西方电影里的中国巨人：演员篇

Well, in previous installments of this series we've covered directors and films – now it's time for the actors themselves! You might notice a bit of a Hong Kong bias here, mostly because the plucky little island has been producing film stars since the 60s, and Chinese mainland is only just catching up to the juggernaut that is the Hong Kong movie and music industry. One notable difference between Chinese and Western stars is how many are accomplished stuntmen or martial artists – a relative rare skill in the West, where martial arts trained performers, like Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal, are generally confined to the dumbest of action roles. In contrast, Chinese performers are often very skilled in acrobatics, dance, or martial arts, partially because of their background in traditional Chinese drama, which was intensely physically demanding. The relatively low budgets of Hong Kong movies, particularly in the old days, also drove producers to save on stunt budgets. Perhaps Hollywood could learn something from them – I'd certainly pay good money to see Hayden Christiansen get beaten up for real.

在前几期节目中,我们介绍了导演和电影——这期就来讲讲演员们吧!你们可能发现这期节目有点偏重于香港影星,大部分原因是这个弹丸小岛自60年代以来就培育出电影明星,而中国内地则只是追随香港电影和音乐产业。中国影星和西方影星之间有一个显著不同之处,那就是出色的特技演员或武打演员的多少——在西方罕有武打演员,像让•克劳德•范•达美或史蒂芬•西格尔这样专门受过武打训练的演员通常只能饰演愚蠢的角色。与此相反,中国演员往往都非常擅长杂技,舞蹈,或是武术,部分是因为他们有传统中国戏剧的背景,对身体素质有很高的要求。香港电影的预算相对较低,尤其是在以前,这迫使制片人节省特技预算。也许好莱坞可以从他们学到一些东西——我肯定会花大钱去看海登•克里斯蒂安森真刀实枪的打斗。

Chow Yun - Fat 周润发

Chow Yun - Fat made his name in the Hong Kong action cinema of the 1980s, his round, almost babyish face and distinctive tooth - pick chewing habit rapidly making him one of the most recognizable Asian action movie stars. His unflappable demeanor and grim charisma anchor his films, where he often plays either a tough, good - hearted cop or a tough, good - hearted criminal. From a working class background in the islands, he rose to stardom in The Bund, a classic early 80s Hong Kong TV series about the rise and fall of a gangster in 1930s Shanghai.

上个世纪80年代,周润发在香港动作片中成名。他那圆圆的、几乎像小孩一样的面相和叼着牙签的标志性动作,使他迅速成为亚洲最具代表性的动作电影明星之一。无论是扮演英勇善良的警察还是强硬却心善的罪犯,镇定的举止、冷酷的领袖气质是他在影片中不变的风格。出身港岛工人阶级的周润发在《上海滩》这部电视剧中首次亮相,从此踏上演员生涯。作为80年代早期香港电视剧的经典,该剧讲述了20世纪30年代,一个匪徒在上海的起起落落。

It was his partnership with action director John Woo that made his name famous beyond Hong Kong, though. Woo saw that Chow's mixture of toughness and cool made him the perfect hard - boiled hero, and gave him great roles in A Better Tomorrow (1986), The Killer (1989), and Hard - Boiled (1992) to work with; the scenes of Chow with a gun blazing in each hand, or fighting villains through a hospital ward with a baby in one arm and a shotgun in the other, are classic images of action cinema. Chow became Hong Kong's biggest star, accompanied everywhere by grim - faced bodyguards and hangers - on.

然而,使他在香港境外扬名的是与动作片导演吴宇森的合作。吴宇森认为,周润发具有坚韧和冷酷的双重气质,可以使他成为绝佳的冷血英雄,并让他在《英雄本色》(1986)、《喋血双雄》(1989)、《辣手神探》(1992)等影片中担当主角。影片中周润发双手各执一枪火拼,或是一手抱住婴儿,一手持枪与歹徒打斗冲出病房。这些场景成为他在动作片中的经典形象。周润发成了香港巨星,所到之处身旁都有冷面的保镖和穷追不舍的影迷。

Like many veterans of Hong Kong cinema, Chow attempted a move to Hollywood in the 1990s, producing two disappointing films, The Replacement Killers (1998) and The Corruptor (1999). His return to Asia, however, produced one of his biggest ever hits, 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. His meditative cool as the monk - warrior Li Mubai helped make the film a mega - hit worldwide - albeit that the film was in Mandarin and Chow, a native Cantonese speaker, is visibly struggling with the language at points. Recently he's appeared in more mainland movies, such as 2006's Curse of the Golden Flower, and is set to star in prestige movie Confucius as the eponymous philosopher this year. We look forward to the scene in which Confucius, a sword in one hand and a gun in the other, carves his way through a crowd of disrespectful thugs.

