Blue Feather Dialogue with Deng Chao ｜ The acting school breaks through, from the best male match to the best male lead

1905 movie network feature "Sitting next to me is the Golden Rooster Award host who won the Golden Rooster Award! It feels like we are about to go on stage when we pick up the microphone, as if we are back in the Golden Rooster Award ceremony." As a guest on the latest issue of "Blue Feather Parlor", the movie channel host Lan Yu introduced this good partner who has been the host of the Golden Rooster Award for the second time with her.

In the past two years, the two of them had a good understanding on the stage of the Golden Rooster Awards, and their performance was outstanding. Off the stage, Deng Chao regarded Lan Yu as the "host teacher", joking that the host skills benefited from her cultivation, allowing him to gain a new skill.

It is worth noting that Deng Chao’s relationship with the Golden Rooster Award goes beyond hosting.

As early as 2009, the 18th China Film Golden Rooster Hundred Flowers Film Festival was held in Jiangxi. Deng Chao, a native of Jiangxi, spoke for his hometown as a film ambassador and was nominated for the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actor. Eight years later, he was crowned the 31st China Film Golden Rooster Award for Best Actor.

It can be said that the Golden Rooster Award has witnessed Deng Chao’s growth and progress along the way, and Deng Chao has also been unlocking new identities at the Golden Rooster Award.

2021 is the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards. Chinese Film Report "Blue Feather Parlor" specially launched a series of interviews on the 40th anniversary of the Golden Rooster Awards, looking back on the many years of light and shadow, and talking about the future of Chinese film. This episode of Blue Feather talks to Deng Chao, listening to the poignant drips in and out of Deng Chao’s play, and revealing the breakthrough process of the Golden Rooster Award Best Actor.

Acting metamorphosis

From Best Male Match to Best Male Lead

When he won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actor for the role of "Xiaofeng" in "Burning Sun," Deng Chao was "incoherent" with excitement. He specifically mentioned his mother on stage. "My mother said to me when I was a freshman, ‘Chao, why don’t we go? You are afraid that this is not the material.’"

But Deng Chao persisted.

Later, even though she was worried about her son’s uncertain future, she still supported Deng Chao as always, supporting the stubborn child to pursue his dream.

After winning the Golden Rooster for Best Actor, Mr. Deng placed the glittering trophy in his mother’s house. "It’s especially meaningful there. She’s my spur, my monitor, and my inspiration."

Before entering the industry, Deng Chao regarded the Golden Rooster Award as a distant dream, because the Golden Rooster Award represents the dual recognition of professional judges and ordinary audiences.

From the screen to the screen, there were peaks and valleys in Deng Chao’s acting exploration. It was not until he met Xin Xiaofeng of "Burning Sun" that his acting career ushered in a turning point again, and finally succeeded in fulfilling the "distant dream" of his youth.

Xin Xiaofeng looks ordinary, but he hides secrets in his heart. On the surface, he is extremely strong and can fight well, but in reality, he is on the edge of life, extremely sensitive, fragile, lonely, sad and gloomy. Long before the shooting started, Deng Chao had done his homework to brew the emotions of the characters, and when he entered the official shooting, he must investigate the details, striving to show the characters in a state of pain and despair.

The scene that impressed Deng Chao the most was the scene in which Xin Xiaofeng received the death penalty by injection. In order to make the performance more exciting, he took the initiative to request a real injection. Shoot the arm, shoot the blood vessels, tie the tape, stick the needle, inject… A seven-minute long shot, the whole process is completed in one go.

"Because the eye of the needle will be swollen after the needle is pierced, I have to wait for the eye to get better every time, and then shoot the second one." Deng Chao recalled that there were three shots in this scene, and no one called to stop during the process, like dead silence, which made him have a physiological reaction that he had never had before. "My face is cramped, my face is crooked, and my mouth is crooked. I have never felt such a facial cramp."

After filming, the director rushed towards Deng Chao and hugged him directly, crying. The assistant director on the side also sighed at him, "I really thought you were dead…" Deng Chao recalled the past bit by bit, and remembered that he felt a magical energy at that time, "I was with my character."

After the completion of "Burning Sun Heart", Deng Chao, who was deeply involved in the play, felt that his body was empty, sitting in the car to the airport, like a leather bag spread on a chair, with nothing inside, and his scattered spirit was floating. So he wrote a farewell to the character:

"Xiaofeng, I’ve been living in your room for almost half a year. I know you’re suffering, and I know it’s not easy for you. Then, I’m leaving Xiamen today, and I’ll keep a room for you here. I’ll go in and take a look from time to time. I’m Xiaofeng, I’m Chao."

In this regard, Deng Chao buried his feelings for Xiaofeng deeply in his heart.

Sometimes Mr. Deng is asked which character he likes best, and he always explains, "There are many rooms in my heart, and different rooms have different characters. They are all there, and they are all good."

