"rebirth" director ma yuke: be brave to take risks, don't always show the audience old things丨interview
2024-09-08
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recently, a domestic crime film made a box office comeback 20 days after its release and topped the mainland's daily box office. it was "rebirth" directed by ma yuke. as of the time of writing at 12:00 on september 6, the cumulative box office of "rebirth" had reached 345 million yuan.
"rebirth" is the second work of ma yuke, who was originally an actor, as a director. in december last year, his directorial debut "raging tide" was released, earning 229 million yuan at the box office and attracting more than 5.5 million viewers. people commented that after the classic hong kong films, a new style of crime action films has finally emerged. today, "rebirth" returns with ma's aesthetic label, starring zhang jiahui and ruan jingtian, but the storytelling method has added a more complex continuous reversal structure. this time, the audience's voices are still diverse - some say "cool", some shout "crazy", and some think it's "routine".
"i will read the reviews. i don't want to be a self-admiring creator." in an exclusive interview with yangcheng evening news, ma yuke said that "raging tide" and "rebirth" carry his aesthetics and social responsibility. if the audience likes it, then the third part of his "revenge trilogy" will be on the way.
under 20 years old, drifting to beijing
i've experienced all of this.
yangcheng evening news: you are from gansu, and your father was an actor at the gansu provincial drama theater. you started acting at a very young age, right?
ma yuke: when i was 5 years old, my father's colleagues carried me to the stage to be a "prop". i was never afraid, and i never cried. maybe i was born to be a brave child. i think acting is fun. i can experience different characters and have a legitimate reason not to do homework.
yangcheng evening news: you started to drift to beijing when you were less than 20 years old. there are many ways to become an actor, why did you choose this relatively more difficult path?
ma yuke: actually, i didn’t choose it on purpose. it was just the wheel of fate that turned to that place. i had taken the entrance exam to the central academy of drama before, but failed because i was too small. this was a big blow to me at the time. after all, i had a lot of acting experience since i was a child, and i had won awards nationwide. i was almost full of confidence when i took the exam, but i didn’t expect to fail.
after failing the college entrance exam, my family members advised me that if i really wanted to do this, i should go back to the theater first. it would not be too late to go to beijing to work hard after accumulating more performance experience and financial strength. but i was born rebellious and did not want to follow the old path of my parents, so i wanted to go to beijing to try my luck.
yangcheng evening news: you must have suffered a lot on your way to beijing. what did you gain from it?
ma yuke: simply put, i didn’t know where my next meal would come from after i ate the last one. when i was in the most difficult time, i ate 6 fried dough sticks in 3 days. sometimes i would go to a cold noodle restaurant in northeast china and charge people for their unfinished cold noodles, but the owner was very nice. after knowing my situation, he simply treated me to noodles without charging me.
as for the gains, i think it was that period of life that shaped my character today. for example, i am very stubborn in doing things, and i will not turn back until i hit the wall. even if i hit the wall, i will not turn back. to put it nicely, it is tenacity.
yangcheng evening news: since 2001, you have been given some opportunities to play supporting roles in some tv series. you tanzhi in zhang jizhong's version of demi-gods and semi-devils in 2003 made you well-known to many audiences. do you think that getting these roles has something to do with the acting experience you have accumulated since childhood?
ma yuke: yes, because i have been acting since i was a child, i am very familiar with the creative atmosphere of the crew. however, what do the creators fight for in the end? from a certain level, what is more important is our understanding of the world.
"second collaboration" nick cheung and ethan ruan
it depends on the script and professionalism
yangcheng evening news: when did you start thinking about becoming a director?
ma yuke: i had this idea a long time ago. at first, because i didn't have relevant academic qualifications, it was difficult for me to enter the acting industry. i only did behind-the-scenes work, such as photography assistant and director assistant. at that time, i thought the best future was to be a director. later, i finally became an actor, and i felt that being an actor was still easy. it was really a blessing to stand in front of the stage and face those flashes.
of course, i was still young at that time. later, i gradually began to think about becoming a director because i felt that i had something i wanted to express.
yangcheng evening news: what was the inspiration for your directorial debut "the angry tide"?
ma yuke: at that time, i found that there were relatively few crime action films made by mainland teams. hong kong, china, did a great job in this genre in the past, and later south korea also had some good works. as an attempt, i made a story outline for "the raging tide".
yangcheng evening news: you invited nick cheung and ethan ruan to star in your directorial debut. this lineup must be envied by many new directors. how did you do it?
ma yuke: let the script speak for itself. although i worked with ka fai before on "drug war", it was just a collaboration, and there was no such thing as a personal relationship. i didn't know xiao tian at all.
yangcheng evening news: when you were writing the script and imagining the characters, did you have their faces in your mind?
ma yuke: to be honest, no. at that time, i was just writing the script and didn’t think about who would play the roles. in fact, i never thought that i would be able to invite them in the end.
yangcheng evening news: after "the angry wave", you filmed "survival" and invited nick cheung and ethan ruan again. why do you think that was the basis?
ma yuke: to put it bluntly, as actors, we can basically get a rough idea of the level of the team when we go to any filming site. i believe that only professionalism can convince others to continue working with you.
