The actresses with the shortest ＂vitality＂ should have been on fire long ago!
Special feature of 1905 film network Jackie Chan International Action Film Week has been successfully held for five times. This year, the theme unit of "Women Heroes" was specially set up, and action films dominated by female characters such as,, and were intensively shown.
No matter Gong Er, the taciturn and affectionate Hidden Mother or Laura, they all conveyed the beauty of women’s strength to the audience in different ways on the big screen.
At the same time, female action actresses are in a relatively weak position in the film field, but we can’t ignore it: the 10 films shortlisted for Jackie Chan Film Week this year have not seen fierce competition in the single event of action actresses as in previous years; Looking at the whole movie market, there are only a handful of impressive action types and female roles.
Civil and military "difficult to complete"
Jackie Chan International Action Film Week has been held in Datong for two consecutive years. Interestingly, this ancient city happens to be the hometown of Mulan, a "heroine".
Jiang Luxia won the honor of Best Action Actress in Jackie Chan’s Film Week here last year with the role of the machine gunner Tong Li. Since then, she has successively won the Best Supporting Actress Award in Hundred Flowers Award and the Best Supporting Actress nomination in the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Such an opportunity, for an action filmmaker who has been dormant for ten years, not only gives her a compliment for all her past persistence, but also brings change and hope to the future of an actor.
Jiang Luxia was commended as the best action actress in the 4th Jackie Chan International Action Film Week.
After Operation Red Sea, Jiang Luxia bluntly said that he was "better than before". This kind of goodness not only gave him more choices at work, but also changed his mentality. In the past ten years, she has thought of "giving up" more than once, not because she is bitter or tired, but because she can’t see the opportunity.
Jiang Luxia still remembers that when he first made up his mind to learn martial arts, he was longing for it because he saw the dashing chivalrous men flying around in action movies. Since then, Yang Ziqiong and Kara Wai have become her idols. "They are good at martial arts and great at literary drama, which has always been my goal."
There used to be a few girls who had the same dream as her, but now, only two or three of the people Jiang Luxia knows are still in the industry. "To tell the truth, the situation is not very good." At first, everyone is holding a very good wish, hoping that one day they can go on as an action actress like Yang Ziqiong, but it is not until they really enter the business that they find that everything is not as simple as they thought.
Operation Red Sea Jiang Luxia stills
"I didn’t have a performance foundation at first, and everyone decided that you couldn’t act. Basically, the part of the above play won’t be given to me. The lines of a play may be a few words. But there is no work that can convince others that you can play and act. " Want to grow, want to go further, but always can’t get any space and opportunity to play, Jiang Luxia said, that unwilling to let oneself very uncomfortable.
This kind of "unwilling", her idol Kara Wai also suffered. Until now, her performance of Cheng Dainan () is still the only best actress born in a "pure kung fu film" in the history of the Academy Awards. Even with such achievements, Kara Wai had to face the situation that "there was only a supporting role to try" or even "there was no play to play" in the process of trying to expand more drama.
Kara Wai won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Elder.
In Kara Wai’s view, "valuing literature over martial arts" is an undeniable value orientation that has always existed in the global film industry — — Although many times, action movies are the most influential type in the market.
This point, Jiang Luxia may feel more real in the ever-changing film market. In the past, action movies focused on highlighting the characters’ tricks and styles, and focused more on the martial arts action design itself. Now, when the creation of movies tends to plot upwards, when the action exists functionally, it is even more necessary to support it with a standing role, which makes it more difficult for female action actors to open a breakthrough.
Kara Wai appeared in the 5th Jackie Chan International Action Film Week.
We might as well look at the movie market list in recent years. There are not a few action movies with outstanding word-of-mouth or box office performance, but what are the chances for female action actors to meet "Gong Er", "Laura" or even "Tong Li" again?
Jiang Luxia gave a sad answer: "In the process of persistence, I have actually paid a lot of effort and physical strength, including (bearing) injuries. Accumulated, so that in the end, what you actually fight for is the only little hope left. "
The actress with the shortest "vitality"
If you just need opportunities, then there may be more girls who are willing to stay, but time will not leave them too much time to wait.
Jiang Luxia plays the gunner Tong Li in Operation Red Sea.
Age, for most women in the workplace, is an "unstable factor" that may affect their work. In recent years, the topic of "middle-aged crisis" of actresses has actually become a cliche. If they have at least the chance of "transformation", then for female action filmmakers, a series of physiological changes brought about by age will accelerate the process of their performance career.
