Literary Master 1978

In 1985, it should be said that it was the most prosperous stage of Hong Kong movies. There were many talents in the industry, and unconstrained and fantastic ideas could be seen everywhere on the big screen.

Not only the local market is rising every year, but also the markets in other cities are also conquering cities and territories, and every move is unfavorable.

Before Hollywood's special effects blockbusters were rampant, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Hong Kong movies dominated Asia.

The Heung Kong Film Awards were first film awards jointly organized by the film magazine "Film Fortnightly" and Hong Kong Radio based on the selection of the top ten films.

In recent years, with the development of Hong Kong films, the Academy Awards, a new film award, has gradually gained more and more influence.

Early in the morning after the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony concluded, news about the results of the Hong Kong Film Awards appeared on the news broadcasts of major radio and television stations in Hong Kong, and the pages of entertainment newspapers and weekly magazines were everywhere All are winners.

""Back to Time" won five awards and became the biggest winner of the Academy Awards" ""The King of Chess" set a record, winning both Best Actor and Best Screenplay" "The 4th Academy Awards: Tony Leung Ka Fai became the emperor for the second time, Siqin Gao "The baby was upset and sealed" "The Academy Awards was upset, Z-style filmmakers won a big victory"...

The movie "Homecoming" won five awards, and Siqingaowa, a mainland actress, won the Best Actress crown.

This situation has surprised many people in Xiangjiang. Many people still remember that this time last year, Liu Xiaoqing, who starred in "The Government Behind the Curtain", was also shortlisted for the Academy Award, but unfortunately he lost to Ye Tong in the end.

I didn’t expect that this year’s Best Actress Award would actually go to a mainland actress!

But the most hot news and topic at last night's awards ceremony was the re-election of Best Actor and Best Screenplay.

Winning consecutive awards has always been a low-probability event in the selection of film awards. Winning two awards at the same time is even more of a low-probability event.

More importantly, the two winners collaborated for the second time.

There is "Listening to Government Behind the Curtain" in the front, and "Chess Master" in the back.

Not only did it achieve great success at the box office and word of mouth, but it also won awards together. This coincidence will naturally bring about huge topicality.

Early in the morning, various news reports emerged one after another, fully demonstrating the city's strong circulation ability of news information.

In addition to news reports from authoritative media such as Hong Kong Radio, TVB, and Wen Wei Po, last night's awards ceremony also became a feast for many entertainment newspapers and weekly magazines in Hong Kong.

In order to differentiate their content from those of the big media, these newspapers and weekly magazines often focus on less serious aspects.

For example, this morning Hong Kong's "Overseas Chinese Daily" wrote a report based on Tony Leung's acceptance speech last night. The title was eye-catching.

——"The man behind the movie king, once is not enough".

I would like to ask if such a report is placed on the front page, which citizen passing by would not want to take a second look?

After reading it, these people couldn't help but curse a few words. The content was far different from what they imagined.

The most detestable thing about a clickbait is that, even though he is clearly not telling lies, you are deceived again and again. What these clickbait preys on is the curiosity of the public.

With this "sultry" article, the sales volume of "Overseas Chinese Daily" exceeded 120,000 copies for the first time in a long time, and it suddenly sold 50,000 more copies of the newspaper than usual.

"Overseas Chinese Daily" has a long history. After World War II, it once formed a "three-legged alliance" with "Business Daily" and "Sing Tao Daily" in the Chinese newspaper industry in Hong Kong. It was also a major newspaper at that time.

But as time went by, the tiny city of Xiangjiang had to support dozens of newspapers, and competition in the newspaper industry became increasingly fierce. After the 1970s, this competition could only be described as fierce.

The fierce competition in the print media industry has forced these newspapers to use all kinds of tricks, and they have to move closer to gossip news in reporting news content to satisfy the "low taste" of the general public.

Inside the Ming Pao Building.

Dong Qiao turned over the pages of "Overseas Chinese Daily" and made a tut-tsk sound in his mouth, "I can't believe that the style of "Overseas Chinese Daily" is getting lower and lower now."

He read the newspaper with interest for a while, then raised his head and looked at Lin Chaoyang, with the word "bad intentions" written all over his face.

"Chaoyang, as the 'man behind the actor', what do you think of this report?"

Lin Chaoyang smiled helplessly, "I think they will be finished sooner or later."

Dong Qiao couldn't help laughing.

Early this morning, Lin Chaoyang's home phone was buzzing with calls. The callers could be divided into two categories. One was media invitations for interviews, and the other was film companies looking for cooperation with him.

Lin Chaoyang declined all these interview invitations.