"rebirth" shoots anti-drug theme
films should shoulder social responsibilities
yangcheng evening news: this time, "rebirth" is a work on the theme of drug prevention. why did you choose this theme?
ma yuke: first of all, i still want to make a crime film. the first film is about human trafficking, so what will the second film be about? i thought of drug control because of some of my past experiences. when i was a child, i saw people i knew whose families were broken up because of drug abuse. although it happened a long time ago, it left a deep impression on me.
another time, i saw a report that said there was a group of people living in the sewers in las vegas, usa. people called them "mole people", and many of them ended up in that place because of drug abuse.
in addition, i have seen some stories about drug enforcement police sacrificing their lives to catch drug dealers. all of this prompted me to finally choose this subject. i think a movie should have a sense of social responsibility. for example, "rebirth" tells people to always stay away from drugs.
yangcheng evening news: you played a character named bale in the movie this time. this character is a drug addict who seems to have never been sober. later, he had a very shocking ending. why did you play this role yourself?
ma yuke: i saw some netizens say that this character is quite brilliant. why did i play bale? people who have seen my past works may know that i am basically a stereotyped actor - i always play bad guys, villains, drug dealers, killers... since everyone's view of me is relatively fixed, if i suddenly make a reversal this time, everyone will definitely not expect it, which will add points to the plot. this is why i chose to play this role myself.
yangcheng evening news: "raging tide" already has suspense elements, but "rebirth" has more twists and turns. most people can't guess what will happen next when watching it. this kind of reversal plot has been very popular with audiences in the past two years. do you want to try this track?
ma yuke: actually, no, i can’t think about so many things when i’m creating. maybe it’s because these are my first two works. as the saying goes, ignorance is fearless, so i just want to try out things i like. of course, this attempt at reversal has also polarized the reputation of "rebirth". some people think it is amazing, but some people think the reversal is too abrupt.
yangcheng evening news: what do you think about the polarized word of mouth among the audience?
ma yuke: i think that as a filmmaker, we need to be brave enough to take risks and not always show the audience the same old stuff. the arrival of new things is always accompanied by pain, and the polarized reputation is actually within our expectations.
yangcheng evening news: it must be difficult to write a script with many twists and turns, right?
ma yuke: to be honest, the difficulty of the second part is four or five times that of the first part. in fact, we have done a lot of preparation for each reversal in the plot. some viewers may understand it and think that the subsequent reversal is great, but some viewers may ignore it when watching it and think that the subsequent reversal is very abrupt. this is normal, because everyone has different viewing habits and experiences, and there will definitely be acceptance and rejection. i will continue my future creations based on the evaluation of all the audiences.
don't easily characterize actors.
be brave to explore the other side of human nature
yangcheng evening news: ethan ruan showed his potential to play a villain in "zhou chu eliminates three evils". but in fact, "rebirth" was filmed earlier. how did you see another plasticity in him?
ma yuke: when we first worked together on "raging tide", i saw some evil charm in xiaotian. i personally like this temperament very much, and actually jiahui also has it. i think it is precisely because our tastes, preferences and temperaments are relatively similar that we can work together happily and smoothly.
yangcheng evening news: zhang jiahui's role this time presents two very contrasting states in the play, one of which is not seen in his previous roles. did you also discover the arrogance hidden in his character?
ma yuke: that's right, everyone has different sides, and movies can reflect the multifaceted nature of human nature. creators should be good at observation and not easily stereotype an actor. creation requires courage, and one must boldly show the other side of the actor.
yangcheng evening news: have they ever told you that it was fun to film your movie?
ma yuke: of course, otherwise they wouldn’t shoot the second film right after finishing one. and they don’t care about the schedule and remuneration at all.
the audience is my bread and butter.
i read their opinions.
yangcheng evening news: the box office of "rebirth" exceeded 100 million yuan in three days after its release, and it surpassed the daily box office after 20 days. many audiences are calling on you to make a third film and complete a "revenge trilogy".
ma yuke: a trilogy, i never dared to think about it before. when i was walking and performing this time, i heard many audiences shouting this, and i felt very honored. this shows that no matter whether we did a good job or not, at least some audiences felt our sincerity.
given my interests and my understanding of movies, i do prefer this kind of powerful story. if i want to shoot it in the future, i think it will probably still be a revenge-themed movie, but i might change my perspective.
yangcheng evening news: if you shoot other themes, will there be room for nick cheung and ethan ruan?
ma yuke: the main thing is to focus on the work. we don’t know anything right now. of course i hope we can still be together, because it is so pleasant to work with us.
yangcheng evening news: will the story of the next work continue to be upgraded?
ma yuke: i hope i can do this. i always hope to be a courageous person who keeps trying new things.
the genre of crime action movies has existed in the film world for many years. even if we can only make a little innovation, we must work hard. only with this mentality can we live up to the audience.
yangcheng evening news: do you read all the praise and criticism for your two works on the internet?
ma yuke: i will watch it, i must watch it! if my work is purely the author's expression, then i don't care about the comments, as long as i am happy. but now i am making commercial films, i don't want to be a self-admiring creator. besides, the audience is my bread and butter, how can i not listen to their opinions? !
text丨reporter li li
photo丨producer
