克里斯蒂安•貝爾：我眼中的《十三釵》

來源：大耳朵英語

When Christian Bale was 13 he travelled to China to make his first film, Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). The adaptation of JG Ballard's book about life in Japan-occupied China during the second world war was shot in Shanghai. It's an experience the 37-year-old Bale now finds difficult to relate to. "It was so long ago," he says, sitting back in his seat in a Beverly Hills hotel. "I feel like it was a different person who made that movie."

克里斯蒂安•貝爾(Christian Bale)13歲時來到中國，出演自己演職生涯的首部影片，它就是由斯皮爾伯格(Steven Spielberg)執導的《太陽帝國》（Empire of the Sun，1987年）。這部由巴拉德(JG Ballard)作品改編的電影是在上海拍攝，講述的是二戰時日本佔領下中國生活的往事。37歲的貝爾如今覺得很難與那段時光聯繫起來。”這都是發生在很久以前的事了，”他說，悠閒地坐在貝弗利山莊(Beverly Hills)某旅館的座椅上。”我彷彿覺得是另一個人出演這部電影。”

Bale, born in Wales to English parents, has gone on to become one of Hollywood's most sought-after actors. His career includes challenging films such as American Psycho (2000) and The Machinist (2004), as well as an Oscar-winning performance in The Fighter (2010). Next summer he reprises the role of Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, the final instalment in Christopher Nolan's phenomenally successful trilogy. No grand strategy underpins the jobs he takes. Actors, he says, "don't really have the ability to plan everything they do".

出生在威爾士的貝爾（父母均爲英格蘭人）如今已經成爲好萊塢的當紅影星。他的作品包括精彩飾演《美國精神病人》（American Psycho, 2000年）、《機械師》（The Machinist, 2004年）以及奧斯卡獲獎影片《鬥士》（The Fighter, 2010年）。今年夏天，他將在《蝙蝠俠前傳3：黑暗騎士崛起》(The Dark Knight Rises)中飾演蝙蝠俠(Batman)，這是克里斯托弗•諾蘭(Christopher Nolan)所執導的大獲成功的蝙蝠俠三部曲中的最後一部。導演的手筆再大也與他出演的角色沒多大關係。他說，演員”實在沒有能力去謀劃所做的一切”。

With this in mind, there is something apt about his latest film, Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War, in which Bale's career comes full circle. The production took the actor back to China for the first time since Empire of the Sun but this time the setting is Nanking in 1937. The flowers of the title are a group of women and girls who, aided by Bale's character, try to survive the brutal treatment of occupying Japanese soldiers.

他對此瞭然於心，加盟張藝謀(Zhang Yimou)的新片《金陵十三釵》(The Flowers of War)就是個明證。此次他又回到了自己演職生涯的起點處。這是他自出演《太陽帝國》後第一次回到中國，但這次故事的發生地是1937年的南京。片名中的”十三釵”指的是一羣風塵女子與少女，她們在貝爾所飾演角色的幫助下，想方設法躲避日本佔領軍的獸行。

"It felt like fate calling Christian back to China," says Zhang. He and Bale are sitting in adjoining seats: Bale is wearing a dark open-necked shirt and jeans and has also grown a beard, like the one he sports at the beginning of the film when his character, an American mortician on the make, stumbles through the smoke in a ravaged Nanking to evade the Japanese. Zhang is all in black, pairing tracksuit trousers with a natty pair of Dr Martens-style boots; his daughter Mo sits between the two men and will translate for us today, as she did on the set.

“似乎命運在召喚克里斯蒂安回到中國，”張藝謀說。他與貝爾挨着坐：貝爾身穿黑色開領衫與牛仔褲，還長出了鬍子，就象他在電影一開場所炫耀的那樣，當時他飾演的角色（一位逐利的美國殯葬師）在戰火蹂躪的南京城中磕磕絆絆地躲避着日本兵。張藝謀也一身黑裝，下穿運動褲，腳穿一雙馬丁靴(Dr Martens-style boots)；他的女兒張末(Mo)坐在兩人中間充當翻譯，她在片場也是司職翻譯。

Bale does not speak Mandarin and Zhang cannot speak English, so Mo was an essential presence during the shoot. The language gap did not stop the two from communicating, Bale explains, adding that he had a better experience than the last time he worked with a director who could not speak English (he declines to name the film), when the translator “told me to do the exact opposite of what the director had said”.

