Directed by Xu Jizhou and starring Yang Yang, special war glory is on the air. The play presents the growth of young soldiers with young faces and vividly shows the real life honed by the blood of military recruits.

As a traffic player, Yang Yang is undoubtedly the biggest attraction of special war glory. Yang Yang, a “literary soldier” who graduated from the PLA Academy of art, was also recognized by the audience for his careful interpretation and accurate grasp. Recently, Yang Yang accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily and shared his feelings and the story behind his role in the military drama for the first time.

Acting as a soldier has inherent advantages

In the play, Yan poyue, played by Yang Yang, as an all-round “spearhead soldier”, finally integrated into the collective and became an excellent special forces soldier after going through several arduous tasks. Why choose Yang Yang to play? Director Xu Jizhou once revealed that “this play is customized according to Yang Yang’s personal characteristics”. Referring to the director’s statement, Yang Yang smiled awkwardly and explained to the reporter, “the director said that customizing for me should refer to some details of the role, but Yan poyue’s persistence, courage and unyielding are the qualities of our soldiers.”

The cultivation of military skills and three years of experience in literary and artistic soldiers make Yang Yang have inherent advantages in military themes. In terms of “shape”, Yang Yang fits perfectly with the characters in the play, with correct facial features and tall and straight posture. Whether it is training clothes, combat clothes or even the shape of ashen face, it can bring great immersion to the audience, so as to make the audience believe that he plays a trained special soldier.

In terms of “God”, Yan poyue, played by Yang Yang, is full of firmness and conviction in his eyes, especially in terms of psychological speculation and grasp of the characters at different stages. For example, Yan poyue is a “rolling king” who is strict with himself in training. He only wants to make progress and become stronger. When he gets along with his brothers in private, Yang Yang appropriately presents the state that a big boy should be.

Physical fitness is the biggest challenge

As the first military themed work in his acting career, Yang Yang frankly said, “there must be some pressure, because it shoulders not only the mission of a role, but also the image of Chinese soldiers.”

Although he has been a literary soldier, Yang Yang always has a military complex that wants to be a special force. In his opinion, soldiers sacrifice themselves to protect their homes and defend their country. They are the greatest and most lovely people. “There is still a distance between literary and artistic soldiers and special forces. I have a dream of special forces in my heart. I also hope I can be as brave, powerful and dedicated as special forces.”

In order to more truly interpret his role, Yang Yang changed to keep an inch of his head, tanned his skin and worked hard to keep fit, which not only overturned the audience’s inherent impression of his life, but also showed the spirit of Contemporary Soldiers’ unrepentant dedication.

Special Forces training is extremely hard, and the high-intensity training also surprised Yang Yang. “Before shooting, I thought his growth and personality details would be difficult. In fact, after shooting, I found that physical fitness is the biggest challenge.” Although Yang Yang has also been trained in standing and holding a gun before, in order to ensure the rigor and professionalism of combat movements and military posture, he and other actors entered the training base in advance to complete every training subject in the play, such as fighting and shooting. He practiced while shooting, and continued to strengthen after shooting every day.

During the 9-month shooting cycle, he has been fighting with his physical limit. Recalling the shooting experience of “devil training”, Yang Yang has gained a lot. “On the one hand, his physical strength has really grown, on the other hand, it has also honed my will, because he has been shooting for a long time, with high-intensity training every day, and his spirit and body are extremely tight.”

I prefer to settle down and be myself

In “special war glory”, Yang Yang’s transformation from an idol actor to a tough man has brought a lot of surprises to the audience. Many people think the play is his transformation work. However, in Yang Yang’s view, the 30-year-old himself will not deliberately transform because of his age. “In fact, I haven’t defined any ‘type’ for myself, so I won’t have the idea of transformation. As for what age and role to play, it should be the mutual choice and mutual perfection between me and the role.”

In his 14 years of debut, Yang Yang has tried many roles of different styles and is not confined to works with a single theme. In his opinion, “a role with feelings and a story with ideas will give people more space to play and interpret”. He also stressed that “if there is a suitable role, I will challenge”, but more is to maintain a “casual” mentality and meet the role I like.

For his acting career, compared with his ignorance and anxiety when he first entered the industry, Yang Yang now knows what he wants. “When he first entered the industry, he wanted to try everything new, but it may not be suitable for me. Now my direction will be more clear”. With the growth of age and experience, his attitude towards many things has also changed, “I prefer to settle down and be myself”.

Text / our reporter Wang Lei