In 1994, on the shooting scene of "East Evil and West Poison", director Wong Kar-wai was angry at the soundtrack: "How can there still be birds?" Delete it for me right away. ”
The soundtrack artist believes that this seagull sound can express Maggie Cheung's desolate state of mind at that time, just right, and insists on not deleting it.
The two disagreed and quarreled on the spot.
Liang Chaowei, Lin Qingxia, Zhang Guorong, and others who were tortured by Wong Kar-wai on the sidelines were stunned, because no one had ever dared to argue with Wong Kar-wai on the set, but what surprised them even more was still to come.
After a while, Wong Kar-wai actually chose to compromise.
This rather bumpy film score is the classic "Heaven and Earth Lonely Shadow" that is now resounding in the north and south, and his author is Chen Xunqi, who is known as "the last film genius in Hong Kong".
Born rich, the family road falls, the teenager survives, meets Bo Le, and soars into the sky - the starting point of the big male protagonist Shuangwen classic routine, it is most suitable to use it on Chen Xunqi's body.
Chen Xunqi, born in Hong Kong in 1951, when Chen Xunqi was doing business, he also lived a period of rich young master's life, but the good times were not long, within a few years, Chen Xunqi's business failed, Chen Xunqi's life also turned around, even the first ticket of the movie could not afford to pay, and he dropped out of school to work to support himself in his teens.
Even if he can't afford the first ticket, Chen Xunqi will still try to save money to watch two or three shows, and the movie has a mysterious attraction to him, making him obsessed with it and yearning for closeness.
At that time, there was no special art school, and it was very difficult for ordinary people to enter the film circle, but Chen Xunqi was helped by relatives when he was 15 years old and studied with Wang Fuling.
Wang Fuling is the "Chief Soundtrackist of Shaw", and has a supreme position in the field of film scoring, and the classic songs such as "My Chinese Heart" and "No Love" are from his hands.
It just so happened that he had the idea of "taking an apprentice" at that time, so he pushed the boat along the water, and Chen Xunqi came to him.
Wang Fuling liked it as soon as he saw him, and said to him: "I can see that you love movies, and this, coupled with hard work, is enough to make you a good soundtrack." ”
The teenager's enthusiasm and love for the fate of the movie, Chen Xunqi studied hard with his mentor, and Wang Fuling also taught this disciple.
Within a year, Wang Fuling picked up a few small jobs for the little apprentices to practice, and Chen Xunqi did not live up to his master's expectations and did a good job.
In the process of studying and working, he also figured out the relationship between the film and the soundtrack: music does not have to be magnificent to express that feeling, and simple people can also like it.
Chen Xunqi's scoring style quietly took shape at the beginning of his studies.
Since then, this emaciated teenager has been rooted in the Hong Kong showbiz circle of fame and fortune, in order to make himself look more mature and not be despised by directors, he deliberately grew a mustache, and this became the label of Chen Xunqi's life.
Less than 2 years after studying the soundtrack, Chen Xunqi's talent attracted his second mentor in life, Zhang Che.
At that time, Zhang Che was a film master, and his status in Southeast Asia was second to none, while Chen Xunqi was only a 17-year-old hairy boy, although his aura was compelling, he had never been alone, but Zhang Che was assured to let him pick the beam. Trusted by such a master, Chen Xunqi was immediately aroused with enthusiasm.
In fact, Zhang Che is not "kind", he is well versed in the psychology of young people: how dare he disappoint people when he is just starting out and being appreciated by the master?
The two were mutual achievements, and Zhang Che promoted Chen Xunqi.
In 1971, Chen Xunqi scored Zhang Che's "New One-Armed Knife", which continued the glory of the previous work "One-Armed Knife", allowing Zhang Che's name to once again think through the north and south of the river.
And Chen Xunqi also let his name spread throughout the Hong Kong showbiz circle, many people followed the fame to find him for a song, and even directors in Southeast Asia and Taiwan also competed for invitations.
In his 12 years as a soundtrack, Chen Xunqi has won more than 70% of the soundtracks of the Hong Kong film industry and participated in the music production of more than 300 films.
During the time when he focused on the soundtrack, Hong Kong martial arts action movies were popular, and Chen Xunqi was also obsessed with martial arts, he spent a year practicing taekwondo to black belt, practicing until it was boring, looking for a teacher to practice white eyebrow boxing, and he stalked and beat the true legend of the teacher.
After learning the real kung fu, Chen Xunqi drank wine and compared with Jackie Chan Yuanbiao and others, the foot was used as a hand, and the kicking speed was extremely fast, which was dazzling. Having such a superior martial arts foundation laid a good foundation for Chen Xunqi to later change careers to filmmaking.
Chen Xunqi is less than 30 years old and already has the height of "the first person to score music", and there are also troubles in fame and fortune: suffering from the fact that the world does not understand the importance of music for movies. At that time, many people in the film industry thought that the soundtrack was only a "necessity" for the film, and that was nothing more, and it did not have much effect.
Chen Xunqi was not convinced, and thought: Well, I will try to be a director too!