He doesn't want to be a star, there is no need to seek the limelight.

As for the cooperation invitations from film companies, Lin Chaoyang also ignored them.

Among the people who called Lin Chaoyang, Dong Qiao was considered the most serious. The purpose of his call was to make an appointment with Lin Chaoyang to discuss the publication of his new work.

Last month, Lin Chaoyang handed over the manuscript of "The Truman Show" to Li Shifei, and Huacheng Publishing House plans to publish it in mid-August.

The biggest difference between the publication of "The Truman Show" and the previous one is that there is no magazine publishing process.

With Lin Chaoyang's current fame, he no longer needs magazine publication to spread the influence of his new works.

Moreover, publication in magazines will more or less affect the sales of works after publication. In the past, when he was paid for a thousand words, sales didn't matter, but now Lin Chaoyang is paid royalties, and every sales volume is income.

"The Truman Show" is about to be published in the mainland, and the publication in Hong Kong should also be put on the agenda.

With the previous cooperation, the publication of the new work went smoothly, and the royalty rate is still 20%.

After discussing the publication of the new work, Dong Qiao suddenly asked Lin Chaoyang for an interview.

At the award ceremony yesterday, Lin Chaoyang won the Best Screenwriter Award for the second time, and he was also the most talked-about winner of this year's Academy Awards. The outside media wanted to interview Lin Chaoyang but had no chance, so Dong Qiao naturally would not miss this opportunity.

Since he was here, Lin Chaoyang could not refuse his request bluntly, so he had to agree.

The interview was not the responsibility of Dong Qiao, the editor-in-chief. The two had the conversation just now while waiting for the interview.

After a while, two reporters from Ming Pao came, one for text interviews and the other for photography.

The person in charge of the text interview was named Shen Xicheng. He had a mustache and a smart face. When he saw Lin Chaoyang, he started chatting with him enthusiastically.

After getting familiar with each other for a while, the interview officially began.

The style of Ming Pao is relatively high among Hong Kong media, so Shen Xicheng's interview questions are also very serious, but he has to show off his knowledge from time to time, which makes Lin Chaoyang a little uncomfortable.

"Mr. Lin has won the Best Screenwriter Award at the Academy Awards for two consecutive years. Now someone has called you a "talented man" in the news. I wonder what you think of this?"

In the second half of the interview, Shen Xicheng asked a rather sharp question with a firm look in his eyes, as if he wanted to dig out some topical content from Lin Chaoyang.

Lin Chaoyang looked relaxed, and after a moment of silence, he said:

"According to Chinese habits, I should be modest.

But everyone has a different definition of talent, and different judgments on talent.

Some media praised me as a talent because my script won an award, but that was the media's flattery. Readers and viewers laughed it off, and I, a 'talent', didn't need to take it seriously.

Otherwise, the next time someone calls someone a 'talent', I, a 'talent', might feel sour in my heart."

Lin Chaoyang answered the question in a humorous tone, and he easily disintegrated Shen Xicheng's clever questions.

Shen Xicheng is a reporter for Ming Pao. This interview with Lin Chaoyang, of course, also had to advertise the upcoming novel "The Truman Show".

Besides, the novel has been confirmed to be adapted into a movie of the same name, which is also a promotional point, so Shen Xicheng asked some questions about Lin Chaoyang's cooperation with Ming Pao Publishing House.

After the interview, Shen Xicheng felt a little regretful. All the questions he asked were easily resolved by Lin Chaoyang without any fireworks. For reporters, such an interview really lacked explosive points.

Of course, the whole interview process was very smooth, and Lin Chaoyang's answers were meaningful. The occasional humor and wisdom also added a lot of color to the interview process.

After Shen Xicheng left, Dong Qiao talked with Lin Chaoyang for a while and sent him out of the building.

"With your exclusive interview today, Ming Pao will definitely have a good sales volume tomorrow!"

It was already evening when Lin Chaoyang returned to Oriental Garden. Tao Yushu said that the phone at home had not stopped ringing during the day. Later, Tao Yumo and the children were annoyed, and finally put the phone receiver on the coffee table to get some peace and quiet.

"Last year when you won the award, you didn't see so many people contacting you. I really don't know how they got our phone number?"

"Last year was the first time I won the award, and this year it's the second consecutive year. The impact is naturally different. And this time, Huizi and I won the award together, so there will definitely be a superposition effect.

Our phone number is not a secret. It's not difficult to find out by asking someone."

The family ate and talked about the news outside today.

Tao Yumo vividly told Lin Chaoyang about the reports in the newspaper that praised Lin Chaoyang. Today, she ran out to buy a lot of newspapers just to see the reports on Lin Chaoyang in the media.