像许多香港老牌电影明星一样,20世纪90年代,周润发试图向好莱坞发展,出演了两部令人失望的电影——《替身杀手》(1998)和《再战边缘》(1999)。不过,他重回亚洲后于2000年出演的《卧虎藏龙》,一举成为其最成功的影视作品之一。尽管这是部华语影片,而且习惯说粤语的周润发当时显然难破语言瓶颈,但这都不妨碍由他饰演的李慕白,那位思维沉着冷静的大侠帮助影片成为全球大片。最近,越来越多的内地电影中有了他的身影,像是2006年他出演了《满城尽带黄金甲》,以及今年在《孔子》这部大片中担当主角,饰演著名思想家孔子。我们希望在影片中看到孔子一手执剑,一手持枪,从一群恶棍中杀出一条血路来的场景。

Jackie Chan 成龙

Everybody loves Jackie Chan. He's the single most famous Chinese actor in the world, and virtually worshipped as a god in his home of Hong Kong. The cheery - faced, rubbery kung fu master and comic actor is so popular that he barely even plays different characters any more – just 'Jackie'. Whether he's a British naval officer in 19th century Hong Kong, a policeman, or a monk, he's the same loveable semi - loser, bumbling his way through life but always triumphing at the end. He's tried to play more varied characters recently, even a villain – but nobody watches his movies for the acting! Rather, they watch them for his marvelous semi - improvised martial arts, where he combines acrobatics, kung fu, and any props he has to hand to make cinematic magic. My personal favorite is the fight scene in Hong Kong's narrow alleyways in Project A, where Chan defeats a group of thugs using his bicycle as a weapon.

没有人不爱成龙。他是世界上最著名的华人影星,在他的家乡香港更是被奉为神明。热情洋溢的笑容,永远打不败的功夫以及滑稽的表演风格使他家喻户晓,以至于很难再出演其他角色——只能是“成龙”。 无论是在19世纪香港的英国海军军官,警察,还是和尚,他都是可爱的半失败者,生活中跌跌撞撞,但总是能取得成功。最近,他努力去扮演更多不同的角色,甚至是反面人物——但没有人是为了他的表演来看他的电影,而是冲着他那出色的半即兴表演而来的。武术表演中他综合运用了特技、功夫、以及其他表现电影魅力的道具。我本人最喜欢的打斗场景是《A计划》中,在香港的小巷里成龙仅以一辆自行车就打败了一群暴徒的那场。

Chan is a master physical comedian, working in the tradition of Western stars like Buster Keaton, and combining them with his own martial arts training. One of his first films, Drunken Master (1978) epitomizes this; Chan plays a young martial arts student who learns how to fight like a drunk man, reeling from side to side and beating his opponents with unexpected blows. Almost all the fights in the movie are played for comedy, resembling children's games or drunken squabbles more than serious battles. Chan is brilliantly flexible and ingenious, and his brand of slapstick kung - fu humor can make anybody laugh.

成龙是位动作喜剧大师,不仅继承了巴斯特•基顿等西方影星的传统,还融入了自己的武术风格。他早期的电影《醉拳》(1978)就体现了这一点。影片中,成龙饰演了一位学习武术的年轻弟子,练习如何像醉鬼一样左右摇晃,以出其不意的招数打败敌人。几乎所有的打斗都是为了喜剧效果,像是孩子玩的过家家,又像是醉鬼之间的斗嘴而不是正经八百的武斗。成龙出色的灵活性和巧妙的动作编排,以及其招牌式的功夫幽默能使每一位观众都开心一笑。

Chan was born in Hong Kong in 1954, to parents who worked for the French consulate, and so grew up in the privileged surroundings of Victoria Peak.After his father emigrated to Australia to work for several years, Chan was sent to a Peking Opera School, where he specialized in acrobatics and faked fighting. There he was taken under the wing of the teacher, Yu Jim - yuen, who made him work twice as hard as the other students as a result!He described his training as 'really arduous, we hardly had enough to eat, enough clothes to keep warm, training was extremely tiring, and Master could cane us anytime!' (There's even a 1988 movie, Painted Faces, about the school.) There he met Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, who he would go on to collaborate with in a number of great films, starting with 1983's Project A. As a result, he became a talented young performer in peak physical condition, but found it hard to break into films at first, even joining his father in Australia for a while and working on a building site, where he acquired his English name after being tutored by a burly Aussie called 'Jack'. He found movie work as a stuntman first of all, until, impressed with his skills, a producer took him up as a star.

