Author: Zhang Jia
In the "King of Destruction" cooperated by Zhou Xingchi and Wu Mengda, there was a line in which Uncle Da said to Xingye: "Then I will go first, and I will have the opportunity to cooperate later." Star Master responded, "Well, that's it first." The line that made people laugh at the time was swept away by tears on February 27, 2021.
On February 27, the famous "golden supporting actor" Wu Mengda died of liver cancer, and the "lifetime" That people have been looking forward to, Zhou Xingchi and Wu Mengda have never had a chance to cooperate again.
Wu Mengda once revealed that he wanted to make an autobiography, he said that this autobiography is a tragicomedy, hoping to use his own life ups and downs to give others a reflection and reference. His last film was "The Legend of Debao of the Shaolin Temple", which was released during the Spring Festival this year, in which he took a selfie with the lead actor Wang Baoqiang, in which Wu Mengda said: "Don't frown, the most important thing for people is to be happy." "Now that the Si people have passed away, I hope that Uncle Da will have no pain in heaven, only happiness."
Once famous, he became a drunken fan of paper and lost himself
Born in Xiamen on January 2, 1952, Wu Mengda moved to Hong Kong with his family at the age of 7, when he lived in a government low-rent house, a family of several people crowded in a small house, a strict father believed in "filial piety under the stick", and the requirements for Wu Mengda, who was the eldest son, were particularly strict, so Wu Mengda said that he "knelt from childhood to adulthood". Wu Mengda also hid from his father when he entered the show business circle, until one day his father saw Wu Mengda on TV when he was eating, and he was furious at that time, and he did not eat the meal, blaming Wu Mengda for going to the TVB artist training class and not talking to him. After consultation, it was finally agreed that Wu Mengda would go to the company during the day to help him, and at night he could go to filming as an actor.
In an interview, Wu Mengda once said that "when an actor's heart should be right, it should be sincere", which sounds like nothing new, like the "façade words" that every actor will say, but it is Wu Mengda's heartfelt words after four years of pain.
Wu Mengda's only entertainment when he was a child was to go to the movie theater, when the ticket inspector was not serious about checking tickets, he spent two cents to buy a ticket, and then took his two younger brothers to hide in the toilet first, and then sneaked out to watch a movie when the lights were turned off. In 1970, Wu Mengda bought a TV set at home, and he watched "Happy Tonight" every day, which he found very interesting. In Wu Mengda's view, the job of an actor is easy, easy and interesting, so in 1973, he took the TVB TVB artist training class behind his father's back, and the classmates at that time were Zhou Runfa, Lin Lingdong, Wu Runquan, etc., and the four of them were called "developed Dongquan". Wu Mengda's grades in the class were very good, and he also became the deputy class leader.
In the end, 22 people in the class actually graduated, and 7 people signed the full contract, and Wu Mengda was one of the 7 people, "with a fixed salary every month." More than half an hour counts as two columns. 50 yuan a column, ten is your basic salary, I remember just came out of the work is 500 yuan. ”
Wu Mengda later admitted that he entered the film circle because of his greed for vanity, "At that time, I didn't want to love the job of an actor, I only wanted to become famous, and then I did have fame and fortune, but I lost myself." ”
In 1979, Wu Mengda cooperated with Zheng Shaoqiu and Zhao Yazhi in "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang", he played Chu Liuxiang's friend, the drunken cat Hu Tiehua, this role made Wu Mengda popular all over Taiwan, the unknown Wu Mengda also became a "Big Brother", many people pursued him, as soon as the hotel door was opened, there was a vote of girls waiting, a meal, full of people lined up with cups to respect him, the inflated Wu Mengda began to live a life of drunken gold fans, drinking, gambling, and dating different women. Wu Mengda began to find various excuses to drag himself back to Hong Kong to work, and this year in Taiwan made Wu Mengda think that he was floating above the white clouds, but when he opened his eyes, he had fallen into the abyss.
The acting career misses the four years in the trough the most
Wu Mengda stayed in Taiwan for a year and earned more than $100,000, but when Wu Mengda returned to Hong Kong in 1980, he not only had no income, but owed 300,000 Hong Kong dollars in usurious gambling debts. It shows how absurd his life in Taiwan is.
Because of the unruly, the Hong Kong Television Television (TVB) decided to hide him, and Wu Mengda's gambling debts were exposed by the media and almost discredited.
