new kung fu king

Chapter 484 The Second Action Director

"Police Story" is finished, and immediately enters the intense post-production stage, which also means losing the great opportunity to compete for the summer slots in July and August. Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and others felt it was a pity, but Wang Xiaohu patted them on the shoulder. Said: "It's okay, we have theaters in our hands!"

Whether in Hong Kong or Hollywood, as long as you have a theater chain, it means that you monopolize the final output of the film industry. It doesn’t matter if you can’t catch up with the Spring Festival or summer. Extended screenings and re-screenings can increase box office revenue.

Only then did Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and the others breathe a sigh of relief, and then they remembered why Ahu questioned the acquisition of theaters in the early stages of the company's development, and they admired him from the bottom of their hearts.

Seeing that everyone is busy with the post-production, Wang Xiaohu finally has some free time these days, and started to arrange another film to enter the mainland. When he entered the mainland to film "Mythology", this film was already brewing in his mind. Enough heat.

This movie was created by Wang Xiaohu for Jet Li, and at the same time, he also had to take care of Yuen Biao who hadn't appeared on the screen for several years.

Since "Hong Xiguan" was released, Jet Li and Zhou Xingchi and others have been exercising at the base every day. In addition to learning Wing Chun, it also involves many aspects of fighting skills. Nowadays, Zhou Billy, who is somewhat famous in the Hong Kong fighting circle He also plays guest coaches from time to time.Of course, the Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts Association also has many well-hidden masters, all of which made Jet Li feel very fresh, and his enthusiasm for learning made even a martial idiot, Zhou Xingchi, admire him.

The name of this film is "Dragon in Shaolin".

"Dragon in Shaolin" tells that although Xiaolong has practiced martial arts well in Shaolin Temple, he is still young and has a childlike innocence. Although he has wisdom, he still lacks training.Seeing this, the old host decided to send Xiaolong down the mountain to find the Buddha.Xiaolong, who set foot in the city for the first time, felt fresh and curious about everything, and made a lot of jokes. In the end, Xiaolong was separated from his senior brother and lived on the streets. Fortunately, he met the street boy Fei Chong under the poverty of hunger and cold. .After all the hardships and dangers, he finally regained the Buddha's head.In Dixifulin, Zhong Yishan solemnly installed the Buddha's head on the Buddha statue, and finally completed the task satisfactorily.At this time, the old abbot of Shaolin Temple also came, and he congratulated Xiaolong for finding the real Buddha.

The original version of "Dragon in Shaolin" is Shi Xiaolong's classic masterpiece. In addition to making Shi Xiaolong popular, the little comedian Hao Shaowen is also deeply loved by everyone.One of the two little guys is very good at kung fu, and the other is funny and mischievous. Before "Dragon in Shaolin", they had co-produced the "Laughing Forest Boy" series, and later co-produced "Golden Island Adventures", "Nezha War The Monkey King and other popular films.

It can be said that Shi Xiaolong and Hao Shaowen won the laughter and applause of the public with their shaved heads and sunglasses, and they also accompanied many people in their growth.It's just that as the two grew older, the naughty and cute image was gradually not accepted by the audience, so they also disappeared in the film industry, studying abroad, and going abroad.

Wang Xiaohu still remembers that the last movie he saw Shi Xiaolong starred in before his rebirth was "Ip Man 2", but at that time Shi Xiaolong was a boy in his 20s, and his acting skills were not flattered by ordinary people.
The topic is getting a bit far, since Wang Xiaohu "abducted" Jet Li to Hong Kong, he began to think about how to arrange the development of the future Kung Fu Emperor. After much deliberation, he finally decided to let him follow Shi Xiaolong's path in the next few years route.

It is to pretend to be cute on the screen, show off his kung fu, cultivate his popularity and hone his acting skills at the same time, paving the way for the future.

Among all Shi Xiaolong's works, Wang Xiaohu only fell in love with "Dragon in Shaolin". This is not without reason, because after five or six years, Jet Li will star in "Shaolin Temple", both of which are Shaolin, a children's version. A juvenile version, which is also a matter of course. (It seems that Jet Li in 77 is already very tall, uh, let's just think of him as cute as Shi Xiaolong.)
Wang Xiaohu first closed his eyes and recalled the plot of "Dragon in Shaolin" in his memory. After he had an overall concept of the movie, he wrote the outline of the script.