成龙1954年出生于香港。由于他的父母在法国领事馆工作,所以在维多利亚山顶的领事馆区里长大。在父亲移居澳洲工作了几年之后,成龙被送进一所京剧学校,专门学习杂技和武戏。当时他师从于占元,结果这位师傅让他付出常人两倍的努力!成龙曾这样描述他练武时期的生活“真的很艰苦,我们很难吃饱,穿暖,练习又是极其枯燥,师傅随时都可能用棍子打我们。”(1988年电影《七小福》说的就是这所京剧学校。)在这所学校,他结识了洪金宝和元彪,从1983年的《A计划》开始,三人一起合作拍摄了多部卖座影片。最终,在体能达到巅峰的时候,成龙成为了一名极具才能的年轻演员。但是,最初成龙很难打入影视圈。他甚至跑去澳大利亚和他父亲呆了一段时间,找了份建筑工地的活。在那里,他有了一位名叫Jack的、魁梧的澳大利亚老师,之后才取了自己的英文名字。一开始,他只是个电影特技演员,直到他的武艺给某位制片人留下了深刻印象,才被提拔做演员。

Chan is notorious for doing all his own stunts, rather than relying on professional stuntmen. He works with a carefully selected team that he's built up over the years, but even so things go wrong – he's said to have broken every bone in his body at one point or another. His films often feature outtakes at the end where you can watch him crashing down several stories, falling off buses, or running into walls – sometimes you see him being carted off to hospital, giving a weak thumbs - up. As well as his acting, he's also a noted Cantopop singer; thanks to early dramatic training he has a very pleasant voice.

成龙之所以名扬千里,是因为在他的电影里,所有动作特技都是成龙亲自完成的,而非依靠专业特技演员。多年来,他精心挑选而打造了支队伍。但即使与这样的队伍合作,事情也有出纰漏的时候——据说,他身上的每一块骨头都有断过,有的还不止一次。影片结尾处通常会播放些拍摄花絮,观众会看到他从几楼高的地方上坠下,从巴士上摔下来,或是撞到墙上——有时会看到他被带离片场,送去医院,自己却还虚弱地竖起大拇指,示意自己还好。除了表演,他还是著名的粤语歌手。得益于早期的京剧训练,他有副悦耳的嗓音。

Zhang Ziyi 章子怡

Born in Beijing in 1979, Zhang Ziyi's luminous beauty has won her many admirers worldwide. I've got to admit to having absolutely no objectivity when it comes to Zhang Ziyi. I first saw her in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon a decade ago, and thought she was one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in my life – a sentiment which still makes my girlfriend a little touchy if I mention it. This admiration was shared by many film critics; one, the (gay) Gilbert Adair, produced this marvelous (if a touch tongue - in - cheek) paragraph -

1979年章子怡出生在北京。她靓丽的外表使她在全球赢得了许多爱慕者。我得承认,一说到章子怡,就会失去理智。十年前,当我第一次在《卧虎藏龙》里看到她的时候,就觉得她是我这辈子见过的最美丽的女人之一 ——在我提出这样的想法时,到现在都会让我女朋友微有醋意。很多电影评论家也对她抱有爱慕之情。像是Gilbert Adair(同性恋),就曾发出过这样惊人的言论(这话可不能当真):

'Not to put too fine a point on it, I fell in love with her at first sight, helplessly, hopelessly and (appropriately enough for a film as acrobatic as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) head over heels. As everyone is aware, however, love and objectivity, the kind of objectivity on which all honest criticism has to be based, tend to be mutually incompatible categories, and there's a real risk of my exasperating readers for months to come with dreamy, doting and, for the most part, irrelevant allusions to Zhang's talent, her beauty, her adorableness, etc. I've therefore decided that, for the sake of my reputation as a critic, it would be better if this were my last review for The Independent on Sunday. So, goodbye. '

