Uncle Da, the patriot, will always be the protagonist. ——People's Daily on February 28, 2021.
Wu Mengda
Wu Mengda, the audience likes to call him "Uncle Da", the most famous "gold medal supporting role" in the Hong Kong film and television industry, there is no one. Many people associate his name with Xingye, calling him one of Stephen Chow's "royal supporting roles", the editor thinks that this impression is too one-sided, and the cooperation with Stephen Chow in some Zhou's nonsensical movies is indeed one of the highlights of Uncle Da's acting career, and it also makes him completely popular all over the strait, but Wu Mengda's actor experience is far more complicated than "Zhou Wu Match".
Wu Mengda
Wu Mengda was born in Xiamen, Fujian Province in 1952 and moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was 7 years old. Due to the poverty of the family, Wu Mengda's family of seven could only squeeze into a public housing allocated by the government, and Hong Kong's public housing was only more than 20 square meters at that time, and as the eldest son, Wu Mengda could only sleep on the floor. His father opened a small medicinal herb shop to maintain the family's livelihood, Wu Mengda has been helping in the medicinal herb shop, but he does not want to inherit the family business, he has guarded the medicinal herb shop all his life, he likes to go to the cinema to watch movies since he was a child, he is very envious of the actors in those movies, he feels that they are both famous and rich, and it is too easy to make money, so whenever he goes home after watching the movie, he will consciously imitate the performance of the characters in the movie, and act again with memory, dreaming that he can become a star one day.
Wu Mengda Chow Yun-fat
In 1971, 19-year-old Wu Mengda applied for the third Hong Kong TVB artist training course without his family (that is, the famous TVB artist training course, which walked out of most of the Hong Kong entertainment industry), born with acting talent, he easily passed the entrance exam, at that time the same batch of students included Chow Yun-fat, To Qifeng, Lin Lingdong and others, he and Chow Yun-fat were best friends in the training class, getting together every day. Because Wu Mengda has outstanding acting talent and excellent results in training, he became the deputy class leader of the training course, Wu Mengda later recalled: the teaching of the training course is very general, the knowledge taught is not deep, but the nature of enlightenment, but the content is very mixed, the students have to master dubbing, acting, photography, makeup, drama, singing and dancing and other knowledge that artists may use in the future in just one year, so everyone learns very hard, and how much can be mastered depends on their own efforts and talent. Uncle Da also laughed that Zhou Yunfa was at the bottom of the training class at that time, "Acting is very awkward."
The third TVB artist training course
Originally, Wu Mengda was hiding the TVB performance class reported by his family, working in the store during the day and going to the acting class at night, so he lied to his family that he was going to night school to learn English, and he was safe for a while. Wu Mengda had good grades and was appreciated by the teachers of the acting class, so he was able to start receiving some small dragon set roles in TVB TV series before he graduated, which made his good brother Fa Ge envious to death at that time. Due to frequent appearances on TV, Uncle Da's family also found out that Wu Mengda became an actor, and his father fell the bowl on the spot in anger, fortunately, the family finally accepted the fact that he became an actor and did not stop it.
Of the 40 students in the current period, 22 persisted until graduation, and only 7 people got TVB's artist long-term contract, and Wu Mengda was one of them. At that time, TVB TV was in full swing in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia (friends who don't understand can search for what is the scene of TVB's Taiwan celebration in the 70s and 80s of the last century, and then understand), Wu Mengda is in it, there are people in the TV station appreciated, there are role plays, so far, Wu Mengda's actor career has started smoothly, with his acting skills and handsome appearance, it seems only a matter of time before he comes out.
"Chu Liuxiang" Zheng Shaoqiu Wu Mengda
After a few years in Taili, Wu Mengda finally waited for his opportunity, in 1979, TVB decided to shoot the "Chu Liuxiang" series, Wu Mengda starred in the play of the male number two "Hu Tiehua", with superb acting skills, Wu Mengda played the "flower butterfly" Hu Tiehua, generous, full of chivalry, thousands of flowers in the bush, a leaf does not stick, and the red and purple "autumn official" Zheng Shaoqiu in Hong Kong at that time played opposite the scene without falling behind. Wu Mengda became popular with this role, became famous at a young age, tasted the taste of being a star, and the salary in the play rose and everyone outside the play sought after. At that time, "Flower Butterfly" was known to everyone in Hong Kong, and the limelight was directly chasing Zheng Shaoqiu, and many Hong Kong girls gathered in front of Wu Mengda's hotel to queue up for him to sign, similar to the current star chasing. At that time, he was a little fluttering, but he could not have imagined that there was only one step from pride to the abyss...
