Text | It's not like a little swimming
Edit | It's not like a little swimming
Speaking of immortal works in domestic kung fu films, "Shaolin Temple", which was released in 1982, is naturally indispensable.
This film not only sold hundreds of millions of box office miracles in the era when movie ticket prices were charged on a gross basis.
At the same time, it also made the leading actors Jet Li, Ding Lan and other actors come out.
In the snap of a finger, 42 years have passed since the premiere of "Shaolin Temple", what is the status quo of the stars who were popular back then?
"Vulture" Ji Chunhua
Ji Chunhua is a real "practitioner" from a family.
Before joining the film, he was a professional martial arts athlete, and was also selected for the Zhejiang Provincial Wushu Team.
It was also during this period that Ji Chunhua's life began to change.
Due to careless medication, he was unfortunately poisoned, causing all his hair and eyebrows to fall out.
This tragic encounter made Ji Chunhua's already inconspicuous appearance "worse", and even looked fierce and terrifying.
Soon after, "Shaolin Temple" was preparing for filming, and director Zhang Xinyan came to the martial arts teams in various places to select actors.
was immediately attracted by Ji Chunhua's mature and gloomy and aggressive appearance.
The characteristics of "no hair and no eyebrows" made Director Zhang feel even brighter.
Subsequently, the teachers of the crew inspected Ji Chunhua's skills again, and they were also very satisfied.
They all think that the villain of "Vulture", a vicious villain, is as if he was born for him.
Ji Chunhua did not disappoint everyone, he did his best in the film.
and Jet Li had a fist-to-flesh and exciting fight scene, which made the audience addicted.
What's even more surprising is that his literary drama is also very good, and he vividly interprets the insidious and deep "Condor".
With the huge success of the role of "Condor", Ji Chunhua can be said to have played the bad guy to the extreme, and was promoted to the gold medal villain actor in the eyes of major directors.
has successively played a large number of "villain roles", such as Duan Yanqing, the "head of the four villains" in "Dragon Babu".
The terrifying Yu Zhenhai in "Fang Shiyu", the "poisonous monster" Ma Ninger in "New Shaolin Five Ancestors" and so on.
As soon as many viewers saw his face, they felt a sense of avoidance from the bottom of their hearts.
And when it comes to the stage, there are many disadvantages of this distinctive look.
Ji Chunhua is often mistaken for an outlaw because of his appearance, and he has suffered a lot of grievances because of this.
Once a TV station recorded a celebrity reality show and asked Ji Chunhua, who was a guest, to ask for directions.
As a result, before he could get closer, passers-by looked vigilant and frightened, and walked around one after another.
Subsequently, Ji Chunhua wanted to help carry heavy objects out of kindness.
actually frightened the other party into retreating again and again, and warned loudly: "Don't touch my things!" made Ji Chunhua feel helpless.
In fact, although he looks a little fierce and vicious, and he plays villains, Ji Chunhua himself is very simple and gentle.
When he was in the crew, he never put on a big shelf.
There are no complaints about eating the simplest boxed lunch and staying in a small hotel for 120 yuan.
When working, he not only always goes into battle in person, but also patiently guides young actors to do movements.
There are many actors in the entire Hengdian Film and Television City, so they have become his "apprentices".
Zhu Hongjun, the owner of a film and television company who has cooperated with Ji Chunhua many times, also sighed from the bottom of his heart:
"(He) is a bad guy in the play, but he's definitely a good guy outside the play!"
It is a pity that such an artist with both virtue and art died of illness in July 2018, and his life was fixed at the age of 57.
After Ji Chunhua's death, his friends Liu Xiaolingtong, Wu Yue, Lai Shuiqing and others posted condolences one after another.
Being able to have good popularity throughout the entertainment industry further confirms Ji Chunhua's good character.
Jet li
When he starred in "Shaolin Temple", Jet Li was only nineteen years old.
With this film, he was able to become an international superstar at a young age.
After his career was successful, he married the love of his life, Li Zhi, and gave birth to the crystallization of love.
In the eyes of others, he is simply a "big winner in life" with a bumper harvest of career and family, and some people even sighed because of this:
"Jet Li's life is too good!"
But in fact, Jet Li may have experienced no less ups and downs and sorrows than anyone else.
In his writings, Jet Li recalls with sadness the embarrassing life of his youth.
It turned out that when he was only two years old, his father died in the line of duty, leaving only four children to be fed.
The mother took on the responsibility of supporting the family with her thin shoulders, and when she was a father and a mother, it became almost the norm to not have enough food and clothing.
Fortunately, Jet Li is extremely talented, and he was selected for the sports school at the age of seven.
He also won many martial arts championships one after another, which gradually reduced the burden on his family.
After filming "Shaolin Temple" in 1982, Jet Li became completely popular, and the family no longer had to worry about their livelihood.
But when there are no financial worries, other troubles in life will follow.
Jet Li once admitted that he suffered from hyperthyroidism, and he has suffered a lot of old injuries from filming action scenes for many years.
