Zhou Xingchi is 59 years old, and the only people who remember celebrating his birthday are Cecilia Cheung, Lin Yun and E Jingwen.
Lin Yun released an old photo of Zhou Xingchi and wrote, "Happy birthday to the handsome and cute boss."
Cecilia Cheung also attached stills from that year's "The King of Comedy", writing, "Happy birthday." ”
Zhou Xingchi in the old photo is still a handsome star chi, but the Zhou Xingchi in reality is of course old.
The last time he appeared in public view was on March 7, when he showed up to bid farewell to Wu Mengda, and in the photo he looked sad, full of white hair, and even needed help from an assistant.
These days, the most news about him is not the legendary "Mermaid 2" and "Kung Fu 2", but one lawsuit after another, first the ex-girlfriend Yu Wenfeng sued for money, and finally although the court ruled that Yu Wenfeng lost the lawsuit, the former couple's ending is still regrettable. Then, on June 3, New Culture, which had worked closely with Xingye, sued Zhou Xingchi for a total of 841 million yuan in compensation for principal and interest.
After one spring, summer, autumn and winter, he is still alone in the face of these winds and rains.
Recalling the most brilliant years of Stephen Chow, so many beauties once shone dazzling in his movies, and then quietly disappeared around him on a certain day in a certain month of a certain year, and have since disappeared without a trace.
Just like when Gong Li filmed "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang", the two met and cooperated again.
But Gong Li said that the two had never seen each other since.
But the more so, the more reminiscent of the golden age of StarGirl. Zhang Min, Maggie Cheung, Derong Chen, Shuzhen Qiu, Yongyi Yuan, Yin Zhu, Liti Zhong, Yuqi Zhang, Shengyi Huang... In addition to post-film actresses such as Maggie Cheung, if others take off the starring Chow Sing Chi movies, the starry sky of the movie will be much dimmer.
Today, such a grand occasion is no longer the same. It seems that the older Zhou Xingchi is, the more he can't hold up a new generation of star girls.
From the time when the style was flourishing to the head of white hair, Zhou Xingchi seemed to have finally lost his comedic beauty.
But after seeing cecilia Cheung's star path over the years, I know more about star masters.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > star girl in the golden age of Hong Kong films: the most beautiful Zhang Min, the most suitable Maggie Cheung, the most uncooperative Gong Li</h1>
Among the Hong Kong film gangsters, it is recognized that two people are the most capable of filming women,
One is Xu Ke and the other is Zhou Xingchi.
The beauty in Stephen Chow's film is innocent, pure, and a dream of Xingye, and the greater the contrast, the more out of reach, and the more intense the dramatic effect.
And all the star girls are like a starry sky above Stephen Chow's comedy, reflecting the brilliance and loneliness of Stephen Chow's comedy all the way. The fate of the star girl illuminates the ups and downs of Zhou Xingchi's comedy.
The early star girl of star comedy, or rather, the star girl in the true sense, is actually closer to the goddess in the golden age of Hong Kong films.
This kind of actress is also the most beautiful wave under the time hong kong wind filter, such as Zhang Min, who has cooperated with Xingye the most times.
Zhang Min and Stephen Chow's first classic cooperation, that is, the movie that made Stephen Chow change from star boy to star master.
In 1989, Wang Jing made a "God of Gamblers", which set off a wave of gambling films. In the same year, Wu Siyuan and Yuan Kui chatted in Macao, mentioned this matter, and heard that Qigong was hot, so it was better to save the two elements together and make a movie.
After returning to Hong Kong, Yuan Kui found Liu Zhenwei and locked him up in the hotel to write the script of "Gamble Saint".
It just so happened that Wu Siyuan watched "A Comic Book Breaks into the End of the World" starring Stephen Chow at that time, the script was average, but Zhou Xingchi's performance was extremely brilliant, so he opened 700,000 Hong Kong dollars to Xingye and said: "After acting in this movie, I guarantee that you will become a superstar." ”
Of course, Zhou Xingchi did not believe such a senseless prophecy, mainly rushing to the 700,000. The heroine of the film is Zhang Min, who has cooperated with "Best Son-in-Law" in 1988.
