“Lieutenant Colonel Dai” of “Space Time” (a 60-episode series currently airing prime time on VTV1) talked with Buffet over the weekend about how he transforms himself through each role, and how he devotes his love to his family when... he has time.
“Timeless” but full of emotions
Wearing a soldier's uniform once again, after 10 years of playing the role of a young soldier in the movie "The Road to Dien Bien" and this time "No Time", has time had time to put anything in his luggage?
- Time has given me life experience and a broader and deeper field of observation for my role as a soldier. Belonging to the 8X generation born after the war, we are mostly only familiar with hearing about the sacrifices of soldiers during wartime, and most of all, the sacrifice of their own lives. “The Road to Dien Bien” is an opportunity for me to feel more clearly that sacrifice through the role of a young soldier on the way to battle.
Coming to “No Time”, after exactly 10 years, now I know more about the sacrifices of soldiers in peacetime - something that most of us do not clearly feel or really sympathize with. Before participating in this film, I myself also thought that soldiers in peacetime must be... leisurely.
But only by going to the field and directly contacting the soldiers at the border posts and talking sincerely with them, can we know that behind that there are so many silent sacrifices, including the peace of the family because of the "out of sight, out of mind": The couple is in discord, some are even abandoned by their wives; others suffer from spoiled children because the father rarely comes home and does not have time to take good care of them...
Rescue and help people during natural disasters and floods, although difficult and arduous, is only the surface level. Deep inside them, there are other storms in their hearts.... That is also the reason why I like my role in the later part more because I have the opportunity to delve deeper into the character's psychology.
With his forte in playing "handsome" roles thanks to his eye-catching appearance and "cool" demeanor..., is it difficult for Manh Truong to transform into a worldly role like regiment commander Le Nguyen Dai in the movie "Space of Time"?
- Actually, besides the "smooth" roles like "handsome guy", I also had the opportunity to try my hand at dramatic, thorny roles, such as in "Crocodile File" (the role that brought Manh Truong the Best Actor Award for a TV Drama at the Golden Kite 2020 - P.V) or "Sinh Tu"... But it is true that to receive a role like Lieutenant Colonel Dai in "Space of Time" is a rare opportunity in an acting career. Therefore, when I was invited to participate, I immediately agreed, which surprised director Nguyen Danh Dung because I knew that making this film would be hard work, being away from home for a long time, and I was also busy with a small child...
With this role, I also received a lot of support from the advisory team, which were the military men who followed the group closely - something that was not present in "The Road to Dien Bien". Thanks to them controlling the dialogue, correcting each walking and speaking style, rescue operations... many scenes were performed in a true soldier style. For example, there was a scene where Lieutenant Colonel Dai scolded a young soldier. Normally, in that situation, just a gentle reminder would be enough, no need to be so tense, but because military discipline is very strict, I was advised by my brothers that... in this scene, Truong needed to exaggerate a bit, in the military scolding like that is common.
The first time tasting the taste of a film set like a training ground, what drops of sweat made the salty taste of acting?
- It was the sweat of the entire crew, it was really a very hard film (the later part was better), it must be said that it was many times harder than a normal TV series about family. If "The Taste of Love" for example, on average each 25-minute episode only needed to be filmed for 1 and a half days or at most 2 days, then episode 1 of "Space of Time" alone, the production department calculated that it took 15 - 20 days to film, in which the flood scene, although filmed quickly, had to be filmed for nearly 10 days, the set and camera department had to soak in water all day, from 5 - 6 am... The landslide scene filmed in Son La also chose the most severe landslide spot, did it over and over again, scooping out the soil and pouring it back..., so that the scene appeared as realistic as possible.
Last September, when floods and landslides swept through the Northwestern provinces, you and your family joined hands to support the people with 100 million VND. When you witnessed the landslides directly at the scene, which was also the film set, how were your emotions shaken once again?