"Brother-in-law, they praised you as a 'screenwriter master'. They won two best actor awards at once, and they were both the same person."

"There are also newspapers praising you as a 'mainland talent'. It's awkward to add the word 'mainland' to say that you are a talent."

When several people were chatting lively, the doorbell rang at home. Lin Chaoyang got up to open the door. It turned out to be Li Hanxiang.

As soon as he entered the house, he complained: "I called your family all afternoon, why didn't anyone answer?"

"Too many harassing calls." Lin Chaoyang replied, and then asked him: "Have you eaten?"

"What to eat? Let's go, we're waiting for you to hold a celebration party."

Lin Chaoyang was pulled out of the house by Li Hanxiang and came to the Fortune Restaurant in Wan Chai.

When the two arrived, there were already many people here, including Chen Huaikai and Tony Leung, the main creators of "The Chess Master", and Li Hanxiang's friends in the circle such as Xu Guanwen, Yue Hua, Ti Lung, Cai Lan and others.

As soon as they met, everyone complained that Lin Chaoyang was late, and Li Hanxiang also teased: "Chaoyang, you are now a famous screenwriter in Hong Kong, at least you should have a mobile phone."

"With a mobile phone, you have to answer when others call you. Isn't it a shackle for yourself?"

When he said this, everyone was speechless.

"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this for now. "The Chess Master" won another great victory at the Academy Awards this year and won the award again. We have to celebrate!"

Li Hanxiang was in high spirits and his voice was loud. A few words set off the atmosphere of the celebration banquet.

"The Chess Master" was invested and produced by his New Kunlun Films. The movie had a good box office and won awards. It is a very rare success case in the film industry, so it is natural for Li Hanxiang to be happy.

But there is another reason for being so happy today.

New Kunlun Films is his own film company, which has always been an inconspicuous existence in the current hot Hong Kong film industry.

Originally, Li Hanxiang established the company just to shoot "Behind the Curtain", and he never thought about what development this company would have in the future.

But no one expected that after three or four years, New Kunlun Films would produce two well-received and popular films, "Behind the Curtain" and "The Chess Master".

Not only did he make a lot of money, but he also made the New Kunlun Pictures famous.

The award of "The Chess Master" at the Academy Awards not only brought fame and popularity to the main creators of the crew, but also made New Kunlun Pictures a favorite of some bosses and film companies. Today, a boss has already asked Li Hanxiang to discuss the investment in his next movie.

You should know that since Li Hanxiang went to the mainland to make movies, it has been rare to meet bosses who actively want to invest in him in Hong Kong. Basically, he has to take the initiative to talk. Such a change is naturally gratifying.

The atmosphere of the celebration banquet gradually became warmer. As more and more wine was drunk, some people began to be unrestrained with red faces.

Lin Chaoyang drank a few glasses of wine with everyone, and most of the time he listened to them talking about various gossips in the Hong Kong film industry.

Most of the people present today came from Shaw Brothers. Once they drank a little wine, they couldn't help talking about the past. As they talked, they talked about the haunted Shaw dormitory.

Everyone chatted back and forth, and the atmosphere became quiet.

To outsiders, the haunting was nonsense, but to people like Li Hanxiang and Ti Lung who had personally experienced that period, it was an indelible memory.

Li Ting, Lin Dai, Mo Chou, Lotte, Bai Xiaoman...

In Li Hanxiang's words, the stars of Shaw Brothers in those years seemed to be poisoned, and died one after another in strange ways, which further confirmed the rumors of haunting on the Shaw Brothers studio.

At the end of the chat, the tone of these people was full of sighs.

"Alas, Shaw Brothers is going to close in a blink of an eye! There are talented people in every generation, and we have become antiques." Yue Hua said with great emotion.

He became famous when he was young, and was also a popular actor in the 1970s. His fame was not much worse than Ti Lung's.

But in recent years, with the decline of Shaw Brothers' traditional martial arts movies, Yue Hua can no longer act in decent movies in the film industry. In the past two years, he has started to play supporting roles in TV series.

"You are lucky, at least you still have movies to shoot. Ah Long is miserable, he offended Miss Fang, now he has no movies to shoot!" Li Hanxiang said carelessly, patting Ti Lung on the shoulder.

Ti Lung couldn't help but smile bitterly, his face full of bitterness.

Back then, he was firmly sitting on the throne of "Big Brother" in Shaw Brothers, the hottest star in the Hong Kong film industry, and when he was popular, he was not as popular as Bruce Lee and Cheng Long.

