new kung fu king

Chapter 265 The Crucial Running Shoot

Wang Xiaohu plans to use only 50 US dollars for the filming of "Rocky". Yes, 50, which is equivalent to 300 million Hong Kong dollars. This kind of investment is definitely a low-cost category in Hollywood. No one would believe that such a film will be good. box office results.

After "Rocky" finished filming the boxing club scenes, Goros in Los Angeles is still doing all kinds of satirical activities, because "Enter the Dragon" will be fully released in the United States in one week, and he has to pass a The series of behaviors left Wang Xiaohu infamous for thousands of years.

"Tiger, don't you plan to do something?" Winterdur held several newspapers of the day, and said to Wang Xiaohu impatiently, "It would be nice to come forward to clarify."

Wang Xiaohu smiled, lowered his head and continued to read the shooting plan, and replied in a tone that could not be more plain: "Old Wen, what do you want me to clarify? Anyway, the mouth grows on Gao Luosi, if I make any clarification or Fighting back will make that bastard proud, instead of that, let him continue to be a clown."

Wang Xiaohu closed the filming plan, patted Winterdur on the shoulder and said: "Old Wen, calm down, our task now is to finish shooting the film as soon as possible, as for that bastard, let him continue to toss, someone will help us promote it for free Isn't it better?"

"Oh God, strange oriental thinking." Winterdur shrugged and said, anyway, Wang Xiaohu is not anxious at all, what else can he be anxious about. "I almost forgot, on New Year's Day, you have to attend the premiere of "Enter the Dragon" in the United States."

Different from what I remember, "Enter the Dragon" will be screened overseas first this time, which has something to do with the American New Year's Day schedule. As for the release in Hong Kong, it will not start until the Spring Festival. This is Wang Xiaohu and Bruce Lee After the agreed plan, if the quality of the film had not passed the standard, Warner Bros. would not be so hard to recommend playing it on New Year's Day.

"It seems a bit difficult!" Wang Xiaohu frowned and said, "You know my schedule is very tight."

"Hey, this is your directorial debut in Hollywood, shouldn't you participate? I think you will be so excited to death!" Winterdur said in a tone of great anticipation: "Come and participate, "Rocky" Don't worry too much about such a small production!"

Wang Xiaohu chuckled and didn't explain it. A small production may not be a hit at the box office. The investment in "Rocky" was halved compared to the previous life. The reason is very simple, because the script was finalized by himself. , The salaries of the filming staff are not as inflated as they were in 72, and the two leading actors are both newcomers, so the cost savings can no longer be saved, and Xiao Bo Da has always been his appearance.

"NO." Wang Xiaohu refused in a very firm tone: "Bruce will be able to participate at that time, I am no different from him." When Bruce Lee has finished attending the premiere, he can go to Yan Jinghai's funeral. Hey, at the end of 72 Things are really not ordinary.

Seeing his insistence, Winterdur could only shrug his shoulders and said helplessly: "Well, this is such a pity."

"Stop moaning, old man, before you leave, you have to help me invite Bill Kandy over." Wang Xiaohu said with a smile, "I need him to make the music for "Rocky"."

Bill Conti is a little-known composer, but he will not keep a low profile since then, because "Rocky" will make him shine, and a song "gonnaflynow" will become a turning point in his life, as far as Wang Xiaohu knows , this song "gonnaflynow" has also appeared in the Academy Award Ceremony many times, and Bill Condy's song has almost become the most frequently played Oscar.It would be a win-win situation for this talented composer to be hired to work for "Rocky".

"God, every time you mention the name of Tiger, you are always an unknown guy. God knows where Bill Kandy is hiding on the earth. You are too strong!" Winterdur said, holding his head in distress, but Complaints belong to complainers, but Winterdur still followed Wang Xiaohu's will. He knew that Wang Xiaohu would not dig such a person for no reason, and there must be some reason and purpose.

The story background of "Rocky" is quite different. It does not tell the story before 1972, but two years later, that is, Philadelphia in November 1975.

The story begins like this. Rocky Balboa, known as the "Italian Stallion", is a boxer living in poverty in Philadelphia.He is nearly 30 years old, no longer the best age to engage in boxing.At the same time, his situation was very bad, often reduced to the point where it was difficult to make ends meet, and he could only earn money to support himself by collecting debts for his usurious friends.

The national boxing heavyweight champion Apollo Kerry came to Philadelphia to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding of the United States and held a boxing match. The winner could get a prize of 15 US dollars.However, his opponent withdrew from the match due to a temporary injury. Apollo had an idea and chose an unknown boxer as his opponent to show the spirit of the American dream. Rocky was nicknamed "Italian Stallion" by Apollo Selected by Luo.