Subsequently, Chen Xunqi contacted the bald director at the time, Mai Jia, to be his assistant director for free and learn from him. Mai Jia was surprised to hear that the top soundtrack artist was coming to me as a free coolie? Couldn't ask for more.
In this way, Chen Xunqi began to follow Mai Jia to become an assistant director, but it did not take long before he was pulled back by his friend Jackie Chan.
One day, Jackie Chan did not see Chen Xunqi on the set, felt strange, and gave him a BP machine.
"Where are you?"
"I'm here in McGarthal, talking about the script."
"What script are you talking about, and aren't you on the soundtrack?"
"I want to be a director."
"If you want to be a director, you must first be an actor, and you can only tell the actor how to act."
Chen Xunqi felt that he was making some sense, put down the work of an assistant director who had not been working for a few days, and turned his head to become an actor.
Chen Xunqi has been in Shaw for many years, knows many big directors, and admires him very much. Hearing that he was going to be an actor, Jiahe Company immediately handed him a book.
Chen Xunqi's first play was the male protagonist, and "Double Treasure Breaks Eight Levels" was his screen debut.
Chen Xunqi, who had never studied acting, won the first battle, and "Chen Xunqi with a mustache" left an impression on the audience, but Chen Xunqi himself was not satisfied with his performance. Immediately after that, another book was handed over, inviting him to play anti-no. 1, which was Hong Jinbao's self-directed and self-acted martial arts action film "Loser Boy".
The film made him shine, and his martial arts talent was also brought to the extreme, and a fight scene between him and Lin Zhengying in the film was regarded as a classic, and "Loser Boy" also hung other action films at the same time, becoming a classic film in Hong Kong movies.
Chen Xunqi can act like a veteran in the second film, and he is still bright in front of kung fu stars such as Hong Jinbao, Lin Zhengying, and Yuan Biao.
The two roles of one good and one evil have given Chen Xunqi a deeper feeling for acting, and at the same time strengthened his belief in being a director.
In 1981, Chen Xunqi and the Golden Princess Group jointly established the "Yongjia Film Company", which produced and distributed the modern action comedy "Beware of Little Hands", which was self-directed and self-starred by Hong Jinbao and starred, produced, supervised and scored by Chen Xunqi.
This is the pioneering work of modern martial arts comedy, in which Chen Xunqi and Hong Jinbao steal things with their hands so fast and skillful that they are amazed by the audience, and they are played by fans as "the fastest pickpockets in Hong Kong".
In the second year, Chen Xunqi officially served as a director, starring in and shooting a piece of "Beauty has a date", and then directed and acted in "Hollow Young Master", which achieved good results, and the name of Director Chen Xunqi began, becoming the "first person in the romantic comedy of bubble girls".
From giving up the soundtrack job to become an actor and director, to being able to make a work called "classic", in just five years, this is not something that can be done by one person, Chen Xunqi really has a film aura.
Some people are proud of the spring breeze, some people are lost and discouraged, and the jaggedness is the origin of the world.
In 1993, it was the beginning of the relationship between Wong Kar-wai and Chan Xun-chi.
This year, Wong Kar-wai was dismissed by Huang Baiming for dragging the manuscript for too long, and it was Chen Xunqi who took him in and let him work in Yongjia for several years.
However, Wong Kar-wai's love of dragging drafts and writing in the air is still there, but fortunately Chen Xunqi is tolerant enough: dragging the draft is dragged, and the script is not written to be able to be filmed and changed little by little.
Fortunately, with Chen Xunqi, fortunately with this fateful tolerance, Wong Kar-wai wrote classic works such as "Wonmenka Corner" and "Forrest Gump" for Yongjia, which has achieved the current mythical director Wong Kar-wai.
Such a fate will make the relationship between Chen and Wang very strong, so there is a story of Chen Xunqi daring to quarrel with Wong Kar-wai on the set.
In the years when Wong Kar-wai worked for Yongjia, Chen Xunqi never stopped his journey.
He filmed the martial arts film "The Prodigal Son of the Border City" in the mainland, and the portrayal of Ye Kai made people think that Ye Kai was such a dashing chivalrous guest with a "small mustache".
It was also during this time that Jackie Chan took inspiration from the movie "Beware of Little Hands", his films gradually broke away from the Republican style to the modern style, he did not get inspiration from Chen Xunqi enough, but also to pull Chen Xunqi into the company, the two cooperated in a series of films such as "Five Lucky Stars" and "Police Story".
With the help of Jackie Chan, Chen Xunqi also did flying coach guidance in the "Flying Eagle Project", until "In the Zodiac" Chen Xunqi and Jackie Chan still cooperated closely, and the two became indispensable confidants in each other's careers.
Soundtrack, actors, directors, screenwriters, producers, editors, martial arts instructors, speeding car coaches, etc., all the professions related to the film Chen Xunqi have tried it all over again, and a few sentences can be said to be proficient in everything.
Chen Xunqi made his fortune with scoring, but in the more than ten years since he changed careers, he has hardly touched music again.
It wasn't until Er Dongsheng asked him to save the scene and asked him to help score "New Love", that Chen Xunqi picked up the scoring skills that had been absent for 10 years.
