hi! Divine Beast - Interview with Li Liren and Bai Runyin: The purpose of the journey is to find yourself who has grown up

Malaysian director Chi Ka-hing's first feature film, Hey! Divine Beast", a fantasy story to illustrate the attitude towards the separation of life and the process of growing up with faith.

The story describes the little boy Aji (Bai Runyin), faced with a sudden separation from his father (Li Liren), embarks on a journey to find the divine beast, the purpose of the journey is to find, but in the end Aji finds not his father, but his grown-up self.

"When I read the script, I was very touched, and when the director told me his own story, I felt that I should play the role of Aji better and render the director's childhood." 」 Bai Runyin said, shaking his fists with both hands, and there was a simple firmness in his eyes.

Hey! The prototype of the story of "Divine Beast" comes from the life experience of director Chi Jiaqing, after he experienced the pain of losing his father, his cousin, who had been silent and could not see emotions, said to him with sadness and confusion in his eyes a hundred days after his father's death: "Uncle, will you not come back again?"

So he wanted to make a movie dedicated to children, but also to people who have similar experiences with himself, the issue of life and death seems heavy, but hidden in it is the real tenderness and care for life.

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With faith, embark on the journey of life

Hey! The mythical beasts in "Divine Beasts" are based on the legendary "Dream Eater Tapir" that can eat human nightmares.

When the movie was released, it coincided with the New Year's Festival, Li Liren said that he had not liked the myth of scaring people since he was a child, such as nian beast, tiger aunt, etc. He looked forward to seeing through "Hey! The work of "Divine Beast" brings children the innocence and innocence of maintaining imagination.

He said: "I think mythological stories should make children happy, let children maintain virginity, and have a feeling of being protected and warm. So I hope to give children more warm stories. It is also important to protect children's imaginations. You can make a child dream, why let him have nightmares?" 」

The dream that Li Renren talked about here is not to build a filter for children to be happy and carefree in the world, but in the face of the low tide of life, it is faith and imagination that can lead us to a farther road, so that we can cherish every scenery on the road with an innocent and broad mind.

Hey! "Mythical Beast" is an imaginative fantasy film, but it is also a work that explores the separation of life from different age perspectives.

In the story, when Aji's father disappears, Aji constantly searches for the mythical beast, hoping to find it and let the mythical beast eat the nightmare of his father's disappearance.

For Bai Runyin, this is the power of faith, "Even if Aji doesn't know whether the Divine Beast exists or not, his father has been telling him the story of the Divine Beast, and he thinks that it will not be true!" I want to believe in the beast, I want to believe in My Father. Look for the beast with the belief of 'believing'."

Although sometimes having faith does not change nightmares, it is like a caterpillar experiencing painful squeezing into a butterfly, and after this experience, you will see yourself growing up and mature.

Bai Runyin shared that there was a scene in the story that impressed him the most, that is, Aji bumped into his mother and asked someone to dismantle his father's fishing boat, he roared, sneaked into the cabin to dig out the water in the cabin, thinking, is it not to repair the cabin, let everything return to its original state, and his father will come back?

"It was a crying scene, and it was a point where Aji's emotions exploded. He never wanted to face the loss of his father until he had to accept a process."

A scene where a child understands life and death from the perspective of a child, a goodbye that is too late to say, I want to have a chance to say it well.

Bai Runyin, now thirteen years old, will still be more excited than the age of praise for finally taking winter vacation. His past performances of "Dear Tenant" and "A Story Sadder Than Sad" also touch on the issue of life and death.

Playing the role of Aji this time, Bai Runyin also rethinked the matter of parting because of the role:

"I think that looking at life at every stage is a different perspective. My current view is that maybe this person, no matter how precious, will eventually leave you, but don't pay too much attention to the matter of (death), it will be better."

Cherishing the time spent together is also the point, don't wait until the person is gone to filial piety, don't have regrets.

A seat of speech has an over-age maturity, vaguely revealing the innocence that belongs to children - without regrets, you can not fear death.

Only by living seriously can we leave no regrets

And this time in "Hey! In "Divine Beast", Li Liren plays Aji's father, an authentic Taiwanese father image: a lot of love will not be spoken, will scold and read, but that is a manifestation of love.

Speaking about the state of mind of reading the script for the first time, he bluntly said that he projected more emotions on Aji's character: "Aji's childhood background is a bit similar to my childhood, and this story reminds me of my father. When I was a child, I didn't have the opportunity to spend a long time with my father, because many things were not something he could decide, like Aji's loss of his father was not something he could decide, but he still had to face, to bear, to grow up. I think everyone may go through such a period in their lives."

As a father, Li Liren admitted that he did not shy away from talking about serious issues with his children: "I asked my son directly one day: What did your father do when he hung up?" He also asked me: How did you hang up?"

Li Renge said, with a smile in the corner of his eyes: "Talking to children of this age, they may not understand, but I am not afraid to mention the issue of death, in the future, if our family is tired (Li Renge's dog) is gone, the children will also be sad and have to go through it."

Talking about children, Li Liren said bluntly that when he was young, he did not think about getting married and having children, and later became a father, and he thanked his children for giving him a new life: "Many things are to learn from children again, but also to examine their own lives and correct themselves at the same time." 」

After having children, I also become more responsible, know what the right life should be, and have a motivation to continue to set goals to move forward.

In recent years, Li Liren has continuously handed over character works with distinct personalities and breakthroughs.

For example, men dressed as women to play Andi in "Lost Andy", or the role of Xu Guobiao in "The First Light", and then let people feel Li Liren's breakthrough in acting skills, and constantly create different possibilities for himself as an actor.

For him, living seriously, feeling with his heart, is the spirit that he has always believed in and practiced, whether as an actor or as a human being: "I will observe everyone, I like to understand the difficulties of everyone's life, I like to chat with taxi drivers or friends of the working class." 」 You're surrounded by all kinds of people, and everybody has a story."

Open your heart, open your ears, calm down and feel the state of others, extend your attention and care to the people around you, and you will find stories everywhere.

And those stories will be as an actor, as a person, an important nutrient for life.

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Moving forward is about constantly meeting people who love you

In the movie "Hey! In "Divine Beast", Aji did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to his father, and I asked Li Liren what he would say if he could say a word to Aji before leaving.

He was silent for a moment, said lightly that the question was really sad, and then said, "Actually, Aji is very similar to me, I didn't spend so much time with my father when I was a child, so if I could say a word to Aji, I would say: 'Grow up bravely, you will still find a lot of people who love you, and your father will always protect you in heaven.'" 」

Like looking back to your childhood wounded self, a deep wish: there may be inevitable injuries on the road to growth, but as long as you continue to move forward, you will definitely meet people who love you and learn the meaning of love.

As Bai Runyin said at the end of the interview: "Even if the people who were once together are gone, the memories will be left, just like Aji and Aji's father, good memories will always exist." 」

Believe it that way, and then move on.