“无需赘述,我对她一见钟情,无奈地、绝望地、彻头彻尾地(显然说的是《卧虎藏龙》里的武打特技)。然而,每个人都知道个人喜好和客观性——所有评论所应基于的客观事实——往往是水火不容的。很有可能的是,恼怒的读者在今后几个月中读到的,都将是我对章子怡才华的幻想、宠爱、无聊的东西以及她的美貌和可爱等等。因此,我决定,为了我作为评论家的声誉,这最好是我在《独立报》周末版发表的最后一篇评论。那么,再见吧。”

She's regularly voted among the hundred most beautiful women in the world, but there's no doubt that Zhang Ziyi's performance in the film, made when she was barely 21, is magnificent; she suggests a tension between public and private selves that both plays to the themes of the film and causes male viewers' minds to wander suggestively. She's never had quite as big a hit in the West again – she was in the mediocre but popular Rush Hour 2, with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, but that was hardly a great work of art. Nor was the execrable TMNT, which didn't even do good box office.However, she's had a number of Asian hits, most notably another martial arts epic, Hero, marking the start of a renewed partnership with director Zhang Yimou that saw her playing beautiful, tormented female characters – and martial artists – in three films in succession; the gorgeously shot and morally complex Hero, and the rather messy follow - ups House of Flying Daggers and The Banquet. She had, in fact, made one of her first movies, The Road Home, with Zhang Yimou when she was just 19. She also turned in a sterling performance in Wang Kar - Wei's 2046.

章子怡曾多次被评为全球最美的一百位女性之一,但是毫无疑问,章子怡在影片《卧虎藏龙》中的表现极其出色,尽管她当时还不足21岁。她在荧屏上下无不彰显自我的张力,不仅紧贴主题,而且令男性影迷浮想联翩。此后她再没引起过如此强烈的反响——她和成龙、欧文•威尔逊一起出演了《尖峰时刻2》,这部电影虽说卖座,但平庸无奇,算不上伟大的艺术作品。还有糟糕的《忍者神龟》,甚至都没有好的票房。然而,她在亚洲却有一系列不俗的表现,最耀眼的要数另一部武打大片——与张艺谋导演再续片缘的《英雄》。张艺谋见证了她在连续三部电影中扮演美丽而又饱受磨难的女性角色,还有武打形象。这三部电影是画面华美、寓意深远的《英雄》,情节复杂的《十面埋伏》和《夜宴》。事实上,在章子怡19岁的时候,她就与张艺谋合作了她早期电影《我的父亲母亲》。她在王家卫的《2046》中亦有上佳的表现。

Sammo Hung 洪金宝

As a hefty gentleman myself, I have a soft spot for Sammo Hung, a man who could easily have starred in a live - action version of Kung Fu Panda when young.He's a chubby fellow – one of his films was called, marvelously, Enter the Fat Dragon, and, like many fat guys, a skilled comic actor. He picked his name, 'Sammo', after a fat cartoon character. What's more remarkable is his grace and strength as a martial artist; his bouncy exterior conceals a core of steel. He was one of Jackie Chan's fellow students at Peking Opera School, and has collaborated with Chan and fellow classmate Yuen Biao on several movies. As the oldest of the three friends, and the fattest, he was called 'the Biggest Big Brother'. He's nearly as gifted a physical comedian as Chan, although he's never achieved the same breakthrough status in the West.

我本身就是个体型魁梧的绅士,所以对洪金宝有特殊的好感。年轻时的他定可以轻松扮演真人版《功夫熊猫》里的主角。他是个胖乎乎的家伙——他其中一部名字很绝的电影就叫做《肥龙过江》。而且像许多胖子一样,他是位演技精湛的喜剧演员。他根据某个胖胖的卡通人物取了自己的名字“三毛”。更令人印象深刻的是,他有着武术家的风度和力量,只是胖胖的外表掩盖了他坚韧的内质。在京剧学校,他和成龙是师兄弟,两人跟另一个师弟元彪合作拍摄了多部电影。他是三人中年纪最大、体型最肥的一个,人称“大大师兄”。虽然在西方他没有像成龙一样的地位,但却不失为一个与成龙一样的有天赋的动作喜剧演员。

Hung started off as a child actor, but went on to become a martial arts star, especially after training in Korea to learn different styles. As well as being a skilled fighter and star, he also achieved success as a choreographer, directing and guiding fight scenes in other movies. He helped create Chan's use of seemingly improvised weaponry, and his frenetic, close - in style was a distinctive feature of many 1980s Hong Kong movies. In the early eighties, he created the 'stiff corpse' (jiang shi) subgenre with Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1985) and Mr Vampire (1985). Something like a comedy version of Western zombie or vampire movies, these films were partially inspired by the 'Hammer Horror' films of the 1950s, British horror - comedies made on a low budget. They feature 'hopping vampires' as their main monsters, comic monstrosities who hop menacingly towards their victims, but can be blocked by Daoist rites or the throwing of sticky rice.

