comments emerged in the background, some supporting their favorite beans, and some continuing to "black". Without a doubt, traffic largely represents controversy. As a representative of traffic, Lu Han’s every move will be noticed by the public. In the past year, in addition to publishing music works, he has participated in the recording of "Creation Camp 2020", and rarely participated in other film and television works. He is still surrounded by countless fans, and at the same time, many people are singing bad news.
Until the online drama "Crossing the Wire" went live, the comments about him, whether on Weibo and Zhihu, or on Hupu and Douban, formed a "epic" praise front.
This time, maybe we can re-establish ourselves in the context of our work and talk about Luhan as an actor.
Luhan is no longer exquisite.
At the beginning of the first episode of "Crossfire," we almost didn’t recognize Lu Han on the screen. With short instant noodle hair, a baggy T-shirt, fat pants, and flip-flops, he looked like a gamer.
In this drama, he is no longer the shining idol image we used to know in front of the camera. He does not maintain the expression management of an idol at all times, nor does he have a Korean filter, but the audience is very comfortable watching. Lu Han said in an interview with "Shanghai Fortress" that I am learning about the word actor step by step, and I especially want to deeply study the acting aspect, because I am also gradually transforming, hoping to use my own actions to work hard to get more people’s recognition step by step.
When the movie was released, his overly delicate and handsome appearance was constantly complained, and many viewers who did not buy it believed that his thick bangs did not match the role setting of the officer and lacked the toughness that should be there.
Now, at least from the initial impression in "Crossfire", it can be seen that Lu Han and the entire team are really determined to transform. Of course, pretending to be ugly can never prove his acting skills, it can only be said that he has taken the first step.
In the sixth episode of the series, Lu Han made his most emotional appearance as an actor. In order to comply with his parents’ arrangement and make his job regular as soon as possible, he kept changing drinks for the leader at the wine table. After three rounds of drinking, he returned home, sitting decadently on the ground, facing the dilemma of reality and dream.
Sighing, bowing his head, and Lu Han’s habitual licking of his lips. This string of movements is placed here, directly conveying the helplessness and confusion of this character to the audience in a layered manner. Director Xu Hongyu mentioned in an interview that during the filming of this scene, Lu Han did not rely on drinking alcohol to find feelings, but actually performed it.
Let’s watch another scene. He was also full of enthusiasm. After running errands to buy KFC for the leader, he was finally thrown away by the other party. At this time, the camera still gave Xiao Feng a close-up – the same sigh and bow, but the emotion given was no longer helplessness, but the helplessness of "social animals" and the grievance of not daring to be angry.
Let’s take a look at a group of the same scene and compare the states in different atmospheres. At the beginning, Xiao Feng temporarily put down his dream and stood at the door of the unit to pull his tie. It was a kind of helpless but had to be passively accepted.
After this short period of work, he resigned decisively at the staff meeting, choosing to ignore the eyes and pressure of the world and resume his e-sports dream. Even at this time, he did not have any team members around him, but the youthful high spirits returned to him again.
From these key scenes, Lu Han really grasped the different emotional states of Xiao Feng’s character. Overall, he still retained some habitual movements during the performance, but in this drama, these movements no longer seemed inconsistent, but could make people easily enter the play. This time, Lu Han did improve.
Just a comfort zone?
On the Internet, they saw a lot of negative opinions. They thought that Lu Han had performed well this time, largely because Xiao Feng’s character was close to him. In other words, Xiao Feng was Lu Han performing in his comfort zone.
Looking back at his previous works, when he starred in and, many people said that the characters in these two works are similar, and they are more compatible with Lu Han himself, and there is not much personality arc, so it is not too difficult.
So can these characters be hastily considered as Luhan in their comfort zone?
We don’t know, and I believe that no one except himself would dare to make such a positive conclusion. When Lu Han met the director Xu Hongyu for the first time, the first question he asked the other party was, "Do I want to play Lu Xiaobei?" Because in his opinion, this role is very similar to him and has a sense of security. This result was rejected by the director, but at that time he did not know whether the teenager in front of him could play the role of Xiao Feng well.
For all the people behind "Crossfire", they were very sure that casting the star, who was a huge controversy in his acting at the time, in the role meant risks. Because before this, Lu Han’s first series "The Book of Choice" had just faced the double fire of word-of-mouth and business. During the filming of this drama, Lu Han chose to hand himself over to the director. During the five months of filming of the film, he hardly left the crew. He talked to the director every day to find the feeling of Xiao Feng. They started with the details of their lives, and wiped all the traces of the "idol Lu Han" in the eyes of everyone.
Therefore, in "Crossing the Line of Fire", we can see a state of Luhan that we have never seen before, not playing handsome or deliberate, but really turning ourselves into Xiao Feng in the drama. There is a sentence on the poster of the characters in the drama, "In Crossing the Line of Fire, what do you want to leave behind?" Perhaps for Luhan, it is also a question that he should seriously consider as an actor.
He once said in an interview, "I don’t think it’s possible to like everyone, as long as you work hard 100%, or 200%, or you feel that you have a breakthrough. Because it’s impossible to get everyone’s recognition, maybe some people’s doubts will become the driving force for your progress. I hope everyone can see my progress." This sentence just responded to the question on the poster. What he wanted to keep was his acting skills and everyone’s recognition.
Transformation, stand up
In just 5 years from "Return to 20" to the present, the audience has witnessed every step of Lu Han. This year, Lu Han just turned 30 and officially entered his thirties. He knows very well that it is not just traffic that really needs to stand firm in this entertainment industry. Obviously, he has slowed down his progress because of this.
He is facing his own transformation. On Lu Han’s Weibo certification, he says "actor, singer," but few people other than fans are willing to use "actor" to define his identity.
While reconstructing his identity as an "actor" to the outside world with his actions, he is slowly making a transformation. He understands that he cannot always appear in film and television works as an idol or a teenager, and the same appearance will not bring recognition to everyone. As he said, "I am learning about the word actor step by step, and I especially want to deeply study the aspect of acting, because I am also gradually transforming, hoping to use my actions to work hard to get more people’s recognition step by step."
When everyone thought he could only play a certain type of role, he once said that he especially wanted to play the villain. Perhaps compared to the role of Xiao Feng in "Crossing the Wire", the villain will become his biggest challenge. And in the work "Doom" to be broadcast, he will try the villain role of Sven scum for the first time.
For the audience, it will be another kind of expectation. Admittedly, at the end of this article, we are not trying to brag about how good Lu Han’s acting skills are, but objectively speaking, in "Crossing the Wire", he has obviously made qualitative progress. The public often looks at this group of stars with the colored lens of "traffic".
They may still be some distance away from the name of actors, but as for whether their acting skills are good or bad, whether they have improved or regressed, is the content worthy of public discussion. The concept put forward by Xu Hongyu during the creation of "Crossfire", "game life", is not a state of bottoming out immediately, but a process of exploration. This process requires time, recognition, and questioning, not pure denial.
As Gala’s performance of "Dreams of Innocence" sings in the latest episode, "Run forward/Face the cold eyes and ridicule/The vastness of life can’t feel without suffering/Fate can’t make us kneel and beg for mercy/Even if the blood is spilled in the arms."