Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Chapter 15 Jin Yong’s Goddess

Three days later, it was still the Peninsula Hotel.

A slender woman wearing a floral cheongsam walked gracefully into the restaurant and immediately attracted a lot of attention.

Yang Ye quickly stood up and waved to her. Upon seeing this, the woman came over with a smile, stretched out a hand gracefully, shook hands with Yang Ye, and said: "Mr. Yang, I didn't expect that you are so young and so formidable! "

Yang Ye said humbly: "Ms. Xia, you are very grateful. It is my honor to meet you. Please sit down!"

After the two sat down, they called the waiter. While Ms. Xia was taking her order, Yang Ye looked at Jin Yong's dream lover politely.

I saw that she had a delicate oval face, curved eyebrows, two big bright eyes, a straight nose, bright lips, and a few white teeth when she smiled.Sure enough, it is as described in Jin Yong's novel: "The first child of a different flower, the beauty is dizzy, and it is bright and unparalleled."

Although she was forty years old, she was well maintained and looked less than 30 years old, which made Yang Ye wonder if she had practiced the internal skills of the Ancient Tomb Sect.

Yang Ye took a sip of coffee and said to Xiao Longnu, no, to Xia Meng: "I took the liberty to invite Ms. Xia to meet me today because... I want to make a movie, and I hope to invite Ms. Xia to come out and act as the director of this movie. Producer."

Xia Meng was stunned for a moment and said: "Everyone is speculating on what Mr. Yang will do next, but I didn't expect that he would make a movie. Well, first write a book, then sing, and then make a movie. Mr. Yang has a very high ambition. "

Yang Ye said humbly: "I'm just a mess."

Xia Mengdao: "It's just that I have stopped acting for many years, and I used to mainly act. How could you think of asking me to be the producer of a movie?"

Xia Meng was once the most popular female star in Hong Kong and the eldest princess among the "Three Princesses of the Great Wall".She passed away in 1967, and her family immigrated to Canada.

At that time, there were riots in Hong Kong, and the British conquest of Hong Kong imposed a brutal suppression on Hong Kong people. Many Hong Kong people sought to immigrate overseas, forming the first wave of "immigration" in Hong Kong.

Xia Meng's Phoenix Film Company suffered a devastating blow, and she had no choice but to stop acting and follow her husband to escape overseas.

However, they were unable to make a living in UMass and were left with nothing. Two years later, they returned to Hong Kong to run a garment factory.

When Xia Meng immigrated, her number one dog licker Jin Yong published a poetic article in Ming Pao to see her off:

"Xia Meng will definitely have infinite attachment to the film industry that made her famous over the years and the history of her struggle in the film industry. However, she is finally gone. Of course, there are many The reason, in our imagination, must be that the air in the Canadian prairie is fresher, allowing her to live a more peaceful life, so at the peak of her career, she resolutely abandoned everything and returned to the valley to escape the world and be independent..."

Her family's garment factory was not doing so well that Xia Meng had to choose to return to the film industry a few years later and opened a "Blue Bird Film Company".

Yang Ye chose Xia Meng to be the film producer precisely because of her relationship.

There is another reason: Jin Yong is Xia Meng's number one dog licker. As long as Yang Ye ties Xia Meng to his chariot, then the copyright of Jin Yong's novels will belong to Yang Ye, and no one else can take it away. TVB, go ahead!

In Hong Kong in the 80s, the fastest way to create stars was to act in Jin Yong dramas.Zheng Shaoqiu, Liu Dehua, Liang Chaowei... and many other stars became popular through Jin Yong's dramas.

How could Yang Ye give up on this big gold mine?

Yang Ye said: "Although I want to make movies, I am not familiar with things in the industry, so I hope to find professionals to guide me. However, the film professionals active in the industry have their own problems, and I do not expect them to be able to help me." You treat me differently. You are the only one who, although you have left the film industry for the time being, is highly respected. If I can get your guidance, I will be able to avoid many detours."

Yang Ye's flattery made Xia Meng feel very comfortable.

Xia Meng covered her mouth and smiled: "You are very cunning. Do you have a script? Let me take a look."

"Yes!" Yang Ye took out the script and handed it to Xia Meng with both hands.

Xia Meng opened it and was shocked. She asked in surprise: "This is it?"

Yang Ye explained: "This is a shot-by-shot script. I first think about how to shoot the movie, how to design the actions, and how to design the shots. Then I sort it out and draw it on paper. When shooting, I just follow it."

In the split-shot script that Xia Meng saw, each page was divided into several grids. Each grid had detailed descriptions of the shots to be taken, with descriptions of the near and medium shots, and pictures.Clear and clear at a glance.

Even Xia Meng, who has been filming for 17 years, has never seen this before, and he couldn't help but be stunned.

Most of the early Hong Kong films had written scripts. Sometimes there were no written scripts at all. The director had an idea and the screenwriter wrote it on the spot.The martial arts movements and everything else are all discussed on the spot.

For example, Zhao Wenzhuo's most awesome movie line is probably "The mighty heavenly dragon, Prajna Buddhas, World Honored Ksitigarbha, Prajna Baba".But what he actually read at the scene was "1234.5678..."