他以童星的身份入行,但随后变成了武打明星,特别是在去韩国受训学习不同的打斗风格之后。他不仅是位技艺高超的武师和演员,还是位卓有成就的武术指导,在其他电影里指导武打场景。他帮助创造了成龙所使用的看似简易的武器,他疯狂的近体打斗是20世纪80年代许多香港电影的一个突出特点。在80年代初期,他在电影《鬼打鬼》(1985)、《僵尸先生》(1985)中开创了“僵尸”这一题材。这些电影有点像搞笑版的西方僵尸或吸血鬼电影,部分是受到20世纪50年代英国低成本的 “海默”影片,即恐怖喜剧电影的启发。这些电影以“蹦跳的僵尸”为主要怪物,这些搞怪的异形会蹦向他们的猎物,但可以道教仪式或扔糯米的形式来制服他们。

Hung became more recognizable to Western audiences with the launch of Martial Law (1998) a short -lived but often syndicated TV program where he played a Chinese cop on assignment in America. (The title was a pun on 'martial law' – when the army takes over police duties – and 'martial arts'.) His career had suffered something of a dip in the 1990s, after clashes with other Hong Kong directors and producers.Hung's English was always poor, and he spoke many of his lines phonetically. Nowadays he's moved into the role of an elder statesmen of the HK film community, working with and nurturing others – he was instrumental in the creation of the hit Kung Fu Hustle (2004).

虽然《过江龙》(1998)这部电视连续剧只是昙花一现,但随着该剧的播放,洪金宝为西方观众所熟知。在这部合拍片中,他饰演一位在美国执行任务的中国警察。(剧名一语双关,既指军队接管警察职责时的军法,又指武术。)20世纪90年代,他与一些香港导演、制片人发生摩擦,随后他的事业出现滑坡。洪金宝的英语一直都很差,他的台词都需要配音。现在他成了香港电影圈中的前辈,与其他人合作,并提携新人——他指导制作了大片《功夫》(2004)。

Michelle Yeoh 杨紫琼

The lithe, glamorous Yeoh remains a favorite with Western audiences, being one of the few Asian - born actresses to have achieved more hits in the West than at home. Born to Chinese parents in Malaysia in 1962, she trained as a dancer before an accident ended her dreams of ballet stardom. Instead she became a model, winning the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant before going on to take some small roles in Hong Kong movies in the 1980s. Like many other Hong Kong - based stars, she married and divorced a famous businessman, Dickson Poon, temporarily retiring from acting after her wedding, then returning three years later after the couple split up.

轻盈、迷人的杨紫琼深受西方观众的喜爱。在亚洲出生的女演员中,她是少数在西方获得的成就比在国内多的其中一人。杨紫琼1962年出生在马来西亚,父母都是华人。她原本学的是舞蹈,但一场意外断送了她芭蕾明星的梦想。后来,她成为一名模特,赢得了马来西亚小姐选美比赛。这些都发生在20世纪80年代的她香港电影中饰演一些小角色之前。如同许多其他香港出身的明星一样,她与富商潘迪生结婚,婚后暂时退出演艺事业,三年后两人离婚不久,她重返影视圈。

It was the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) that made her an international star, although The Heroic Trio (1993) had already been a hit in Asia. She played a Chinese super - spy agent, importing some HK style into a moribund franchise and, remarkably, performing all her own stunts. She's never had any formal stunt or martial arts training, instead relying on her superb physical fitness and background as a dancer. She then went on to star in her greatest hit, 2000s wonderful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.Ironically, neither her nor her romantic partner in the film, Chow Yun Fat, spoke Mandarin well, and had to sound out their lines phonetically – which they still delivered with astonishing skill and feeling. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon showed she could be a wonderful actress, but she hasn't really stretched herself since, save in 2005's Memories of a Geisha, where she played a famous Japanese courtesan.

