At the 95th Academy Awards ceremony, Michelle Yeoh was the first Asian and Chinese actress in the nearly 100-year history of the Oscars.
In an interview, she confessed her desire to win:
"I want to get it, and not only is it important to me, it will also shine a light on people like me in the world who have never been included in the list... We should be able to sit at the same table..."
In addition to the Chinese Michelle Yeoh, there is another Chinese who also "sat at the same table as the Oscar", he is Donnie Yen.
Donnie Yen is the only Chinese actor invited to the stage to present the award. From a box lunch set to a generation of grandmasters, he is known as "Hong Kong's last kung fu superstar" and once called "Chinese Ip Man" by Hollywood.
But few people know that Donnie Yen's walk to the Oscar podium this time can be described as difficult.
Because of his patriotic remarks, he was targeted by the notorious Wang, and joined more than 70,000 people to petition for the Oscars to cancel Donnie Yen's guest qualification... Fortunately, in the end, Wang was stopped outside the barbed wire fence by Oscar.
This year's Oscar, Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen, let the world see the tough and patriotic side of Chinese and Chinese.
Why is there any objection to Donnie Yen walking on the Oscars? Why didn't Oscar give up Donnie Yen? Why can Donnie Yen be so tough? What's the story behind this?
Story 1: The awards have not yet become a hot spot, Donnie Yen has become an Oscar traffic password
In recent years, the popularity of the Oscars has declined year by year, so since the 91st awards ceremony in 2019, the Oscar organizers have begun to rack their brains to create hot spots.
For example, in order to achieve ratings, the Oscars began to no longer set up professional hosts, but instead starred on the scene;
For example, "Best Male and Female Protagonists" is placed after "Best Director" and "Best Picture".
At the 93rd awards ceremony, there was also a farce of "can't contact the best actor" - Anthony Hopkins of Best Actor "Father Trapped in Time", sleeping in his hometown in Wales, the video was not connected during the awards, and the Oscar organizers could only claim the "little golden man" by themselves... This episode caused the organizer to attract global ridicule on social platforms.
Another example is the "semi-intentional" creation of contradictions - allowing award presenters to be beaten.
Yes, the Oscars of the 94th were actually pushed on the hot search by a slap. No one expected that Will Smith, a well-known actor who has starred in classic movies such as "When Happiness Knocks", "I Am a Legend" and "Men in Black", actually gave the ceremony guest Chris Rock a resounding slap in the face.
The reason was that the presenters twice joked about the bald head of Will Smith's wife, Jada (who suffers from severe alopecia). Smith in the audience went straight to the stage, slapped Locke in the face, turned and walked away...
Was there a script for this beforehand? It's hard to say.
To sum up, how can the Oscar, who has done everything he can, give up Donnie Yen, who "has not yet appeared on the podium, and will first cause heated discussions"? (This time the saboteurs are really self-defeating)
Donnie Yen sparked heated discussions because of the explosive remarks in the interview with the British edition of "GQ".
In this interview, Donnie Yen directly tore the BBC and CNN, angrily scolding the "rumors" in the eyes of these two Chinese. He also said that many countries are now unable to achieve China's level of infrastructure development and ease of life, but the BBC and CNN "they never report the real side, but I am in China." He even asked, "Do they respect Chinese culture?" ”
This very "temperamental" interview not only appeared on the front page of the "GQ" electronic magazine, but also was placed on the front page of the official website, and the editor came up with a title for the article - "Donnie Yen is still so bullish".
Then the BBC released a report saying that tens of thousands of people signed a petition calling for Donnie Yen to be removed as the guest of honor at this year's Oscars. Of course, this petition is destined to be a farce, the Oscar organizers not only did not abandon Donnie Yen, but also used Donnie Yen as a traffic password - the Los Angeles Tourism Bureau actually used Donnie Yen's hot spot as an introduction to make an advertisement for the Oscar Film Museum!
Story 2: Oscar took the initiative to show favor to China, and Donnie Yen became a weather vane
Donnie Yen was invited by the Oscars as an award presenter this time, on the one hand, because of his reputation in the film industry, on the other hand, it is not ruled out that the Oscar organizers want to "show goodwill" to the Chinese market in this way.
Since 2008, Hollywood has targeted the Chinese market. First, "Iron Man" tested the waters and took away 92 million Chinese box office. Later, the box office of "Avatar" soared to 1.4 billion. Later, "Avengers 4" earned 4.2 billion, which became the ceiling of Hollywood blockbusters in China. But by 2022, the box office of local Chinese films will far surpass Hollywood blockbusters. The rise of local Chinese films is threatening the Chinese market for Hollywood films.
Since the beginning of 2021, China's film box office has already surpassed the United States (40 billion versus 2.6 billion), becoming the world's largest film market.
As a result, Hollywood movies began to show favor to the Chinese market. For example, there will be a few minutes of Chinese in a blockbuster, and the protagonist "inadvertently" speaks Chinese ...
And for Chinese actors, entering Hollywood to make movies is not as "difficult" as before.