He made changes on the basis of Bobby Da, which made the director praise in a few strokes, and also made the soundtrack of the film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Score, and director Er Dongsheng also gave Chen Xunqi a special thanks at the end of the film.
As soon as the news of Chen Xunqi's return to his old career came out, various invitations came out, and his ability to nominate as soon as he shot also impressed the industry, and he only relied on the power of the first battle to surpass many new stars and become the soundtrack first choice of all big directors.
However, the 42-year-old Chen Xunqi has years of precipitation, and in the face of many invitations, he only politely refused, continued his career as an actor and director, and began to try to shoot the long-term and expensive TV series "Shanghai Tango", as a producer, general director, actor and screenwriter.
His first attempt was a great success, "Shanghai Tango" was popular across the taiwan straits and three places, and the actors among them also became popular, and Chen Xunqi was once again enshrined.
Chen Xunqi could refuse anyone, but he could not refuse Wong Kar-wai, who was single-handedly assigned by him.
When Wong Kar-wai called the ocean: "Big brother, come to the rescue scene." Chen Xunqi went without hesitation.
In three years, the two have collaborated on "Chongqing Forest", "East Evil and West Poison" and "Fallen Angel", during which Chen Xunqi was nominated for the Best Original Soundtrack at the 31st Golden Horse Awards, nominated for the Best Original Film Music at the 14th Hong Kong Film Awards, and the Best Original Film Music Award at the 15th Hong Kong Film Awards.
In the preparation of "A Generation of Grandmasters", it was also Wong Kar-wai who invited him to do the pre-planning of the film, and the two visited the martial arts masters together.
Wong Kar-wai does not understand martial arts, so his eldest brother gives him the lead, and every frame of the film's flowing play has Chen Xunqi's painstaking efforts.
Wong Kar-wai has Chen Xunqi, like a fish in the water, nothing more than that.
Chen Xunqi is a recognized film all-rounder in Hong Kong, and even has such an evaluation in the industry: as long as he wants, he is a man who can shoot a whole movie by himself.
It is such a person who is almost perfect in his career, but he is tormented by life. Because he has been in the crew for many years, he has given all his energy to work and very little to his family.
Although the children are complete, Chen Xunqi rarely has time to understand the children.
His daughter Chen Kaixing is also an insider, and has always shown a lively and sunny image, but she jumped on the winter night of 2014 and ended her young life.
The death of his daughter made Chen Xunqi sad, and he also realized that he had too much debt to the family, and he even learned that she had a lot of mental pressure after his daughter's death, so that he couldn't help but cry in the interview: "I didn't know, I always thought she was very strong and happy, who knew she would have depression." ”
Having lost his daughter, he was disheartened and had the idea of retreating from the circle.
How much Shangtian favored Chen Xunqi in the first half of his life, and how cruel he was in the second half of his life.
Shortly after the loss of her daughter, 66-year-old Chen Xunqi fell ill with cancer and had only two months of life without treatment.
In order to survive, Chen Xunqi received treatment and lost 30 pounds in a few weeks. Not long after, the wife who had been accompanying him also left, and Chen Xunqi's situation suddenly became infinitely desolate.
After a few years of desertion, a devastating disaster befell Chen Xunqi's head - the hard disk containing his life's work was stolen.
It contains all of his soundtrack works, including an unreleased album and the theme song of "Shanghai Tango" sung by Jackie Chan, a gift he promised to fans, but it was stolen.
Chen Xunqi is inevitably lost, the old master tape has been disposed of as garbage, and there is no chance to re-transcribe it.
He tried to send Weibo to seek the help of netizens, but time passed, Chen Xunqi was no longer a well-known figure in the entertainment industry, and this news was quickly covered by other celebrity anecdotes, and could only be ignored.
Chen Xunqi's evening scene is the same as the Hong Kong entertainment industry that has already gone downhill, with the fall of superstars such as Zhang Guorong and Mui Yanfang, Hong Kong movies may only be recorded in history as nouns in the future.
Chen Xunqi and other generations of Hong Kong filmmakers are powerless to change, and can only watch the torrent of history engulf all glory.
"He's a genius in the true sense of the word." Wong Kar-wai sighed.
Throughout Chen Xunqi's career career, it can be described as smooth sailing, there are famous teachers to teach, there are high people to appreciate, there are good friends to help, talent is unmatched, shot is the peak, quit the soundtrack industry for decades, and returning to the peak again is still the peak.
He grew up with the Hong Kong film industry, invincible at its peak and lamentable when it fell.
Some people say that Chen Xunqi is the last film treasure left in the world, and he has the pity of the hero's twilight. In fact, it is not necessary, Chen Xunqi still loves the film industry, he said that he wants to shoot until he is 99 years old, and he wants to be Akira Kurosawa in China.
Genius is different even if he grows old, and as a watchman, you just have to wait quietly for his 99-year-old masterpiece. What can be appreciated to appreciate, can not be avoided, this is the best attitude towards him.
. END .
【Text| Rainy and sunny】
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