Hong Kong kung fu films are a bright pearl in the history of film,
From Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan and Jet Li,
One kung fu superstar after another has continued this glory.
However, what is not known is that all three of them can't get around the same director behind them.
That is, there is the famous Hong Kong director Luo Wei.
Luo Weiben is a mainland actor, born in 1918 in the chaos of war,
He was active in Beijing and Shanghai, catching up with the false boom of the film industry during the War of Resistance.
With the continuous fires on Shanghai Beach, a large number of well-known actors and directors have gone south to Hong Kong to develop.
Luo Wei also went to Hong Kong in 1948.
At that time, Hong Kong film and television dramas were on the rise, and artists from the mainland became experienced leaders.
Most of them have been reused to become leading actors, and many have transformed into directors.
Rowey was getting older at the time, and there was not much repercussion after shooting a few films.
He took the opportunity to become a director and joined Shaw.
Shaw was a big company in Hong Kong at that time, with many actors,
He also exported his own plays overseas.
At that time, Hong Kong films were still dominated by drama, but dialects became the biggest obstacle to outward export.
Shaw is one step ahead and develops kung fu films,
Replace line expression with a simple and brutal aesthetic of violence.
Shaw's kung fu film set off the first climax of Hong Kong cinema,
It was also the first film to be imported into the United States.
At that time, Shaw's chief director was Zhang Che, who can be regarded as the originator of Hong Kong kung fu films.
And the male number one Wang Yu he cultivated was the highest paid male star before Bruce Lee.
Luo Wei was influenced by Shaw and also began to shoot martial arts films,
But Shaw already had Zhang Che, and it was difficult for Luo Wei to come out.
In addition, Shaw's salary is very harsh, and the director can only be paid according to working hours.
There is no dividend, and Luo Weikong has an ambition that cannot be carried out.
It happened that at this time, Shaw's internal changes occurred,
Zou Wenhuai, one of the founders of Shaw, had a conflict with the head of Shaw, Run Run Shaw.
He chose to run away and founded Jiahe Film Company.
Luo Wei saw that there was no way out for Shaw, so he also left Shao and switched to Jiahe.
Jiahe's management model is more advanced, giving the director more space,
Not only is the establishment of subsidiaries allowed, but the film is also made in the form of an independent producer,
Dividends are distributed according to the box office after release.
In Jiahe's new model, the film directors are all full of energy,
At this time, Jiahe got another general, Bruce Lee.
At that time, Bruce Lee had already founded Boxing In the United States,
And filmed the Hollywood movie "Green Hornet", but unfortunately there was not much repercussions.
But Hollywood does not attach importance to Asian actors, and even discriminates very much.
Bruce Lee was determined to return to Hong Kong to develop and play his own piece of the sky.
In fact, the first person to contact Bruce Lee was Run Run Shaw.
He fancied Bruce Lee's kung fu and wanted to sign up to become Shaw's male lead.
But Bruce Lee was arrogant and arrogant, and offered a super high salary of ten thousand DOLLARs,
Even surpassed Shao's brother Wang Yu,
At the same time, he also proposed to have the right to decide the script and the right to shoot and direct.
Run Run Shaw directly rejected Bruce Lee's arrogant request,
But Zou Wenhuai immediately took over, and he also wanted to find Bruce Lee to make a film.
After much negotiation, Bruce Lee was signed for $15,000 for two films.
It is precisely because Bruce Lee's film remuneration is too high, resulting in his first film "Big Brother Tangshan" budget is very low,
Even pulled the whole crew to Thailand to shoot.
And the original director of this film, Wu Jiajun, also had no experience in martial arts films.
Halfway through the shoot, I couldn't get started and picked it up.
Rowey only took over halfway through, with his first collaboration with Bruce Lee.
This "Big Brother Tangshan" grossed more than three million, breaking the box office record of Hong Kong films.
It also made Lo Wei and Bruce Lee famous.
Bruce Lee went from an unknown actor to the pride of the Chinese.
And Rowey prides himself on being Bruce Lee's mentor.
But in fact, the relationship between the two is not good.
Later, Luo Wei and Bruce Lee collaborated on "Jingwumen" to create an insurmountable classic again.
The footage of Bruce Lee kicking and smashing the plaque of the sick man in East Asia in the movie has survived to this day.
Rowe and Bruce Lee seem to be a golden combination,
But the two are actually at odds.
Jiahe gave the director a lot of freedom at the same time, but also gave the actors a lot of space,
In particular, Zou Wenhuai personally promised Bruce Lee to let him set up his own company.
On the set, Bruce Lee led his own team to personally design the action and shots,
It may even interfere with the editing and camera position of the film.
Bruce Lee's pursuit of film no doubt touched the authority of the director,
Rowe once had a big fight with Bruce Lee on the set,
In a hurry, Bruce Lee even put a knife to Rowie's neck to take his name.
Luo Wei could not use force with Bruce Lee, naturally he could not fight,
But he did not want to suffer a loss, and warned that Bruce Lee was going to kill himself.
