[FULL TRANS] 151226 Orange Entertainment: The Kris Wu Behind the Lights: An Idol’s Exhaustion and Rebirth
Preface
On December 19th, 2015, after many days of difficult communication, Orange Entertainment received an opportunity to film Kris Wu up close and personal. So, this such report was created. Kris Wu, the most popular idol in today’s Chinese world, and his personal daily life is revealed to the public in full for the first time.
As soon as we saw Kris Wu, he was clearly exhausted. Seven days ago, Kris Wu woke up at 3AM. He needed to re-film a final scene for <Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 2>. For this film, he shaved his head bald. After a few days, Kris Wu began the promotional tour for the film <Mr. Six>. In 11 days, he needed to go to 9 cities. Two days before, he was in Changsha and Macau to film variety shows. Each day’s filming took up nearly 12 hours of time. And today, he appears again in Beijing.
1:30PM-3:00PM Catching up on sleep while getting his makeup done
At 1:30PM, Kris Wu arrived at Feng Xiaogang’s Studio from the airport. At 3:00PM, he needed to be interviewed here. While the staff around him were eating, Kris Wu was sleeping. Compared to eating, catching up on sleep was more important to him. Around 2PM, the staff woke him up, it was time to do his makeup… yet he was clearly still not fully awake.
After some time, Kris Wu started to wake up a little more. We explained our purpose first and even brought some photos as examples, he took one look and said, “I like this style.” Someone around him added, “This can show your other side of elegance.” Kris pushed back his chair, opened up his legs and said, “Only ‘crazy’ (fēng), where is there ‘color’ (cǎi)!”
(Translator note: Kris does a play on words because the term for ‘elegance’ is pronounced fēngcǎi)
After his makeup was done, Kris Wu finally had some time to eat. After eating for not long, it started to get noisy outside of the makeup room. There was already media outlets who have arrived. When staff asked him about the progress of preparations and told him he could finish eating first, he said “It’s okay, I can stop eating at any time.”
Taking off his jacket, Kris Wu picked out his outfit for today. When it got to this step, it meant that the artist was getting into his working condition. During this time, Kris Wu’s expression began to get serious.
Kris Wu had a small scar on the back of his head. This was the result of one time when he went out and a car door hit the back of his head as it was opened. Just like the <Mr. Six> promotional poster, Kris Wu chose to appear with his buzzcut- no hat, no wig.
3:15PM-7:35PM 4 hours, 8 media outlets, 10 minute break, 20 minute interviews.
At 3PM, Kris Wu went into the interview room.
That afternoon, his time was split up in 20 minute and 10 minute intervals. 20 minutes per media outlet, rest for 10 minutes. During the interview process, Kris Wu rarely crossed his legs; when other people were answering, he mostly looked down and looked at his own hands, he was very quiet.
Facing the media’s requests, Kris Wu is always able to quickly catch on and rarely need to film again. However, Kris Wu would very rarely purposely show off anything. He only follows his own inherent tone and mood to complete it and you will feel like he seems to be hiding something.
<Mr. Six> is his second movie in his life. After returning to China for 18 months, he filmed 7 movies. His first was the role of a single father, this time it’s an antagonist who repented only later. Director Guan Hu told reporters: “In this movie, he goes from being a boy to a man.”
That day, almost every media outlet asked this question: his feeling toward having scenes with Feng Xiaogang. Kris Wu said: I never dare to look directly into Feng Xiaogang’s eyes. In reality, he still did it. When he was younger, the people who accompanied Kris Wu in dreaming were a group of teenagers who wanted to become Kobe Bryant. After 17 years old, they became pretty boys. Yet the people who linger by Kris Wu’s side now are film seniors like Feng Xiaogang because he wants to become an actor.
Because there are a lot of media outlets, Feng Xiaogang’s studio that was suddenly changed into an interview room became unusually hot and dry. During break, the job the makeup artist had to do the most was help put eye drops in Kris Wu’s eyes. As for the assistant, it was to bring him over a cup of water. He was a tough man who was a little chubby and had some stubble, always wearing a huge backpack and never put it down.
The staff around seemed even busier than Kris Wu. They would always be monitoring everything that may happen or suddenly happen very anxiously. In private, Kris Wu is not always the focus of the people around.
In this 4 hour schedule of interviews, Kris accepted interviews from a total of 8 media outlets. In between, Kris Wu only had one request: it was to hold a written interview with no lighting or filming in the break room. His reason was that this would be more comfortable. However, the staff still suggested that they returned to the studio because the attention would be more focused. Kris Wu accepted it and even so, he still smiled very happily in the interview. That was his last interview of the day.
7:35PM-8:00PM In the car, not a single word spoken
At 7:35 in the evening, the interviews were complete. He sat in the car and had to head to a theater. In the car, he only did one action: put on the hood of his down jacket on and slept his way there.
8:20PM-11:00PM 6 theaters, 15 minutes
At the theater, the host asked the movie fans what type of role they hoped to see Kris Wu challenge? Fans answered in unison: a psychotic person. What we can be sure is, at the time, it was the happiest laughter he let out that day.
9:00PM that night, we didn’t continue to follow him. Afterward, we found out that the day’s schedule ended at 11:00PM. That night, he went to 6 theaters and stayed for 15 minutes per theater.
Late night at 11:00PM his schedules are complete
For an entire day, as long as he was not working, Kris Wu would grasp any chance he got to catch up on sleep. He didn’t play on his phone much, nor did he initiate conversation with the people around him, even less did he request anything. During breaks, he would let loose for a bit and close his eyes to rest. You wouldn’t have the heart to, nor want to, disturb him. Perhaps he is really too tired. Facing the media and fans, he would often get shy, modest, be at a loss for words. Something that caused people to feel shocked was that, from the beginning to the end, he didn’t yawn once. This day, behind the camera, he is a mature man, but in front of the camera he is a grown boy.
After following Kris Wu for an entire day, I didn’t have any urges to ask him any questions, but after everything ended, I suddenly thought of a question: As an idol, what exactly is the most realistic feeling?
As an idol, it is inevitable to become passive because being in the eyes of the world is enough to cover up your own voice. However, Kris Wu is trying to create some change. We can totally imagine this person’s inner conflict — wild happiness, struggle, sleepiness, and compromise. Even though he has extraordinary talent and looks, putting aside the outside world and the fantasies of fans, becoming his true self is not an easy thing. The endless work plus the sleepiness and reversal between day and night, the efforts he has put in is still different from the average person. To him, there is no doubt that this is a type of rebirth. In every person’s life, perhaps there is this kind of moment — you will have the risk of other people questioning you. For what you need to do, you should put in your utmost efforts and not leave behind any regrets.
“The people from outside of the city want to enter it, the people inside want to leave it.” Every year, the entertainment business tries to replicate a miracle like Kris Wu’s past. Those mass produced fresh meats give their lives to their fans, their management companies, and their faces that get older and older by the year. Kris Wu is, without a doubt, lucky. At the very least, he has touched upon fate’s throat.