貝爾不會說漢語，而張藝謀又說不了英語，所以張末在片場的作用至關重要。但語言的隔閡並沒有阻礙兩人之間的溝通，貝爾解釋道，並補充說這次的合作十分愉快，上次與一位不會說英語的導演合作時，翻譯”給我說的正好與導演的意圖截然相反”。

With Zhang, there was an immediate rapport. "You come to understand somebody, you see what they're like," says Bale. "You kind of get it. You can see expressions and body language and we were both laughing our arses off at the same thing — at least I hope it was the same thing." He laughs uproariously. "It was a real eye-opener in that I realised the communication doesn't have to be through the language. So it was very satisfactory creatively."

他與張藝謀很快就形成了默契。”（在影片中）我慢慢理解其他角色，瞭解他們是一羣什麼樣的人，”貝爾說。”我心裡慢慢有譜了，看懂他們臉上的表情與肢體語言是啥意思。有時我們對同一件事都會笑得合不攏嘴——至少我相信指的是同一件事。”他哈哈大笑。”當我意識到相互之間不通過語言也能溝通時，真是大開眼界。所以看到此種‘創意’交流感覺很爽。”

The prospect of working with Zhang drew him to the project. "He's a masterful storyteller," he says, acknowledging the reverence with which the director of Raise the Red Lantern (1991), Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004) is held in China. Zhang also directed the spectacular opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and had been set to work with an old friend — Steven Spielberg — until the American director pulled out as artistic adviser at the games in protest at China's failure to take a tougher stance against the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Darfur. At the time, Zhang described Spielberg's withdrawal as "very regrettable" but the two have apparently remained close: when Zhang began casting The Flowers of War, he consulted Spielberg, who immediately recommended Bale.

正是看到與張藝謀合作後的美好前景，貝爾才毫不猶豫地選擇加盟。”張藝謀是個了不起的講故事高手，”他說，也承認這位執導過《大紅燈籠高高掛》（Raise the Red Lantern，1991年）、《英雄》（Hero，2002年）以及《十面埋伏》（House of Flying Daggers，2004年）的導演在中國舉足輕重的地位。張藝謀還是2008年北京奧運會美輪美奐開幕式的總導演，原定與他的老朋友斯皮爾伯格聯袂合作——但這位美國導演中途放棄了自己的藝術顧問職位，理由是抗議中國政府未能就蘇丹達爾富爾地區(Darfur)愈演愈烈的人道災難採取更爲強硬的行動。當時，張藝謀稱斯皮爾伯格的退出 “十分遺憾”，但很明顯兩位導演始終保持着親密關係：當張藝謀開始執導《金陵十三釵》並向斯皮爾伯格討教時，對方立即向他舉薦了貝爾。

The film, shot in a mixture of English and Mandarin, received a limited release in the US at the end of last month to ensure it qualifies for the foreign film category in 2012's Academy Awards. It will be given a wider release in February and will also be screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February, when it should be picked up for distribution in European markets.

這 部電影中英語夾雜，並於上月底在美國進行了小範圍地放映，以確保先入圍2012年奧斯卡(Academy Awards)外語片的評選。今年二月，該片將在更大範圍內得以公映，並將於二月的柏林電影節(Berlin Film Festival)上放映，屆時該片應該能獲准在歐洲市場發行。

Zhang says the story, which gives a human face to one of China's worst tragedies — the Rape of Nanking, when an estimated 300,000 people were killed in six weeks — needed to be told and needed a foreign star. "It was very necessary to have a foreign actor in the movie. During that time there were [only] a handful of foreigners living in Nanking and they played a very important role in documenting what happened."

張藝謀說影片講述的是中國歷史上最慘絕人寰的悲劇——南京大屠殺(the Rape of Nanking)，在六週時間裡，據估計有30萬人遭到殺戮，影片需要有人來講述這段故事，需要一位外國影星。”這部影片亟需一位外國演員。大屠殺發生時，只有少數外國人居住在南京，他們對記錄整個慘劇過程起到了關鍵作用。”

The film was fully financed by a Chinese company, New Pictures Film — with support from two banks: Bank of China and Minsheng — but the presence of one of Hollywood's biggest stars is indicative of the close ties that have developed between the US film industry and China. Several US companies, including Legendary Entertainment, which co-financed Nolan's Batman films, have struck joint venture deals with Chinese-owned media groups to ensure their films qualify as Chinese-made productions, guaranteeing their distribution in the country. Currently, only a limited number of foreign films qualifies for official release in China because of a strict quota system, to the great frustration of Hollywood studios keen to tap one of the world's fastest-growing cinema markets.

