It seems like many years ago that Luo did not think he would like acting. Today, he is recognized in the industry as an extremely talented and versatile actor, having starred in a variety of films and television series, such as the popular online film Talentik. However, the most decorated project of his career is the award-winning dramatic thriller SAM, in which he was the lead. Luo’s captivating portrayal in the film enthralled audiences worldwide.
“I had the pleasure of meeting Yifan for our work in SAM. It wasn't easy material by any means, but Yifan brought his character to life in a truthful and believable way. I believe the that Yifan has a remarkable talent,” said Sebastian Faure, Writer and Director.
The film tells the story of Sam, played by Luo, who awakes one day to find his girlfriend Alison has been killed. The police arrive and begin to interrogate him. He claims that he doesn't know anything about her mysterious death. Later on, a police officer discovers that Sam has two personalities. His second personality falls in love with his main personality and starts to stalk him. This gradually destroys his life. He wants to get rid of the stalker but can never do it, as it is his second personality. This begins to upset Alison. Audiences then see the events that unfold that ultimately lead to her death.
“This is not something that we would often see in our lives, but I have to say that the script is really good. It has a very precise structure. The audience gets into the story easily,” said Luo.
Sam, the title character, is the focus of the film, and therefore when casting, Faure knew he needed a talented actor who would completely commit himself to the script in order to make his film a success. Knowing Luo’s previous work, the actor was his first choice and he approached him to take part in the film. After reading the script, Luo immediately said yes as he wanted to take on the test of such a complicated character.
“I wanted to work on this project because the role is highly challenging to me. To play a psycho is not an easy thing. I believed that I could learn a lot from playing such a character. For instance, how to balance the outside (normal) and the inside (killer), how to play a woman/stalker (the second personality), and how not to ‘act’ too much when I'm portraying killing someone,” said Luo.
Sam’s alter ego is psychotic. Normally, his main personality is a normal, likeable guy. He has his own life, and a girlfriend who he loves and loves him. However, his second personality is a female stalker. When maintaining his main personality, Sam thinks he is truly being stalked, which upsets his girlfriend and leads to problems in their relationship. Luo needed to be able to convincingly portray both a man and a woman, as well as a psychopath.
“This character might be the hardest one that I've played. I had to show two personalities that are nothing like each other. One is innocent but upset, the other one is completely a freak. We shot these two parts separately in order to reduce the switching back and forth from these two different personalities. It made it much easier. I tried to make myself messy (dirty face, unbuttoned shirt, etc.) so that I could find the feeling of being caught by a cop after a murder that I thought I've never done. And when I switched to the second part, I made myself super clean and tidy because I believed that was what the murderer in the story would do before she killed other people,” Luo described.
Luo’s portrayal of Sam was not only successful, but outstanding. Because of his work, the film went on to great success at many prestigious international film festivals. It was an Official Selection at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival 2017, the Top Shorts Festival 2017, and the NYC Indie Film Awards. It also won Best Thriller at the LA Shorts Awards where it was an Official Selection. At Festigious Los Angeles, where the film was an Official Selection as well, Luo was awarded with Honorable Mentioned, Best Actor. Such triumph is not lost on the actor.
“It is a great honor. I'm so excited that this movie has received so much attention. We spent a lot effort on it and I'm so grateful that people like what we did. It is a great impetus for me that I got the honorable mention for Best Actor, but I will never stop moving forward and trying to better myself,” he said.
Luo volunteered his work to the project as he believed in it so much. Everyone knew the film could be something special, so the entire cast and crew put everything they had into it. Luo worked closely with Faure to perfect the character of Sam, and Luo’s performance inspired those he worked with to strive for perfection as well.
“Yifan's upbeat attitude, extensive craft knowledge, and professionalism, made for an enjoyable experience. Yifan spectacularly performed two personalities of a character with schizophrenia. In rehearsals, as well as the actual shots with Yifan, I had that feeling that he was listening to my character, resulting in that satisfied feeling of timely responses and reactions, and ultimately a great product. Yifan is good at what he does because of his dedication to the craft of acting. I felt he had respect for each word of the script and his desire to believably deliver the intentions of the screenwriter and director. This was evident in his meticulous written script analysis as well as in his superb acting skills. Yifan is a leader also. He has a constructive way of mentoring fellow actors, which I greatly appreciated. I look forward to working with him again,” said Danny Kay, who played a supporting role in SAM.
This esteemed actor has quite the year ahead, as he is not only working on a film with Sylvester Stallone currently, but he also is going back to his heritage in the traditional Chinese Martial Arts film The Wind Flower, which premieres this May. His films Hanging Dead and Rift come out later this year, so audiences have quite a lot to look forward to.