In the screenwriting circle in Hong Kong, if someone knew that Wang Xiaohu had "watched" the movie before writing the script, he would definitely vomit blood.Because according to their habits, they often have an idea or idea in their minds. This idea can be a weapon, a funny point, a person, etc., and then reproduce more characters and plots based on these ideas. The series is the prototype of the script, and the script is adjusted and changed at any time. Sometimes I feel that the shooting effect is not good, and I will modify it on the spot. Therefore, most of the filming is completed, and the script is finally finalized. The video quality can be imagined.

A large number of talented screenwriters have emerged in Hong Kong movies during the glorious decade, but they still use such methods, which led to a breakdown in the screenwriting circle. main factor.

Fortunately, Wang Xiaohu paid great attention to script creation, just like the few apprentices he took in at the beginning, now Li Shaonan has become the director of script revision for four film and television companies, New Art City, Xu, Yuan, and Debao, four satellite companies. Once there is a good idea, the big frame of the script will be handed over to the department in charge of Li Shaonan, and Li Shaonan will mobilize a group of young script apprentices to perfect the script, just like Wang Xiaohu tortured him back then. It is very high, and the quality can be as close as possible to ordinary citizens. The most representative one is "Genius and Idiot" released by Xu's company a few years ago.

Wang Xiaohu's scripts are all written by himself. It's not that he doesn't want Li Shaonan and others to help, but that Li Shaonan is only suitable for Hong Kong's commercial operation mode. Their scripts are mainly aimed at audiences in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

As for "Mythology" and "Dragon in Shaolin", in addition to facing audiences in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, the mainland also needs to be considered, especially "Mythology" is going to hit the Hollywood market. Not a little sloppy.

Before Wang Xiaohu finished writing the story frame of "Dragon in Shaolin" and was about to call Yuen Biao, Jet Li and others to come to the office to avoid talking, Sammo Hung knocked on the door with a script.

"Ah Hu, I have a script I want to shoot, please check it out for me first."

Wang Xiaohu stopped writing, took the script over and saw the name, and immediately smiled: "Monk Sande and Rice Six", and then saw that the screenwriter's name was a person named Huang Feng.

"Huang Feng? Isn't this the director who filmed "The Golden Sword" back then?" Wang Xiaohu raised his head and asked.

It was November 1971. Not long after Wang Xiaohu was reborn, he and Yuen Biao took refuge in Sammo Hung, who was already a martial arts instructor. It was because of his desperate performance in "The Golden Sword of Death" that he attracted the attention of insiders. Huang Feng is "The Golden Sword of Death" "Director.

Thinking about it, six years have passed. Back then, I was a small dragon and tiger martial artist, but now I am a leading entertainment tycoon in the industry. After Huang Feng finished filming "The Golden Sword", he filmed "Shandong Thief, "Aikido", "China and Muay Thai Boxing", "Black Road", "Taekwon Shocking Kyushu" and other movies, this year's summer file also has his new film "Four Schools".

It's just that the box office of "Four Schools" is not very prosperous. It only received 12 million Hong Kong dollars in the box office in 124 days of release, and the theater directly pulled it down.

Sammo Hung said: "Well, after watching my "The Prodigal Son" a few years ago, he felt that this kind of movie still has some subjects that can be made, so he handed me this script a while ago."

Wang Xiaohu nodded. In his memory, "San De Monk and Chong Mi Liu" was a rare classic by Sammo Hung in the late 70s. As Sammo Hung's first Kung Fu film edited, directed, directed, and acted in, although San Mao has not completely broken away from the stereotypes of this type of film , but added humorous elements, and applied three-dimensional lens changes and editing techniques to enrich the action performance.The subsequent sister film "Mr. Zan and Looking for Qianhua" has also become a classic production of Sammo Hung's early works. You can see Sammo Hung's not-so-fat but flexible figure in the film.

