Wen 丨 Gray Wolf
A few days ago, someone exposed a photo with Zun Long at the birthday party in Los Angeles, the 69-year-old "last emperor" looked old and had a big belly, which made people feel that beautiful things will eventually die.
Also a few months ago, the casting controversy surrounding "The First Burning Incense" was overwhelming, and the dissatisfaction of netizens was sprinkled on the actors. In order to "correct the audiovisual", they produced mixed cut videos of different actors, the most recognized of which are the versions of Zun Long + Liu Yifei and Zun Long + Li Lizhen. In any case, the young Zun Long is the best person to play the half-blood prodigal son Georgie Joe.
This premise is that Zun Long conforms to a certain law of appearance, although there is no so-called Western blood, but this face has enough recognition in both the East and the West.
For example, by putting together the front and side photographs of Zun Long, one can understand the strict logic of Western-style wanted order making, and his face is full of changes, which is by no means a dimension that can be explained by an angle. From the front, his eyebrows are thick and flat, and his tall nose is almost a complete silhouette, which belongs to the wide face and hard contour, but because of the softness of the cheek part, it is intertwined with a subtlety.
From the side, his facial features are deep, like foreigners in Hollywood movies, and the depth of his eyebrows is beyond doubt.
According to a phrenologist or a facialist, this is a miracle of appearance, the skin of the East, the bone of the West, and Bertolucci said to him during the filming of "The Last Emperor": "Your face is born with a makeup effect." Zun Long's answer was, "Yes, it is not natural to reinvent itself, otherwise I will be transformed."
The bone phase of the Zun Dragon has an exotic wind (not like Fei Xiang's mixed blood) and a luxurious atmosphere, which is very suitable for those alien dragon emperors in Chinese history. In 1994, he played Genghis Khan's descendant, King Xi, in The Phantom Man, a super-British film produced by Universal Pictures; and by the time he returned to the mainland in the 2000s, he played the Manchu emperor in Qianlong and Xiangfei (2004) and Kangxi Micro Service Private Interview (2006), even though the quality of the two TV series was poor, almost "professional stain", but in terms of appearance, Zun Long's temperament and aura could easily suppress these roles.
The Phantom Man (1994)
2004's "Entertain Yourself" is almost a kind of "reversal", the creator put such a look (of course, including Li Wei, who has the same natural exotic appearance as him) in the rural theme, seemingly to create a cottage drama effect, but eventually caused disaster.
Entertain Yourself (2004)
The ups and downs of returning to China and even "suffering" may have made him discouraged, and after the cameo in "Ranger", the golden basin washed his hands and faded out of the screen.
Ranger (2004)
Even so, fourteen years after the film, he is still the face that fans often mention.
When it comes to men who are beautiful and beautiful, and who fall in love with the country, there are only two faces in the Chinese film world so far, one is Zhang Guorong's face, and the other is the face of Zun Long.
This statement is not only that both of them were the only two alternatives to the "Overlord Farewell" mileage butterfly dress, but also because these two faces carry absolute cultural attributes: Zhang Guorong's face, Zhong Lingyuxiu, the skin phase is more than the bone phase, carrying the gorgeous color of Chinese culture; the face of the Zun Long, the sea and the hundred rivers, the bone phase skin is equally important, carrying the breadth and depth of the republic of the five ethnic groups.
Zun Long missed the "Overlord Farewell" that was extremely consistent with his life, but it did not prevent Zhang Guorong from interpreting it into a classic; and at the same time as the filming of this film, Zun Long and Jeremy Irons performed a similar story in "Butterfly Jun", the amazing parallel history, making people realize the peak of Chinese film boys and girls, and it was really frozen in 1993.
Butterfly King (1994)
Whether it is Cheng Dieyi or Butterfly Lady Song Liling, they have become eternal on the screen, Zhang Guorong's hard-trained famous figure, and zun long, who is born in the Peking Opera class, naturally comes to hand. On dressing up as women, Zhang Guorong stopped in the play to look beautiful, Zun Long also at the fashion level to fake the real, costumes, cheongsam, nightgowns, workers and peasants, no matter what to wear is a soft and swaying body, coupled with long hair and makeup, the play is only basic, outside the play can deceive all the unsuspecting audience, it is also a fact.
Song Liling, played by Zun Long, is a victim similar to Madame Butterfly, a bandit spy of a special era, and a tragic homosexual. At this point, he was able to personally experience the mysteries of Peking Opera, and in a dialogue with his superiors, he said: "Do you know why Chinese Peking Opera is always male and female? That's because men know how women should react."