In the 90s and early this century, many A-list stars in Hong Kong "broke their heads" and ran to Hollywood, because only after leaving their mark on Hollywood could they be recognized as superstars.
But now that China is becoming the new "center of world cinema", foreign media refer to Chinese film bases as "China docks", and many Chinese actors are beginning to turn their careers back to China.
Donnie Yen is an alternative, he "unintentionally inserted willows", a person who relied on local films and Chinese traditional culture to accidentally become famous abroad.
Crooked nuts may not know about Brother Pony and Huang Feihong, but they must know Ip Man.
In 2008, "Ip Man" was released, and "Foshan Wing Chun" became famous in a battle.
In the following years, "Ip Man 2: The Legend of the Grandmaster" and "Ip Man 3" were released one after another, and the audience gradually became accustomed to Donnie Yen's Ip Man, dressed in a long robe, with horse steps and a fast fist.
In "Ip Man 4", in the eyes of the audience, he is not playing Ip Man, but has become Ip Man, experiencing the aging and life and death of "Ip Man" with the audience.
Donnie Yen and Ip Man merged into one, traveled through time and space, and together told the audience about the spirit of Chinese martial arts in the movie, conveying the legendary life of Chinese martial arts masters... Obviously, "Ip Man" became a cultural symbol.
Just like Bruce Lee's kung fu movies in the past, the "Ip Man" series has made more foreign audiences fall in love with Chinese kung fu.
They will express their love for "IP MAN" in the comment area of the Internet; There will be heated discussions about the various Wing Chun moves that Ip Man performs in the film. Others traveled thousands of miles to China to visit Ip Man's former home and worship in front of Ip Man's mausoleum, playing a decent Wing Chun boxing.
And Donnie Yen outside the movie has also become a truly world-renowned Tai Chi master, and Americans do not call him "Donnie Yen", but "IP Man".
This is something that Jackie Chan who went to Hollywood in 95 and Jet Li, who entered Hollywood in 98, did not do.
To sum up, it is not unusual for Donnie Yen to have such a solid "mass base" abroad, and is used as a bellwether for the Oscars and Hollywood to show favor to the Chinese film market.
Story 3: Donnie Yen's cow, "patriotism" is his greatest strength
"What's your name?"
"I'm just a Chinese!"
"Hmm... The moon abroad is not so round. ”
These two classic lines from Donnie Yen in "Ip Man". While this movie achieves Donnie Yen, the essence of patriotic feelings is also deeply injected into Donnie Yen's blood. He has repeatedly proved his pride as a descendant of Yanhuang with his words and deeds.
1. "I am Mr. Donnie Yen of China"
After the publication of "Ip Man", Donnie Yen changed back to Chinese nationality (in November 2018, the 55-year-old Donnie Yen renounced his American citizenship and changed back to Hong Kong, China). At one event, the host called him "America's fashion superstar." Donnie Yen couldn't listen, took the microphone and interrupted the host and said:
"I am Donnie Yen of China, not Mr. Donnie Yen of the United States."
2. Bombard Hollywood: Without the right to speak for the characters, it's not worth my time.
When taking on foreign films involving Chinese martial arts, Donnie Yen would solemnly ask the film side to respect Chinese and Chinese culture, and if he did not meet the requirements, he would relentlessly "bombard" and refuse to cooperate.
Just like a few years ago, the sequel to "The Expendables" starring Stallone invited Donnie Yen, and he decisively refused when he thought of Jet Li's role in "The Expendables 2" as "Yin and Yang". He said:
"Does this character and film content respect our Chinese and Chinese culture? If you have any elements that are disrespectful, I certainly don't work with you. ”
"Fast Pursuit 4" initially had the same problem, and Donnie Yen protested after reading the script:
Why is he always called Shang or Chang for such a character?
Why are Chinese stand collars so old-fashioned?
This is a "Fast Pursuit" movie, everyone should be cool and funky, why can't I look cool and stylish?
So, director Chad Starsky made changes to the name and shape according to Donnie Yen's opinion, and the cool Caine was born.
Donnie Yen took "patriotism" as a confidence and said in an exclusive interview with Yang Lan:
"I grew up in the United States, and I had my American citizenship back 4 years ago... I look down on so many people with their mouths full of mouths, I am Chinese, but in fact his heart is outside. ”
He also said:
"Today I may have more influence and must speak up for our country!" Some of the ones I can't see will say it, we Chinese not like this. In addition, a very important task for me is to use my little influence to let the audience know that Chinese are not so rigid, and what you can do, we can also do! ”
As a Chinese, Donnie Yen has always been sincere about patriotism - changing nationality, correct identity, repeatedly shelling Hollywood, and intimidating foreign media. He does not pander, does not flatter, and does not care how international public opinion deals with him.
And it is precisely this kind of humility and indecency that has made Donnie Yen today, and he has won the respect of peers and fans at home and abroad with the same backbone as "Ip Man".
A person cannot change his origin, nor can he change his past.
But if a person can do it in the first place and put the feelings of his motherland and compatriots first, then he must be a respectable person.