When it comes to Chen Desen, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is his work.
Such as "October Siege", "One Man's Martial Forest" and so on.
The 63-year-old director, although he has entered the year of Hua Jia, loves cool action movies, and has just come up with his new work, "The Journey" starring Liu Xianhua and He Rundong.
But if you have some understanding of the history of Hong Kong entertainment, you will find that Chan's most famous is not the identity of the director, but Jackie Chan's first assistant.
Turn the clock back 45 years.
At that time, the 23-year-old Jackie Chan held the "Snake-shaped Executioner" and "Drunken Fist" with great vigor, and the limelight was immeasurable, and everywhere he went, he called on friends to flaunt the market, so it was not prestigious.
Recalling that stage of his life, Jackie Chan used "poor people and riches" to describe himself, buying luxury cars and watches, wandering in the wind and moon places, even the brothers behind him had to follow his specifications, and everyone had to buy private cars under his sponsorship.
"There are a total of 16 cars in the family class, plus me a total of 17 cars, exactly the same drive out, how mighty!"
And Chen Desen is the man who holds the steering wheel of the head car.
That year Chen Desen was only 18 years old, and by chance, he became Jackie Chan's assistant, he did not know why he was so popular, he only knew that Jackie Chan was "Jiahe Brother", and he was a veritable "Jiahe Second Brother".
Second from right: Chen Desen
After becoming famous, various cooperations have come and gone, but because Jackie Chan is greedy and often sees the beginning and the end of the dragon, the party A who is sweating can only find an assistant, that is, Chen Desen to talk.
The eldest brother is long and the younger brother is short, and Chen Desen has tasted the flattering faces of the bosses.
On the other hand, Jackie Chan, who has a generous hand, does not forget the people around him, and often gives benefits to Chen Desen.
When buying clothes, you have to pick a set for him, live in the hotel Jackie Chan how good, he will live how good, the next day Jackie Chan from what time, he will follow the time, "Jiahe second brother" is not a false name.
But there is no feast in the world.
Whether it was in the past or today, such a profession that only eats, drinks and has fun every day, it is necessary to burn three pillars of incense on any person, but Chen Desen at that time had a different heart——
He wanted to be a director.
Not long after, in the ride of one night, Chen Desen trembled and talked about his yearning, resigned from his assistant position, turned around as a field record, and became the first person in history to fry a dragon squid.
Jackie Chan had a heart in his heart and didn't pay attention to him for 20 years.
Interestingly, 20 years later, Chen Desen returned from school and put the script on the table.
Accidentally, he became a witness to the separation of Jiahe and Jackie Chan's Lao Yan.
He is the "enemy" of a lifetime.
- "Secret Agent Maze"
The Movie Agent Maze is a 2001 suspenseful action film directed by Chen Desen and starring Jackie Chan.
The film was invested and produced by Jiahe and filmed in South Korea and Turkey, with a total investment of more than HK$170 million, and later overspended to HK$200 million.
Coupled with the 10 million yuan of publicity expenses, it is conservatively estimated to be 210 million Hong Kong dollars, which is the largest at the time of creation.
The dying Jiahe almost put all his belongings on "Secret Agent Maze", but in the end, the box office made Jackie Chan chill, and it also became the last straw that crushed Jiahe, and the golden partner who had held it for 30 years also parted ways.
Why?
It all starts with the movie itself —
One
"Xiao Bei" (Jackie Chan) is a fitness equipment salesman, he has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, his vision is also very flexible, and he always fantasizes that he can be a spy.
One day, Xiao Bei was idly wandering in the mall, just happened to encounter robbers robbing the bank, Xiao Bei saw the courage of the righteous, with a bag of money flashed around, and finally foiled the robber's robbery plan, a great success.
Because of the media coverage, Xiao Bei was targeted by a middle-aged man named "Liao You" (Zeng Zhiwei).
Liao You said that Xiao Bei was the long-lost son of his client "Park Won-jeong", and now after seeing the TV report, he quickly found him and confessed, and asked him to go to Seoul, South Korea, to see his father for the last time.
Rather believing that there was, Xiao Bei embarked on a journey to find his father.
