Wu Yaohan's skills in comedy performance are particularly profound. Whether it is Wei Yixiao of the martial arts action drama "The Demon Sect Leader of the Dragon Slayer", or Mao Shanming of the Hong Kong spiritual film "Mr. Lingxian", or Paulina Wong of the war film "Chinese Warrior", a completely different style of film genre, as long as he comes to play any kind of role, it will make people laugh.
Just such a master of comedy, who can think that his childhood is very tragic.
Wu Yaohan's father is super wealthy, one of the founders of Kowloon Bus and Kowloon Funeral Home, with 4 wives and 16 children. Although Wu Yaohan was a child of the second room, his mother died when he was eight years old, and he could only survive between the eyes of his stepmother and grow up in the exclusion of his brothers and sisters.
At the age of 15, Wu Yaohan was finally sent to england to study, majoring in drama, and often did not want to go home during the holidays. Perhaps it was the tragic experience of his childhood that inspired his enthusiasm for acting comedy, and the newly graduated Wu Yaohan successfully joined the British advertising agency (BBC), known as the "world's first television station", with excellent acting skills, and participated in the filming of Chaplin's last film, "The Countess of Hong Kong". This time, at Chaplin's side, through close observation and learning, Wu Yaohan got the most perfect start to his comedy career. When comedy brings Wu Yaohan happiness, it also makes him understand that this is a career that he must stick to for a lifetime.
Although Wu Yaohan developed well in britain, his father still hoped that he would return to Hong Kong to take over the family business, but Wu Yaohan not only did not listen to his father's advice, but also directly married his girlfriend in Britain. Working at a British advertising agency during the day and going to a Chinese restaurant to wash dishes at night to subsidize the family, Wu Yaohan gradually settled down in the UK. But the sudden death of his father, his wife's divorce request and his own bleak job prospects have impacted the 21-year-old Wu Yaohan step by step.
In 1970, Wu Yaohan was forced to return to Hong Kong to carry out comedy business, and the Wufuxing series of films produced in cooperation with Jiahe Film Company was widely praised by the audience as soon as it was broadcast, and directly became the hegemon of the film box office at that time. In fact, the five lucky star film creation ideas are like a joke, because the five people usually play together very happy, so they plan to cooperate in the film, there is no script during the shooting process, basically they all want to shoot at the same time, and slowly evolve into a big IP series of movies. I have to sigh that when these five people walk together, the innate talent for comedy is completely enough.
Wu Yaohan has collaborated with Jackie Chan and Hong Jinbao on many films, such as "Fast Food Truck", "Fuxing Gaozhao" and "Summer Fuxing". Once, Wu Yaohan asked Jackie Chan: Why has your acting skills deteriorated? Jackie Chan said: Yes, because the Japanese film market likes to watch martial arts moves, so we changed it. Wu Yaohan was particularly surprised to tell Jackie Chan: Your fight is not a martial art, it is an entertainment action. Your power is your comedy, that's your specialty, and I'm sorry that right now you're wasting your talent. Later, this remark successfully helped Jackie Chan establish the development direction of "action comedy", and the same type of movies "Spike Moment" and "Spike Moment II" released immediately after the release were very good.
Wu Yaohan is a person with particularly positive values, and once advised the director in an interview: the most important thing is to seize the opportunity, you should not be lazy and casual, when you decide to shoot, you really have to do 200% of the effort to do it. This could be an opportunity for your life. There is no movie without actors, and whether you're the protagonist, the supporting character, or the dragon runner, you're part of the movie. Even at the end of the interview, I expressed my doubts - why do so many people in Hong Kong resist China, saying that Chinese, reading books are also Chinese, and the surrounding environment is Chinese, why should they resist?
It is thanks to these excellent qualities that Wu Yaohan's acting career and directing career are also good. In 1976, Wu Yaohan invested in the filming of his first film, "A Single Stick Goes to the End of the World", which resulted in a very dismal box office, not only losing all his property but also incurring debts. At this critical moment, it was Xu Guanwen who reached out and pulled him, not only inviting him to join the wireless TV show "Double Star Annunciation", but also letting him play a policeman in the movie "Half a Pound, Eight Two", so Wu Yaohan gradually became famous.
Wu Yaohan, who has savings, continues to direct the work "Point only catches the thief and is simple", this time not only to make up for the previous loss bill and even have a surplus, not long after, the box office of the third director's work "Face Cute Heart Essence" also exploded, and it was a big profit. Wu Yaohan, who was also a director and an actor, was completely rich, and he only did one thing, that is, to buy a house. It is said that in 1987 and 1988 alone, Wu Yaohan and Debao Company contracted a film remuneration of 1 million yuan, and a movie can be bought a three-storey villa, resulting in 11 villas, and now the assets are about 3.5 billion yuan.
When Wu Yaohan was young, he was very desperate to shoot. Often only drama in the eyes, often can not care about eating, hungry to deal with a mouthful of instant noodles. Accumulated over time, the body has left a lot of hidden dangers. In his 70s, he was diagnosed with kidney failure, with only one-tenth of normal kidney function, and when he was severe, he had to go to the hospital four times a day to dialysis. Then the heart problem is also very serious, Wu Yaohan once revealed that he had 5 stents in his heart. Finally, the right ear needs to wear a hearing aid for many years. Even under such physical conditions, Wu Yaohan was reluctant to say goodbye to the stage and still called to seek cooperation opportunities on the way home from the hospital.
When he was young, Wu Yaohan taught us to take responsibility and face the unfairness of life. Wu Yaohan in middle age taught us to dare to invest and use financial thinking to make money. In his old age, Wu Yaohan taught us to dedicate ourselves to our work and love every day of life.
Now, when we see Wu Yaohan's performance works again and laugh, we must not forget that it was Chaplin's spirit of bowing down to the comedy cause that touched Wu Yaohan, and now Wu Yaohan has also interpreted this spirit by example, and when more young people get inspiration from it, this is the inheritance in the true sense.