Chapter 322 Show Off Your Skills (24)
Brother Hu, who is very popular in the mainland, was simply ignored...
Hong Kong is very exclusive, especially in the film and television industry. How many years has it passed for Carina Lau to still be called Beimei...
This circle is centered on Johnnie To.
As early as the 1980s, Johnnie To filmed his first movie "Blue Water and Cold Mountains". After receiving no response, he concentrated on making TV series.
In 1986, at the invitation of Huang Baiming, he learned about "Happy Ghost Collision", and later joined New Art City and tried the production of police and gangster films. At the same time, he also began to get involved in comedy-themed films. During this period, Johnnie To was constantly trying and making mistakes, looking for creation. Stages of possibilities…
During his time in New Art City, Johnnie To had representative works, namely "The Eight Stars Announcement" and "A Lang's Story"...
In the early 1990s, after New Art City was disbanded, Johnnie To, Huang Baiming and Huan Jiazhen jointly established Baijiafeng Film Production Company...
Although Baijiafeng was established, Huang Baiming focused on Oriental Film Group, and Johnnie To began to take charge of the overall situation. However, he had not found his own style at that time. He filmed eight movies in three years, including "The Supremes 2: Forever Domination", "Beach Boy and Master Zhou", "The Judge of Death", "Kick the Treasure", "Barefoot Boy", "The Three Heroes of the East", "The Legend of Modern Heroes", "Ji Gong"...
Then he took the initiative to take a year off and filmed "Hot Detective" in 1995...
This film broke the traditional police and gangster model of black and white opposition and was an important turning point in Johnnie To's film career.
In 1996, a film production company with a unique style was added to the history of Hong Kong films, named Galaxy Pictures.
The initiator is Johnnie To, who has brought together talents such as Wei Jiahui, You Dazhi, You Naihai, Situ Jinyuan, etc...
Let's put it this way, in 1996, Hong Kong movies were in decline.
The emergence of the Milky Way Image is bound to take on the task of saving the building from collapse, just like a dying man getting a shot in the arm!
Indeed, the early Milky Way images had a kind of independence and self-confidence that loved to look at but not to look away. The representative works of this period are "The Birth of a Prefix", "Only One of Two", "True Heroes", "Extraordinary" "Suddenly", "Dark Flower"...
After 2000, "PTU" and "Big Brother" were also good, and "Underworld" and "Detective" were at their peak...
Later, Johnnie To seemed to be no longer able to make movies, such as "Gorgeous Office Worker", "Three's Company", "My Boxing Champion Boyfriend"...
Continuously refreshing Johnnie To's bottom line...
Fortunately, Wei Jiahui filmed a movie called "The Great Detective" in 2022, barely keeping Galaxy Image's underwear!
It's not like Johnnie To is discriminating against mainland actors. He doesn't know anything about the mainland!
He rarely uses mainland actors for the simple reason that his styles are incompatible. His individual films are all rooted in local gangster and police films, with backgrounds, stories, scenes, dialogues, and actions. All are authentically made in Hong Kong. It would be difficult for mainlanders to fit into the atmosphere and it would be easy for them to skip the scene.
Another point is that Johnnie To is also very slow in filming, but he often has multiple movies started at the same time, which makes people ignore his production cycle. A group of male gangs such as Liu Qingyun and Simon Yam can become royal actors because only they can accept it. Lao Du's filming rhythm, sometimes he wanted to shoot a scene, just make a phone call and he would be there in an hour!
But Chen Musheng nodded to Brother Hu...
…
After Shen Xudong sat down, he first chatted with Chen Musheng for a while.
Director Chen has finished filming "Sanchakou" and is contemplating a new work.
He plans to work with Media Asia, the production company of "Sanchakou", to make an action film with a stronger commercial attribute - "Sanchakou" will definitely not be a big hit!
"Who will star in an action movie?"
"Aaron Kwok and Daniel Wu, we have agreed!"
Shen Xudong frowned: "...That's a bit difficult..."
Chen Musheng immediately answered: "What's wrong? Do you have an idea?"
"Yeah!" Shen Xudong nodded, and then asked him: "Has Director Chen watched "The Extraordinary Human Trafficker"?"
"The one played by Shu Qi?"
Shen Xudong: "Yes, I think this idea is quite good..."
Chen Musheng thoughtfully said: "Rescue the kidnapped hostages..."
"Well, my idea is that my sister or daughter travels to a country like Thailand or Vietnam, and is captured by a gang, and the brother or father, who is a policeman, goes overseas to rescue him alone..."
Lin Lingdong, who had been listening next to him, interrupted: "Police? Doesn't being a policeman make you too weak?"
"This identity is a bit fake, then change it to a retired special forces soldier or mercenary...the more mysterious the better!"
Chen Musheng was very interested, but... still asked: "...Does this require professional action actors?"
"That's for sure... After all, action movies require hard work, hard work, and hard work... That's why I say Aaron Kwok and Daniel Wu are not suitable!"
"…Who do you think is suitable?"
"Donnie Yen, he is the only one who can fight now and at a cheap price. By the way, plus Wu Jing, Zhang Jing...the whole three brothers together..."
"The three of them together? The villain..."
"Villains are supposed to have guns. If that doesn't work, look for Zhaolong and An Zhijie...Villains should stop selling drugs. They can sell human organs or sell women to Europe..."
After a pause, Shen Xudong continued: "It's mainly action scenes. I think we can refer to the close combat in "The Trafficker" and "The Bourne Supremacy"..."
Chen Musheng nodded: "Okay, I'll go back and discuss it with the boss. If there's no problem, this will be the next step!"
"Then I'll go back, sort out the script and send it to you..."
After thinking about it, he pushed Brother Hu, who had been silent, over: "Let's give him a role... He is really popular in the mainland!"
"Can he fight?"
"I'm just playing a bit part, playing the role of my daughter's boyfriend. He was beaten half to death and came back to report the news..."
Chen Musheng glanced at Brother Hu: "Okay, then hurry up and finish the script!"
"no problem…"
"What's the name of this movie?"
"Taken? How about it?"
"…very good!"
…
"How about it? I'd say he's awesome..."
After telling the story of "Hurricane Rescue", Chen Musheng said to Johnnie Du with a slight showoff...
"You tell me? I've seen him in Venice!"
Johnnie To held a cigar in his mouth, looked at Shen Xudong, then at Zheng Baorui, and then said: "Two days ago, Pou-Soi invited us to watch "Cruel Streets" together. It is indeed different from ordinary gangster movies. The male protagonist He actually died..."
Pou-Soi is Zheng Baorui...
Almost all people in Hong Kong have English names, and they all use English names when calling each other. Maybe... this is closer to the UK?
"...That's why it's called a cruel street...Those who are gangsters are always at the bottom of society. There is no friendship or morality, it's too fake..."
“But I’m afraid the box office won’t be high!”
"Not necessarily," Shen Xudong shook his head: "Maybe the audience has had enough of those so-called romantic gangster movies!"