Rocky immediately became the subject of interviews by television and newspaper reporters, and Apollo even claimed to knock down Rocky in several rounds.Although Rocky understands that his chances of defeating Apollo are very low, because no opponent has ever played a full game with Apollo.But in order to prove his ability and to change his destiny, he trained hard without interruption, and even created his own practice of boxing with frozen raw beef, vowing to last until the last round.

In the boxing match, despite being at a disadvantage, Rocky supported 15 rounds with tenacity and perseverance, which caused Apollo to break his ribs and almost knocked him down.In the end, Rocky lost by points, but his spirit of persevering to the end won the support of the audience.

People who haven't watched it will think it's a boxing action movie, but Wang Xiaohu knows that "Rocky" has nothing to do with boxing. Apart from the 20-minute ring fight at the beginning and the end, this is a boxing action movie. The inspirational film under the banner of boxing reflects the story of the small people living in the grassroots of the United States, struggling in the chaos of life and the world of helpless confidence, and the spirit of forging ahead. It's just Rocky's vent about life or the current situation in the United States at that time.

If he didn't want to hone Stallone, but also catered to the appreciation taste of Americans and made a staggering sum of dollars, Wang Xiaohu wished he could directly shoot "First Blood".Of course, he has been resisting this urge, and continued to shoot this bloody movie that looks boring, but is actually very boring and full of connotations. (If you watch "Rocky" now, you will have my complicated and tangled feelings.)
On December 12, which is Christmas Eve, before dawn, Wang Xiaohu pulled Stallone up: "Sylvester, get up, we are going to shoot the most classic scene today."

"Boss, let me rest for a while." Stallone curled up on the bed with the quilt in his arms, and said vaguely.Four consecutive days of high-intensity shooting had exhausted him.

The star Stallone is probably the most exhausted in the entire crew, because the other four actors are working on an eight-hour workday, and Wang Xiaohu will concentrate on filming their scenes in half a day every day, and the rest of the crew have already adapted to Wang Xiaohu. Continuous fighting style.

Even the photographers Xie Dongshen and Li Qingsheng are used to this. They have been at ease for several years. They are also very busy and energetic. Under Wang Xiaohu's request, the master and apprentice's shooting skills have improved significantly.

"Damn it!" Wang Xiaohu stepped forward and overturned the quilt forcefully, Stallone's body turned around on the bed with his strength, and now he finally woke up from his sleep, seeing Wang Xiaohu glaring at King Kong, he was a little dull After grinning, he quickly changed into his dirty gray sportswear and went out.

There was a pickup truck parked in front of the hotel, Xie Dongshen and Li Qingsheng were sitting in the back and controlling the two cameras. Unrelated staff members had already been driven by Wang Xiaohu to the street in front of them to play guest roles as early risers in Philadelphia.

"OK, Sylvester, I repeat, when you run out of downtown Philadelphia, don't go too fast, we're going to take two shots, the first time you're asked to run like you're struggling, The second time is to refresh your spirit and speed up your running pace, understand?" Wang Xiaohu stood on the pickup truck and shouted loudly with a horn.

"Boss, I'm ready!" Stallone was ready to go and made an OK gesture, Wang Xiaohu nodded and shouted: "action!"

The use of running to promote the development of the plot was unique in Hollywood at the time. The plot was promoted through the comparison of the different rhythms of the two scenes, and the different states of the characters were expressed.Among them, the first time Rocky started running on the street in the morning light was when Rocky had just received an invitation to a boxing match and jogged in the empty streets of Philadelphia in the morning light; the other time was before the boxing match, Rocky was running on the street.

Therefore, in this simple plot, the film forms a complete symbolic relationship through the contrast between the empty street in the dark and the protagonist running in the morning, and this symbolic relationship forms a harmonious relationship with the style of the whole film. resonance relationship.The short two minutes and 20 seconds that Rocky ran in the morning light became the key to the whole film.

The shooting of the jogging went smoothly. Wang Xiaohu and Xie Dongshen were watching the camera in the pickup truck. The car was moving slowly, and Stallone was running slowly. One camera captured the picture of Stallone running, and the other It is to assist in capturing the details of the citizens of Philadelphia.

"Very good." Wang Xiaohu finally breathed a sigh of relief when the car drove out of the slums of Philadelphia. He said with a smile, "If you follow this schedule, everyone can have a comfortable Christmas Eve tonight."

Xie Dongshen frowned at this moment and said: "Boss, please come and take a look at this set of shots. I always feel that the car shakes too much, which affects the smoothness of the picture."

(End of this chapter)