Park Won-jeong's real identity is a North Korean agent.
Arriving at Seoul Hospital, the terminally ill Park Won-jeong gives Xiao Bei a key and a cross necklace and then screams for his life, letting him play a game before leaving.
Driven by curiosity, Xiao Bei calculated a location through the inscription in front of his parents' graves: the Bank of Turkey. Then he went alone.
Xiao Bei guessed correctly, and after arriving at the Turkish bank, Xiao Bei successfully got a bag of money through his father's name and the pendant on his chest.
When he thought the game was over, he suddenly realized that his money was perhaps the most inconspicuous of his father's estate.
Because after getting the money, he first went out of the bank and was blocked and beaten by a group of young.
Then he went to the bathhouse and was hunted down and killed by a group of men dressed in black.
Almost everyone is asking him: Where is the thing?
And Xiao Bei didn't know what they wanted at all.
Later, with the assistance of the CIA, Xiao Bei learned that his father, Park Won-jeong, had an unfinished business before his death.
A few months ago, an American scientist developed a carbon bacteria that can kill people in a village with a few grams, and the first place of the experiment was a village in Turkey.
After the carbon bacteria spread, the villagers' health deteriorated, a large number of deaths, and then a riot occurred, the villagers killed all the scientists, but did not find the carbon bacteria.
Because the carbon bacteria have long fallen into the hands of Park Jeong-won, and the buyer has been found.
In the process, Xiao Bei meets the girl "Xiao Yong" (Xu Ruoxuan), and through Xiao Yong, he learns that the buyer who cooperates with his father Park Zhengyuan is Shan Yu (Wu Xingguo).
Shan Yu did not hesitate to use beauty in order to get the carbon bacteria, and Xiao Bei finally handed over the carbon bacteria to Shan Yu.
However, Xiao Yong died of a drug addiction attack soon after leaving Shan Yu, and then Xiao Bei's conscience found out and went to chase After Shan Yu, through a fierce car chase scene and the explosion of the tanker truck, Shan Yu was finally arrested.
In the ending, the carbon bacteria actually let Liao You take it away.
Two
Different from Jackie Chan's previous films, because the protagonist has been contested by two forces without knowing it, this film has always implemented an inexplicable depression and confusion.
Coupled with the fact that the dubbing of the Chinese version is as blunt as the early Western films, the background music has a sense of hazy estrangement, which leads to "Secret Agent Maze" being the most inconspicuous one in jackie Chan's work column.
The Douban score is only 6.6 points, just passed.
Moreover, the most important thing is that the ending of this film suddenly kills a Cheng biting gold, and Liao You, played by Zeng Zhiwei, appears out of thin air and takes away the key prop "carbon bacteria" that renders an entire play.
The whereabouts of the carbon bacteria are not indicated.
Coupled with liao you's identity, the whereabouts of Turkish villagers, etc., there is no complete answer, and the whole movie is like a semi-finished product.
And the truth is, it's a half-finished product.
The other half of "Secret Agent Maze" is actually "Secret Agent Maze 2003" starring Zhang Zhiyao and Fang Zixuan, the whole film is only 30 minutes, but it is not broadcast in theaters.
Where?
On the network.
Yes, as early as 2001, Jiahe played streaming.
At that time, the wealthy Hong Kong businessman Lin Jianyue wanted to buy Jiahe, but was cut off by Taiwanese electronics giant Acer, and thanks to the latter's achievements in the Internet, Jiahe and Acer founded an Internet company called I-Content, which is responsible for the media business.
In order to create momentum for the company, Jiahe specially produced "Secret Agent Maze 2003", which was broadcast on the website at the same time as the release of "Secret Agent Maze".
But at that time, it was only 2001, many people did not say online video, even the conditions of the Internet were not popular, many people did not have the opportunity to contact this short film after watching the movie, which greatly offset the charm of the movie.
This wave of Jiahe can be regarded as painting snakes and adding feet to the cocoon.
Three
The original film is just a "castrated version", on the other hand, the version watched by mainland audiences has been deleted for another 10 minutes.