Unfortunately, times have changed. In the 1980s, Shaw Brothers was defeated by Golden Harvest and Cinema City, and Ti Lung's acting career also fell into a trough.

At the beginning of this year, Ti Lung's contract with Shaw Brothers was about to expire. Shaw Brothers urged him to renew the contract several times, but Ti Lung refused.

In the past few years, he has seen his juniors who were not as good as him leave Shaw Brothers and develop vigorously. It is impossible to say that Ti Lung has no thoughts in his mind.

As a result, Ti Lung was naturally put on ice by Shaw Brothers, and he has not filmed for more than half a year.

Last month, his contract with Shaw Brothers expired. He thought he could do whatever he wanted, but reality gave him a hard slap in the face.

In recent years, Hong Kong's film industry has produced many talented people, and new stars are everywhere. He left Shaw Brothers in his forties, and his acting career was fixed in martial arts movies. Few investors and film companies were optimistic about him.

Before he left Shaw Brothers, many film companies talked to him enthusiastically, but after he left, these film companies stopped talking.

Ti Lung would not believe that Miss Fang had not interfered.

The huge gap between before and after made Ti Lung feel the coldness of the world and the ruthlessness of the big waves.

"Ah Long, haven't any film companies contacted you recently?" Xu Guanwen asked.

Ti Lung shook his head, and Yue Hua frowned and said, "Miss Fang is really cruel. How much effort did she put into it?"

"I guess she wants to kill the chicken to scare the monkey."

Everyone discussed Ti Lung's situation. Miss Fang's obstruction was one aspect, and another important reason was that Ti Lung's status in the world was here, and ordinary productions and roles were not worthy of him.

Otherwise, with Ti Lung's fame, he would not have fallen to the point of having no movies to shoot.

"Ah Long, don't be too picky. This is not our era now."

Yue Hua's words were very unambitious and very realistic, but if Ti Lung wanted to bow to reality, he would have renewed his contract with Shaw Brothers long ago. Why did he have to go to this point now?

Ti Lung expressed his attitude with silence, and everyone could understand his thoughts, but just shook their heads helplessly.

Movies are entertainment, but also the world.

Beauty is gray-haired, heroes are old, and things in the world are hard to change.

The celebration banquet continued, the winners were jubilant, the losers were lonely, and in the end, the music ended and everyone dispersed.

When everyone parted, Lin Chaoyang patted Ti Lung on the shoulder, "Brother Long, I have a feeling that your luck will turn around soon."

Ti Lung sneered, thinking that Lin Chaoyang was comforting him, and the people around him thought so too.

Xu Guanwen joked, "Chaoyang, I think Brother Long's luck will come to you, you have to be responsible for him to the end."

Cai Lan also joked, "Why? Chaoyang wants to be the 'man behind the movie emperor' again?"

Everyone couldn't help laughing when they heard this, and it was obvious that everyone had read today's news reports.

After the joke, everyone waved goodbye.

In the few days after the Academy Awards, the news about the awards in the media has been very popular, and Lin Chaoyang has benefited from it, earning a lot of fame in the Hong Kong film industry.

Even the movie "The Truman Show" that is being prepared has received a lot of attention because of this.

In addition to him, the biggest beneficiary of this Academy Awards is Tony Leung Ka Fai.

A young man in his twenties, who has not acted in many movies and is still under the ban from Taiwan, has won the Best Actor award twice. Such a legendary figure has not appeared in the Hong Kong film industry so far.

If we compare the popularity he and Lin Chaoyang have received in the past few days, Lin Chaoyang is equivalent to a third-tier Internet celebrity going out on the street, while Tony Leung Ka Fai is treated as a top star attending an event.

Invitations from various film companies are pouring in, and the conditions are more attractive than one another, making people dazzled.

Although some film companies came to Tony Leung Ka Fai when he won the Best Actor award last time, the treatment was completely different from this time. He really felt the taste of being a popular star.

With so many choices, he was a little confused and didn't know how to make a decision. Then he ran to Lin Chaoyang's house with several scripts, hoping that Lin Chaoyang would help him decide.

Lin Chaoyang suddenly felt embarrassed. It was not that he couldn't help make this choice, but the sense of responsibility that was placed on him made him have to treat it carefully.

"Yushu, what do you think?"

Tao Yushu asked Tony Leung Ka Fai: "Does Ka Fai want to make money or reputation?"

Tony Leung Ka Fai hesitated. If he was speaking from the bottom of his heart, of course he wanted to make money.

He has been acting for three years and won two Best Actor awards, but to be honest, the salary he received was really pitiful.

But whenever he thought of the two Best Actor awards he had won by chance, his unbridled pursuit of money seemed to be shackled and became docile.