Because when filming, Xu Ke had not thought about the lines yet.

Xia Meng flipped through page after page, the more she read, the more frightened she became.

The movie script is called "Shaolin Temple" and the story it tells is not complicated.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, a generation of heroes, Shen Leg Zhang, resisted violence and helped justice, but was killed by Wang Renze, Wang Shichong's nephew.

Xiaohu, the son of Shen Leg Zhang, fled to the Shaolin Temple and was rescued by the Shaolin monk Tan Zong.

In order to avenge his father, Xiaohu worshiped Tan Zong as his teacher, became a novice monk, and took the Buddhist name Jueyuan.

One day, Li Shimin sneaked across the Yellow River to investigate the enemy's situation and was besieged by Wang Renze's troops. Jue Yuan and others tried to rescue him.

Wang Renze falsely accused someone in the Shaolin Temple of collaborating with the enemy and conspiring to rebel, and was preparing to destroy Shaolin.

The monks fought bloody battles, and Tan Zong died in the battle.At this time, Li Shimin led his troops back to capture Luoyang. Wang's soldiers mutinied and Wang Ren was killed by Jue Yuan.

In order to inherit Tan Zong's legacy, Jue Yuan received ordination and officially became a monk.

The storyboard script was very thick, and Yang Ye did not bring all of it. Xia Meng read it for a while, closed the script, and said, "This is... the story of the Thirteen Stick Monks saving the King of Tang?"

Yang Ye smiled and said: "Ms. Xia is knowledgeable and has a strong memory, that's right."

Xia Meng's interest in movies is more literary and artistic, and he is not very interested in the action movies produced by Yang Ye.But Yang Yehua's split-shot script was so exciting that she couldn't help but admire: "No wonder you can become so famous in a short time. Just reading your script, I feel like I'm watching a wonderful movie." It’s a fantastic movie, and now I’m eager to know how the story will develop in the future.”

Yang Ye said: "Why don't you fight an unprepared battle? It's just that the complete storyboard is too thick and difficult to carry, so I didn't bring it all. If you want to see it, I will send it to your house later."

Xia Meng smiled and said: "That's great. But I have a question. According to what you said, your movie is going to be shot on location. Do you really want to go to Luoyang and Songshan Mountain for filming?"

Xia Meng now understands why Yang Ye asked him to be the producer, because if he wants to shoot in the mainland, it is indeed a shortcut through him.

But...in this case, wouldn't he be banned by Taiwan?

Yang Ye doesn't look like he's preparing to be banned, does he?

Yang Ye shook his head and said: "Although my heart is towards the mainland, it is difficult to establish a foothold in Hong Kong if there is no Taiwan market for making movies. So I will not offend Taiwan for the time being."

"Then how do you shoot it in action?"

"Looking for a replacement, in fact, the Shaolin Temple has been burned to the ground due to the fire of my friend Sanyi. Even if we go to Songshan Mountain, we can't take any pictures. Unless we donate money to rebuild the Shaolin Temple. In this case, we might as well build it in Hong Kong Scenery. If necessary, you can also go to Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island to take real shots."

"As for the Yellow River, which has appeared many times in movies, we can't find such a scene in Hong Kong. We can go to Taiwan. Although the name is Zhuoshui River in Taiwan, it is the largest river in Taiwan. The river channel is wide, the water flows quickly, and it roars. . And it carries a lot of sediment and is always turbid, somewhat similar to the Yellow River."

Xia Meng nodded repeatedly and said with a smile: "It's true that you don't fight unprepared. You have thought of everything. So there are a lot of kung fu fights in the movie, will you do it yourself?"

Yang Ye rolled up his sleeves and showed off his muscles to Xia Meng: "I have been practicing martial arts since I was a child, and I know a little bit about various kung fu, so naturally I went into battle myself."

Xia Meng admired: "So that's it, you are actually an all-rounder in both civil and martial arts. No wonder you can design so many wonderful martial arts moves."

She returned the script to Yang Ye and said: "Since you want to make a movie on your own, let me analyze it for you. In fact, making a movie is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to find a theater to release it. Hong Kong currently has There are three theater lines. One is the Shaw Brothers theater line, the other is the Golden Harvest theater line that Zou Wenhuai inherited from Cathay Pacific, and the other one is the Shuangnan theater line of the Left Alliance.

The two film companies I used to work for, Great Wall and Phoenix, both had their films released in Shuangnan Cinemas.If you want them to invest in and release your movie, I can make the connection, it won’t be a problem.

As for Shaw Brothers, the investment in your film is quite large. Shaw Brothers' director Fong Yat-wah is very stingy and probably won't give you enough investment.So my suggestion is... you set up a film company yourself, and then affiliate it with Jiahe and become its satellite company. Let Jiahe invest in you and help you distribute your movies. "

Yang Ye thought to himself, this woman really has two skills. She has thought of all aspects, which coincides with my thoughts.He put on a teachable look and asked: "My investment in this movie is quite large. The preliminary estimate is that it will have a budget of at least 200 million. Will Jiahe agree to it?"

(End of this chapter)