虽然《东方三侠》(1993)已经在亚洲取得不俗的成绩,但在詹姆斯邦德007系列电影《明日帝国》(1997)中的演出才使她成为国际巨星。她饰演了一位中国高级情报员,将港式风格融入到老套的剧情中,而且亲自表演所有特技。她从未接受过任何正式的表演或武术培训,而是依靠出色的身体素质和舞蹈演员的底子。之后,她出演《卧虎藏龙》(2000)。这部电影成为她最成功的作品。可笑的是,虽然她本人和浪漫的搭档周润发在影片中,普通话讲得都不好,咬字也不清楚,但他们仍表现出了出色的演技和感觉。《卧虎藏龙》表明她是一位优秀的女演员,但这之后她都没有长足的发展,唯一的亮点是2005年的《艺妓回忆录》,影片中她扮演了一位日本艺妓。

Gong Li 巩俐

As China translator Brendan O'Kane remarked of 2006's Curse of the Golden Flower – 'I was pretty excited to see this movie because it features two of my favorite actors – Gong Li's breasts – along with Chow Yun – Fat, Jay Chou, and Gong Li herself in supporting roles. ' This is, of course, grossly unfair; as she showed with the classics Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Raise the Red Lantern (1991), Gong Li is an extremely talented and clever actress, and her fantastic breasts shouldn't distract us from that. Well, maybe they should distract us a little – her directors do seem remarkably keen on displaying them to best effect.

中文翻译写手Brendan O'Kane评论2006年的《满城尽带黄金甲》时说——“看到这部电影时,我非常高兴,因为有两个我最喜欢的演员——巩俐的胸部——另外还有周润发,周杰伦,和巩俐所扮演的角色。”这当然是极不公平的;正如在经典电影《霸王别姬》( 1993 )和《大红灯笼高高挂》( 1991 )中 所表现出来的那样,巩俐是一个非常能干和聪明的女演员,而她美妙的胸部不应让我们忽略这一点。好吧,也许会让我们有一点分神——与她合作的导演似乎很热衷于完美地表现它们。

Born in Liaoning, she grew up in Jinan and then attended the China Academy of Drama, graduating in 1989. It was there that she caught the attention of the great director Zhang Yimou - in more ways than one, apparently, as an affair between the two caused scandal in the 1990s. He cast her in Red Sorghum (1987) as a young and forceful widow while she was still at the Academy. Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell My Concubine, bringing her stardom at a relatively young age, and resulted in her winning several awards overseas, as well as being asked to be a judge at the Berlin film festival. After To Live (1994) she ended her collaboration with Zhang for a while, partially because of the scandal, but went on to star in several other hits, notably 1999's The Emperor and the Assassin. An evocative and skilled performer, she's been a reliable element of the Chinese film world for some years - along with her two reliable co - stars.

巩俐出生在辽宁,成长于济南,然后考取中央戏剧学院并于1989年毕业。在中央戏剧学院,她引起了大导演张艺谋的注意¬——显然是在多个方面。因为在上世纪90年代两人之间曾有绯闻。巩俐还没毕业时,张艺谋让她在《红高粱》( 1987)中出演了年轻而强悍的寡妇一角。《大红灯笼高高挂》和《霸王别姬》,使她年纪轻轻就成名了,在海外赢得多个奖项,以及被邀请在柏林电影节担任评委。自《活着》(1994)之后,她就结束了与张艺谋的合作,部分是因为绯闻,但随即接拍主演了其他几部大片,特别是1999年的《荆轲刺秦王》。她是一位感情丰富、演技上佳的演员,多年来她和两个值得可以依赖的伙伴一起,成为了中国电影的中流砥柱。

Andy Lau 刘德华

Andy Lau is the epitome of the smooth, handsome Hong Kong star - perhaps a little too smooth for Western tastes, indeed. He's specialized in playing 'heroic gangsters', criminals with a heart of gold, who often switch sides halfway through the movie. His films tend to be reliable, with few really outstanding pieces, although he's always entertaining to watch – his career's spanned the early 80s right through to today. Unfortunately, he acquired some notoriety earlier after one of his mainland fans became so devoted to him that her parents sold their house in order to pay for her to visit Hong Kong and meet him – after the press mockingly covered the story, her poor father committed suicide.