In the artist training class, Zhou Runfa and Du Qifeng's home is far away from the TV City, and sometimes it is inconvenient to go home at night, so they go to Wu Mengda's house to live, and the relationship between the three is very good. After owing a huge gambling debt, Wu Mengda asked Zhou Runfa to borrow money, but zhou Runfa refused, and Du Qifeng also said that Wu Mengda was "mud on the wall".
Being reported by newspapers as bankrupt and being chased for debts by loan sharks made Mr. Ng think of committing suicide, and he later recalled that he was living in Aberdeen, "where there was an Aberdeen pond." I couldn't swim and wanted to jump a hundred times. But in the end there was no courage. ”
Wu Mengda, who was in pain, asked six loan shark bosses to come out and show their cards, saying that he was now a rotten life and had no money to repay the loan sharks, "Either you will kill me now, or give me time, and I will slowly pay you back." After discussion, the bosses decided to let Wu Mengda have a way to live, so that Wu Mengda could make money from filming and then pay it back. Wu Mengda said: "At that time, TVB was really good to me, leaving me a salary, about two thousand per month. At that time, the government stipulated that after bankruptcy, I could only keep half of my salary to live, and the other half had to pay off the debt, so I actually only got half the money. ”
In this way, Wu Mengda began a variety of dragon running sets, and finally paid off the debt after four years. Years later, Wu Mengda said that this painful life has become a brand in his body, making him always remember how much he regretted this absurd time, but he also said that "without those four years, there would be no Wu Mengda now."
In 2019, when Wu Mengda was interviewed by the media, he asked what stage he particularly missed as an actor, wu Mengda said that he missed the four years from 1981 to 1985 the most, "What I love most is this period of time, which is the biggest turning point in my entire film career, I have settled down in these four years, and I will think about the previous things, what is right and what is wrong." In these four years, there are many hardships that cannot be said, but I have also gained a lot of things in the back because of these four years. ”
After "New Brother Za", his career started again
Those four years of life at the bottom of the valley were also four years for Wu Mengda to re-learn and take the job of an actor seriously. In an interview with "Thirteen Invitations", Wu Mengda said that he did not think about giving up the profession of actor at that time, "I don't understand anything else, I don't want to go back to my family to do the medicinal materials business, I have no interest at all, not to mention that I can't pay off the debt, I can only make a living." I wanted face again, and I didn't want to be seen by others as having no way out before I went home. Since there is only one direction, climb it yourself, otherwise what to do. ”
In addition to his work in the past four years, Wu Mengda said that he has been watching the performances of his predecessors, reading the notes of his former teachers, and reading a lot of books on acting, "I have to see paragraph by paragraph, and I think about it paragraph by paragraph." At that time, walking on the road was also thinking about the performance, constantly observing the people around me, normal, abnormal, drunk, including the old lady who pushed the cart on the road to pick up the rags... I try to observe their age, their movements, and guess their mentality. ”
Guan Haishan is Wu Mengda's mentor, when Wu Mengda fell into a trough, Guan Haishan encouraged him, and also sent him "Six Lectures on Acting", so that Wu Mengda could act, Wu Mengda said, "I like to watch the master's play, I have been 'stealing the teacher' behind his back, to see how he acted, and also asked the master for a lot of methods about acting." His acting method is so comprehensive, and it helps me really much. ”
In this way, in 1985, Wu Mengda ushered in a turning point in his career, he cooperated with Liang Chaowei in "Brother Xinzha", played an instructor in it, there was a scene, he scolded Liang Chaowei, the lines were only two pages, he read hundreds of times.
In order to play this small person, Wu Mengda told himself: "If it is only the teacher's reprimand to the students, it can only show the 'evil' of the instructor, but this instructor is 'angry with this student', so in addition to the murder, you must also convince the audience that this instructor values and cherishes this student." So although the mouth is scolding, the eyes must exude a feeling of heartache. ”
After "New Brother Za", Wu Mengda's acting skills were recognized, and he became a good actor for filmmakers and directors.
