It has been quite a long time since you returned with a film project and most recently the movie "A Time We Were In Love". What made you accept?
- At first, I really didn't know who director Nguyen Xuan Nghia of the movie "A Time We Were In Love" was? There was an invitation sent but very little information. I also didn't know the director, didn't know the crew, so the first reaction was to refuse. After the movie "Cong Tu Bac Lieu", I almost only focused on the stage, because the stage is where I live every day, where I still have responsibilities to many brothers.
I often jokingly say that I don't work for the stage but am the owner, so I can't leave it there. Every week the stage still lights up, there are still audiences buying tickets, there are still dozens of people working with me. So if I receive a movie that has to be filmed for a long time, it means I have to quit acting, and quitting acting affects the entire machine behind me.
Then Ms. Le Khanh called me. She said: "Read it, this director is very dedicated, has a different way of doing things". I believed Ms. Khanh's seriousness, so I agreed to read the script.
After reading it, I immediately liked it, because that is the type of story I always wanted to see in Vietnamese cinema: Stories that go into people, into psychology, into family relationships, not just chasing sensations or commercial effects.
Is it because you are too picky that the audience rarely sees Meritorious Artist Thanh Loc on the big screen?
- I think I am more picky about scripts than about movies. Many people rumor that if you want to invite Thanh Loc, you have to pay billions of VND. That's not the case. I have never been a name that guarantees box office revenue to set such cat-xe levels.
I have participated in many projects where when I read the script, I found it very good, very decent, but when the movie went to theaters, it became something completely different. Some movies I filmed for a whole month, invested a lot of emotions, and in the end, the character only had a few minutes left in the movie.
I used to sit in the theater and be surprised, thinking to myself: "If the role is only like that, then why invite me to act?" That feeling is very disappointing.
Many people complain about the hardship of filming, but I think hardship is normal in the profession. What makes me sad is when the final creative effort is no longer intact.
Cinema is like that, actors are very passive. I have no right to decide the final product. Sometimes it's not the director's fault, but also due to commercial pressure, duration, producer... so scenes are cut, characters are shrunk.
After many times like that, I started to be more careful. I think if you have given up the stage, given up time, gave up energy to make a film, then at least that film must make you feel worthy.
Have you ever said that you prefer psychological - social films to entertainment films?
- That's right! I always like stories where characters have complex inner lives. A person with guilt, a family with invisible distances, a lonely person in their own home... those things make me much more interested.
For example, for this character, what I like is not because he has too much screen time, but because the character lives with a very big self-consciousness. He always thinks he is the cause of another person's death, although in fact the final result is not entirely caused by him.
That feeling of guilt is the obsession. It's like someone who once had bad thoughts in their head and carried them throughout their life. I like scripts that are somewhat "core" like that!
How do you assess the current generation of young directors?
- I like working with young directors who are well-trained abroad. They have very clear thinking and especially do not be lenient with actors out of consideration.
In Vietnam, sometimes directors are hesitant to give advice to older actors or veteran artists. But young people studying abroad are different. They don't care who he is, as long as he acts against his intended purpose, they correct it immediately.
You seem very strict with yourself?
- I think artists the older they get, the more they must know how to doubt themselves. The most dangerous thing is when you think you are good, you are right.
Actually, I always see that I have many limitations in cinema. My face is not the type of cinema in the traditional sense. There are angles that I don't look good at. There are types of roles that others play that are more suitable than me.
So I don't feel like having to compete or compete anymore. When directors need my ability, they invite me to the right position.
You once said you didn't want to compete with fame anymore?
- I realize that fame is very frivolous, I no longer compete with life from 20 years ago. Especially since social networks developed, I see that even more clearly.
Today people praise me, tomorrow they may turn to attack me. There are people who make friends with me on social networks just to take pictures of a sentence and then interpret it in a different direction. At first I was also shocked. But then I thought, it's also a lesson about how to be human.
In the end, art saves me from that feeling of pessimism. Art helps me understand that, no matter how chaotic life is, people still need empathy.
What is your current life like?
- I perform from Thursday to Sunday. The remaining three days I almost spend resting. I like to sit and drink tea alone, looking at the city, without needing to do anything.
Many young people now are afraid of loneliness, but I really like that feeling. For me, loneliness is not a negative thing. It is a necessary moment of silence for me to recover energy.
When I was young, people always wanted to appear, wanted to be noticed, wanted to have many relationships. But at this age, I only see peace as precious. You must understand loneliness to understand the lonely character. You must have moments of silence to have emotions to act.
Artist Thanh Loc was born in 1961, is one of the prominent stage artists of Vietnam. He was born into a family with artistic traditions, his father is Thanh Ton, his mother is Hat Boi artist Huynh Mai.
Artist Thanh Loc is famous with the nickname stage wizard thanks to his diverse transformation ability through hundreds of roles on stage and in movies.
He has been associated with the IDECAF stage for many years and made his mark through plays such as: "Da co hoai lang", "Bi mat vuon Le Chi", "Ngay xua ngay xua"... In 2001, he was awarded the title of Meritorious Artist.