In fact, as early as 2009, Deng Chao had the opportunity to win the Golden Rooster Award trophy.

At that time, Deng Chao first appeared on the screen, and the character in "Assembly Number" was called Zhao Erdou. He was a young and promising officer, talented and decisive in command. He led the team to charge in the battlefield of the Korean War, and his personality was a bit stubborn and paranoid, but he did not lose his demeanor and humor.

Although the freshness of the fledgling made Deng Chao curious about everything, after entering the role state, he had a ruthlessness in him.

With a box of thick clothes, he headed straight to the Northeast where it was more than minus 20 degrees. In order to be close to the image of the soldier, Deng Chao braved the cold every day, got up early, made himself dirty, and made himself look as rough as possible. In the design of makeup, he also participated in the discussion with the makeup artist, "The foundation is all researched, not ordinary makeup."

Because he was from the south, he was not used to the eating habits of the north, but there was a scene of eating green onion burritos. After filming again and again, Deng Chao swallowed one big cake after another, even though he choked on the green onions until he cried, he still performed the feeling of eating with relish. By the end of the shooting, he found that he had eaten more than a dozen green onion burritos, which made even the swallowing movement seem a little uncomfortable later.

Although he finally lost the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actor, Deng Chao was also recognized and paid attention to by more audiences because of this role. The seriousness left by the first battle screen was also carried out by him on the broad journey of the acting road.

New Challenge

From ambassador to teaser host

In addition to being nominated for the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actor for the first time at the 18th China Film Golden Rooster Hundred Flowers Film Festival, Deng Chao also has another identity – the Golden Rooster Award image ambassador.

Deng Chao, who spoke for his hometown, did his best to sing and dance.

Deng Chao said that after knowing that he would be the ambassador for the Golden Rooster Awards, the first thought that came to his mind was to sing the theme song of the festival. For this, his friend Haiquan personally produced "Bloom" for him:

Tonight’s joyous songs are extremely wonderful/Poyang’s fishing songs are fluttering in the wind/Baihuazhou’s flowers are blooming/Tengwang Pavilion can’t forget the dust/Rewrite today’s peerless style/Golden Rooster is singing loudly/Emitting gorgeous light

The lyrics of "Bloom" add a lot of Jiangxi elements, Deng Chao introduced, such as Poyang Lake, Tengwang Pavilion and other beautiful scenery in Jiangxi are integrated into it, and the songs are sung, which makes him feel deeply, "So I think every such event is of great significance."

At the Golden Rooster Awards Ceremony that year, Deng Chao also donned a golden Hanfu, incarnated as a literati, and appeared on stage with a classical dance "Tengwang Pavilion Feast". Surrounded by a crowd of dancers, he freely swayed and danced, contributing a wonderful performance to the Golden Rooster Night.

But now looking back, Deng Chao "quietly" revealed that because he returned to his hometown and was closely watched by his family, "I was so nervous at that time!" He didn’t expect that there was a bubble machine on the stage, and the bubbles would float down and cause the ground to slip, and he accidentally slipped on the stage. Fortunately, he was quick and clever, turning the accidental fall into a turning action, and defusing a stage "crisis" skillfully.

Facts proved that, off the screen, Deng Chao’s stage control ability was also quite good. Since then, he has twice partnered with Lan Yu to host the Golden Rooster Award ceremony, which is also very easy.

Talking about the mood of being the host of the Golden Rooster Awards for the first time, Deng Chao bluntly said that it was very difficult, "Because the host is not within the scope of his professional field, at that time I kept sending Lan Yu WeChat, ‘You have to teach me, I want to ask you to teach me, and learn the host’s rhythm and line interpretation.’"

Before the Golden Rooster Awards last year and the Best Actress award was announced, Deng Chao and Lan Yu had a lively atmosphere. The final list that year was,,,, and. When Lan Yu teased which actor was the most optimistic and finally won the top spot, Deng Chao’s performance was full of amusement, and he compared his love to several candidate actresses and said "I like you", with rain and dew.

When Lan Yu mentioned it, Deng Chao was very "knowing". He first handed the host microphone to Lan Yu, and then put his hands on his head and showed a big heart to Sun Li in the audience, "You are the best actress in my heart forever." This scene also became one of the most romantic famous scenes of the Golden Rooster Film Festival that year.

This time, the two old partners met in the Blue Feather Parlor, recalling the warmth of the past side by side.

Deng Chao said jokingly, "I always use my heart to make up for it. Fortunately, Teacher Lan Yu gave me soil and encouragement, otherwise I really wouldn’t have dared to compare my heart." Then he responded to Lan Yu’s expectations more mischievously, "In the future, there will be new breakthroughs in the form of heart comparison, such as singing and dancing, or even swaggering."

Since his debut, Deng Chao has unlocked his new identity at the Golden Rooster Film Festival again and again. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards, he also sent his sincerest wishes, "Thank you for the company of the Golden Rooster, and I will be countless chickens in the future!"