"Literary actresses can play girls when they are young, and mothers when they are older. Roles in different fields and at different stages can be tried. But for actresses who are slapping and acting, if you only have an advantage in action and have to fight by yourself, your body will not allow you to continue doing it for a long time, and your physical fitness will last for eight years, and many of them may last for three to five years." Jiang Luxia spoke frankly about the reasons why many girls were forced to bid farewell to this profession.
Jiang Luxia won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Besides age, injuries are also a "time bomb" hanging over the heads of all action actresses.
Kara Wai, when she was young, was famous for her courage among actresses. She still remembers that she was asked to play by director Liu Jialiang, but she was "left behind" because the girl who was asked to play "Emerald Red" filmed for a day. In just one scene, she was punched more than 40 times in the stomach, and only a thin stack of scripts under her clothes could be used as protection.
Becoming a famous martial arts actress comes at the cost of being covered in injuries that are difficult to recover. In the golden age of the actress, Kara Wai, who suffered from capsulitis and peritonitis, began to transform.
Kara Wai in What’s Bad Head?
Jiang Luxia, who takes Kara Wai as an example, was also asked by the director to play from beginning to end when he filmed his first film "The Warriors". In the 50-day shooting cycle, Jiang Luxia played for 45 days, and sometimes even played for 24 hours. It has become a common practice to pull into the hospital for stitches.
On the second day of joining the group, Jiang Luxia filmed a highlight that needed to smash the glass against the explosion point. Because of this lens, she broke her waist, and now when the symptoms start, she often can’t sleep because of the pain.
Jiang Luxia in "The Warriors"
In the interview, we also learned that many female actors have to make greater sacrifices to balance their careers and lives after forming a family.
Xu Ke, the chairman of the jury of Jackie Chan International Action Film Week, said that the audience actually liked the performance of actresses in action movies, and the actions they could accomplish were often more dramatic and visual than the actors.
"In terms of action alone, I think there is no difference between men and women (in terms of ability). It’s just that female actors may have to make choices at different ages, whether to change the focus of their careers in order to return to a’ normal’ lifestyle. " Tsui Hark said.
Huang Xiaoxuan, an adult class member and action actress, is preparing for the closing ceremony of Jackie Chan Film Week.
Huang Xiaoxuan, a member of the adult class, was pregnant at the end of the filming. However, according to the arrangement of the scene, she still had to complete a dangerous fall to the ground.
After the child was born, Huang Xiaoxuan got the opportunity to join the group. Continuous shooting during the day, taking care of the children and nursing at night, she has not slept for two days.
Out of love for this job, and because I don’t want to be a full-time mother when I have children, Huang Xiaoxuan is still insisting as an activist.
Where is the breakthrough of female actors?
"It is very difficult to find a real female action actress now." Jackie Chan, who has made action movies for decades, has already noticed the problems in the industry. "No one to practice, most of them are body double. Girls know that the’ vitality’ of action movies is very short, and there is definitely no way to continue shooting for five or six years, so the number of people is getting less and less. "
Jackie Chan once admitted: "It is very difficult to find a real female action actress."
Is "transformation" the only way out for this industry? At least a girl like Jiang Luxia doesn’t want to accept her fate:
She doesn’t think that the lack of the opportunity of "the leading actress" is the biggest sticking point that hinders the development of female action filmmakers. "Like Jackie Chan and Mr. Jason Wu, they all really have the strength and are good enough to achieve today’s achievements, but we (female action filmmakers) are really weak in ability accumulation and talent reserve."
In Jiang Luxia’s view, Jackie Chan can hardly be surpassed in the field of action for many years because he constantly challenges himself with his works. If female action filmmakers can also gather strength and make a work to the extreme, instead of simply and mechanically completing invalid repetitive actions in the film as functional roles, then one day, they will certainly create their own opportunities.
Kara Wai and Jiang Luxia.
At Jackie Chan International Action Film Week a year ago, it was Fatima Sana Shaikh who shared the honor of best action actress with Jiang Luxia.
The affection and female power in this film infected countless audiences, which made Jiang Luxia feel very excited: "We girls in China are also very powerful in many aspects. If we can also find such a breakthrough and create works with the theme of female power in China, a good team and a good script, I believe it will make people shine and complete a stand-up work."