At ten o'clock in the morning, Xu Wangqiu, under the leadership of Zhao Ban, came to Union Hospital and walked into the inpatient department.

Walking into the ward, Xu Wangqiu saw Zhao Dan lying on the hospital bed. I haven't seen him for a year, Zhao Dan completely seems to have changed as a person, he has lost a lot of weight, his hair is gray, and he has completely lost the vigor he had when he acted in "The Rape". Zhao Qing sat in front of the bed, holding a medicine bottle, and was persuading Zhao Shan to take medicine.

Zhao Ban walked to the side of the bed and said softly to Zhao Dan: "Daddy, who do you think I brought here?"

Zhao Shan looked at Xu Wangqiu behind Zhao Ban, his originally dim eyes lit up, and there was a smile on his face, struggling to get up: "Wangqiu, you're finally here, sit down!"

Zhao Qing hurriedly supported Zhao Dan and said with a straight face: "Daddy, you are not in good health, don't move." ”

Xu Wangqiu also hurriedly stepped forward and persuaded: "Uncle Zhao, you lie down well and don't move." ”

Waiting for Zhao Dan to lie down again, Zhao Qing smiled at Xu Wangqiu, held the medicine in his hand, and said to Zhao Dan: "Daddy, you have come to see Qiudu, don't you want to film with him, if you don't take medicine, your body will not be fine, you won't be able to film." ”

Xu Wangqiu heard Zhao Ban say that now Zhao Dan often vomits when he takes medicine and eats, which is very uncomfortable, so he is not very willing to take medicine, and he also persuaded on the side: "Uncle Zhao, we are still waiting for you to shoot "A Game of Chess That Hasn't Been Finished", how can you do it without taking medicine." ”

Zhao Shan smiled and said, "I'll eat, I'll eat!" He took the medicine handed over by Zhao Qing, held the cup, and swallowed it with difficulty. He looked at Xu Wangqiu and asked, "Wangqiu, is your movie finished?"

Xu Wangqiu smiled: "Not yet." Su Bai called me and said that you don't take medicine well, and asked me to come over and criticize you. I am a director, you are an actor, you must listen to me, you must take medicine seriously, otherwise I, the director, will criticize you. ”

Zhao Dan laughed and said: "You are such an authoritative director, and no director has ever dared to care about me like this." I want to play Duan Haiping, you just let me play Zhou Hanting, I want to play two roles by myself, and play Yi Shan and Ah Ming at the same time, but you only let me play Yi Shan. But you're right, if I play Duan Haiping, I'm afraid it's really wrong. Speaking of this, he was a little emotional: "A friend came to see me a few days ago and told me a story about a ballerina who fell on stage during a performance. I especially envy that actor, she was so lucky. I really hope to be like her, to be on the shooting site, after the last shot was taken, the mirror was sealed, and I died with a smile. It's a pity that the heavens don't fulfill people's wishes. ”

In fact, many filmmakers have similar thoughts, Scorsese once said, I love movies, it is the whole of my life, and I hope that one day I will die in front of the camera. The artist's death on his own stage is like a general's death on the battlefield, and to a certain extent, it is a blessing. It's just that there are very few people who can fulfill this desire.

Xu Wangqiu comforted: "Uncle Zhao, don't be so pessimistic, okay." How many ups and downs you've gone through in your life, haven't you all survived! Now that the suffering has passed, everything is fine. How can you be so pessimistic when you are making great progress and realizing your ambitions? The masses of the people especially want to watch your plays, and you didn't say that you want to create our own performance system in China, but these have not yet been realized, so how can you be a deserter?"

Zhao Dan's eyes flashed with tears, and he sighed: "Yes, I haven't created our own performance system yet, and there are still many roles I want to play that I haven't played, Li Bai, Lu Xun, and the president/manager, but I'm already in the terminal stage of cancer now." ”

Xu Wangqiu hurriedly persuaded: "Although cancer is difficult to treat, it can be cured, as long as you take good care of your illness, it is entirely possible to get better." I don't care about anything else, but we said that "A Game of Chess That Didn't End", and you will play Guo Yishan. If you don't act, then I won't shoot either. I can't think of anyone else who can play this role but you. ”

Zhao Shan waved his hand lightly and said: "Wangqiu, don't say that, there are many good actors in the film industry, even if I don't act, they can act." The scene "A Game of Unfinished Chess" is really good, you must insist on finishing the filming. It's a shame if you don't. ”

Xu Wangqiu knew that Zhao Dan had been remembering the progress of "A Piece of Unfinished Chess", so he said: "A few days ago, Tokuma Kang and they came to the crew to discuss "A Game of Chess That Didn't End" with me. After they left, I re-wrote a draft, this time in a slightly different way than the original one. I'll tell you about it!"

Zhao Shan smiled and said, "Okay, you hurry up and talk about it!"

Xu Wangqiu told his thoughts on this draft, which is very different from the previous draft, the theme of the previous draft is about the perseverance of the Chinese in the difficult situation, and Yishan's wife, son and daughter all died in the war, but he still lives tenaciously, and adopts an orphan and teaches her to play Go. This draft focuses on depicting the profound disasters caused by war, the destruction of ordinary people's lives by war, and the psychological trauma it brings.