Unexpectedly, "Gamble Saint" recovered all costs within three days of release, and finally broke the box office record in film history with 41.32 million. Zhou Xingchi also completed the upgrade because of Wu Junru's "star master", and pried the throne of the king of Hong Kong comedy.
After that, Zhou Xingchi signed a contract with Yongsheng, and the actress who Xiang Huaqiang praised that year was Zhang Min.
In 1992, Xingye made 7 movies by himself, of which 5 won the top 5 of the annual box office, and Zhang Min alone cooperated with him in two films, and in "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", Zhang Min was so beautiful that people could not take their eyes off it.
In "Truant Weilong 1", Zhang Min is mature and moving.
But in "Truancy Weilong 2", in order to make some waves in the love story in the Star Ye film, the screenwriter joined the role of the female second, this actress, that is, 20-year-old Zhu Yin,
Zhu Yin is really bright-eyed and good-looking in the film, and her acting is bright and agile, and she creates a Hong Kong film classic when she looks back, and even overshadows the conservative first female advocate Min.
It didn't take long for the two to be together.
This relationship of "Lang Cai's female appearance" was once optimistic about the outside world, and even Zhou Xingchi's mother was very satisfied with Zhu Yin.
However, that period of time was the peak of Zhou Xingchi's comedy, and Zhou Xingchi and Wu Mengda Li Li, who were busy thinking about the bridge, held together far more time than Zhu Yin, and this relationship was doomed to collapse.
It was also during this period that the Star Girl changed and changed.
The star girl who most matched Stephen Chow in terms of acting skills during this period was no one else, it was Maggie Cheung, the queen of Hong Kong films.
"Family Happy Event" Zhou Xingchi originally did not want to shoot, reported a sky-high price to Huang Baiming: 8 million Hong Kong dollars, who thought that Huang Baiming promised, 8 million on 8 million, Xingye had to go to act.
From beginning to end of the film, it is Maggie Cheung who plays the opposite role with Stephen Chow, and the performance of the two in the film is alternative, absurd and harmonious, thus creating a Hong Kong film classic: the inverted Eiffel Tower.
This comedy has also become a symbol of Stephen Chow's status at the peak of Hong Kong films.
Later, Zhou Xingchi also cooperated with Maggie Cheung in "JiGong", and it was this drama that exploded Du Qifeng, and since then there has been no cooperation with Xingye.
But Maggie Cheung's little jade in the film can be called one of the most ancient costumes of Man Shen.
Another person who cooperates with Xingye is Qiu Shuzhen, who made a lot of Wang Jing comedies that year, and Qiu Shuzhen is Wang Jing's first favorite.
Xingye and Qiu Shuzhen collaborated 4 times, the most classic of which is, of course, the 1992 "Deer DingJi".
One is the eccentric Princess Jianning, and the other is the cunning Wei Xiaobao. Some people say that Qiu Shuzhen is one of the few actresses who play treasure with Zhou Xingchi and are not lost to Zhou Xingchi.
But there is also an actress who not only does not lose to Zhou Xingchi, but even overpowers Zhou Xingchi, that is, Mei Yanfang.
In "Death Judge", Mei Yanfang's role is not only equal to Xingye, but even her mouth is wider than Xingye, probably because the role of Mei Gu is too powerful, Xingye did not cooperate with her after that, and later, there was no chance.
To "The King of Destruction", Zhou Xingchi found the 24-year-old Zhong Liti who became popular in Southeast Asia with "The Legend of the Mermaid", and the Zhong Liti in the film is still the standard public lover, which perfectly meets the requirements of Star Ye comedy.
But there are always actresses who are not obedient enough to obey the arrangement, and in the long career of directing, the only actress who makes The Star Master most uncertain and compromises the most is Gong Huang.
"Shanghai Beach Gambling Saint" The two cooperated for the first time, and Gong Li played two roles, which was beautiful and eye-catching.
When it came to "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang", the role of Qiu Xiang was tailor-made for Wang Zuxian, but when Wang Zuxian received the script of Qiu Xiang, because of the schedule problem, he pushed off this play, and Zhou Xingchi had to find Gong Li to save the scene.
Gong Li herself said that when she starred in "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang", she received decent acting training and could not integrate into that atmosphere at all.
