The pain of playing the role of… a dead person

Experience being a corpse

In the movie Lat mat 6: The fateful ticket, there is a scene that haunts the audience. It is the scene where a group of people dig up the grave of their deceased best friend to find the winning lottery ticket. The audience gets goosebumps even more when they see the group dancing and celebrating next to the open coffin and the body of their friend lying cold and alone.

The actor Thanh Thuc played the role of this unfortunate corpse. The experience of lying in a coffin for hours like a “dead person” was probably the most unforgettable and haunting moment for the actor from Tra Vinh .

Although there were mannequins and stuntmen, in order to bring the best quality footage, Thanh Thuc proactively asked director Ly Hai to do the scene lying in the grave himself. His photo was of course also put on the tombstone. “That was a role that left a deep impression on me. Honestly, up to this point, when I mention it, I still get goosebumps, not knowing how to make everyone understand the feeling I went through.

From the moment I read the script, I was afraid of that scene. When I was filming, lying in a coffin with votive papers that everyone had prepared, wearing a coffin, in the middle of a cemetery late at night, watching the coffin lid slowly close, my mentality became more depressed, tense and terribly scared. At that time, I was only determined to complete the scene well so that I wouldn't have to do it over and over again," the actor recalled. Perhaps because he was so scared, Thanh Thuc's face at that time became even paler and whiter, looking more and more like someone who had... died a long time ago.

Director Ly Hai humorously said: "Many people when applying to act in movies often say that they can play any role, even a corpse. But I sincerely advise you not to foolishly play the role of a corpse."

According to the director of Lat mat 6 , playing the role of a corpse seems easy but is extremely difficult, because it requires skill and emotion. The actor must lie still, keep the same facial expression, hold his breath, not tense, not move the abdominal muscles, neck rhythm, eyelids..., especially in close-up shots. And especially must have "nerves of steel" to overcome the psychological obsession with death.

If you are lucky, you will die peacefully, but if you are unlucky enough to play a role where the body is not completely dead, burned, or decomposed after a long time, then you will have to work much harder. In an important scene of the movie Scandal: The Return of the Halo , actress Trang Nhung's face was sprayed with many layers of glue, scarred, smeared with blood, and covered with black ink to create the image of a burned corpse.

In the film The Labyrinth , actress Cao Diep Anh plays a young girl who comes home late at night and is attacked, molested, and finally killed naked by a pervert. The actress said this was the first and last time she played a dead person.

Trang Nhung had to spend hours in makeup to look like a "burned corpse".

There are scenes that are only shown for a few seconds, but behind the scenes, the actors have to spend 3-4 hours in makeup and that much time to re-shoot the camera angles. In addition, they always have to face the risk of… real death, because according to the script, they can be buried alive, hanged, stuffed in a sack, drowned in water, mud or naked in the rain and sun…

Actress Kim Huyen said that although she has played many roles, the most haunting moment was the scene where the character hangs herself at 2am, near a cemetery in Binh Duong . She had to reshoot the scene many times so that the director could get close-up shots. During the hanging scene, the noose was so tight that the actress thought she was "gone", luckily the props team discovered the problem and intervened early.

In the movie Journey of Justice , the character Ha (actress Huyen Trang) had a scene where she was found dead in a rented apartment. The actress had to lie motionless on the floor for hours while the makeup artist covered her with white powder to create the appearance of a corpse. She did not dare to open her eyes, did not dare to move even though she was very tired, occasionally only daring to ask the director to let her scratch her nose because of an allergy to powder. Because the scene took place in a small room, with many people and hot weather, the crew had to use paper fans to continuously cool the actress so she would not sweat.

Actor Thanh Thuc experiences being a corpse in "Flip Side 6: The Fateful Ticket".

If the actor plays the role of an autopsy, he will have to be naked and wear makeup to create the feeling that he has been dead for many days. In particular, the very cold temperature in the morgue is also a big challenge for them. Playing the role of a gangster in the movie The Night Owl , actor Lam Tuan is not afraid of fighting scenes, but is haunted by the scene of killing people in the cold morgue, surrounded by corpses lying in every drawer. The bed he lies on, a few minutes ago, is also the place where a corpse lies. People only have time to roughly clean the body box with hydrogen peroxide, cover it with a white cloth and then let Lam Tuan lie down.

Artist Trung Dan had an unforgettable experience playing the role of a dead man in a coffin. “Once, when filming a cai luong play in Bac Lieu , after a whole day of being exposed to the sun, I was put in a coffin and surrounded by fragrant flowers, so I slept soundly. When I opened my eyes, the crew had moved on to filming another scene, and that was when I got scared,” he recounted.

Many actors say that playing a corpse is not only hard but also disadvantageous, because most of the roles are supporting roles, leaving an impression on the audience with ugly, scary images. Moreover, when the character dies, the actor also has to "receive a lunch box" because... the role is over.

When the living come to life… the memorial photo

Actress Duong Cam Lynh once shared her indescribable feelings when participating in the film Oan nghiep , she transformed into a ghost standing looking at her portrait on the altar, surrounded by friends and relatives who came to pay their respects. After the film aired, friends called in panic to ask, while family scolded, "How foolish!"

Viewers watching Bloody Heart were also startled by Tu Vi’s haunting “worship photo”. The actress confessed that she was not really scared but just thought it was an illustration of another fate in the film.

In the movie Two-Faced, actress Mai Thu Huyen plays the role of two twin sisters. When the older sister passed away, the design team and artists took her photo and placed it on the altar. After the photo was placed neatly on the altar, the actress also took a “selfie” and posted it on her personal page.

Contrary to the taboo of many people, the actress considers it an experience and a learning experience. In her acting career, the beautiful Mai Thu Huyen has also had a few times "sitting" at the altar, even her photo was posted on the tombstone.

Actress Mai Thu Huyen considers going to "the altar" an experience of the acting profession.

According to many directors in the profession, although they still have a bit of a worried mentality, nowadays, most actors are more open about the issue of memorial photos compared to the previous generation. Participating in The Returned , knowing that she would have to sit on the "altar", La Thanh Huyen quickly chose a very... pretty photo. When the director said it did not meet the requirements, she happily went to take another photo, then sat down to choose like choosing... a wedding photo.

Actor Tran Bao Son also only asked the director of the film Quyen when choosing a photo for the memorial photo to "choose a handsome and bright photo", without any taboos. Or like the film The Taste of Love , there is a scene where the family cries in front of the altar when the character of People's Artist Cong Ly dies in an accident, the audience discovered that the photo used as the memorial photo is a photo of People's Artist Cong Ly... extremely handsome attending an event.

Actor Le Binh confided: “I have been to the altar 7-8 times. When the character I played passed away, I had to accept taking his picture to worship. This is normal. Many people abstain, but I think life and death are predestined. If I live a decent life, there is nothing to be afraid of.”

Artist Truong Quang, a props expert for stages and film crews, said he often has the habit of taking photos of the dead in cemeteries and has prepared a set of more than 2,000 photos of the deceased. Each time he uses them, he uses Photoshop to retouch or blur their facial features and eyes.

He said that once, his relatives discovered that his grandmother’s photo was being used to replace the memorial photo for the character played by People’s Artist Ngoc Giau, so they wanted to “sue”. However, after hearing people say “she passed away but still got to act in a movie, and act with Ms. Ngoc Giau”, they let it go.

(Source: tienphong.vn)

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