- From the time I read the newspaper, watched TV, surfed the internet..., before the tragic scenes of my fellow countrymen, I saw the terrible power of natural disasters and there were things that made me cry with pity. When I went to the scene, before the recreated scenes and I was transformed into that context: landslide hills; arms reaching through the roofs; footsteps running, racing against time to save people in time; the scene of trees lying on the ground, houses in ruins... there were times when my heart felt like it was being squeezed.
The authenticity of the setting, combined with the emotions I had before, helped me to perform scenes that seemed like I wasn't acting because the emotions were very natural, very human, and very real in me at that time. Not only with professional actors, but also with extras, the elderly, and children, they transformed very "sweetly" because they all shared the same bitter feeling of pain and loss.
With long-running TV series, usually, the actors will have to spend the first 1-2 days acting before they can really get into the act and need to "start", but with this show, right from the first episode, everyone was completely absorbed and got into the action very quickly because the emotions had already been overflowing.
Is it time to say goodbye to the "handsome guy" roles?
In the movie “Us 8 Years Later”, as the “handsome guy”, he always appeared at the right moment when his “muse” was in trouble, following the Korean movie formula. As for the scenes of saving people in “Spacetime”, he didn’t have any “formula”?
- The scene of rescuing people, if not acted truthfully, will easily become stiff and stiff, requiring the actor to delve deeper into the character's psychology and be more creative in acting. For example, the scene of Lieutenant Colonel Dai rescuing two children that you see in the movie poster, that is a scene in which I had to add the experience of a father of three, when he had to leave his older sister at the foot of a slippery slope to carry his younger brother who was suffering from a high fever back to the barracks for emergency treatment. This part was not described in detail in the script and the director did not ask for emphasis, but I arbitrarily added a detail in the acting, that is, when the soldier climbed halfway up the slope, he looked back at his older sister with concern but also reassured her to stay and wait for his comrades to pick him up later... That was a very human and very real look, it spontaneously emerged from the emotion of acting truthfully.
It is true that the "hero saves the beauty" scenes often attract fans, but I believe there is a much bigger point of contact with the audience, which is saving the people, because most Vietnamese people have that spirit in their hearts: The whole leaves cover the torn leaves, the love of compatriots in times of trouble...
Handsome, worldly, tough, even "multiple personalities"... - after those colorful roles, what other opportunities do you hope to have? Is it time for the father of three to say goodbye to those handsome roles?
- People at the film studio often tease me that if Truong didn't have a wife, and had 3 children, or "hid" it, he would still be able to play the role of a handsome guy for a long time. But because it was "revealed", when he acted in "Don't Say When You Love", then "The Taste of Love", "We of 8 Years Later"... he started to feel a bit "off-put".
Actually, my criteria for accepting films is much different now. If 5-10 years ago, I usually liked to accept roles that were easy to go viral, "sure to win", but now I want to prioritize roles where I can show off my ability to transform the most, like I had the opportunity in "Crocodile File", "Love and Ambition"... Before, I used to want to play a gangster role, which was completely different from the role of a scholar, now I only like deep roles. A father with a rough, hard-working appearance, and deep inside is a heart broken by betrayal, many hidden losses, but always full of love and tolerance... for example.
Does the actor of "No Time" find himself lacking time for family?
- Director Nguyen Danh Dung's working style is inherently very fast, usually a 50 - 60 episode film (25 minutes/episode), he only shoots in 5 - 6 months to finish, but with "No Time", it took 5 months to film half of the film. Now it took nearly 6 months to film half of the film. When he left, he promised his wife that he would return after 3 - 4 months of filming, but now he only dares to hope to return in time to celebrate Tet with his wife and children.
But in general, acting is still a relatively convenient profession to go along with family life because after long filming trips, there are breaks of about 1-2 months for you to recover and take care of your family, cultivating the necessary quiet moments in life. Nowadays, most of us are in a hurry because we are constantly caught up in the cycle of work, most of us understand that and want to control it as best as possible, but to resist it is not easy, "No Time" is therefore not only the story of the soldier but also of each of us when we look deeply into our lives...
Thank you!