這部電影的全部投資來自新畫面影業公司(New Pictures Film)，此外還有兩家中國的銀行——中國銀行(Bank of China)與民生銀行(Minsheng)——的贊助，但好萊塢當紅影星的加盟表明了美國與中國電影界之間關係密切。幾家美國公司（包括傳奇娛樂(Legendary Entertainment)，它是諾蘭蝙蝠俠系列電影的共同出資方）都已與中國的媒體集團訂立了合資協議，以確保自己的影片是”中國製作”，從而保證它們可以在中國市場發行。目前，由於中國嚴格的電影配額制度，只有爲數不多的外國影片獲批在中國正式發行，這讓好萊塢的影視製作公司大失所望，因爲它們強烈希望能打入這塊全球發展最爲迅猛的電影市場。

Breaking new ground in the relationship between Hollywood and China was of no interest to Bale. "I'm no businessman, so the whole question of whether this changes the business between Hollywood and China, which some people have mentioned to me: great, good luck. But it doesn’t have anything to do with me."

貝爾對開闢好萊塢與中國電影界關係的新局面不感興趣。”我不是商人，所以關於此舉是否會改變中國與好萊塢之間的影視業務往來（很多人對我提起過），我只能說：這是件大好事，祝你們好運，但這與我毫無關係。”

His next two projects will pair him with Terrence Malick, whose last film was The Tree of Life, while the end of the Batman trilogy is clearly a matter of some relief. "It was wonderful but there's a time when everything has to finish." I ask if he is tempted to make a fourth Batman film. "No. It's the right time to exit."

貝爾的下兩部影片會與泰倫斯•馬利克(Terrence Malick)合作，馬立克的上一部影片是《生命之樹》(The Tree of Life)，而拍完蝙蝠俠三部曲對貝爾來說無疑是種解脫。”我度過了一段相當美妙的時光，但凡事總得有了斷的時候。”我問他是否有意再接拍第四部蝙蝠俠？他回答道，”不，此時退出最爲合適。”

Given the scale of the movies he makes and the frequency with which he works, Bale is rare among his peers in that he has mostly succeeded in keeping his personal life separate from his professional work. Apart from an incident involving an argument with a family member before a premiere a few years ago, the notoriously intrusive UK tabloids have tended to leave him alone. "I try and stay under the radar and it's working, so I'm not going to ask any questions," he says. The less the audience knows about him, the more they will appreciate the characters he plays. “You can have a pure enjoyment of the character because you know nothing about them. The less known about me, the better I can do what I do."

鑑於所拍影片的數量以及工作強度，貝爾成功做到了把自己的私生活與銀幕生活隔絕開來，這在同行裡較爲罕見。除了幾年前在某首映式前與家人爭吵的一段小插曲外，英國臭名昭著、無孔不入的八卦小報往往不太去騷擾他。”我設法做到不引人注目，而且成功地做到了這一點，所以我不會向你問任何問題，”他說。觀衆對明星越不瞭解，就會越喜歡對方出演的角色。”觀衆會從角色中得到純粹的享受，因爲壓根不知道演員本人的情況。對我的瞭解越少，我就越能把角色演好。”

He found himself in a different kind of spotlight shortly after we met. He and Zhang went back to China for the film's Beijing premiere. After that, the actor met a CNN crew and travelled to Dongshighu, a tiny village eight hours' drive from Beijing, which is home to Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer and human rights activist. Chen, who is under permanent house arrest, fell foul of the Chinese authorities six years ago when he spoke out against a policy of forced abortions. He was subsequently arrested for damaging property and sentenced to four years in prison, where his supporters say he was tortured.

我們會面後不久，他發現自己得到了截然不同的關注。他與張藝謀回到中國參加《金陵十三釵》的北京首映式，事後，貝爾遇見了CNN的一位記者，並與他一起到了距離北京8小時車程的一個名叫東師古(Dongshighu)的小村莊，這裡是盲人律師與人權活動人士陳光誠(Chen Guangcheng)的家鄉。6年前，陳因公開表示反對中國政府強制墮胎的政策，開罪了當局，而遭到永久軟禁，隨後他以破壞財產罪而被逮捕，並被判處4年徒刑，而他的支持者聲稱他在獄中遭到了嚴刑拷打。