Peng Yuyan： It feels great to play Deng Chao’s ＂father＂

On February 10, Peng Yuyan attended the special meeting of "Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves" in Shanghai. Visual China, Figure

Han Han’s second work, "Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves", has been released nationwide on the first day of the new year. The film not only has a high reputation and attendance rate, but also has broken through 800 million at the box office. On February 10, the film’s star Peng Yuyan attended the special meeting of "Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves" in Shanghai. He interacted with thousands of audiences on the spot and fed lucky fans the Lantern Festival. In the interview, he also talked about the cooperation with director Han and the two stars Deng Chao and Zhao Liying, praising Han Han as a "high-value talent" and playing Deng Chao’s father "feels very good".

Peng Yuyan feeds Lantern Festival to lucky fans. Visual China, Figure

"Pretending to be old is to see what it will look like when you are old"

"Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves" tells the story of Xu Tailang, played by Deng Chao, who traveled to 1998 due to a car accident. He met his young father Xu Zhengtai (Peng Yuyan, played) and his mother Xiaohua (Zhao Liying, played) who died just after birth. During the process of getting along, he and his father became good brothers and understood his father.

In the film, Peng Yuyan plays Xu Zhengtai in his youth and old age. The elderly Xu Zhengtai is down and out in the vicissitudes of life, and the young Xu Zhengtai is hot-blooded. Two completely different images, Peng Yuyan controls them with ease.

As for the elderly makeup look in the film, Peng Yuyan said that pretending to be old is to see what he will look like when he is old. "I had a long discussion with the director at that time, because I wanted to be older, and I also asked the director if he could play a seventy or eighty-year-old."

Peng Yuyan’s elderly makeup look.

For this elderly makeup look, Peng Yuyan bluntly said that "I like it very much, the skin is very textured and vicissitudes", and "Brother Chao plays my son, I must make him believe and make him feel this way when he plays."

The film is set in 1998, when Peng Yuyan was studying overseas. "That’s why I wanted to make this movie, because it was a big challenge for me, and I didn’t grow up with this part at all."

Xu Zhengtai in his youth.

How to find the feeling of filming in that era? Peng Yuyan’s method is to watch a lot of Hong Kong movies. "Actually, I made a play before, playing a young hot-blooded young man in that era, but it was very different from this one, so this time it was an attempt. I tried my best to figure out, such as why the coat was worn like that, why the hairstyle was like that. Usually I have nothing to do, and I just buckle a BB machine, and I feel like a big brother with a BB machine."

"Han Han is a high-value talent"

"Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves" is Peng Yuyan’s first collaboration with Han Han. Peng Yuyan revealed that the first time the two met was when they were promoting "The Year in a Hurry". At that time, his first impression of Han Han was: "Wow, why do you look so much like Brother Tingfeng. I think it’s cool, wearing leather jackets and leather pants."

However, the way Han Han approached him for filming was not so "cool". "He found it through Weibo private message, and I started to think it was fake, so I asked him if he was me. After a week, he didn’t reply to me. Then he left his number, I sent a message saying I was Eddie, and after a week he didn’t reply. I think it must be fake. Then a few days later he said he forgot my name was Eddie."

Peng Yuyan took a group photo with fans. Visual China

In Peng Yuyan’s opinion, Han Han is "a high-value talent". "He creates in his own space and is very self-indulgent. He thinks of many imaginative things in the movie. He thinks very clearly about each character, and when he acts, he basically has already thought of it for you, so it is very enjoyable to act."

The film was filmed in Tinglin Town, Shanghai, Han Han’s hometown. Peng Yuyan jokingly called Han Han "the first brother of Tinglin Town". He recalled that when the crew first went to Tinglin Town, like "Elvis" arrived at the scene, many of Han Han’s relatives and friends came and shouted to start filming. In this regard, he was quite touched: "He filmed his hometown and restored the appearance of that era, so that everyone could see such stories and feelings. At that time, technology was not as advanced as it is now, but people were more real, and this was also what he wanted to convey."

"It feels great to play Deng Chao’s father"

Another star in the film, Deng Chao and Peng Yuyan, play a father and son. Peng Yuyan admitted that when he first found out that he would play Deng Chao’s father, he was very stressful. "Because I have never been a father and have no children, I don’t know how to convey emotions. Later, when I saw a lot of interactions between Chao Ge and his children at the filming scene, I heard him share some family stories, and I felt that I could use those emotions. I will also learn from other elders, such as Liang Jiahui, who is a good father character."

"Riding the Wind and Waves" stills

How does it feel to be three years younger than Deng Chao in life and to be promoted to his father in the play? Peng Yuyan smiled: "It is great to play his father, and it is my honor to have such an excellent son. You can learn a lot from filming with him. He is flexible in acting, and he will think of a lot of details and ask a lot of questions."

Peng Yuyan also revealed that he and Deng Chao were like brothers outside the play, and would communicate frequently, "Brother Chao is like a big brother, and will take care of many companions. Please eat hot pot and skewers, and feed our stomachs first."

When asked if he would envy Deng Chao for having two children, Peng Yuyan responded: "I started to get a little anxious when you mentioned it. Let’s go with fate."

"Feeding each other with Zhao Liying to find the feeling of filming"

In the film, Peng Yuyan and Zhao Liying play a pair of childhood sweethearts who have known each other for more than 20 years. In their first collaboration, Peng Yuyan praised Zhao Liying’s play as "very brilliant and very good". "There are many actions that the old husband and wife don’t have, so she will think of some different interpretations for the director to choose, and put a lot of effort into the role."

Previously, Zhao Liying said in an interview that she could find the feeling of filming with Peng Yuyan because they ate like family and ate until they were full.

The eating scene in "Riding the Wind and the Waves".

In this regard, Peng Yuyan said that he was the same, "When filming the dinner scene, Brother Chao had a lot of mouth, and during that time, the two of us kept eating and feeding each other. She fed me a lot, and I returned it to her, and slowly I have the feeling of knowing each other for many years."

Last year was a bumper year for Peng Yuyan’s screen. Six films starring in "Operation Mekong" and "Cold War 2" were released successively, which not only received double word-of-mouth at the box office, but also helped him win the "Most Powerful Young Actor of 2016", ranking second in the 2016 Most Box Office Appeal Star released by Baidu Nuomi Film (second only to Lu Han).

In more than a decade of acting, Peng Yuyan has become more and more proficient in acting, from the male protagonist of an idol drama to the male god of the screen. He said: "This drama is about time. Time waits for no one, so I am filming to do what I want to do and should do at the moment. You can shoot in time, and you like it more. No matter what the role is, you will try it."