Zhao Shan was very satisfied with Xu Wangqiu's draft: "Our generation has come from the war, and we are all victims of the war, and we don't want to see the war the most. I heard that Dongying ***** is making a comeback, and it makes a lot of sense to make a movie like this. Speaking of this, he said to Zhao Qing: "Ah Nan, give my notebook to Wangqiu." ”

Zhao Qing opened the cabinet, took out three black notebooks, and handed them to Xu Wangqiu: "My father especially wants to play "A Game of Chess That Has Not Been Finished", and I think this is a good script that he has not encountered for many years. In the past few months in the ward, he has been pondering this play all day long, and he is always pulling others to play chess. Here are the notes he made. ”

Zhao Shan looked at Xu Wangqiu and said sincerely: "In the notebook are some of my thoughts on this scene and the role of Guo Yishan, I hope it will help you film." I originally wanted Su Bai to give you the notebook, but she said that she talked to you on the phone, saying that you just had something to come back for, and let me give it to you personally. ”

Only then did Xu Wangqiu know why Su Bai sent a telegram to himself, it turned out that Zhao Shan wanted to give him the notebook. He gently flipped through the notebook, his right hand slowly flipped through, his heart churned violently, the notebook densely recorded Zhao Dan's understanding and thoughts on the situation of Yishan, not only a detailed biography of the character, but also a detailed analysis of the character's lines, what tone to use in a certain scene, where the accent is, how to pause, what the subtext is, etc.;

The three notebooks are full of writing, and I am afraid that there are more than 100,000 words. Xu Wangqiu has never seen an actor do such detailed desk work for a role, nor has he ever seen an actor write such a detailed script analysis.

Xu Wangqiu heard Zhao Ban say that Zhao Shan attaches great importance to the feelings and experiences of the characters. He creates each character with full immersion, reaching a state of selfless obsession. Playing Wu Xun, he went to Wu Xun's hometown to find a sense of history, playing the small radio in "The Crow and the Sparrow", he assiduously experienced the mentality of Shanghai's ordinary citizens, playing Li Shizhen, he got to know the old Chinese medicine doctor, playing Lin Zexu, he went to the library to read a lot of historical materials, playing Nie Er, he learned to dance black dance from Zhao Qing......

For a long time, domestic actors were considered a ninth-rate profession and were contemptuously called "actors". It is actors like Zhao Dan who have made performance truly an art through their unremitting efforts and pursuits, and through their sense of sacredness and responsibility for performance, and the people also respectfully call them "people's artists".

After the reform and opening up, many actors gradually threw away the hard-earned honor of their predecessors like pieces of paper, constantly lowering the lower limit of performance. The actors will only desperately make money and will not care about their own work. Not many people work the work, thinking about how to hype it up, how to make headlines. When an actor is acting, he dares to send a press release saying that he is dedicated, and the actor can be praised for being able to memorize his lines. The entire entertainment industry is full of prostitution, drug abuse/cheating, violations of laws and disciplines, and cut-out stand-ins, and actors have changed from artists to dramas in the hearts of the audience.

When Chen Daomin came out and said, "I'm just a play", many people didn't understand, thinking that Mr. Chen Daomin, you are an artist, how can you call yourself an actor. In fact, Chen Daomin came out to say that he was not belittling the profession of actor, but also telling others sadly and angrily that the lower limit of the entertainment industry is too low now, which has pulled everyone from being an artist to the level of acting.

The profession of an actor has changed from an actor to a people's artist and back to a drama, which is really emotional!

Xu Wangqiu tried his best to calm down his emotions, looked at Zhao Dan and said very seriously: "After I go back, I will take a good look at this notebook, I will definitely use it if it is useful, but I will definitely not use it if it is useless." But I'll keep this notebook because it lets you know what a really great actor is!"

Zhao Shan was very happy when he heard this: "I'm not a great actor, just an ordinary actor." Speaking of this, he turned to Zhao Qing and said, "By the way, I wrote a picture for Wangqiu, and you take out the word and give it to him." ”

When Zhao Qing heard this, he took out a scroll from the cabinet and handed it to Xu Wangqiu.

Zhao Shan smiled and said: "My painting is better than play, and my words are better than painting, and I don't have any gifts for you, so I'll give you a painting." These words are my views on performance and art, and I hope to encourage you. ”

Xu Wangqiu heard Zhao Ban say that Zhao Shan was born in fine arts, and studied landscape painting with masters such as Huang Binhong and Pan Tianshou.

In 1935, Zhao Shan starred in the movie "Bloody Loyal Soul". According to the script plan, the crew will shoot a scene of a male protagonist struggling to write. Before filming, Zhao Dan was full of confidence, he was born in a calligraphy and painting major, and he was able to catch it with a little splash.

After the start-up, Zhao Dan wrote more than ten words in one breath, but he couldn't find a work that he was satisfied with. The director and other members of the crew praised Zhao Dan's calligraphy and persuaded him to stop writing and move on to the next shot. Zhao Shan put down the pen and paper, reviewed it with the director, said that the words were not written well, and begged to invalidate the shot just now.

Zhao Shan said sincerely: "Over the years, I have been busy with drama and film performances, but I have neglected my studies, and my calligraphy and painting skills have regressed a lot compared to before. I couldn't have done what I should have done, and in the final analysis, I didn't take my attitude seriously enough and didn't lay a solid foundation. At Zhao Dan's insistence, the director found a calligrapher to put on his costume and write with his back to the camera, completing the shooting task.

After that, no matter how busy Zhao Dan was at work, he would find time to practice calligraphy and draw every day. In the following 20 years of film shooting, he tried his best to avoid the scenes of splashing ink. It wasn't until the 1956 film "Li Shizhen" that he tried his hand at writing to show his mature calligraphy and painting talents.

Decades of unremitting pen cultivation have made Zhao Dan have high attainments in calligraphy and painting. Xu Wangqiu was looking forward to Zhao Dan's words to him, and untied the red rope on the tie scroll with anticipation, and slowly unfolded the scroll, with four big characters written on it: "Gate of Hell".

Xu Wangqiu was slightly stunned, then got up and bowed to Zhao Dan to thank him: "Thank you, Uncle Zhao, for your advice." ”