This statement revitalized the "text of desire" of "Butterfly Jun", making it and "Overlord Farewell" a "temporary double" (even if it was far inferior in fame to the latter), and Zun Long's charm and business ability were widely recognized. In 1995, Zun Long appeared on Beijing Satellite TV to sing "Noble Concubine Drunk", and the title of "Chinese International Famous Movie Star" was subtitled, so that such characters returned to their old careers and performed the essence of Peking Opera on stage, which not only triggered cultural shock at the time, but also a spectacle that was difficult to meet again in their lifetime.
"The Noble Concubine Drunk"
In 2001, Zun Long and Jackie Chan staged the myth of "Erlong Play Ball" in "Rush Hour 2", which can be called a cosmic collision of the Chinese top stars. The importance of this cooperation lies not only in the fame and status of the two in the industry, but also in their respective origins and origins. In reality, Jackie Chan and Zun Long are the protégés of the two Peking Opera masters who have influenced Hong Kong cinema the most , Jackie Chan is a disciple of Yu Zhanyuan and one of the "Seven Little Blessings", while Zun Long is a disciple of Pink Chrysanthemum, and Lin Zhengying, Siu Fangfang, Yang Panpan, Hui Tianci, Dong Wei and others are his disciples.
Rush Hour 2 (2001)
When Jackie Chan entered the film industry as a dragon and tiger martial artist, Zun Long, who was in a rootless state and lacked a sense of identity with Hong Kong culture, went to the United States and squeezed into the American theater industry with a half-work and half-study. When Jackie Chan had just been promoted to star in "New Jingwumen", Zun Long had just won the first dragon suit role in the 1976 version of "King Kong: Legend Reborn", playing a chef who was dressed up, and the scene was less than a minute.
King Kong: Legend Reborn (1976)
Then, Jackie Chan set off a wave of Hong Kong kung fu films with "Snake-like Executioner", "Drunken Fist" and "Master and Disciple Out of the Horse", but Zun Long suffered in many dragon set roles, of course, he has made great achievements in drama, but these works are rarely witnessed on the ground, which is difficult to evaluate.
For example, even compared with Wang Luoyong, who played the main role on Broadway ("Miss Saigon"), and Zhao Lixin, who worked in Sweden, his actual information is pitifully small.
In fact, zun long did not play the first role that could barely be called the protagonist until 1984 - playing a primitive man who could not speak in the B-grade science fiction film "Forty Thousand Years of the Iceman", and the special effects makeup used in the film also covered his handsome skin bag. At this time, Jackie Chan has become the mainstay of Hong Kong kung fu films.
Forty Thousand Years of the Iceman (1984)
1985 was a common watershed year for the two men, with Zun Long being appreciated by Hollywood director Michael Simino, playing the mercurial but twisted Chinatown triad leader Joey Tai in "The Year of the Dragon", which is similar to the image of Michael Corleone in "The Godfather", and the film as a whole looks to Coppola, replacing Little Italy with a dirty Chinatown, but the quality is really not the same.
Year of the Dragon (1985)
But it is precisely this film that has achieved the "special" impression of Zun Long in the hearts of fans, he wears a white suit, his hair is not messy, the iconic cat smiles Gu Pan Shenfei, and his personality is extremely deep and fierce, he successfully played the role of Joey Tai (although the final IQ drop of the film is still a big failure), which is surprising that Chinese actors also have the ability to pick beams.
It was also this year that Jackie Chan landed in Hollywood for the second time and starred in "Wei Long Detective", and the two began a kind of "division of labor" of Chinese world images. Jackie Chan is known for his kung fu and comedy, playing positive roles and becoming a specimen of bruce Lee's positive output; Zun Long is known for his personality and acting skills, often playing negative characters, and gradually being marked with some kind of Fu Manchu-style ghost symbol.
Detective Veyron (1985) Detective Veyron (1985)
Joey in "Year of the Dragon", Henry in "Dragon in China", Fang Lin in "Shanghai 1920" (which is his only Hong Kong film), Xi Wang Khan in "The Phantom", Jin Cheng in "Black Hunting Order", and Deng Liqi in "Rush Hour 2" all meet this characteristic.
If 1985's "Year of the Dragon" is just an unconscious continuation or accidental act of the past "Yellow Peril Theory", then these image creations from 1990 onwards may be related to the current situation - these roles of Zun Long seem to be diverse but repetitive, so that while Jackie Chan left his name on the Avenue of Stars, he also fell into the vortex of "insulting China" works.