This is the famous "Lee Lo Brawl Incident", which caused a sensation throughout Hong Kong.
The two men who achieved each other did not cooperate again.
Luo Wei turned to Wang Yu to shoot "Cold Faced Tiger" and achieved good results.
However, Bruce Lee has exploded in full force,
His self-directed and self-acting "Raptors Across the River" surpassed the previous work, and the box office reputation was double-harvested.
Just when Bruce Lee became the idol of the times, he died violently, causing the world to be in an uproar.
At this time, Luo Wei stood up again and said that Bruce Lee had begun to be mentally abnormal for half a month before his death.
I want to use Bruce Lee's popularity to attract attention and use bruce Lee's mentor name to attract gold.
But the market and the audience are not interested in Bruce Lee' mentor,
Everyone was looking forward to the next Bruce Lee.
At this time, the rise of Hong Kong kung fu films, Hong Jinbao, Liu Jialiang, Yuan Heping's martial arts team are all rubbing their fists,
However, no male protagonist can shock everyone as Bruce Lee,
Hong Kong cinema saw a huge gap after Bruce Lee's peak.
At this time, Luo Wei remembered Jackie Chan, who used to be a martial arts instructor in "Big Brother Tangshan".
At that time, his name was chen gangsheng, and he was originally a member of the Hong family class.
But Hong Kong movies are too difficult to come forward, and it is very dangerous to be a martial arts instructor.
If you are not careful, you may die, and Chen Gangsheng, who has been hit hard, is ready to return to Australia to become a chef.
Luo Wei was once impressed by his skills and signed him into his company.
And named Jackie Chan, intending to become the next Bruce Lee.
Luo Wei transitioned from the era of Bruce Lee to the era of Jackie Chan.
But Jackie Chan didn't make a splash as expected.
Luo Wei asked Jackie Chan to imitate Bruce Lee, punching the flesh and kicking the bone with one leg.
But Bruce Lee has only one, and his kung fu is a real kung fu that he has been practicing since childhood.
Jackie Chan is just a performance kung fu learned in drama school,
Jackie Chan can't play hardcore kung fu like Bruce Lee.
At this time, Luo Wei wanted to become popular through the big IP,
At that time, the most popular in Hong Kong was Gu Long's martial arts novels.
Gu Long has always loved to drink, and Luo Wei took Jackie Chan to find Gu Long to eat,
Explain in advance that Jackie Chan must drunk the ancient dragon in order to take down the male protagonist.
It is a pity that the drunken Ancient Dragon Thousand Cups is not drunk, but Jackie Chan is drunk and hazy,
Jackie Chan went to the bathroom to vomit, wanting to come back from vomiting and continue to drink with Gu Long.
But at the door, he heard Gu Long say to Luo Wei,
My novels are not written about people like Jackie Chan.
My males are mainly handsome guys like Dillon.
This sentence broke Jackie Chan's heart, and he turned around and went to the bathroom to cry,
Soon after, he cut his double eyelids to make himself look more handsome.
In the end, this role still fell into the hands of Wang Yu,
But Lo Wei helped him win the villain, and the film still did not bring Jackie Chan visibility.
Until director Wu Siyuan borrowed Jackie Chan from Luo Wei,
Filmed two kung fu comedies, "Drunken Fist" and "Serpentine Executioner",
Jackie Chan only began to explode.
Luo Wei's style is all traditional kung fu films, and Jackie Chan does not have much room to play,
The company's earnings are also very poor.
When Wu Siyuan borrowed someone, Luo Wei agreed without saying a word.
At least Jackie Chan can make a little more money by going out to work.
Jackie Chan attaches great importance to this opportunity, and has more space,
He got rid of The Shackles of Rovey and designed the movements himself,
Incorporating kung fu into a comedic component, he has created his own unique film style.
After two movies, Jackie Chan became a rising star in the film industry.
It also led to the development of comedy, and the remuneration also rose.
At this time, Jackie Chan's film remuneration outside has reached several million,
But Rowe still paid him only a few thousand yuan in wages.
Not only that, But Also, Rowe is also very critical of the people in the company, often delaying wages,
On the contrary, the star Jackie Chan in the company often invites everyone to dinner,
In fact, he was also very poor and could not afford to rent even a better house.
At this time, Jiahe opened a million contract to invite Jackie Chan to join,
On the one hand, Jackie Chan did not want to be ungrateful, and when he was red, he left his mentor.
On the other hand, there was really no development under Rovey.
When he was in a dilemma, Luo Wei learned the news that the old owner was digging people.
Luo Wei found Jackie Chan and proposed to increase his salary, raising a few thousand yuan to tens of thousands of yuan,
At the same time, the default needs to pay a penalty of 100,000 yuan.
But Luo Wei did not draw up a good contract, first let Jackie Chan sign a blank agreement,
After turning back to make up for it and then giving it to him, Jackie Chan signed it without much thought.
At this time, Jiahe saw that Jackie Chan was not moved and doubled the million contract,
This film salary can be regarded as the top salary of Hong Kong movie stars, and Jackie Chan is finally moved.
