In 2002, co-directed by Liu Weiqiang and Mak Siu-fai, and starring Leung Chao-wai and Andy Lau, the fire after its release suspended the decline of Hong Kong films, but after "Infernal Affairs", Hong Kong films were still weak in succession, and the Hong Kong film market was also very sluggish.
In order to support Hong Kong films, Jet Li, who has gained fame in Hollywood, has also returned to the Hong Kong film industry at the invitation of director Chen Kexin, which is definitely exciting news for Hong Kong films.
Jackie Chan, who was in Hollywood at the time, also accepted the invitation, and Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa told Jackie Chan: Big brother, you have to come back to support Hong Kong movies.
As a result, Jackie Chan "was ordered" to return to Hong Kong from Hollywood.
In order to revive the glory of the somewhat sluggish Hong Kong movies at that time, Jackie Chan then launched a police story sequel that he was most "optimistic" and his most "good at", but unfortunately the effect was not ideal.
On September 24, 2004, "New Police Story" co-starring Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse, Wu Yanzu, Yang Caini and Choi Cheuk Yan was released in Hong Kong. The film cost HK$120 million and only grossed 21.11 million in the Hong Kong market.
The commercial failure of "New Police Story" made Jackie Chan understand that action movies can no longer meet the aesthetic needs of fans, and if they want to succeed, they must transform.
"Myth" released in 2005 was the beginning of Jackie Chan's film style transformation, and he made great efforts for this movie, but unfortunately, "Myth" eventually became one of his seriously underrated films.
Next, let's talk about the behind-the-scenes story of Myth.
Before filming "Myth", director Tang Jili had been making action movies, and he always wanted to make a love film to enrich his work. But the top management of the production company told him: romance is difficult, the male and female protagonists are paid very high, there is no market for romance films, or action movies are selling well.
But Tang Jili just wanted to shoot, so he wrote the script of "Myth" by himself. At the beginning, Tang Jili described the male protagonist Meng Yi according to the image of Jin Chengwu, because he felt that Jin Chengwu was the first choice of Meng Yi.
Jackie Chan inadvertently saw the "Myth" script very much like, plus he wanted to transform, he told Tang Jili that he wanted to act, the eldest brother said that investment does not have to worry, Tang Jili is naturally full of promises.
Because it is a transformational work, there is not much Jackie Chan's signature action comedy style in this film, coupled with the script based on plot drama, it can be seen that Jackie Chan's big brother is also very determined.
Tang Jili said in an interview: The love scene in the previous Jackie Chan movie was just an embellishment, and the eldest brother was a very romantic person, this play is different from his previous works, and there are more love scenes than ever.
To this end, he also specially selected South Korea's first beauty Kim Hee Sun and Indian sexy actress Marika Sharawat to play with him.
Because the eldest brother is very much looking forward to this play, he also invited the film emperor Liang Jiahui to join the cast.
It is worth mentioning that the eldest brother was 51 years old when filming "Myth", and he was no longer the big brother who "went to heaven and earth", but he still personally shot action scenes.
Among them, the scene of riding a horse on a very steep mountain road is very dangerous, the crew transported more than a hundred horses from Beijing to Gansu, the filming location, these horses are wild and difficult to tame, before and after 45 group actors fell off their horses, and people were constantly injured.
Jackie Chan rarely rides horses in movies, which is a new attempt for big brother, seeing so many people injured big brother also had a palpitation once wanted to use a stand-in, but in the end he insisted on shooting himself.
In the film, Yu Shu is a North Korean princess, and the crew specially found Kim Hee Sun, the most popular in South Korea at the time, to star, and got the opportunity to cooperate with Jackie Chan's big brother, Kim Hee Sun was very excited.
Big Brother's movies have accompanied a large part of the growth of Koreans, 1979's "Drunken Fist" broke the record in Korean film history, due to the overzealous of Korean audiences, the movie was screened for half a year, and many Korean stars are fans of Jackie Chan, including Kim Hee-sun.
It may be that it is too happy to see the idol, and the kiss scene with Jackie Chan, Kim Hee-sun laughs non-stop, resulting in frequent NG, and finally the director has to give up the kissing scene between the two.
Jackie Chan was very depressed and couldn't figure out why Kim Hee-sun was laughing? The eldest brother also asked on the set: "What is so funny about me looking like this?" ”
There is also a scene in the film where Meng Yi is injured and Princess Yushu is stranded in a barren mountain, Meng Yi is frozen and shivering, and Princess Yushu hugs Meng Yi tightly to warm up with her body temperature.
When this scene was filmed, the crew deliberately built an igloo, and when jackie Chan was frozen to the eyelashes, he only wore a layer of tulle for half an hour, it was too cold, and the big brother was shivering.
After filming this scene, Jin Xishan cried, and some people asked, is it frozen crying?
Jin Xishan shook his head and said, The eldest brother is much less dressed than us, how dare I say that I am cold?
There was also Liang Jiahui shivering on the set, but he was frightened and trembling, there was a scene where the helicopter was hanging in mid-air, and the cliff was outside, and Liang Jiahui needed to jump from the rock to the helicopter.
Liang Jiahui is not a professional action actor born naturally a little afraid, but at that time to rent a helicopter is very expensive, the eldest brother will urge Liang Jiahui, Liang Jiahui also jumped hard.
After filming, Liang Jiahui stood there trembling, and complained to the eldest brother: Never shoot your scene again.
Unexpectedly, this joke turned out to be true, except for the special exception of "The Founding of the Nation", the two really did not cooperate in other movies.
After the release of "Myth", it did not sell as well as expected. The film cost 160 million Hong Kong dollars, the Hong Kong box office is only 17.06 million, fortunately the mainland won 97 million box office, "Myth" is still a loss.
The main problem is the loopholes in the plot, and Jackie Chan's costumes are indeed average, but there are nearly a thousand special effects shots in this movie, and there are more than 100,000 people who actually participate in the shooting of war scenes, and the scene is very grand.
In recent years, the excellent production and imaginative story of "Myth" have gradually been recognized by fans, and the reputation has risen all the way, whether the film is underrated or not, I personally still like this movie.