Thank you Chow Yun-fat for not borrowing money
In 1990, Wu Mengda acted in the movie "Heavenly Love", which made Andy Lau and Wu Qianlian famous in one fell swoop, and also won Wu Mengda the only film award in his life , the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Wu Mengda's role as Taibao became a classic among his many roles. After Wu Mengda's death, Wang Jing wrote in a eulogy: "I met Ada in 1975. Just entered the industry, did TVB variety shows, wrote a sketch for him 'Reporter Da' after countless cooperation. Everyone remembers him and Stephen Chow a lot, but I regarded his and Andy Lau's "Heavenly Love" as the best performance, and won the Academy Award. He is emotional and willful, but willfulness certainly brings him a lot of happiness. At the end of last year, I could have cooperated again in "Chasing Dragons 3", but I was delayed for some reason and did not see it. providence. Ada, all the way, one day will surely see you again. ”
After Wu Mengda won the award in 1991, Zhou Runfa also specially congratulated him, but Wu Mengda still hated Zhou Runfa for not lending him money, and later Du Qifeng told Wu Mengda that Zhou Runfa privately recommended him to the film dealer to act in this play, so that Wu Mengda understood Zhou Runfa's intention to reject him. Zhou Runfa said that if he lent money to Wu Mengda that year, he would have harmed him, "because you will not quit drugs and will not really stand up." ”
Wu Mengda thanked Zhou Runfa for not borrowing money in interviews many times later: "I know that Zhou Runfa completely feels that I should be responsible for myself, and if he helps me again, it will make me a kind of dependence again." This time it helped me, and I continued to pay back the money and continue to play because it didn't teach me a lesson. ”
And Zhou Xingchi achieve each other's achievements
Wu Mengda's acting peak is inseparable from Zhou Xingchi, the two can be described as each other's achievements, the two have cooperated for more than ten years, is the golden age of Zhou Xingchi, but also Wu Mengda's highlight moment.
The first intersection of Wu Mengda and Zhou Xingchi was the famous 83 version of the TV series "The Legend of the Eagle Shooter", the dragon set Zhou Xingchi played a small soldier, the scene was killed by Mei Chaofeng's slap, Zhou Xingchi asked the executive director Du Qifeng: "Can you stop it and die again." Du Qifeng ignored him, and in the end, Zhou Xingchi still added a line to himself - when he was shot to death, he shouted "Ah! In this drama, Wu Mengda played a traitor to the Gang of Beggars, but the two dragon sets did not cooperate at that time.
In 1989, Zhou Xingchi and Wu Mengda formally cooperated for the first time, and the two filmed the TV series "Gestapo", which is considered to be the beginning of Zhou Xingchi's nonsense, a martial arts film, which was acted into a funny film, and Zhou Xingchi's comedic talent began to show. The subsequent "He Comes from the Jianghu" made Zhou Xingchi and Wu Mengda show a high degree of tacit understanding, and a pair of "golden partners" were born.
The 1990 film "Gamble Saint" ushered in the "Stephen Chow era" of Hong Kong films, and this small-budget film won 40 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, breaking the box office record of Hong Kong films. From the 1989 TVB TV series "Gestapo" to the 2001 "Shaolin Football", the two have cooperated more than 20 times in 12 years, including "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", "The King of Comedy", "The Whole Trick Expert", "Truant Weilong", "Journey to the West" and so on, there is no shortage of golden partners in the Hong Kong film industry, but the most popular is the pair of Stephen Chow and Wu Mengda.
In the early years, Zhou Xingchi lived opposite Wu Mengda, only one street in the middle. "You can walk to his house in a minute, and sometimes you go to work and work to shoot scenes together. We talked about a style together, something different from the way we have seen and people have seen the performance before, so it broke out in Hong Kong. This style was later called "nonsense", and Wu Mengda laughed, although he had never understood what "nonsense" meant. Because they live close, the two often get together to eat, discuss the script, and go to the park to see how the couple interacts to make their performances more interesting, sometimes Zhou Xingchi and his mother talk in a bad tone, Wu Mengda will also remind Zhou Xingchi. As a "green leaf", Wu Mengda not only dutifully played for Zhou Xingchi during the performance, but also a "conciliator" between the grumpy Zhou Xingchi and other personnel on the set.
Unfortunately, after "Shaolin Football", the two have no cooperation, the outside world about the contradiction between the two has been heard endlessly, Wu Mengda admitted that the relationship between the two is not as close as before, but he has always praised Zhou Xingchi is a genius, and has repeatedly clarified that the two do not cooperate, not because of contradictions. Wu Mengda said before his death that Zhou Xingchi originally had his role when filming "Kung Fu", no cooperation was due to the delay caused by "SARS", and then he took over the TV series without a schedule, so he could not take over the performance, and later Zhou Xingchi looked for him to cooperate again when filming "The Mermaid", but he refused because of physical problems, because Zhou Xingchi filming has always been harsh, Wu Mengda worried that his body could not stand it, dragging Zhou Xingchi's hind legs.