According to Wang Xiaohu's current thinking, there is no need to shoot this type of movie at all. After all, the Seven Little Fu brothers have gradually formed their own action styles under their own leadership and education. It doesn't matter if you shoot one or two of this type of movie, but once there are too many, the audience will feel fatigued.

What's more, now that "Police Story" is about to be released, the field of Hong Kong kung fu movies is about to enter a new chapter.

"Sanmao, do you really want to shoot?" Wang Xiaohu raised his head and looked at Sammo Hung and asked.

Sammo Hung smiled, nodded vigorously and said: "I want to make it, I want to make it so much. I didn't enjoy the filming of "The Prodigal Boy" last time, and besides, the box office of this type of movie is not saturated. Except for "Seven Little Fortunes", Debao There are no other works, it must be popular in the market."

"Alright!" Wang Xiaohu said after reading the script roughly, "But this script must be revised. It's best that you have your own things in it."

"Well, I will do this." Sammo Hung handed over a budget at the same time after saying this, "I roughly calculated that the cost is less than 80 Hong Kong dollars, which should be considered a small cost in our company."

"Okay, it just so happens that "Police Story" will be released soon, and you can carry out comprehensive publicity." Wang Xiaohu is very supportive of Sammo Hung's insistence on his point of view. After all, the films of Sanmao are also rare comedy kung fu movies in the long history of kung fu movies. , I have no reason not to let him shoot it.

At the end of July, "Police Story" completed a quarter of the post-production. It can be said that this is the film that took the most time since the establishment of Concorde. The post-production of other films has less investment and less action scenes, whether it is editing or post-production. The recording was relatively easy. Even this year's "Hong Xiguan" was completed in less than a month.

But more than ten days have passed, and "Police Story" is only a quarter completed, and it is still a rough cut. You can imagine how much film was wasted in the whole film.In fact, film accounts for one-tenth of the total cost of "Police Story", and the cost of film alone is enough to shoot several ordinary movies.

The biggest part of the cost is the remuneration of the actors. Brigitte Lin, Lin Fengjiao, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat, Tung Piao, Feng Ke'an, etc. are all the top stars in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and they directly burn more than 400 million Hong Kong dollars. After all, the other two burn money is : props, insurance.

Vehicles, sets, explosives, glass, etc. in the film are the most consumed ingredients in "Police Story", especially glass. Don't watch the actors hit the glass with their heads and bodies to suffer, the price of those glasses is not cheap, So later Wang Xiaohu said dumbfoundingly: This is not "Police Story", it is clearly "Glass Story".

Before "Police Story" was released, Wang Xiaohu would not consider entering the mainland for filming.Taking advantage of this time, he began to select the main crew members for "Dragon in Shaolin".

The director's position was handed over to Yuan Heping to be competent. This is what Wang Xiaohu clearly told him after rejecting Yuan Heping's "Eagle Claw Iron Shirt" script in June this year: You can just find someone to shoot this kind of script. There are more important and arduous tasks.

The main actors are Jet Li, Yuen Biao, Stephen Chow, Lin Fengjiao, Wu Mengda, and of course Hui Yinghong who took over from Liu Jialiang's apprentices.The overall lineup is like this. Wang Xiaohu distributed the script to all the actors so that they could get familiar with the script as soon as possible.

After arranging these tasks, Wang Xiaohu asked Yuan Heping and Yuen Biao to arrange the action design according to the script. This is also a very important task. Yuen Biao showed great enthusiasm for this and said to Wang Xiaohu: "Ah Hu, I Finally, I can participate in action design, I have been looking forward to this day for a long time!"

Wang Xiaohu sighed bitterly. Others have sharpened their heads to become stars and actors, but Qi Xiaofu's brothers are lucky to have a strong interest in behind-the-scenes.

Everyone has their own ambitions, and Wang Xiaohu can only support and encourage this good brother. At the same time, he also said to Yuan Heping: "Big eyes, shoot with your heart. After this movie is finished, you will become the second action director of Hong Kong movies." .”

"Action director!" Yuan Heping's heart was moved when he heard the words. The meaning of this position is too important for people in the martial arts director class. As long as you can be promoted to an action director, it means that you are competent for most types of action movies. This is a sense of superiority in status, and at the same time it will become a top representative in the circle.

(End of this chapter)