For both the average audience and the average actor, acting is a one-level process.

This is not a compliment or derogation, but an objective fact, which is how the expressive acting skills are interpreted -

Standing on the stage, sadness is sorrow, joy is joy, and pain is pain. Conveying emotions and emotions in place with unerring accuracy, and then becoming part of the story, influencing the audience through the depth and breadth of the story itself, in turn, creates a frenzy of reflection. The actor is indeed the protagonist, but the story is the soul.

Even at a single level, there are only a handful of actors who have reached the pinnacle of expressive acting, and the perfect fusion of control and explosiveness can be called an art.

But for Lan Li, after so many works have been polished, he has a new understanding of the definition of methodological acting skills and expressive acting, which can also be said to be his own understanding - performance is a multi-faceted process.

It can be simply said that sadness is still sadness, and joy is still joy, but what is the source of sadness and what is the reason for joy, with the extension of one background story, the three-dimensional sense of the characters is enriched, and the whole story is further enriched, and the blank space of the movie is filled with the power of performance, leaving countless aftertastes, waiting for the audience's aftertaste.

Take, for example, the story of "Drunken Country Ballad".

Mickey is a character who doesn't appear at all and has no voices, and his only "appearance" is his voice, one in the background of "Wave Goodbye" and one in the studio of "Ancient Trio" – which is then presented as a live performance by four actors.

Even in the dialogue of the main characters' lines, they only appear three or four times.

In other words, if the audience doesn't pay close attention, they won't even notice that there was a character of Mickey, and even if they don't know, it won't have any effect on the understanding and connection of the plot.

If you follow the expressionist acting, then Lan Li only needs to show Levien's loneliness and despondency, and outline the bitterness and confusion of spinning in place with delicate layers, interpret those changes little by little, and finally return to the original point, completely ignoring the existence of Mickey.

But this is not the case in real life.

Mickey is real, and if you want the audience to believe that Levine is real, then Mickey must exist.

Levine and Mickey have always been partners and have grown up together, but both have dreams of hitting the rocks, and they can only gag in small bars, living in the dark rain of Greenwich Village with no future in sight.

For Levine, he refused to change, he wanted to stick to his musical philosophy and beliefs, and he held his head up proudly, but for Mickey, he began to waver, on the one hand, he recognized Levian's persistence, and on the other hand, he envied Jim's opportunity, and he was always tormented by wavering.

When recording the song "Wave Goodbye", Mickey suggested that he try to see a new adaptation, and that he should try to keep his own style while incorporating some bold experiments, and also his own style of experimentation, to which Levien felt a strong rejection, and the two men had a heated argument and even broke up.

But in the end, Levyan relented.

Because Mickey emphasized that this is just an attempt, an exploration and re-creation of musical styles.

Everything was like the argument between Lan Li and Marcus just now. But, more intensely.

So there was this song "waving goodbye". This also further highlights the difference between duets.

The style and arrangement of Levien's other solo songs are simpler and more rustic, and the lyrics are also full of the bitterness and helplessness of life, as if there is nothing but arrogance, but this duet bursts out with vigor and youthful chic, presenting Levien's arrogance in a positive and sunny way.

After Mickey's death, Levien heard the "Old Trio" for the first time in the kerosene lamp bar, and then tasted the style of Mickey and Jim, and recalled the recording process of "waving goodbye", and couldn't help but be shaken and questioned again in his heart, bursting out with a kind of self-defeating violence and ferocity.

Perhaps, part of the reason why Mickey chose to commit suicide had something to do with him, and furthermore, perhaps, his persistence and belief were always penniless waste in the wave of ballads, and perhaps, his talent and talent were never just a joke, a trivial joke. All of this is hidden in the final performance -

The same two tracks, "Hang Me, Oh, Hang Me" and "Wave Goodbye", but they have become different and vicissitudes.