Black Hunt (1995)
Therefore, Jackie Chan's ascent to the top and the dragon's sinking sand may be given by the times, but they are also the result of personal choices. Zun Long himself has such a skill as Jackie Chan, and may not lack his courage and fighting, but he has never invested in action movie production with his own talent, but is obsessed with those works that can show his temperament and personality. At this point, he missed jackie chan-esque success, but obtained the "art work" that Jackie Chan had not been able to obtain in his lifetime.
This work is 1987's "The Last Emperor", and his appearance, acting skills, talent, and disposition have all been expressed to the extreme. The film's glorious achievements at the Oscars (including him and Chen Chong becoming the first guests of honor) also made him immortal because of this work.
The Last Emperor (1987)
"The Last Emperor" is like a mirror, projecting not only Puyi's confession, but also the life of Zun Long. The scene where the braids are cut off is a farewell to identity, Puyi bid farewell to traditional culture and the Forbidden City, and Zun Long bid farewell to Hong Kong and the Peking Opera stage.
If this is the inevitable failure of the noble qi, it can also be said that compared with the worldly success (such as Jackie Chan Jet Li, etc.), there is no regret at all. Who let the carvings have nowhere to go?
Zun Long is an abandoned baby in reality, he does not know what his parents are, he was born without roots, and his mind is also facing the world. Introducing "The Last Emperor" at the Oscars, he saw himself as American and said, "I don't think The Last Emperor should be classified as just a Chinese film, because the production company is American, the director is Italian, the producer is British, the soundtrack is Japanese, Chinese and American rock singers, so our films should be classified as universal." 」
But this kind of "world" for Zun Long is exactly "Chinese", which is a premise of his name change to Jones Lone - both world attributes, will better recognize the attributes of China, loosen the fist, cut off the braids to see themselves to see the world and see all beings. For all Chinese filmmakers, there may be only one director at this level, Ang Lee, and among the actors, Zun Long and Bruce Lee seem to be the only two.
Even so, the situation of Asians in Hollywood is a difficult proposition, the industrial environment allows the Chinese identity, except for a few historical images (such as Puyi), basically except for takefu is a terrorist, according to the above, if jackie chan in the two dragons bears the former image, then the zun long seems to be able to assume the latter function. Perhaps it was this frequent repetition of the "Fu Manchu style" that caused Zun Long to make the decision to stop the shadow.
From this point of view, he caught up with the glorious moment of "The Last Emperor", but did not catch up with the period when the Chinese film market took off and the Chinese image improved in a large area. In other words, if Zun Long was born in the present with his foundation, talent and appearance at the age of 30, he must not be the soy sauce man of the year, but the absolute Hollywood giant - a top superstar with both box office appeal and acting skills.
After Zun Long and Jackie Chan, there are few Chinese/Chinese actors in Hollywood who have become masters. Liu Yuling may be one of the more successful, but her role, whether it is a woman, a scorpion woman or a villain terrorist, is still extending a certain stereotype. Similar to the number of roads are Li Meiqi, Hu Kelly and so on. As for Chen Chong, Wu Junmei, Yang Ziqiong, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Zhen Zidan, Zhang Zhen, Wu Yanzu and others, they came and went repeatedly, all of them were hurried visitors, and there was no complete continuity.
The Chinese actors rooted in Hollywood, more like Wen Mingna, Zhou Caiqin, Lu Yan, Chen Jiama, Li Jie, Bai Ling, and so on, can only play soy sauce in the films of the Chinese community.
In the golden age of Zun Long, Hollywood could not give enough roles to make him a kind of ghost; in the current era, Hollywood could not find such a role, and looked up in the sky. For all Chinese between the ages of 30 and 35, it is bound to be the most sought-after talent in the era of business globalization, but at present, it is the second generation of American Okafina who is mixed with China and South Korea, and the 1.5 generation of Chinese Liu Simao who immigrated to Canada at the age of 5.
Although the performance of the two young actors in "Shangqi" and previous works is remarkable, the image is ultimately unsatisfactory, at least on some platforms, the criticism of their looks even overshadows their various inherent advantages. This situation actually belongs to the "thousands of gold to buy bones", which also means that the real "Maxima" or "True Destiny" will have unlimited value.
Shangqi (2021)
The appearance of Okafina and Liu Simu is naturally the opposite of the handsome predecessors such as Zun Long and Fei Xiang in the eyes of many people. Even Mo said that they, even if Wu Yanzu, Zhang Zhen, Chen Guanxi and others are ten years younger, I am afraid that they will become the absolute needs of Hollywood's current industry.
After all, this is still an era of looking at faces, what is respected, what is great, and what is eternal, are all in your memory.