As a result, he has been battling illness for many years.
In terms of family life, Jet Li also feels a lot of mental pressure.
His youngest daughter, Jada, had early signs of depression and had "very strong suicidal tendencies" until her teenage years.
As a father, Jet Li was heartbroken and helpless about this, and exhausted his mental strength.
Every time he appeared in front of the camera after that, he seemed to be much older.
Perhaps because he has experienced too many pains and disasters in this life, Jet Li began to devote himself to Buddha in his later years.
Jet Li, who reversed his fate because he played the role of "Jueyuan Monk" in "Shaolin Temple".
Now he really has an empty heart, and rarely appears in front of the camera, I have to say that it is a creation to make people.
"Shepherdess" Ding Lan
In "Shaolin Temple", the heroine "Bai Wufang" is played by Ding Lan.
At that time, she was young, beautiful and had a pure temperament, and she was indeed very suitable for this role.
The only pity is that Ding Lan is a Henan Opera actor and has no kung fu foundation.
So most of her fight scenes in the film are done by stand-ins.
Perhaps in order to make up for this regret, Ding Lan later really began to learn kung fu and swordsmanship with the coach of the sports school.
and took over the filming of classic kung fu films such as "Shaolin Kid" and "Thirteen Sisters of Chivalry".
These works have made Ding Lan accumulate popularity both at home and abroad.
Foreign media even praised Ding Lan as "China's martial arts queen" for a time.
However, Ding Lan, who has achieved great achievements in his career, is not so smooth in his personal life.
Around the 90s of the last century, Ding Lan came to Singapore to shoot "Soul Broken Biyun Nunnery" and fell in love with a wealthy local businessman.
In order to pursue love, Ding Lan did not hesitate to give up his hot acting career in China.
He came to Singapore to become a radio host, and even changed his nationality.
Unfortunately, this marriage soon came to naught with the loss of her fame.
Ding Lan returned to China lonely, but there are many newcomers in the domestic entertainment industry, and there is no place for her.
In desperation, Ding Lan had no choice but to join the business world and start from scratch.
Fortunately, Ding Lan, who turned into a businessman, has achieved great success again.
In terms of love life, after experiencing that failed marriage, Ding Lan has never remarried.
To this day, at the age of nearly 60, he is still alone.
Zheng Xulan
In the eighties of the last century, Zheng Xulan was one of the "Five Golden Flowers" of the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe.
Since singing a "Shepherd's Song" for the movie, her popularity has reached an unprecedented peak.
It is precisely because of the huge influence of this film that Zheng Xulan was able to appear on the stage of the 1983 CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
became a household name singer in one fell swoop.
But just when her career was at its peak, Zheng Xulan made an unexpected decision - to go to the United States to get married and have children.
It's a pity that this marriage didn't end well, and Zheng Xulan divorced her husband in the nineties.
returned to China alone with her son and became a "single mother".
The super popularity of the past has long been gone, and her comeback road is also difficult.
It wasn't until 1998 that the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe took in Zheng Xulan again.
This made her career gradually rejuvenated, and at the same time, she also made a new boyfriend.
But just when everything was back on track, Zheng Xulan and her boyfriend's bodies had problems one after another.
First she suffered from intestinal obstruction, and then her boyfriend was also diagnosed with cancer, which can be described as a disaster.
Subsequently, Zheng Xulan suffered a medical accident during the operation, which caused her to be in poor health as before.
Unfortunately, her boyfriend didn't get to spend the rest of her life with her and died early in the morning.
The successive bad luck made Zheng Xulan disheartened, and she once revealed to the media:
"When I was desperate, I thought about suicide."
Fortunately, with the comfort and encouragement of friends in the circle, Zheng Xulan finally mustered up the courage to grit her teeth and persevere.
Since then, Zheng Xulan's career has been relatively bleak, and it was not until 2020 that she appeared on CCTV again and sang the song "Shepherd Song".
I believe that Zheng Xulan at that moment must have felt embarrassed about the things in front of him.
"Empty" Liu Huailiang
The elder brother who played the role of a group of warrior monks in "Shaolin Temple" was Shandong actor Liu Huailiang.
His later development is also the most unexpected of this group of leading actors.
After accumulating a lot of popularity through this film, Liu Huailiang did not focus all his energy on the entertainment industry.
Instead, he devoted himself to martial arts education and became a coach in the martial arts team in his hometown.
Under his careful teaching, the potential of a large number of children who love martial arts has been explored.
The traditional martial arts of the motherland have also been better inherited.
In recent years, Liu Huailiang has served as the chairman of the Hainan Wushu Association.
Although Liu Huailiang's fame is not as great as that of several other leading actors who have stayed in the circle to develop.
But when it comes to contributing to society, he is no slouch.
epilogue
Although more than 40 years have passed in a flash, a masterpiece like "Shaolin Temple" will never go out of style.
After learning about the joys and sorrows of the lives of these leading actors, you might as well find another time to re-read this martial arts classic.
I believe that everyone will have some different feelings.