Today, I will give you a detailed interpretation of the soul of Hong Kong movies - Stephen Chow. Zhou Xingchi's ancestral home is Ningbo, Zhejiang, born in Kowloon, Hong Kong, a famous director and actor, whose name is taken from the Tengwang Pavilion Order by his mother, "Xiongzhou Wulie, Juncai Xingchi", which is the cultural atmosphere of Jackie Chan, which is enough to see that his mother Ling Bao'er is not an ordinary person.
Let me first preliminarily sort out the chronology of Stephen Chow's acting career, and became a special actor of the TV station in 1980 and started a dragon set career. During this period, he joined the TVB training class to study, and in 1988, he starred in the big screen debut "Wind Catcher", during which he was appreciated by Li Xiuxian to star in "Thunderbolt Pioneer" and won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 1990, "A Comic Book Breaks the World" established the early nonsense style, and in the same year, he launched classic movies such as "Curry Pepper", "Gambler Saint" and "Gambler", and became a first-line star in Hong Kong. In 1991-93, it was highly prolific, repeatedly breaking the box office record of Hong Kong films and becoming a box office guarantee, becoming a household name on mondays.
In 1994, he started his directing career, established the Color Star Film Company, launched the movie "Journey to the West", and the follow-up director starred in a number of classic movies, personal peak time. From 1999 to 2007, he directed films such as "The King of Comedy", "Shaolin Football", "Kung Fu" and so on, and has not starred since 2012, entering the second half of his directing career.
Eight years of dragon set career
In 1980, Zhou Xingchi became a special actor of TVB and began his career as a dragon set, and we can see him here, here, and here.
In the past 8 years, he has been a children's program host, starred in unit dramas, although not all dragon set roles, but it is difficult to go further, in a difficult period, Zhou Xingchi did not give up, but also very cleverly played his own strengths, talent gradually appeared, the style of the attempt also paved the way for subsequent development. It is really a desire to be promoted first, thick and thin, and every part of the body is ready, just waiting for an opportunity.
As a result, after three years and three years, the fame still can't go up, if you don't transform, you may be talented for a lifetime, eight years of obscurity is not worth repeating, the confusion and hardship at that time, there are also many performances in subsequent works. Finally, in his eighth year, he waited for an opportunity to start the next phase of his life.
The screen was a blockbuster
In 1988, Chow Sing-chi's big-screen debut, "The Wind Man" was released, this movie is really not interesting, there are not many scenes of Stephen Chow in it, the response is mediocre, in my opinion, 90% of the meaning of the Wind Catcher is to attract Bole Li Xiuxian. So this movie should be called The Catcher.
Li Xiuxian discovered the potential of Stephen Chow through this movie, pulled it to his own movie, and gave a flesh-and-blood, zheng'er-Bajing supporting role, this movie is "Thunderbolt Pioneer". "Perak Pioneer" is a typical early Hong Kong crime film, and yes, it is not a comedy. But the reason why Hong Kong movies in those years were strong was that they were very mature in all aspects, although the story was routine, it did not delay the details in place, and the emotions were sincere and careful.
Zhou Xingchi played a car thief Wei Zai of a criminal gang in it, accidentally caught by the tough guy policeman Zhang Tiezhu, Tie Zhu began to brainwash Wei Zai to make him an informant to fight crime, in the process of fighting against the criminal gang, the boss Luo Sir has been tripping himself, Tie Zhu also has to argue with him about the value problem, the conflict intensified, the film finally with the help of Wei Zai, Tie Zhu bravely killed the criminal, successfully insulted the boss, and became a good man in the audience's heart. The 26-year-old Stephen Chow gave a perfect performance, and in the opponent scene with Li Xiuxian, he was not inferior, showing a rogue but upright, small smart but serious little hooligan, dripping.
After committing a crime, it is an attitude to be a scoundrel, and when you learn that you can't overturn the case, you instantly change a state, when the informant is going to betray his friends, if he is not right, he will be punished for the crime, the kind of trade-offs and entanglements at both ends, the performance of not willing but powerless, which makes people feel painful. At this time, Zhou Xingchi already has that kind of emotional rhythm and the ability to control the lines, which is both hard work and talent.
Li Xiuxian said in a later interview that he noticed Zhou Xingchi from the children's program, in which he played with children like adults and after watching the wind catcher, he found that he had a sharp mouth and looked like a dislike, so he chose him. Zhou Xingchi said that so far he is grateful to Li Sr for giving himself a chance, if it were not for Li Xiuxian who gave him the opportunity, perhaps his life would be completely different, when his appearance declined, Li Xiuxian always wanted to beat him, but he was embarrassed to fight directly, just in the movie. So in "Thunderbolt Pioneer", Wei Zai has been beaten, the back alley was beaten that scene, Zhou Xingchi drank a lot of wine, so it was really beaten and vomited.