Wu Mengda
Born in poverty, Wu Mengda was fascinated by the colorful scene and began to indulge in nightlife, spending money and becoming the first sports car driving star in Hong Kong at that time. The life of a drunken gold fan made him develop a gambling addiction, and he lost all his family property and owed 300,000 Hong Kong dollars. After gambling in Taiwan for a long time and not returning to Hong Kong to act, he angered the TVB executives and ordered him to be hidden in the snow, and it only took a few months to go from heaven to hell. He went around begging people to borrow money to pay off gambling debts, but his relatives and friends in the past avoided him like a plague, and his good friend To Qifeng, said that he "couldn't support the wall with mud." Later, he asked his best brother Chow Yun-fat to borrow money, and Chow Yun-fat turned over in one fell swoop with the role of Little Ma Ge in "The True Color of Heroes" and became one of the most popular actors in Hong Kong at that time. But when he was full of hope to find a good brother, Zhou Yunfa said, "You solve it yourself." Completely chilled his heart, and the cornered Uncle Da thought of committing suicide, and in his later words, he had the idea of jumping off the building at that time. However, thinking of his wife Mi Lily and his twin daughters, he dismissed the idea of suicide.
Since then, Wu Mengda began to make up his mind, self-cultivation, while honing his acting skills, while desperately taking on the play, no matter how hard and tired the dragon set role he did not refuse, began to have some opportunities again, such as in 1981 starred in the movie "Law Enforcer" supporting role, in the same year, Wu Mengda participated in the TV series "A Thousand Kings and Heroes" broadcast, Wu Mengda played the old cat. Later, Wu Mengda, who had been in the past 10 years, became popular again through the movie "Heavenly Love", not only paying off his debts, but also winning the Best Supporting Actor Award for this.
In fact, he has always wondered in his heart, why he was a stinking mess in the Hong Kong entertainment industry at that time, and he was recognized as a mess, why he was always able to get opportunities, and later learned that it was his good brother Zhou Run who used his contacts and vouched for him at the director, so that others were willing to give him opportunities. If he hated Zhou Yunfa before and couldn't save him, then Wu Mengda was infinitely grateful in his heart, and he realized that the good brother's approach was really good for him, and he specifically found Brother Fa at that time and held him and cried bitterly.
In 1983, Wu Mengda participated in the TVB TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", playing a gang elder, there is also a small role in this drama, the only role is to be slapped to death by Mei Chaofeng practice, at that time he could not have imagined that the scene was not as good as his "Song Bing Bingyi", which would later become the most important partner in his acting career. This is the first time that Wu Mengda and Stephen Chow are in the same frame, although the 83 Huang Rihua version of "Condor " is on fire, but the protagonists of the story do not belong to these two small characters, Zhou Wu and the two seem to meet each other, there is no intersection.
In 1989, Wu Mengda and Stephen Chow met again in the movie "The Hero of the World", this is the first time they have cooperated in a movie, the two play a master and apprentice in the play, Wu Mengda and Stephen Chow are 9 years old, the two of them complement each other, Stephen Chow's personality is introverted and sensitive, Wu Mengda has a humorous and outgoing personality, good at enlivening the atmosphere, in the play the two of them cooperate seamlessly, others can not catch Stephen Chow's play, but Wu Mengda can always cooperate seamlessly. Since both of them love comedy, they can chat especially outside the play and feel like they hit it off. Soon after, they met again in the movie "He Comes from the Rivers and Lakes", playing father and son in the play, the so-called one life and two acquaintances, the two became more and more tacit understanding, especially found that the other party lived very close, only across the street, so they always drove to the crew to work together, and the relationship became closer and closer.