刘德华是个典型的帅气又圆滑的香港明星——对西方观众来说,或许实在是有点儿过于圆滑了。他擅长饰演迷途知返的“英雄匪徒”,即心地善良的匪徒。他的电影通常是票房的保证,虽然他的电影娱乐性十足,但很少有真正优秀的作品——他的职业生涯从80年代初直至今日跨越了几十年。不幸的是,之前一位内地影迷对刘德华是如此痴迷,以至于她的父母变卖家宅,让她去香港见他。在媒体戏虞地刊登了这则报道之后,该影迷的父亲就自杀了。此后刘德华被冠以不少恶名。

Lau's also a key example of a peculiar Hong Kong phenomenon, the actor/singer. Virtually no Western film actors have any musical career to speak of (though it's not unknown for British TV actors, such as the chippy Ant and Dec, or mum's favorites Robson and Jerome), outside hobby bands, but it's a regular crossover for Cantonese actors to make. Lau's the most sterling example, being one of the 'Kings of Cantopop' – his smooth crooner's voice doesn't sound like anything special to me, but it's sold tens of millions of records in East Asia, so there must be something there! Maybe it's just marketing …

同时,刘德华还是影视歌三栖发展的突出代表。这是香港所特有的现象,事实上,西方电影演员没人有值得称道的音乐事业(虽然如活泼的Ant&Dec;,或是师奶们喜欢的罗布森和杰罗姆这样的英国电视演员也不是没有这样做过),即使有也是随意玩玩而已。然而,粤语演员向歌手转型却是惯例。作为四大天王之一的刘德华是最典型的例子——对我而言,他温柔的嗓音并没有什么特殊,但是,据说在东亚,他卖出了成千上百万张专辑,那么这其中定有什么使他如此成功!也许仅仅是因为宣传做的好……

Chen Daoming 陈道明

Out of all the Chinese stars, Chen Daoming is probably the least known abroad.That's mostly because this veteran character actor, now in his mid - fifties, has always been more of a TV than a film specialist. His face is instantly recognizable to hundreds of millions of Chinese, but virtually unknown in the West, where his only major role has been as the semi - villainous Qin Shi Huang in Zhang Yimou's epic Hero. He won praise for that role, but you'd be hard - pressed to find anyone out of hardcore Chinese movie fans who recognized him in Europe and America.

陈道明可能是所有中国明星中在海外知名度最低的一位演员。那很可能是因为这位已年过半百的个性演员更多地活跃于电视荧屏。在中国他家喻户晓,但在西方却鲜为人知,仅有的重要角色就是在张艺谋的历史大片《英雄》里扮演的亦正亦邪的秦始皇。他因此角色而获得了赞誉,但是你很难在欧美的铁杆中国电影迷中找到能认出他的人。

That's a shame, because he's a versatile and committed actor, who disappears into his roles utterly. Unlike the Hong Kong stars, he's never had a private scandal, remaining happily married to the same woman for over twenty - seven years, and content to plug on quietly with his work. Nowadays he specializes in authority figures, mostly sages and emperors; his stern but wise face and his imposing demeanour make him look like everybody's headmaster!

这很是令人遗憾,因为他是位多才多艺而敬业的演员,完全融入自己的角色中。不同于香港影星的是,他从没有绯闻,依然与结发二十七年的妻子生活在一起,安于默默地工作。现在,他擅长表演威严的人物,大多数是圣贤帝王。严肃而睿智的面孔、威严的举止让他看起来像是每个人的师长。

Notes

1. rise to stardom

意为“成名,获得名声”。

Although Lopez's rise to stardom seemed to happen overnight, in truth, the actress had earned her place at the top by consistently plying her exceptional talent.

虽然洛佩兹似乎一夜成名,但事实上这位女演员是凭借坚持不懈地挖掘自己杰出的天分,才挣得到了顶尖位置。

2. carve a way through

意为“从……中杀出一条路”。

The soldiers want to carve out a way through the enemy

战士们想从敌营中杀出一条血路。

3. be taken under the wing of

意为“得到……的资助、照顾”。

The young singer was taken under the wing of a record shop owner who became his manager.

这位年轻的歌手得到了一家唱片店老板的资助,后来这位老板成了他的经理。

4. Not to put too fine a point on it

意为“坦白说,不客气地说”。

Not to put too fine a point on it, I'm very dissatisfied with his work.

坦白地说,我对他的工作非常不满意