Inspired by his personal curiosity to explore the lives of heng piao, director Yee recruited Wan and his fellow extras for I Am Somebody, a bittersweet drama that practically mirrors Wan's own striving path. The movie, which provided Wan with his dream chance to play the lead, tells the story of a young man leaving his hometown in Northeast China to pursue his dream of movie stardom in Hengdian.
"We were sorted into teams, each consisting of four or five people, to be inspected by director Yee. He is quite nice and gentle. When he saw us, he rose to shake hands with each of us and introduced himself," Wan recalls his first meeting with Yee.
Thanks to I Am Somebody, which won critical acclaim and grossed 65 million yuan in 2015, Wan has earned recognition in China's rapidly booming movie industry. In the same year, China saw its annual box office rise 48.7 percent yearon-year, the highest increase in the past decade.
With his career development coinciding with what some consider to be a golden era of Chinese cinema, Wan has since acted in around 30 movies, TV dramas and online series, with his most popular outings being the 2021 sports drama Ping Pong and this year's sci-fi blockbuster Warriors of Future.
Reportedly the biggest budget film ever made in Hong Kong, Warriors of Future, which features over 1,700 computer-generated scenes, is megastar Louis Koo's ambitious project to bring to life a futuristic fight between humankind and a fast-growing alien vine-like plant from space, which purifies the planet, but kills everything in its path. Wan plays a novice soldier who assists an elite veteran played by Koo, in carrying out a mission that will change the fate of humankind.
Growing up as a die-hard fan of Hong Kong films, Wan recalls he felt a great sense of happiness to be selected to act in a movie with Koo, which has a stellar cast that also includes Sean Lau Ching-wan, Carina Lau Kar-ling and Nick Cheung Ka-fai.
"The first time I met Koo was on set. He was a bit childlike and excitedly said: 'Come with me, I will show you something very special and interesting.' Then, my jaw almost dropped when I saw the exquisitely designed props of the giant robots and mechanical outfits. They could move and fight via digital manipulation," says Wan.
While the shooting of Warriors of Future was a fresh and eye-opening experience, Ping Pong, a popular series about two table tennis prodigies competing to be crowned world champions, evoked his nostalgia.
"Ping-pong is like the first 'mentor' I had that made me understand what passion means. I have been a ping-pong enthusiast since I was young, so I was very excited when I was invited to take part in the series," recalls Liu.
In order to convincingly portray his role of a veteran athlete, Wan attended an intensive training for three months to switch his paddle hand from his left to the right, like most table tennis players.
In recent years, Wan has also focused on polishing his acting chops, with his effort exemplified by participating in a monthslong training program at The Dome Studio, which is co-founded by director Chen Kuo-fu, actor Chen Kun and actress Zhou Xun.
Although China's movie industry has seen a drop in its annual output in the past three years due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Wan says that this unusual period has "forced" him to slow down, unintentionally giving him a lot of time to do physical exercise and watch quality movies.
Earlier last week, he traveled almost 25 kilometers from his home just to watch Brazilian director Walter Salles' 2004 movie, The Motorcycle Diaries, an art house flick that he has been fascinated about since college.
"The movie reminded me of my experience in Hengdian. All these years have been like an uncharted adventure. There might have been hurdles and challenges, but it has always made me feel good to receive the help of some good-hearted people when I have stumbled. That has encouraged me to go on," says Wan, with a smile.
