Kung Fu films once shone with unparalleled brilliance in the history of Chinese cinema. From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, Hong Kong's kung fu films supported almost the entire Chinese film.
With the popularity of kung fu movies, kung fu actors have gradually been loved, and representative kung fu superstars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li have been born.
Bruce Lee introduced Chinese kung fu to the world, Jackie Chan combined Chinese kung fu with film elements to give the world a better understanding of Chinese movies, and Jet Li combined kung fu with various martial arts dramas to derive a unique film style.
All three of them are well-known and have kung fu movie stars that no one can shake. Many people are familiar with their names, but they don't know that the names of the three of them are closely related to a director, without this director, perhaps they are still unknown, and the kung fu director who personally praised Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li is Luo Wei.
But why did Luo Wei, who created so many superstars, end up with an extremely desolate end, what are the reasons behind this, and what are the faults of Luo Wei himself?
1. Luo Wei became famous
Luo Wei was born in Jiangsu Province in 1918 and moved to Hong Kong at the age of thirty.
Luo Wei did not professionally study making films or directing films, and he was not from a science class, but one of his major advantages was that he was good at learning successful experiences, and then quickly followed up and used it for himself.
With his fast learning and daring style, Rovi enjoyed a place in the film circle of the last century.
From 1957 onwards, Rowey set up his own portal, established a film company, and began to direct his own films, during which time, Rowe starred in and directed a number of films, and began to rise to fame.
But what really made him the object of discussion and was talked about by posterity began with his cooperation with Bruce Lee.
2. Establish cooperation with Bruce Lee
In 1970, Luo Wei joined the Jiahe Film Company. Jiahe Film Company was founded in 1970, this year, one of the company's founders Zou Wenhuai was ostracized by the original owner Shaw Pictures, so he ran away and founded Jiahe Film Company, Luo Wei joined it in the same year and became the director of the company.
Luo Wei took a fancy to Bruce Lee's kung fu and boldly launched Bruce Lee in Hong Kong to shoot movies, and the two worked together to shoot a total of five movies, all of which caused quite a stir and achieved good box office results.
In particular, the two films "Jingwumen" and "Big Brother Tangshan" achieved box office of more than one million Hong Kong dollars in that era, breaking the box office record of Hong Kong films at that time.
"Jingwumen" has brought the popularity of kung fu movies to a new height and set off a kung fu fever. Look at whether a movie is classic and deeply rooted in people's hearts, and see if the plot and lines in it are circulating among the crowd.
Bruce Lee's Chen Zhen in "Jingwumen" is happy to be vengeful, and the sentence "Chinese is not the sick man of East Asia" is still implanted by some movies until now, and it still sounds deafening and exciting.
And the phrase "I read less, don't lie to me" has become one of the words used in people's lives to communicate with each other.
It can be seen that the influence of this film is indeed deeply rooted in people's hearts. This is closely related to bruce Lee's own charm, but it is also inseparable from director Luo Wei's accurate portrayal of the role.
After Bruce Lee's great success, Lowe often presented himself in public as Bruce Lee's Bole and mentor, and was full of control over Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee's own personality is relatively strong, which can be manipulated, and the two eventually changed from close partners to enemies who do not share the same sky.
However, Luo Wei did not expect that in 1973, the young and strong Bruce Lee died suddenly, which surprised him.
Although the two had an unbridgeable holiday, In the face of Bruce Lee's death, Luo Wei was still quite sad and left tears at the media press conference.
The feud between the two also became a thing of the past with bruce Lee's death.
3, the rise of Jackie Chan
In 1975, Luo Wei left his old club and created his own film company named after himself, Luo Wei Pictures, and recalled Chen Gangsheng, who was in Australia at the time, to Hong Kong.
At that time, Chen Gangsheng was just in his early 20s, full of energy, but lacking opportunities.
The olive branch thrown by Luo Wei made Chen Gangsheng quite happy.
After Chen Gangsheng returned to Hong Kong, Luo Wei gave him a stage name Jackie Chan, which is now the world-famous kung fu superstar Jackie Chan.
The reason why Luo Wei gave Chen Gang the name Jackie Chan was that he hoped that he would become the second Bruce Lee.
The two collaborated on martial arts movies such as "New Jingwumen" and "Sword Flower Smoke and Rain Jiangnan", but the response was mediocre.
It was not until 1978 that Jackie Chan was temporarily borrowed by other film companies to shoot "Snake-like Executioner" and "Drunken Fist", and the name Jackie Chan began to become famous.
The two had a conflict in cooperation. Jackie Chan has tasted the taste of stardom through movies such as "Drunken Fist", but The remuneration given to Jackie Chan by Luo Wei is still the same as when he first debuted, and his daily salary is only 3,000 Hong Kong dollars, which makes Jackie Chan very dissatisfied.
Jackie Chan once expressed this sentiment to Luo Wei, but Luo Wei still went his own way, forcing Jackie Chan to submit through oppression, Jackie Chan is already a star with a certain influence, his wings have hardened, how can he endure such humiliation.
Jackie Chan sued Luo Wei, and in the end Luo Wei lost the case, and the relationship between the two took a sharp turn for the worse, almost no longer in contact.
4. Discover Jet Li
After Jackie Chan and Luo Wei fell out, he set his eyes on the search for new people.
In 1989, he had another great opportunity to discover Jet Li.
He used his excellent eloquence to persuade Jet Li, who was in the United States, to return to Hong Kong to shoot a film.
Jet Li and Luo Wei cooperated in the filming of "The Dragon at the End of the World", but after the release of the film, the box office and word of mouth were very general, and did not cause a response.
At this time, Luo Wei's son actually dug up Luo Wei's corner and dug Jet Li to another large company, and Jet Li joined jiahe Pictures, one of the top film companies at the time, and thus achieved a generation of hegemony of "Huang Feihong".
Although Luo Wei has successively discovered Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li, all three of whom are well-known kung fu superstars, Luo Wei knows how to recognize people, but he does not know how to use and retain talents, resulting in talents either turning against themselves or leaving themselves.
In his later years, Luo Wei's life and career were not satisfactory.
In 1980, Luo Wei, who had passed the age of flower armor, spent 18 million yuan to shoot the movie "A Knife in the City", which almost pressed his life's work, but in the end the box office was dismal, the investment was lost, and the career was in a slump.
At the same time, Rovey also suffered from heart disease and his body gradually declined.
In his later years, Luo Wei was no longer cared about, and his family was full of birds, and he had no money and no popularity, and he was self-destructive.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 77, and his bleak old age came to an end.