Shortly before his hospitalization this year, Wu Mengda also said when attending a show, "As long as I am alive, he (Zhou Xingchi) is alive and still doing this business, there will always be opportunities for cooperation." ”
In 2014, the news of his death came out
Wu Mengda suffered from liver cancer at the end of last year, and on February 20 this year, he was admitted to the hospital due to a serious illness, and finally died on the 27th. As early as 2014, Wu Mengda had the news of his death.
In 2013, Wu Mengda suffered from diabetes, but he ate and drank as usual, and later once saw a makeup artist friend crying, a question to learn that her husband will be amputated due to diabetes surgery, since then Wu Mengda halved the amount of food, dare not touch sugar. In 2014, Wu Mengda was admitted to the ICU because of heart failure caused by a viral infection. Wu Mengda later recalled that the experience of living in the ICU frightened him, seeing the patients around him dying, the family crying and shouting "come back", he was shocked that he should not belong here, hurriedly asked for a separate ward, and carried the machine on his back every day. One day he felt uncomfortable taking the machine to the toilet, so he took it down, who knew that just after sitting on the toilet, the medical staff rushed in thinking that he had some emergency.
That serious illness made Wu Mengda lose 30 pounds, and since then Wu Mengda quit smoking and alcohol, he recalled that time, saying, "Although I want to do a lot of things in my heart, I feel powerless." I haven't filmed for a few years, and I feel as if I'm getting farther and farther away from the audience, and when the night is quiet, I feel as if I'm leaving. ”
In recent years, although his health is not good, but Wu Mengda still has a lot of work, he admitted that because he has to take care of 3 families and 5 children, the economic pressure is high, he has to work all the time, but Wu Mengda said that he loves acting, so he does not feel hard.
Wu Mengda has three marriages, the first two wives gave birth to 3 daughters for him, Wu Mengda and the current wife Hou Shanyan married in 1996, have 1 son and 1 daughter, he stressed in an interview with the media that he is not a flower man, but also a very famous "afraid of his wife".
From the film for more than forty years, did not live up to the word actor
In order to make money, Wu Mengda acted in a lot of plays, he admitted that there are a lot of bad films, but he said that he has sincerity in treating each role, and each role has his own heart, even if it is a bad film, he hopes to use his own performance to help it. "When you are an actor, you can do it as hard as you can. Every script, every line of dialogue, I probably watched it more than 50 times. ”
Wu Mengda believes that he can be in the show business circle for so many years with "sincerity": "In the play, every shot, I am desperate, you will see sincerity, not casual." I never bring the script to the scene, because I am at home, when people are sleeping, I take care of all the scripts, this is true, this is my sincerity, the audience will see that this actor still has a lot of sincerity in acting. "From the film for more than forty years, I have not lived up to the word actor."
When cooperating with "The Wandering Earth", Wu Jing once posted on Weibo: "Playing against Teacher Wu Mengda, he did not use the script, and memorized the other party's lines." ”
Due to physical reasons, Wu Mengda has rarely made major plays in recent years, and "The Wandering Earth" has been stationed in the group for 100 days, which is a long time. To shoot this play, Wu Mengda not only had to wear a 70-pound costume, but also had to hang pressure. After each shot, he needed to take in oxygen.
Wu Mengda admitted that he cried hard for the first time in so many years: "I cried when I went home, I think I am 66 years old, why do I have to suffer this, am I without food?" Is my acting career over? ”
The physical condition can not keep up with Wu Mengda sad, but also let him cry because he knows that the actor career is coming to an end, so in the winter of 2018 in the interview with "Thirteen Invitations", Wu Mengda said "I am old", this helpless shot, at that time, many netizens sighed.
In that show, Wu Mengda talked about death, he admitted that this is a fact that everyone can't change, many people are afraid of death, because they will worry about their families, "However, I believe that I will feel that death is not terrible, I have been grateful, I have suffered so many injuries, I have been so sick, but I can live until now, this is already a place where I am grateful, many people ran away at the age of forty or fifty." ”
Wu Mengda said before his death that he wanted to act in tragedy, saying that before he cooperated with Zhou Xingchi, he acted in a drama and tragedy. In Wu Mengda's view, death is the last tragedy of life, and life is just a super dream, living until an old man like him, he will find that life is sweet and sour, and it is enough to eat a happy meal. (Zhang Jia)
Source: Beijing Youth Daily