Because Gong Li does not play ugly, Xingye had to discuss with Li Lizhi the use of a stand-in fat girl to show the scene after being beaten.
When Zhou Xingchi sang RAP, All of Huafu was shocked by his skills, and even Lady Hua, Zheng Peipei, erected her explosive head, and only Gong Li did not change her makeup.
Later, Emperor Gong himself also felt some regrets, saying that he must have let go of the performance now. But it is so uncooperative, Zhou Xingchi filmed "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang" and told Gong Li that the next play will be cooperated. No way, it's Emperor Gong!
Xingye's next play is 1994's "Nine Pin Sesame Officer", but the protagonist is not Gong Li, but Zhang Min, which is also the last work that Zhang Min and Zhou Xingchi cooperated.
After that, Zhang Min faded out of the show business circle and took another path.
And Zhou Xingchi also began to try to complete a personal breakthrough, he set up his own film company, the first shot at the beginning, is the "Journey to the West" series that made the company finally close.
From the preparation of "Journey to the West", Zhou Xingchi gave the heroine of the second part to Zhu Yin, and the heroine of the first part was called Mo Wenwei.
In the movie, the Supreme Treasure and the Zixia Fairy are unswervingly in love to death, and Bai Jingjing, played by Karen Mok, has no choice but to quit, outside the movie, the story is just the opposite.
After filming "Journey to the West", Zhu Yin bid farewell to Zhou Xingchi after three years of filming.
Referring to the reason for the breakup, she said, "At first I thought the reason was in myself, but then I found out that it was his immature mind, and I mean the love mind."
And Karen Mok soon became the new star's girlfriend.
After the fiasco of "Journey to the West", Zhou Xingchi returned to low-cost, high-yield comedy in order to regain his vitality, and the first cannon to revive was 1996's "God Eater".
Karen Mok played the ugly "Turkey Sister" in it. Playing himself so ugly, in addition to Mo Wenwei's open-mindedness, another reason is naturally Zhou Xingchi.
In "Big Inner Secret Agent Zero Zero Hair", Xingye decided to find a heavyweight actress to play, in the film, Zhou Xingchi played by Ah Fa seems to be weak and incompetent, but his wife has never abandoned him, no matter what the decision is to support him.
Ah Fa told her to roll, and Liu Jialing's character would say very gently: "I will give you a bowl of noodles to eat."
This is probably the most unlikely role played by Liu Jialing, but the most brilliant female role in the film is still the role played by Li Ruotong.
"God Eater" and "The Great Inner Secret Agent" both re-entered the top five of the annual box office, and the vitality lost by "Journey to the West" finally made up for the loss of Zhou Xingchi, and Zhou Xingchi decided to make a movie that he really wanted to make, which is "The King of Comedy".
In order to find the heroine, Xingye conducted a huge audition, during the interview, a girl who looked a little arrogant appeared, Zhou Xingchi gave her a pen to let her pretend to smoke, the girl was very tiger, and said "Why pretend?" Give me a real support."
Zhou Xingchi decided to play the role of Liu Piaopiao for her, and later she won the Academy Award for Best Newcomer, this girl, is Cecilia Cheung.
It is also from this movie that Zhou Xingchi personally served as the director, completely becoming the only king of Zhou Xingchi's comedy world, the era of star girls, and truly opened.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="165" > star girls who were touted by Zhou Xingchi: from Zhang Yuqi to Huang Shengyi, they all passed by Zhou Xingchi</h1>
In 1999, "The King of Comedy" helped Xingye return to the Hong Kong film champion, although only 29.84 million Hong Kong dollars, but how to find the state, Xingye wanted to shoot idol Bruce Lee, and later decided to shoot a kung fu comedy to test the waters, that is, "Shaolin Football".
Just when Zhao Wei became popular with "Huan Zhu Gege", Zhou Xingchi immediately found Zhao Wei and asked her to play the role of the alien Ronaldo in the film.
"Shaolin Soccer" is a big hit. Zhou Xingchi finally decided to shoot what he had always wanted to shoot
That kung fu comedy, come and go, the title is called "Kung Fu".
