"Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" is the first box office in Hong Kong, and Huang Zihua should thank him the most

Source: "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer"

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Hero", "Huo Yuanjia"... He is the driving force behind the most important Chinese commercial films of the 21st century. The distributor of Miyazaki's films in the Chinese-speaking region is also him. The recent blockbuster Hong Kong film "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" set the record of the first box office in the history of Hong Kong films, and the producer is still him - Jiang Zhiqiang.

The director of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" is just a newcomer, how did Jiang Zhiqiang choose him? Why were they able to bet on Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou back then?

On February 21, the box office of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" exceeded 100 million Hong Kong dollars, becoming the first Chinese-language film to exceed 100 million in Hong Kong.

A small-budget legal-themed comedy film can break the century-old record in Hong Kong's film history. Under the popular comments of this film, some viewers analyzed it like this: "After watching the premiere, I believe that it is the one that will eventually run out of the Hong Kong New Year file." I have to say that Boss Jiang really has a vision for choosing films. ”

Laymen may be unfamiliar with the name "Boss Jiang", but in the circle, if you have not heard the three words of Jiang Zhiqiang, then it is difficult for you to be called a qualified filmmaker.

Let Huang Zihua tear off the label of "box office poison", Jiang Zhiqiang did it. /"Poison Tongue Lawyer"

Born in a Hong Kong film family, Jiang Zhiqiang's father was the famous film distributor Jiang Zuyi at that time, and Anle Film and Television was founded by him.

Like many rich second generations, Jiang Zhiqiang in his founding year, in addition to the gambling table, is the racecourse, not only has little interest in movies, but also has no intention of taking over. It wasn't until he lost badly and no one filled in the hole for him that Jiang Zhiqiang began to ponder the right way.

Facts have proved that Jiang Zhiqiang still inherited his father's vicious business vision.

After investing in American cartoons in the first battle, Jiang Zhiqiang resisted the pressure and invested in another cartoon. It was 1986, and the Japanese anime won tens of millions at the box office just half a month after its release. Jiang Zhiqiang did not disclose the specific amount of profit, but only said that he "earned half of it."

This film is "Sky City". After that, Miyazaki handed over more than ten of his films to Jiang Zhiqiang for distribution. At the same time, Jiang Zuyi also gradually passed the baton of taking care of Anle to Jiang Zhiqiang.

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "Miyazaki inspired me and let me know that I really like movies. /"Castle in the Sky"

The good times did not last long, and the prices of producers such as Hollywood rose year by year. Jiang Zhiqiang calculated an account: the price of buying an overseas film is similar to the price of making two films in Hong Kong, so it is better to put his own film in the theater.

At the time, it was an extremely bold attempt. Simply put, it is a real estate agency who suddenly transforms and decides to become a developer, build their own buildings and sell them themselves. And the first building built by Jiang Zhiqiang is the "rotten building" from Li An.

In 1998, Ang Lee, who was filming "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in Xinjiang, received bad news: the producer had encountered a financial crisis and had decided to withdraw his investment.

In those years of the Great Depression, it was extremely difficult to continue to find the gold owner. After hitting the wall several times, Li An, who was not confident, found Jiang Zhiqiang, but did not expect that the two sides hit it off. Jiang Zhiqiang became the takeover man, not only to make up for Ang Lee's funding gap, but also to persuade Hollywood to pay $15 million in advance.

This was Jiang Zhiqiang's first gamble after leaving the table, but fortunately he won. The response of the film in the US market far exceeded expectations, not only becoming the first foreign language film with a box office of more than 100 million (US dollars), but also helping the team win 4 Oscars in one go.

A "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" made Jiang Zhiqiang known as "the first hero of the revival of the mainland film market (after the millennium)".

Similar gambles, Jiang Zhiqiang experienced it twice, and they were all in.