After Jackie Chan arrived in Turkey in the film, there was a scene in the public bathhouse, a group of people rushed in without saying anything, and Jackie Chan had not had the opportunity to dress, so he had been bare-buttocks.
While playing, while covering important parts of the eyes, the whole movie can be said that this paragraph is the most brilliant paragraph.
Unfortunately, probably for private reasons, the continental version deleted this paragraph entirely.
Although it has no impact on the plot, the audience who came to Jackie Chan directly lacked a hard dish, coupled with Jiahe's own riotous operation, which led to the mainland audience watching the "castrated version of castration", and there was piracy rampant outside the venue, and it is no wonder that "Secret Agent Maze" did not have much response.
Four
There is a scene in the film that almost kills Jackie Chan.
If you have seen this film and believe that you are impressed by the ending, the passage of the tanker truck in the movie is more like a desperate scene that is added for the sake of breakthrough.
Jackie Chan drove a tank truck that could not be stopped, but also jumped out of the car and landed on the protective net of the viaduct, the entire bridge was 50 meters high, Jackie Chan ripped through the protective net all the way to the ground, and the tank truck really exploded a tank truck.
Turning over the news of that year, because the crew was too "real material", after the tanker truck exploded, the local people in Turkey thought that the earthquake had occurred.
Five
Released in 2001, secret agent maze reached a total investment of HK$210 million, the highest in history at the time, but the box office was not ideal.
The Hong Kong box office is only HK$30.01 million, the mainland box office is 40 million, and the global total box office is only 20.5 million US dollars.
After converting the exchange rate, it is only 170 million yuan, according to the 1/3 return ratio, only about 56 million, which comes and goes, 150 million of Jiahe's 210 million have been adrift.
Originally, Hong Kong movies were thinner and thinner, and now the building will be difficult to support, and the 150 million holes will directly crush Jiahe, and since then it has been in a slump, after several small-cost movies, it was completely cut off in 2003, and it was not long before it was acquired in 2008.
Jackie Chan, on the other hand, turned to the Emperor Movie, Yang Shoucheng's door.
Six
When he received this script, Chen Desen may not know that he will be the one who drove Jackie Chan away from Jiahe.
Chen Desen made a cameo appearance in the film
That year at the bottom of the mountain, Chen Desen, who was in the main driver's seat, trembled and said the news that he wanted to leave his job, he did not dare to look back, and saw Jackie Chan's face full of contempt and disdain in the rearview mirror.
For a long time, Jackie Chan said sadly, "What's not to like?" ”
"Nothing." Chen Desen returned.
"Then why do you want to leave?" Jackie Chan began to ask.
"I want to be a director," Chen Desen snorted
"Next week Chen Xunqi has a movie to open, you go to the scene to record it" Jackie Chan left this sentence, and drove away without saying a word, leaving Chen Desen in a messy wind.
Later, Chen Desen started from the field record, and then picked up the guide tube in "My Wife Is Not a Person", although he did not achieve the wind and water, but at least he persisted.
But in these 20 years, Jackie Chan and Chen Desen have no intersection.
"Later, I met Jackie Chan on an occasion, and I called out to the big brother, and he ignored me." Chen Desen said.
The script of "Secret Agent Maze" was recommended by Chen Desen, a mentor and friend, and originally planned to find Jin Chengwu to perform, but Jackie Chan took the initiative to dial Chen Desen's phone after reading it, wanted to act in this script, and finalized Chen Desen as a director.
Before seeing Jackie Chan, Chen Desen poured a few sips of wine, which was the courage to push open the door, but after seeing Jackie Chan, he relaxed a lot, and the two people talked about the past, and Jackie Chan said bluntly:
"I tell you about Chen Desen, no one has ever resigned from my post, only I fired people squid, you are the first and last!"
But when it comes to why he has ignored him in the past twenty years, Jackie Chan said:
"Chen Desen, you listen, I've been looking at you for twenty years, I think you really have an effort, so this movie I'm not your big brother, I'm an actor, you're my director." Contrary to the arrogant posture of the past.
Want
For Jackie Chan, "Secret Agent Maze" is not only a kiss goodbye to Jiahe, but also a farewell to youth.
There is also a trick to the arrogant self of the past.
------------------