Star Girl, seemingly irregular. But a commonality is the sense of mass loverhood and the accompanying pure vitality of neighborly beauty.
So in 2003, before Huang Shengyi graduated, he was selected by Zhou Xingchi to be the heroine of "Kung Fu". It is also in this movie that Huang Shengyi contributed his peak acting skills.
The fairy shed tears, and I saw pity.
"Kung Fu" was a big hit again, and Zhou Xingchi decided to quit the performance, only to be a director, and the first shot was "Journey to the West to Descend the Devil".
Although the starring role is Shu Qi, the real popular star girl is a 65-year-old aunt - Zhang Mei'e.
She played one of the "Four Beauties of the Wilderness" in the middle, speaking a Hengdian Mandarin: "You said it earlier, why didn't you say it earlier, you said it earlier..."
By the time of The Mermaid, she became a member of the mermaid family.
Zhang Mei'e, who has been working hard in Hengdian for a long time, said that Zhou Xingchi is the best and best director under the heavens. When filming "The Mermaid", I talked to her as soon as I had time, hugged her shoulders, and stood together to chat. Sometimes he would ask, Auntie, why aren't you cold, are you not cold or not afraid of cold? I said that everything is afraid of coming out, and if you are not afraid of cold, you will not be cold. Zhou Xingchi kept laughing when he heard it.
"Mermaid" is also Zhou Xingchi and Zhang Yuqi's second ice-breaking cooperation, and the former star girl has become the opposite, from the pure love of "Yangtze River Seven" to the vicious female second, but it is even redder.
Zhang Yuqi did not ask to sign a contract at all, Zhou Xingchi came by a phone call, so the media wrote that she was a zero-paid actor, in fact, after filming the movie, Zhou Xingchi sealed a tens of millions of red envelopes for her, and the rumors about Xingye's miserliness have always been suspicious.
"The Mermaid" hit a record box office, and it was precisely when the mainland market began to develop rapidly, and the first domestic film to dominate was a comedy.
In such a big environment, the "king of comedy" Zhou Xingchi should not give in. Even if you don't star, find a new person to be the heroine of the same big sale.
But the trend of the times changed, and soon, the action movie "Red Sea Action" counterattacked a number of comedies and became box office overlords; "Peerless" defeated the happy twist of "Li Cha's Aunt".
A brand-new domestic film box office relay race kicked off the prelude to history.
And when Zhou Xingchi stepped on that piece of jianghu again, he did not know that the jianghu had changed, and his comedy and star girl would face a completely different fate.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="167" > Why Zhou Xingchi did not praise the red star girl: Lin Yun, after all, it was wrongly paid</h1>
In the stage of "Kung Fu", the few who were closest to us and gradually became less splashed, at least after stepping on the pure springboard of Star Girl, jumped onto a completely different path of fame.
But the last well-known star girl is different from the past.
That year, "Mermaid" and "The King of Comedy" held a huge draft like "King of Comedy" that year, but a Cecilia Cheung was selected that year, and this time Lin Yun was selected.
At that time, the news of Lin Yunzhong's selection was not what Xingye said, but an assistant director told her, "Congratulations, you play the turtle chengxiang", and then she said "Good! The assistant director then said, "The character is going to shave his head," and then she said, "Act! ”
The assistant director's Guan Zi sold out, so he told Lin Yun that it was the actress Number One.
In fact, from the "Mermaid" sea selection, it can be seen that Zhou Xingchi does not want how beautiful and good his acting skills are, but he must be pure and outstanding, and even have a sense of inhumanity.
Lin Yun just hit the requirements of the star, the movie was released, Lin Yun's acting skills are not lacking in controversy, but he also became a 3 billion + box office heroine overnight.
But to "The King of New Comedy", Xingye's draft model is not good, from before the release to the release, most of the discussion focuses on whether Zhou Xingchi is Jiang Lang to fry cold rice, and whether there is a consumer feeling.
Although "Star Girl" Ejingwen once became a hot topic, the focus of the discussion was: Why is it her?
And this time, "The New King of Comedy" failed to create a box office miracle.
The audience said that if Xingye still wants to break the record in film history again, it is estimated that he can only wait for him to personally star in "Kung Fu 2".