Once "Heroes", once "Monster Hunt". The former, allowing the mainland blockbusters to usher in the era of commercialization; The latter pioneered domestic fantasy IP, and it is the most profitable kind.

When "Monster Hunt" broke the box office record of "Thai", Xu Zheng immediately sent a congratulatory poster. It has also become a ritual in the Chinese film industry: whenever a box office record is broken, the leader is sure to receive a blessing from the previous champion.

Before each bet, Jiang Zhiqiang would say: If I lose, I may have nothing. But these three gamblings not only made him a lot of money, but also gave him a nickname: investors who will not lose.

Decades have passed, and Jiang Zhiqiang, who is nearly 70 years old, not only has not stopped, but has been busy on the front line, maintaining a considerable update frequency.

The year before last, "Anita Mui" was filmed; Last year, "Still Think You're the Best" was released; This year, he saved another "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" - accidentally broke the Hong Kong film box office.

For Jiang Zhiqiang, we are curious about how his unique investment vision is refined, and we also want to know what changes that are not easy to detect in the publicity of Chinese film and television over the years. Similarly, when new media emerges in the form of revolution, how will this old man who has been in the industry for more than 40 years respond?

With the release of the new movie, we chatted with producer Jiang Zhiqiang and director Wu Weilun.

New Weekly: "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" is Wu Weilun's debut film, and the director of "Monster Hunt" was also an animation practitioner who had not made films. Do you always seem to have a preference for new directors, just because of feelings?

Jiang Zhiqiang: I have used dozens of new directors, but when you ask me if I have a special complex, my answer is no. I hardly ever approached the director, and usually people came to me with the script. I don't look at whether they have made a movie, I read the script more than the people.

New Weekly: So what makes a good script?

Jiang Zhiqiang: First of all, the story must be special, and the dialogue is not good enough? It's okay, you can adjust it, but the characters must be portrayed vividly. A good script, more than 100 pages, I can read it in an hour, a bad script, I may not be able to read it in a week. I remember the script of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer", it took an hour and a half to read it, and I felt that this story was very good at that time.

Wu Weilun (director of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer"): Indeed, at that time, Boss Jiang would often come to the scene of "Cold War 2" to change the script, and I wrote the script for so many years, I knew that he understood it as soon as I heard it.

New Weekly: Yes, we also heard that you are a visiting maniac, and as soon as you find something inappropriate in the line or special effects scene on the scene, you will immediately propose to the director to modify it. But some people think that the producer only needs to share experience and control the direction, and does not need to intervene in everything, and should be a coach or consultant, what do you think?

Jiang Zhiqiang: That's because "Chill 2" has Zhou Yunfa, he has filmed a lot of big dramas, and he was invited by me, so it is most appropriate for me to go. When you see the boss there, you will always give some face, right?

In fact, the most important thing to be a producer is to gain everyone's trust. Li An originally planned to go to five places, but I said that I had no money, and Li An was also very happy: "Then I won't go to Yunnan." On the contrary, you must also believe that your director and you are of the same heart, so that you do not quarrel.

At that time, Wu Weilun was still working as a screenwriter in "Cold War 2", and his first impression of Jiang Zhiqiang was that "I rarely see a boss who likes to laugh so much." ”

Wu Weilun: Then it seems that Boss Jiang still trusts me a lot, because he has not come to the scene to stare at me, and even if he comes, he only invites us to eat roast duck.

New Weekly: Besides roasted duck rice, what else do you want to thank him?

Wu Weilun: Would you thank your boss? He's a workaholic. It's not 996, it's 247, and there's a meeting Monday through Saturday. We asked if we could take a break on Sunday, and he said, "Why rest?" ”

New Weekly: At the age of 70, won't your body be overwhelmed?

Jiang Zhiqiang: Many people react the same as you, saying why this old man is still making movies, but here (pointing to his temple) happy, there is no problem.

New Weekly: Not even planning to retire?