It is no exaggeration to say that Mikey's role addition is crucial to the extension of Levien's role, and it is even enough to change the way and content of Lan Li's performance. Especially when Mickey doesn't exist at all, Lan Li's performance needs to be more delicate and appropriate.

From the perspective of pure performance, a single level is actually enough, but from the perspective of self-breakthrough and self-challenge, the extension of the role is the expansion of the whole story, the whole world, and the whole outlook on life, which is undoubtedly a good thing for movies and stories, and the difficulty for actors is definitely even more terrifying.

The reason why expressionist acting requires actors to be "thousands of people" is because the theatrical performances on stage must be staged every day, maybe even two times a day, or one actor plays multiple roles, so they must be able to withdraw from the role in time and deliver wonderful performances day after day, year after year, with accurate performance control.

"Black Swan" tells such a story. The heroine Nina is truly obsessed, blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy, burning her life to give a perfect performance, and finally disappearing. A performance is a matter of life and death, which is absolutely not allowed for theatrical stage performances - because Nina has only appeared in one show.

The reason why methodist acting requires actors to go deep into the role and even get carried away is because of the magnified presentation of film art, and the camera presents all the details of the actor's performance on the big screen and undergoes more tests;

Just like Heath Ledger, who really blurred the difference between reality and fantasy, "Batman Prequel: The Dark Knight" has never been able to fully step out of the role, and this has become a classic in film history, forever remaining on the big screen, casting the pinnacle of acting.

Lan Li is trying to find a performance path of his own, comprehending the role with methodological acting skills, infiltrating the role with expressive acting skills, truly finding a balance between loss of control and control, and opening a new door.

"Drunken Country Folk" is a special work, although it overlaps perfectly with Lan Li's personal experience, the preparation process is still too brief.

Therefore, during the filming process, Lan Li studied the characters while studying the script, slowly running-in, slowly extending, and slowly digging, and the characters were plumped up little by little, which was also a very interesting process.

Today's communication with Marcus unexpectedly opened up the extended field of Mickey's role for Lan Li. Marcus doesn't need to perform, he just needs to be himself, but he inadvertently coincides with Mickey.

"Justin, what do you think?" Lan Li turned his gaze to Justin Timberlake, who was sitting on the side.

Then seeing Justin's confused expression, he also chuckled and explained, "I mean, when you chose to go solo, the style of the first and second albums changed dramatically, and in this process, you must also constantly compete with yourself, discuss with yourself, and finally determine the direction, and then complete the work." ”

"Now, Mickey and Levine are in such an ambiguous stage, so whether this version of 'waving goodbye' just now is a possibility, a compromise between Mickey and Levine. Lan Li seriously put forward his idea.

Objectively speaking, although Lan Li also owns an album himself, he is not a competent singer. Justin is different.

"Drunken Country Ballad" is a work in which the singer's thoughts are projected into the film, the singer first, the actor second, or the actor's soul is hidden under the singer's skin.

In this regard, Justin has an innate advantage, and he may not be a top actor, but he has more than enough experience. This time he went one step further, becoming a member of the crew as a singer and playing a singer, and his opinion can undoubtedly play a more role.

Sure enough, Justin was slightly stunned, and then reacted and quickly entered the state, "That's true." I think that's a possibility. ”

After a few ambiguous words, Justin's mind gradually came alive, "Even so, Levine and Mickey had a disagreement, and eventually they recorded the song, but Levien didn't like it, and even hated it, but the song was still included on his album." ”

But on the other hand, the song has a special meaning for Levine, it is the product of his compromise with Mickey, and it is also the product of his deep inner bow to business, even if he refuses to admit it, he still can't deny the special nature of this song. Justin was fully in shape and gushed.

Lan Li frowned slightly, "You mean, if the song is very popular, he can't like it, because it proves him wrong, but he can't hate it, because it gets the applause he hasn't been able to get; ”

"Is that what Levine is in?" Lan Li explained further according to his own understanding.