And Ejingwen also quickly followed the film down silently.
After "The Mermaid", Lin Yun's acting skills have always been in place.
In "A Kiss and a Promise of Love", her "Yuanqi Girl" face was questioned, and the mango idol drama she starred in, Zhang Xincheng, who had good acting skills, could not pull back, creating the bottom of the mango drama's ratings that year.
A new generation of box office flowers has gradually become a million beauty Internet celebrities.
Those star girls have left the purest fragments of light and shadow in a certain period of Stephen Chow's comedy.
However, when star comedy loses its market dominance, the brilliance of star girls also dims.
In the past decade, the most glorious star girl has been surprising.
On the evening of June 12, Henan Radio and Television Station broadcast a special program of the Dragon Boat Festival in the Chinese Festival series - Dragon Boat Festival Fantastic Tour. The first stop of the wonderful tour is Cao Zhi's encounter with Luoshui, the land of Luoshen.
Underwater Chinese style dance "Roselle Water Endowment", the dancer incarnated as "Roselle" beautifully appeared, or danced with his sleeves, or turned his skirt around, or was strong and powerful, or Lou Ting Yuanna, the water danced with the dance, and the clothes fluttered. Netizens praised it, "Flying like a surprise, graceful like a dragon." ”
After the program was broadcast, everyone learned that this exquisite "mermaid" also participated in Stephen Chow's movie "The Mermaid" and played Lin Yun's water substitute.
In a sense, she is also a "star girl".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="168" > Xingye lost his beauty: but after seeing them, I knew Zhou Xingchi better</h1>
Many people wondered why Xingye was so good to Lin Yun, and it was not like zhu Yin Mo Wenwei in the past, but like a daughter, full of elderly love.
The answer, perhaps, is that Star-Lord is old.
But another question is: Lin Yun, who has the escort of the star, why from the box office actress flop who was ordered at that time to the variety show + Internet celebrity who has no new drama to play, the answer is her acting skills.
It's easy to come to a simple conclusion: the girl is excellent, while the star girl is mediocre.
On the surface, it is true, but looking at the deep layer, it seems that it is not so simple.
It is said that the acting skills of star girls are not good, but why in the movie of Stephen Chow, no one thinks that Lin Yunhuang Shengyi's acting skills are so bad.
The real key may be that in Stephen Chow's comedy, it has always been "I am the character, the role is me".
That is to say, even if Stephen Chow does not act, any role in Stephen Chow's comedy is like a projection of a certain part of Stephen Chow himself.
On the surface, Star Girl is either a harlequin or a beautiful horn.
But in fact, all the star girls carry a purity that is not contaminated.
They may not be perfect, they may appear clumsy, simple, straight, and even have all kinds of personality and birth defects, some dumb, some ugly, and some are not even human.
But in the end, they must all have a heart that fights for love, and their personalities are perfect and close to idealization.
Just like the earliest willows fluttering, they can blossom from the mud.
On the surface, Zhou Xingchi's films, the requirements for the actor's acting skills are actually not high.
Joy and sorrow, can not pursue the level and rhyme.
But under the guidance of Zhou Xingchi, it can tap into the most moving characteristics of each actress.
For example, Huang Shengyi did not have acting skills at that time, then it was the best, beautiful. Zhang Yuqi became a domineering queen, then in the movie, let her exert her domineering to the extreme. Zhu Yin has Reiki, so go to the end.
From this point of view, the loneliness of the star girls is also inevitable. No matter how high they highlight in the film, they only serve as green leaves for Zhou Xingchi, and no one can really overshadow his highlights.
The result is that the brilliance of all star girls, in the final analysis, is just the refraction of Zhou Xingchi's aura.
Once they leave the Chow Sing Chi movie, they must look at their true skills, lucky, such as Zhang Yuqi, with the tiger spirit to break out of the world, but the most glorious role, or stay in the Chow Sing Chi movie.
If the strength is not enough, the aura will fade, and everyone will be lost.
Looking back at the story of the Star Girl that has happened in the long river of years, many things have changed.
After leaving Zhou Xingchi, Mo Wenwei, married her first love, was spoiled as a princess, and the best role in the movie is still Bai Jingjing, but recently she overturned because of her style.