With this film Zhou Xingchi won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor and the nomination of the Hong Kong Film Award, it is considered to be the official end of the dragon set career, with his years of accumulated experience, and his understanding of acting, this young man is ready to start to shine. In "Thunderbolt Vanguard", the cry on the screen is amazing and memorable. Since then, in the history of Hong Kong cinema, there has been a name that cannot be bypassed - Stephen Chow.
In 1988, Xingchi starred in the movie "Best Son-in-Law", starring Jacky Cheung, Mo Shaocong, Zhou Xingchi, Zhang Min, these big names, but this drama is really boring, obviously they are all big names who stand alone, but the production is not very good, and the film effect is also very general.
After Zhou Xingchi won the honor, the film contracted more and more, and then starred in a martial arts drama "Gestapo Hero", because this drama also got acquainted with the future cooperation with a number of classic directors Li Lizhi and the immortal supporting role Wu Mengda. Li Lizhi and Zhou Xingchi, who like to change the script in a vacuum, turned this serious martial arts drama into a funny comedy. After Zhou Xingchi had the opportunity to star, he did not think that the opportunity was not easy to come by, but instead gave it a go in this low-cost martial arts drama and initially showed his senseless acting style.
If he is still running the dragon set stage, he does not have this confidence to do nonsense, and the film industry may also miss a comedy master, and Li Xiuxian, a Bole hanzi, is indispensable. Since then, Zhou Xingchi has gone up a step. In 1990, Zhou Xingchi partnered with Wu Junru in "Wangfu Jackie Chan", the film tells the story of a poor couple who strives to forge ahead, dislikes the pillow person after having money, and then the prodigal son turns back, the setting is almost "Charlotte Troubles", but it is not a comedy, but full of small people's touching and aftertaste. Next, he starred in a "A Comic Book Breaks the World", once again showing his comedic talent. But the plot of the movie itself is relatively general, and even it has little to do with the comic, and the response is mediocre. But it is also a film that has begun to take shape.
Nonsense head was originally a colloquial saying in Guangzhou, Guangdong and other places, which means that a person's work and speech are incomprehensible, centerless, and their language and behavior have no clear purpose, and they are vulgar and arbitrary, but it is not unreasonable. In terms of film, the nonsense style does not originate from this. Some of Hollywood's comedy styles include "Laughing Through the Iron Curtain" and "The Bald Detective.". "Unprecedented Flying in the Sky" and so on, as well as some early European films, are the real originators of the nonsense style.
Then the Radio Television Hong Kong program, soft and hard master Ge Minghui and Lin Haifeng two people, when doing the program is nonsense, but attracted the love of many listeners, so was given this style of localization call - nonsense, of course, radio and film because of the difference in artistic carriers, so not exactly the same as Hollywood, but the word began to officially enter the literary and artistic circles and widely loved, even the elderly think that there is no nutrition.
Next, the filmmakers represented by Wang Jing, Li Lizhi, Zhou Xingchi, etc., through their own understanding of nonsense and the study of Hollywood comedy movies, localized the kind of funny and funny points that have no reason, with the polishing of lines, and finally became the appearance of Hong Kong nonsense comedy that we know.
In 1990, Ke Shouliang's "Curry Pepper" was released, which is not a pure comedy, but a police film with comedic elements. The film has a good reputation, because the details and emotions are very well placed. It is difficult to imagine that the big brother Ke Shouliang is a movie directed by such a screen image. Especially in the first half, the daily life of curry peppers is portrayed very well, looking like a policeman, but actually a hooligan, and the daily atmosphere of the streets of Hong Kong is very well represented. There are even reminders that the vendors will have the city management to play such a role. Walking on the street, if you see people, you will say hello, like a police officer, it is very natural, just like watching the street CP daily tasks.
In fact, the development of "Curry Pepper", it is already obvious that Zhou Xingchi's talent in acting skills, these roles are not big people, but it seems that small people are the most suitable for him, the unruly personality, as well as sad, happy, funny delicate performance, are gradually mature. When there are more and more opportunities, more and more Hong Kong filmmakers have noticed this young man, so it can be said that they have completely stood firm on their heels and ushered in their own spring.
So a rising star began to sweep the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars, and Hong Kong film culture finally ushered in the king of comedy with a different style. When Hong Kong's electricity influenced Asia, Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan and Zhang Guorong fought all over the world. Stand up for a new human being. They are all in the city, but they are different from Xu Guanwen. There are action scenes, but unlike Jackie Chan Jet Li, he does not focus on brotherhood and does not emphasize the true color of heroes. Line plots and body language create a new category. Action scenes serve funny, funny adds color to the plot, the plot sets off the character of the character, and the character makes the audience reminisce endlessly.