In 1989, Xu Ke and Hu Jinquan, two famous martial arts directors, joined forces to jointly shoot the martial arts film "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu".
With the release of this work, a wave of "new martial arts films" has also begun to spread in the Chinese film industry. Works such as "New Crane Divine Needle", "New Dragon Gate Inn", "The Legend of the White-Haired Witch" and so on have also been born under the impetus of this "wave of martial arts".
However, in this period of "new martial arts films" Yuntun Fog Collection, a "martial arts outlier" was born on the big screen of Hong Kong films, which was "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" released in 1992.
One: Chen Jiashang, who was forced to be a director
At the end of the 1980s, Chen Jiashang, who started as a screenwriter, transformed into a director. In 1991, Chen Jiashang was appreciated by the Xiang brothers and filmed "Truant Weilong" for "Yongsheng Film".
The big sale of this work has made Chen Jiashang gain a lot of market heat. And Chen Jiashang himself also plans to take advantage of the momentum of "Truancy Weilong" to create a "Zheng'er Eight Classics" police film work - "Flying Tiger".
However, in the early 90s, on the big screen of Hong Kong films, martial arts films were popular, and the Xiang brothers deliberately asked Chen Jiashang to shoot a martial arts work based on the character of "Su Qi'er".
For this "Su Qi'er martial arts film", Chen Jiashang's attitude is rejected.
First, he believes that he has never made a martial arts film and lacks experience.
Second, in Chen Jiashang's heart, there were two "Su Qi'er" who were more impressed. One is Yuan Xiaotian in Jackie Chan's version of "Drunken Fist", but this is only a supporting role. One is Zhou Runfa in the 1982 version of "Su Qi'er", but the Fa Ge version of "Su Qi'er" is not very good.
Chen Jiashang believes that even Zhou Runfa can't grasp the role, and few people should be able to play him well.
However, the idea of "Yongsheng Film" to shoot "Su Qi'er Martial Arts Film" is very firm, and if Chen Jiashang does not make this "Su Qi'er Film", the company will not invest in "Flying Tiger" for him.
Forced to be helpless, Chen Jiashang finally took over the work of shooting "Su Qi'er Film".
After taking over the directorship, Chen Jiashang began to think about "how to express the story of the film", since the performance of the character of "Su Qi'er" in the Eight Classics of Zheng'er is difficult, then take the sword to the side and shoot a laughing, obedient Su Qi'er story.
As a result, the story structure of "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" began to gradually take shape in Chen Jiashang's mind, and a person's name also surged into Chen Dao's mind, that is, Zhou Xingchi.
2: Chow Sing Chi who got what he wanted
During the filming of "Truant Weilong", Chen Jiashang saw Chow Sing Chi's excellent control of "comedy roles".
So in "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", Chen Jiashang hopes to cooperate with Zhou Xingchi again. For Chen Jiashang's invitation to cooperate, Zhou Xingchi is also very excited.
Stephen Chow is an out-and-out "Bruce Lee fan". At the beginning of entering the film industry, Stephen Chow always fantasized that he could become a star like Bruce Lee.
However, under the coincidence of chance, he embarked on the road of comedy and acting.
In the early 90s, Zhou Xingchi rose rapidly in the film industry, and at this time, he always hoped to show his fists and feet in the film works and shoot several fight scenes in a serious manner.
Unfortunately, at this time, the directors arranged the action scenes for Zhou Xingchi, which are some funny sections with exaggerated behavior, and there are almost no serious fight scenes.
In 1991, Zhou Xingchi met Chen Jiashang, and the two collaborated on "Truant Weilong".
In this work, Zhou Xingchi got the opportunity to show his fists and feet, and staged two serious action scenes. The completion of the dream of playing drama has also made Zhou Xingchi have more expectations for Chen Jiashang, the director.
In 1992, Chen Jiashang and Zhou Xingchi joined forces again to cooperate in this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er".
In this work, Chen Jiashang further satisfied Zhou Xingchi's "dream of playing drama", and a large number of action fighting bridge sections also allowed Zhou Xingchi to get what he wanted and live enough to play.
