Lay Zhang: Taking every step steadily to becoming a good actor
In the TV shows “Crime Crackdown”, Lay Zhang took on the role of police officer Lin Hao. He has the agressiveness of youth but is also modest and self-restrained. This complicated feeling we see from the character has showcased many possibilities of Lay. Going from a singer, dancer to an actor, he make a statement with every step that he takes. “ I wish to make every step count on becoming a good actor. I want to improve my professional skills, portraiting more good characters, and giving back with more good works. I’m not afraid of taking it slow, I want to take every step steadily. I hope that one day, I can eventually become “not too bad of an actor.” Lay told us about his experience when creating the character “Lin Hao”, as well as his thoughts on the career of actor.
Experiencing the daily life of a police officer
Among the many different characters that are controversial and hard to predict, police officer Lin Hao is one that has a very clear identity from the beginning. If the city of Lu Teng is a dark misted planet, Lin Hao is the ray of sunshine in this darkness. He is full of vitality and justice, having the spirit of a youngster that knows nothing hence fear nothing. Eventhough he is young in age, he is persistent with his goal and doesn’t give up easily. He is one that will fight to the end for the truth. Lay shares the same feeling with Lin Hao’s personal experience, he had once went abroad alone to study. During that time, Lay tempered his will of perseverance, not giving up, and fight for his dream til the end. Lay had incorporated this commonality into Lin Hao’s personality.
This is Lay’s first time playing the role of a police officer and he really cherishes this opportunity. “Shaping the image of the people’s police is in itself a very big challenge, not to mention the excellence of the script, the director, and all the actors. I hope to not hold this drama back, and I hope to shape this character to the best of my ability. These are breakthroughs and challenges to me”.
To better interpret the character, Lay repeatedly analysed and researched on the role of Lin Hao by browsing on the internet and studying the script. His hardwork and perseverance are seen by predecessors. “Lay is smart, hardworking and diligent. During filming, everyone felt that Lay is indeed Lin Hao himself”, said by actor Yue Wu who played the role of He Yun. “Passionate youth, having a sense of purpose and a strong belief”, this is the commentary Lay has written for the character Lin Hao. Since this is his first time playing a police officer, Lay went to the criminal police office to experience their life and observe their real working and living condition. While carefully studying the script, he has also read through information on a huge range of relevant cases, such as the burial of body in the playground, and the case of Wen Liehong in Hunan. This is to get closer to the character in terms of their attitude, tone and professionalism in handling cases.
The confroning scene is very interesting.
“Crime Crackdown” has both the wonderful game of literary drama and the thrilling of martial arts. Lay Zhang, who didn’t have much martial arts experience, became an “action leader” in the TV drama, bringing the audience an extremely thetrical drama watching experience. Lay expressed that he’s very happy seeing these comments. His strong dance skills have given him excellent physical strength and flexibility. Being good at Krump has also given him a sense of strength. These specialties to a certain extend have helped him adapt better to action scenes. Lay Zhang said frankly that although some physical contactswere inevitable, acting in fighting scenes is one of his dreams. Pain is nothing when he can make his dream come true.
Lin Hao appeared on the stage with extraordinary skill, and the series of action scenes during the investigation of the “Beauty Loan” case was overwhelming. In the scene where he confronted Sun Honglei, there was disdain and contempt in his eyes, and the scene was well received.Recalling that time, Lay revealed that the script was constantly revised while filming, and everyone acted according to the driving logic of the story. In this particular scene, the strong drive from Sun Honglei’s enabled him to quickly enter the story. Lay laughed and said that the confrontation was quite interesting. “It was a little scary but cool at the same time. Lin Hao’s conflict is intertwined with love and hatred for Li Chengyang. My conflict was looking at Honglei ge and be ruthless toward him — this is quite challenging.”
A simple joke tells the close relationship between Lay Zhang and Sun Honglei as a teacher and friend. The two interacted frequently not only in variety shows, but had also collaborated many times in film and television dramas. In his opinion, Sun Honglei in variety shows is more humorous and cute; but in film and television creation, he is very serious and professional. He takes his works very seriously. Sun Honglei has given him a lot of helpduring filming, “He will tell me the specific relationships between the characters. When I first joined the group, he saw that my costume didn’t fit well, so he helped me adjust it directly. I would discuss my own designs and understandings of those scenes with him, and listen to his suggestions.”
Benefited a lot from being a part of this show
“Crime Crackdown” gathers a large number of experienced actors with excellent acting skills. Facing such pressure as a semi film newcomer, Lay’s role of Lin Hao still managed to impress everyone: the character stands! Lay has improved! Lay continue to express that this is his honor and very thankful for receving such comments. He expressed sincerely, “It’s an honour to be able to take part in such a good drama, and thank you to the audience for your recogniton and love for Lin Hao”.
In the drama, Lay had many opposite plays with actors like Sun Honglei, Liu Yijun, Wu Yue, and Su Ke. He admitted that taking part in “Crime Crackdown” was a process of learning performance creation from outstanding predecessors. Through imperceptible influence, he benefited greatly from predecessors’ dedication and concentration in their work, and was more perfused with awe and expectation to the identity of the “actor”. “In addition to their professional acting skills, they are also worthy of role models for me to continue learning in terms of arting and ethics”. To him, it was these teachers who constantly brought him into character, helped him became a better “Lin Hao”. Honing acting skills in the sparks of acting, he said excitedly that he was particularly enjoyable, “Every day of filming was countless ‘masterclasses’. It was wonderful! Every line, every expression, and every play, of all other predecesors was so brilliant. Beside being police officer Lin Hao, I feel like I was on the set as a citizen of Lu Teng city watching endless masters’ battles everyday.”
The atmosphere was tense during filming, but it was completely different outside filming. Lay is in charge of martial arts in the drama, and in real life he took charge of the atmosphere. On the premise of not disturbing anyone at rest, he would show off dancing skills to enliven the atmosphere between filming. “A little dance to get the muscles and bones moving, and to casually interact with everyone else on set”. Speaking of this, he switched the conversation and laughed, “If Honglei ge participate in the Olympic Games, I will be his number one cheerleader and cheer for him! But I don’t think I can have a dance battle with him, in the field of break dancing, he is the real ‘dancing king’”.