Jiang Zhiqiang: When you lose money, you will stop when you want. But I don't know why, God hasn't let me lose too much, so what can I do, I can only continue to shoot.

New Weekly: In your opinion, how many periods can Hong Kong films be divided into? What do you think about the phrase "Hong Kong film revival"? Do you feel differently about this than you did in the past?

Jiang Zhiqiang: It is difficult for me to define what is a new port film and an old port film, and I rarely think about this kind of academic question. What previous films referred to was successful, I didn't think about it that much at the time, and I still do. Because we've been creating trends, not following trends.

In fact, I am worried about the future every day now, studying which movies do you like, and what level of special effects have reached now? How far are we before the world's most developed film technology? Everyone loves dramas more, what will be the future of dramas? So spend a lot of time in theaters and scripts.

Jiang Zhiqiang said that he has also been chasing "Crazy" recently.

New Weekly: It's been 40 years since you entered the film industry, how do you see your film career?

Jiang Zhiqiang: Actually, I don't have time to look back, and I rarely put things related to the past, including trophies and medals, all of which are put away. Those Oscar awards were only put out one year when the theater opened, because no one had seen it, just for publicity.

Over the years, the only thing I remember is that when I was at my hardest, there was a movie that came out to help me, and I'm glad that I'm still making movies.

New Weekly: As the president of Anle Film and Television, would you consider going public? Why are there only two artists under it?

Jiang Zhiqiang: Making money has never been my goal, but movies are my spiritual support. I think my greatest value to the world is probably to continue making movies. A lot of times the money for making movies is my own money. The risk of making a movie is very large, why let the friends around you take this risk, and then the friends will be gone.

Speaking of artists, this is actually Wanlu Attraction is in charge, that's another company, I have shares. As for signing artists, I don't think I can have both the same thing as making movies.

The two artists under Anle are: Tang Wei and Gui Lunmg. It is rumored on the Internet that Jiang Zhiqiang has been vigorously supporting Tang Wei, but Jiang Zhiqiang denied this statement: she went abroad for further study, all by her own efforts. /Beijing Meets Seattle

New Weekly: But many people think that you are the most popular investor in Hong Kong movies, because you haven't lost much, so they feel that making money is not so important.

Jiang Zhiqiang: How could it not have been lost? The first movie I did in this line of work was lost, it was an American cartoon. Later, "Flash Girl", "Ocean Paradise" and "Red Fox Scholar" all lost. So I now make it clear that art films and commercial films are separated.

For commercial films, I'm not the boss, the audience is the boss. But if I want to make a literary film, I won't pursue the box office. For example, "Send Me to Qingyun", about the plight of women. This is a very profound thing, and the male audience, including me, may not necessarily understand it, but it is very valuable. It is rare that a movie can reflect an actor's talent for acting.

Many people have turned fans of Yao Chen because of her performance in "Send Me to Qingyun".

New Weekly: In recent years, there have been many views on "watching movies is no longer just needed", "short videos replace movies", "cinemas will disappear", what do you think? Have you considered transformation?

Jiang Zhiqiang: Short videos will completely affect the film industry. I also brush short videos now, and I remember that I once brushed for 2 and a half hours without noticing, which is a big problem. Why? You think about it, in the past, young people filmed and dragged, they could use these times to watch movies, but now they don't have to, because brushing short videos is already very enjoyable, and the happiness gained from here is not lower than that of movies, and there is no need to waste money to watch movies.

As for the countermeasure, let's make the movie better. In fact, it is difficult for us to beat those short video creators, there are billions of people around the world who play short videos, there are so many stories of everyone, how can you beat them?

But I don't believe that movies will disappear and short videos will make us more combative. You see, "Poison Tongue Lawyer" still broke records in Hong Kong. Your short videos are awesome, but I'm not afraid of you.

Author | Zhan Shibo

Edit | Yan Fei

Proofreading | Xiangyang

Typesetting | Lu Zirui