3: A major turning point in Stephen Chow's acting career
Although it tries to show the role of "Su Qi'er" in the form of "comedy", "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" is still a martial arts film in the end.
The focus of martial arts films is the performance of the "chivalrous spirit", and from beginning to end, it is full of comedy plots, which is obviously not conducive to the expression of the emotions of the story.
As a result, Chen Jia designed "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" into a work of "mixed sorrow and joy", the first half of the film is a comedy, but from the scene of "Raiding the House", the story gradually reveals a tragic color.
This tragic and joyful story structure adds a lot of interest to the film's plot, and the emotions of the characters under the mixture of tragedy and joy have become more full.
"Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" can be described as a major turning point in Zhou Xingchi's acting career. Before the film, Zhou Xingchi starred in "Gamble Saint", "Gambler", "New Jingwumen", "Truant Weilong" and other works, all from beginning to end, a brain to carry out comedy to the end.
In this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", Zhou Xingchi first tried the "mixed sorrow and joy" style of work, which also influenced the career development of Zhou Xingchi.
Works such as "Journey to the West", "God Eater", "Shaolin Football", "Kung Fu" and other works also profoundly explain "what is funny behind is helplessness, and the core of comedy is sadness".
Wanton: "A Group of the Strongest Dragon Sets" and "Three Strongest Relationship Households"
Zhou Xingchi's performance in this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" is outstanding, and the performances of Wu Mengda, Xu Shaoqiang, Lin Wei, Chen Baixiang, Yuan Xiangren and others also add icing on the cake to the presentation effect of the film.
Each of the characters is full of highlights, and it has also become a key factor in the critical acclaim of this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er".
It is worth mentioning that the last part of the Great Wall scene of "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" was filmed on the spot in Beijing. The dragon set actors who play "Qing Soldiers" and "Disciples of the Beggar Gang" in the film are also people's disciples and soldiers from the army.
Originally, Chen Jiashang planned to shoot the shots in 6 days, and these "dragon set actors" were filmed in 4 days with strong execution.
Chen Jiashang is expected to take an hour to complete the dress-up work, and these "dragon set actors" took only 15 minutes to easily complete.
The amazing time efficiency of these "strongest dragon sets" also shocked Chen Jiashang.
In this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", there are not only a group of "strongest dragon sets", but also 3 "strongest relationship households".
In the film, Li Jianren tried women's clothing for the first time, starring in the classic "like a flower" role. And this classic role has also become a very representative element in the "Stephen Chow Movie" after that.
As we all know, Li Jianren is a good friend of Zhou Xingchi, and it is precisely because of the strong recommendation of his good friend that Li Jianren got the opportunity to participate in the filming of "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er".
Li Jianren is not the only one who enters the crew by relationship, in this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", actress Chen Huiyi starred in the role of the second female "Xiao Cui" in the film.
When filming this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", this Chen Huiyi also had another very conspicuous title on her body - Chen Jiashang's wife.
Mainland actress Yang Mi, who participated in this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" as a child, has been talked about by the audience.
In fact, mainland actor Lin Yushen also participated in the filming of this "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" as a child. Lin Yushen can participate in the filming of this movie, and I believe that she has a close relationship with her mother Li Xiaowan.
After all, when "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" was filmed, Li Xiaowan served as an assistant director in the crew.
Under the "wave of new martial arts films" in the early 90s, countless martial arts film works appeared on the big screen in Chinese, and one hero and chivalrous image after another also laid a deep imprint in the minds of film fans.
At this time, Chen Jiashang, Zhou Xingchi, Wu Mengda and others worked together to shoot such an "anti-martial arts" martial arts work as "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er".
In this work, there are no freehand shots, some are just scenes of laughter and uninhibited; there is no hero who embraces the world and saves the life of the people, and some are just the self-awakening and revenge of a small person.
Alternative stories, sword-walking and sharp-edged performances, and the outstanding performances of a number of powerful filmmakers have made this "anti-martial arts" martial arts work a classic of the times under the craze of martial arts in the 90s. (End)