In 1989, "God of Gamblers" starring Chow Yun-fat was born, which caused a sensation in the Hong Kong film industry as soon as it was released, and won the annual box office champion of Hong Kong's films that year. For a time, all kinds of gambling films following the trend were popular, and even director Wu Siyuan, who was far away in Canada, saw the opportunity and returned to Hong Kong to find Stephen Chow and Wu Mengda, asking them if they were interested in making a gambling film. Zhou Wu and the two were overjoyed and quickly agreed, in 1990, the film "Gambling Saint" produced by Wu Siyuan and directed by Liu Zhenwei was released, this film became a hit, and won 41 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office in Hong Kong, breaking the box office record in Hong Kong's history and becoming the annual box office champion in 90 years, and this film completely established Stephen Chow's status in the Hong Kong film industry, and the industry began to call Wu Mengda a "gold medal supporting role".
Wu Mengda
Wu Mengda
Since then, where Stephen Chow appears, there will be Wu Mengda, the two tacit understanding is unparalleled in the circle, the two of them achieve each other, when the director looked for Stephen Chow to make a movie, must find Wu Mengda, the two worked together for 11 years and made 27 movies, Uncle Da contributed many classic roles in it, such as the "Devil Muscle" in "The King of Destruction", the father of Jackie Chan in "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Beggar", the second boss in "Journey to the West", the villain in "God of Food", and so on, Therefore, for audiences on both sides of the strait and three places, this golden pair has always been inseparable. Stephen Chow changed from A Xing, Xingzai, to Xingye; Wu Mengda changed from Ada and Da Ge to Da Uncle. In order to open up the Taiwan market, Uncle Da cooperated with Shi Xiaolong and Hao Shaowen in the 90s and dedicated the "Xiaolin Kid" and "Oolong Courtyard" series, which were also a generation of classics at that time and brought a lot of joy to the audience, so the 90s can be called the peak of Wu Mengda's career.
Shaolin Football
In 2000, a long period of high-intensity shooting, coupled with the burden of life, completely dragged down Uncle Da's body, although Wu Mengda was paid very much, but he never saved any money, because he was generous and treated people boldly, he always paid for the staff to add meals on the set, from extras to the set manager, everyone was not left behind. He also has 3 marriages, so he has 3 wives (two ex-wives), 5 children to support, and the burden of life forces him to frantically take on the drama, buy a house for his wife and ex-wife, and pay living expenses.
In 2001, the last movie "Shaolin Football" between Uncle Da and Stephen Chow was released, and although the movie was a great success, the two partners gradually drifted apart and slowly became strangers. Regarding the relationship with Stephen Chow, Wu Mengda said most that he was unable to cooperate with Xingye due to physical reasons. In 2000, Uncle Da was indeed found to have severe diabetes and heart disease, and later reduced his workload, but the two did not cooperate at all, and the reason was not so simple, because Wu Mengda still made a lot of new works after 2000.
Wu Mengda
Stephen Chow appeared at Wu Mengda's funeral
Uncle Da once said in an interview that in fact, he sometimes thinks why he can't go back to the past, there is a feeling of old and dead and not getting along, where does this strangeness come from? The editor believes that because the direction of development of the two is very different, Xing Ye opened his own company early, became a boss, and became a director. And Uncle Da has been stumbling on the set, it is undeniable that the status of the two, the gap between the circles is getting bigger and bigger, and they can't find common topics, so as time goes by, the friendship turns out to be weaker, which is the common feeling of people.
Uncle Da's performance in "The Wandering Earth" became a swan song, he was just a comedian and a comedian during the colonial period in Hong Kong, but in the last movie of his life, this movie of his own motherland had a heroic addiction, Xiaobian felt that this was the reason why he resolutely pushed off the high-priced invitation of Xingye "The New King of Comedy" at that time, resisted the temptation to cooperate with his old partner again more than ten years later, and starred in "The Wandering Earth" with low salary, because of his patriotic feelings. This reminds me of the scene when Uncle Da posted on Weibo angrily denouncing the small night in Hong Kong, and his last Weibo post was titled "I am Chinese." In the context of many Hong Kong artists actively or passively ambiguous positions, Mr. Wu Mengda could have remained silent, but he still stood up and expressed his position with the phrase "I am Chinese", which is worthy of admiration.
Finally, to miss Uncle Da, not only the joy and emotion he brought us back then, but also his indelible feelings of home and country.