Just after Jackie Chan ran away from Jiahe, Luo Wei took Jackie Chan to court.
The liquidated damages of the contract were changed from 100,000 to 100,000.
Jackie Chan was completely dumbfounded, he did not expect that his mentor would calculate himself so much,
Tens of millions of liquidated damages can not afford itselves,
And no matter which film company Jiahe or which film company no one compensates for themselves.
Fortunately, Jackie Chan used to have a good reputation in the company,
Former colleagues were willing to testify for him, proving that Rovi was fraudulent,
This allowed Jackie Chan to escape tens of millions of liquidated damages.
But Luo Wei did not give up, he found a thug from New Ngee Ann to attack Jackie Chan.
Jackie Chan was eating out that day, and a group of people from New Ngee Ann came up with the guys.
Hong Kong gang fights have always talked about rules, and they have also given Jackie Chan the opportunity to find helpers.
Hong Jinbao immediately arrived, but the kung fu of the two people was just the flower fist embroidery leg in front of the camera.
Unable to beat the real knife and real gun, then Jackie Chan found the eldest brother Wang Yu.
At this time, Wang Yu was not only a movie star, but also a big man in the Taiwan Bamboo Gang.
The thugs of New Ngee Ann are very interesting and do not want to get into more trouble because of Rovi,
Jackie Chan escaped the pain of flesh and skin.
Wang Yu once cooperated with Jackie Chan and also had a friendship with Luo Wei.
He very much appreciates Jackie Chan's behavior in the world, and has a bit of jianghu temperament.
And it is also very shameful for the behavior of such a villain as Rovey.
Wang Yu personally came forward to negotiate with Luo Wei, which successfully resolved the contradiction between him and Jackie Chan.
Completely separated from Luo Wei's Jackie Chan, he truly became the next kung fu superstar.
Discovered Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, but both turned against each other,
Instead of reflecting on his own problems, Rowe continued to present himself as a mentor.
But Rovey's later films no longer have the glory of the past,
He is conservative and stubborn, sticking to the old-school kung fu films, and it is difficult to produce good works.
At that time, Hong Kong films were at their peak, and Xu Ke and Stephen Chow both created their own styles.
And Luo Wei, who once created the trend, began to follow the trend and imitate.
When Xu Ke filmed "The Ghost of a Woman",
Luo Wei went to Wang Zuxian and NoonMa to shoot "Chasing the Sun".
The name of the tribute is actually naked low-cost plagiarism.
At this moment, Luo Wei encountered another piece of gold, Jet Li.
At that time, Jet Li had already made a name for himself by filming "Shaolin Temple",
But he stopped working because of his injuries and moved to the United States with his wife.
Jet Li in the United States has no drama to film life is very embarrassing,
And at this time, his first child was born, which made him decide to return to Hong Kong to make a movie.
Jet Li's first film on his return to Hong Kong was "The Dragon at the End of the World" with Luo Wei.
Jet Li, who has been learning martial arts since childhood, whether it is temperament, moves or basic skills,
All of them are kung fu stars of the same period cannot be compared.
However, Rowe still stuck to his own opinion and filmed according to the old routine,
The first film, Jet Li, performed well, but did not cause much repercussions.
At this time, Luo Wei's son Luo David saw the shining place of Jet Li,
He snatched Jet Li from his father and signed him to Jiahe.
This led to the later "Huang Feihong" series, making Jet Li another kung fu superstar.
However, David Luo did not cherish Jet Li,
At that time, Jet Li had no relatives in Hong Kong and had no background.
Jiahe maliciously withheld the film remuneration, while David Luo sided with Jiahe and sucked jet Li's blood together.
Fortunately, when the film investor Cai Ziming talked to Jet Li about cooperation, he found unfair treatment.
Behind him is the support of Hong Kong's largest gang, 14K,
Took Jet Li and asked Jiahe to pay the film remuneration according to the agreement,
Otherwise, it will be called "Huang Feihong 2".
At that time, "Huang Feihong 2" had been half filmed and could not be replaced.
And the director Xu Ke, Wu Zhi Yuan Heping are on the side of Jet Li,
This is why Jiahe bowed his head. But soon after, Cai Ziming was shot.
Jet Li also received death threats at one point.
In the end, he signed in Xianghuaqiang's Yongsheng Company, and was protected by New Ngee Ann.
This saved his life, and he also had a good work after that.
Jet Li is the third kung fu superstar that Luo Wei missed,
Obviously, his son also learned from his father's meanness in terms of style of doing things.
Can cooperate with Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, three superstars of the times,
Rowey may be the only one,
But he had a pair of eyes, but he didn't create well.
The achievements of the early years were ruined by the word of mouth in the later years.
When Rowe died in 1996, the judgment and controversy about him came to an end.
Ten years later he was inducted into the Hong Kong Walk of Fame,
His name remains forever on that star-studded avenue,
A tribute to his contributions to Hong Kong cinema.
The last big guy in the jianghu can also be regarded as the biggest respect of the Hong Kong media for Luo Wei.
| Nancy
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