Recently, at the 38th Hundred Flowers Film Awards ceremony in China, actress Tran Le Quan, at the age of 34, won the Best New Actress award thanks to her role as A Duc A in the movie "Tiêu nhân: Phong khởi đại mạc" (directed by Vien Hoa Binh, with Ngo Kinh as the director and main actress).
This is the first time Tran Le Quan has appeared on the big screen as a film actress, and also the first time to bring the skills of a Vietnamese drama martial artist (a famous hymne of Zhejiang, China) into action films, and she has received recognition in the category for new actors with high competitiveness.
According to media reports, the name Tran Le Quan is no longer unfamiliar to audiences who love hymns. She has been associated with the Vietnamese drama stage at the Zhejiang Tiểu Bách Hoa Vietnamese Drama Theater for many years, and at the same time practiced martial arts for 20 years.
The martial arts role in Vietnamese drama requires a lot of effort, from singing, reading lines, physical performance to martial arts, all must be solid; every body movement, gaze, strength in the waist and legs all require many years of hard work. That 20-year foundation helps every movement of hers in front of the camera still carry the rules of the hymne stage.
After watching her performance, director Vien Hoa Binh commented that she both plays martial arts well and acts well, and is a person with "qualities".
Initially, Tran Le Quan's participation in "Titao Nhan: Phong Khoi Dai Mac" was not in the plan. After the initial plan changed, she was called into the film crew to "fight the fire", and only had about a week of preparation.
In a week, Tran Le Quan had to switch from formalistic movements on the Vietnamese drama stage to realistic fighting scenes in front of the cinematic lens with high difficulty.
She did not back down but started practicing again from the beginning with the action team; learning riding, archery and close combat. After exactly a week of practice, she officially started filming.
The real physical challenge is when the film crew goes to the desert to film outdoor scenes. During the day, the temperature here can reach over 50 degrees Celsius, not to mention that actors have to wear multi-layered costumes and perform action scenes.
Tran Le Quan did not use a stuntman throughout the filming process, performing all horse riding, archery and close combat scenes herself.
There was a scene where she had to continuously pull the bow, the bow string was both hard and sharp, causing the intersection of her thumb to be tightened and cracked, each wound covered in blood. She only bandaged it superficially and then returned to her position to continue filming.
After that, the film crew statistics that in just 11 days, she completed 32 additional scenes, including 18 difficult action scenes, all performed by herself.
Tran Le Quan's victory is even more weighty when looking at her opponents. Pho Hang, Luu Diec Thuan, Luu Dieu Van, Tieu Bach Than and Tang Mo Mai are all real actors with a certain audience.
According to experts, Tran Le Quan can overcome these candidates to win thanks to A Duc A's indomitable spirit, and also thanks to her transforming the physical movements of Vietnamese drama into boxing scenes on the screen.
