1979 Golden Age

Early summer, Beijing.

The mural of a naked woman at the Capital Airport has been covered up for several years until the Asian Games were held in Beijing. The trend of thought in the 1980s was characterized by swings from left to right, so the environment was relaxed at one time and tightened at the other.

In a car driving from the airport to the city, two brothers, Yuan Heping and Yuan Xiangren, looked at everything with curiosity.

They are all thin and skinny, with strange faces and bigger eyes than the other. Yuan Xiangren will play an old lady in "Qi Men Dun Jia", and later this image will be used by Stephen Chow in "The Secret Agent of the Great Neighborhood".

The beggar in "Kung Fu" who sells secret books everywhere is also him.

"Is this your first time back to the capital?"

"Yes, my father went to Hong Kong in 1937 and never came back. Our brothers were all born in the south."

"Then do you know where the old house is? You can go and have a look."

The person who asked the question was a staff member of the Great Wall Company who was accompanying them to the north. As soon as these words came out, the two brothers were quite moved, but they looked at each other and shook their heads: "Dad never said that. He only said that the family was poor and the world was in chaos. I joined the Peking Opera class just to make a living.”

"The world was very chaotic at that time, but it is getting better now. There is a new era and a new atmosphere. You should walk around more."

The two brothers smiled and agreed, quite cautiously.

There is no way, this is the capital, and Hong Kong people have very complicated feelings towards the capital.

They went north this time, first to Shenzhen and then to Guangzhou. They came from Guangzhou so secretly that they didn't dare to let anyone know, and they all used pseudonyms. I actually don’t really want to, but it’s here, so let’s do it.

Nowadays, Hong Kong entertainment circles come to the mainland in secret. For example, Li Hanxiang, who was preparing to film "The Curtain" and "Burning the Old Summer Palace," secretly went north, only to be exposed by the Hong Kong media.

Taiwan naturally bans it, but this kind of ban is also based on people's taste. Li Hanxiang is a great director, not a good one at all, and he is still popular and popular in Taiwan in his later years.

"The hotel arranged for you is a hotel specially designed to receive compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao. You will live there and go to work at the Beijing Film Studio during the day. If you are filming on location, I will accompany you and we will make arrangements then."

"Okay, we'll be fine."

While talking, the car drove into the Beijing Film Factory, and the Great Wall staff took the two of them upstairs to the factory director's office.

The two brothers were also quite nervous. They heard that the Beijing Film Studio was a department-level unit and they didn't quite understand what a department-level unit was. Anyway, the director of the factory was a big shot and could talk to Hai Zili. Hong Kong entertainment is rooted at the bottom and has a strong atmosphere of martial arts. The first thing you will face when you come to the mainland is these institutional frameworks.

"Dong dong dong!"

"Please come in!"

Open the door and enter the house.

Yuan Heping took a quick glance and saw an old man sitting behind the desk. He was calm and imposing. He should be the factory director. Sitting on the sofa was a middle-aged man with no features, and a young man next to him.

The grandson was actually chewing a piece of imported chocolate with huge English letters on the packaging.

"..."

Yuan Heping felt a special contrast for a moment. What's going on?

"Mr. Yuan Heping! Mr. Yuan Xiangren!"

Wang Yang took care of the guests, took the initiative to call him sir, and came over to shake hands enthusiastically: "I have been looking forward to your coming, and we finally met today."

"You are serious, we also want to take a look."

"Hey, you guys speak Mandarin very well."

"My father is from Beijing. He has learned Beijing dialect since he was a child. Although he speaks Cantonese on weekdays, he has never forgotten the local accent."

"Okay, I'm really afraid of communication trouble!"

The Yuan brothers, Qi Xiaofu, Lin Zhengying and others all speak Mandarin well because the masters they studied under were all Peking Opera masters. Especially Seven Little Fortunes, when I was learning opera when I was a kid, if my master saw someone speaking Cantonese, he would slap him with a loud mouth.

Therefore, those Hong Kong celebrities who come to the mainland to make a living but refuse to improve their Mandarin skills for decades are actually in trouble.

Don't talk about language habits.

At that time, almost every Hong Kong star went to Taiwan for promotion. Of course, they spoke Mandarin when they went to Taiwan, and they licked each one with enthusiasm. Which one is wronged? Then why do you feel aggrieved when you come to the mainland?

Just need to draw.

"This is Li Wenhua, the director of "Tai Chi", and this is Chen Qi, the screenwriter!"

"Chen Qi?"

The two brothers had to ignore Li Wenhua and turned their attention to the young man. Yuan Xiangren was particularly surprised: "Are you Chen Qi who wrote "Qi Men Dun Jia"?"

"It should be me, who received your care (referring to the manuscript fee) from both of you, and is honored by your respect."

"How old are you?"

"20!"

"Wow!"

The two brothers looked at each other, Yuan Heping gave a thumbs up and sincerely praised: "Amazing!"

Hong Kong is a money-worshipping society that pursues fame and fortune, and everyone is impetuous. They pay special attention to those who become famous overnight and those who can achieve great success at a young age. Chen Qi fits this condition very well.

Immediately, they had a brief chat about "Tai Chi", and after a long journey, the brothers went to the hotel first.

Seeing them going out, Wang Yang put away his smile and said, "Although their wages have been reduced voluntarily, staying in a hotel every day is still an expense. You'd better shoot the action scenes first, and then the literary dramas."

"It's already very economical. We haven't asked for martial arts masters yet. Otherwise, they could bring more than a dozen people, and we would entertain them all."

"What does a martial artist do?" Li Wenhua asked.

"I'm working on props and acting as extras, mainly as stand-ins. Some moves are dangerous or the actors can't do them, so martial artists are needed."

"Wouldn't that be disrespectful? We definitely won't be like this. Ji Chunhua and his gang are suffocating themselves, just waiting to compete." Li Wenhua didn't understand.

There was no need to argue about the concept. Chen Qi didn't want to convince him that it was of little value, and he really needed to save money. Ji Chunhua and the others would have to go into battle personally.

Let’s look at this for comparison.

Ji Chunhua had to work hard for "Tai Chi" for one piece a day. Of course Chen Qi felt that it was hard for him. Those people in later generations will get hundreds and tens of millions, so they deserve to work so hard!

Chen Qi flipped through the script. At the beginning, Yang Yuqian fought with others, was stopped when entering Chenjiagou, competed with Chen Shaojie, attacked enemies, learned skills from Chen Zhengying, etc. There were more than 20 fights in total, large and small.

Immediately, the three people studied it and decided to film a few simple martial arts scenes to get used to it, and then immediately film the final tower breaking scene.

Now that the tower breaking is done, everything else is easy to talk about.

After leaving the office, Li Wenhua looked worried and said: "Xiao Chen, is it okay for us to put so much effort into finding people from Hong Kong? I don't think they are anything special. They are thin and small, and they don't look like martial arts practitioners. ”

"Martial arts instructors don't have to be masters. This is a job that uses your brain. Don't worry, there is no one more suitable."

Chen Qi is really not worried.

Because Yuan Heping is famous for his versatility, regardless of ancient costumes and modern times, martial arts science fiction, mainland China, Hong Kong and Hollywood, as long as the director asks for it, he can handle it.

Moreover, the most appropriate actions are designed based on the actor's own abilities. What's more important is that he doesn't act blindly or point fingers at the director, but only does his job well. It's not an exaggeration to say that he is a part-time job.

Chen Qi is looking forward to it. What kind of movie can such a group of masters come together in 1980?

(No more...)