"We want reputation!"

Tao Yushu flipped through the three scripts on the coffee table. These three scripts were from Lo Wei Pictures, Baohe Pictures and Film Studio.

The boss of Lo Wei Pictures is Lo Wei, a well-known director in Hong Kong in the early years, who single-handedly brought out two kung fu superstars, Bruce Lee and Cheng Long.

Baohe Pictures is Sammo Hung's film company, which is a satellite company of Golden Harvest Films.

The Film Studio was established last year after Tsui Hark and his wife Nansun Shi launched Cinema City. The financial backer behind it is Boss Lei of Princess Golden.

"If you want a good reputation, then choose the "Swordsman" by the Film Studio."

"Why?"

"Since the breakup with Cheng Long, the influence of Lo Wei Pictures has become less and less. The director of this "Ghost Informer", Liu Jianquan, is not famous either. In the end, the quality of the film depends entirely on luck.

The quality of "The Lucky Stars" by Baohe Pictures is guaranteed, but this film is obviously an entertainment film. And the cast includes Sammo Hung, Michael Hui, and Alan Tam. Ka Fai is equivalent to playing the fourth male role. It is too difficult for people to remember him.

The "Swordsman" by the Film Studio is different. Although the script outline is a film with a female lead and a small role, he is the male lead after all.

You are working with female stars like Lin Qingxia and Zhong Chuhong, which will help your fame and future acting.

And I have seen several of Tsui Hark's films. He is not the kind of director who can only shoot comedies. He is very talented. The investment and the lineup of this film are guaranteed.

Considering the above, I think "Swordsman" is the best choice at the moment. "

Tao Yushu's analysis is well-reasoned, which made Lin Chaoyang and Liang Jiahui nod their heads in conviction.

Liang Jiahui looked at Lin Chaoyang again, "Mr. Lin, what do you think?"

"Yushu's words are very pertinent."

Liang Jiahui listened to his words and said happily: "Then I will take "Swordsman"! "

Being trusted without reservation, Lin Chaoyang and his wife were very happy, and continued to chat with Liang Jiahui to understand the specific situation.

It turned out that no less than 20 film companies had contacted him in the past few days, and seven or eight of them handed him scripts.

The three scripts that Tony Leung brought over were carefully selected by him.

Although he has achieved unprecedented achievements in the Hong Kong film industry, he has not yet proved himself in commercial films.

The invitations from these film companies are largely for his fame, so the roles given are not the absolute male protagonists with heavy roles. "Swordsman" is considered a big man among short men.

After talking about his own affairs, Tony Leung remembered another thing and said to Lin Chaoyang: "By the way, Mr. Lin, when Mrs. Xu gave me the script, she said she wanted to meet you."

The "Mrs. Xu" mentioned by Tony Leung is Tsui Hark's wife Nansun Shi. Lin Chaoyang asked curiously: "Meet me? Did you talk about something?"

"No. But from the tone, it should be that she wants to talk to you about cooperation."

Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly. He had not answered any calls from the film company in recent days. It was estimated that Shi Nansheng could not contact him, so he asked Liang Jiahui to be a middleman.

"Then you can make an appointment with her and we can meet."

Lin Chaoyang's answer made Liang Jiahui very happy. He knew that Lin Chaoyang had ignored the film companies that came to him recently, but he agreed to bring the news for others.

What does this mean?

It means that he has a place in Mr. Lin's heart!

Liang Jiahui left Lin Chaoyang's house happily, and he called Lin Chaoyang the next morning.

Said that Shi Nansheng asked him to meet tomorrow afternoon, and Tsui Hark would also go at that time, and Lin Chaoyang readily agreed.

In the afternoon, he received a letter from the mainland, which turned out to be sent by Er Maitai.

Er Maitai wrote in the letter that his wedding with Luo Huifang was scheduled for August 10, and invited Lin Chaoyang and his wife to attend the wedding.

Lin Chaoyang was happy to receive this letter from the bottom of his heart.

He discussed with Tao Yushu that there were still nearly 20 days before the wedding, and Tao Yushu would be more than seven months pregnant by then, so he would not let her toss and turn, and he could go by himself.

"I will give him a big red envelope later," Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

Tao Yushu had been working in Xiaoyangtun for several years and was very familiar with Er Maitai. When she heard that Er Maitai was getting married, she was very happy for him.

"It's not good to give money directly, give something useful."

"What to give?"

"Something that the young couple urgently needs and can use. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it." Tao Yushu said.

"Okay."

The next evening, Lin Chaoyang came to an underground restaurant called Palm in the alley of BJ Road in Kowloon as agreed.