Cecilia Cheung has long been released from the previous suspicions with Xingye Bing, the new version of the king of comedy was released, Cecilia Cheung went to give Chow Xingchi publicity, and the two also reproduced the classic action of dragging their chins, but cecilia Cheung in these years, there is no good drama anymore, around her suspense, it is always who the father of the three children is.
After leaving Zhou Xingchi, Huang Shengyi's career began to decline. For a time, he concentrated on being a rich wife until "Sister Lang" made a comeback.
Zhu Yin married Huang Guanzhong and had a cute little daughter, but the movie was no longer her jianghu.
The first generation of star girls, Li Hui who "stepped on banana peels" in "Shaolin Football",
After the expiration of the contract, he left Zhou Xingchi's Xinghui company with Chen Guokun and others, filmed several dramas, but still did not become popular, and faded out of the show business circle in 2014. The reporter once interviewed her: "Do you have any dissatisfaction with Zhou Xingchi?" ”
She did not utter a bad word: "Xinghui is a very mature company, but it is not suitable for the development of artists, Zhou Xingchi is an artist, not a businessman, he will not promote his own artists." ”
There are also some star girls whose fate is lamentable - for example, "like a flower" Li Jianren.
When "Shaolin Football" was released that year, Zhou Xingchi won the award and got soft hands, and li Jianren hugged and cried with Li Jianren at the celebration banquet.
Years later, Lee still remembers that night that excited everyone. But he suffered a stroke last year, almost half-dead, and I don't know how it is now.
For another example, Lan Jieying, who played the spider spirit in "Journey to the West", bloomed for the last time in the film, and her fate has been rough since then, and finally passed away.
Of course, the fate of the change is also Zhou Xingchi himself.
In this year's Spring Festival file, "Tang Detective 3" once swept the box office and was stunning by foreign media, and as a result, the reputation declined halfway, allowing Jia Ling, the sister of Chen Sicheng's chinese drama, to win the crown with a family comedy.
To say that the amusing degree of the movie, not to mention the comparison with "Charlotte Troubles" and "Tai 囧", even if it is compared with "Party A and Party B", it is slightly inferior. However, under the favorable circumstances of various times and places, "Li Huanying" raised the box office record of domestic comedy films to 5 billion+ in one fell swoop, and Shen Teng became a new box office king and a new comedy king.
And Zhou Xingchi, from the spirited teenager of that year, to the gray hair, the king of comedy, is about to become the king of lawsuits. And Wu Mengda, who shared happiness and hardship with him at that time, could not come back.
The golden age of star girls, of course, can not come back.
From the absolutely beautiful dream, to the "beautiful woman" who digs her nostrils and leaves stubble, and runs from afar, to the willow floating mermaid, all the star girls are part of Zhou Xingchi's comedy, they once left brilliant, but also with the golden age of star comedy, they stayed in the past together.
Zhou Xingchi's comedy is gone, and the era of Star Girl is gone.
About Zhou Xingchi, there are always too many nostalgia, but it is impossible to go back to the past, just like from Cecilia Cheung to Lin Yun, celebrating the birthday of 59-year-old Zhou Xingchi, the hair can only be old photos.
The aging of Xingye and the slow decline of Stephen Chow's comedy are irreversible trends of the times, put on the long river of domestic film history, it is not necessarily a bad thing, the short video era, there is no longer the king of comedy, everyone is the king of comedy, everyone can be a star girl.
Is comedy more funny? I don't know.
But the past does not have to be too regretful, just look back and remember that the bright starlight at that time was so beautiful.
Then let the time go back to June 22, 1962, a beautiful boy was born in the poor area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, the mother Ling Bao'er is a native of Bao'an County, Guangdong Province, originally a show for everyone, quoting the "Tengwang Pavilion Preface" "Xiongzhou Fog Column, Juncai Xingchi, Taihuang Pillow Yixia Intersection, Guests and Hosts Do the Beauty of Southeast China".
Therefore, the boy was named Zhou Xingchi.
And Ling Bao'er may be the most irreplaceable star girl in the 59-year life movie of Star Ye.
Well, whether life is sad or happy, you have to experience, the 59-year-old king of comedy, happy birthday.