This article is authorized to be reproduced from the public account: visual history (iiidaily)
Author | Mountain
A few days ago, Andy Lau said one thing in an interview.
In 2017, he fell from a horse in Thailand, causing his pelvic bone to rupture. At the end of 2018, the concert was suspended due to the loss of voice. Gradually, a voice began to emerge in the investment community:
"I never expected that investing in Andy Lau would actually lose money!"
While experiencing injuries and unwillingness, Andy Lau also saw a more indifferent and real side of this society.
Perhaps in the eyes of businessmen, Andy Lau is a cash cow. With him, the concert can be full, and the movie box office will break through 100 million in minutes.
But the hero also has twilight moments, and he also has the day of aging.
If this day comes, Andy Lau may not be able to work as hard as before, unable to let investors get rich benefits. So can the business community ruthlessly abandon him and then look for the next cash cow?
I don't know what the answer is. But I hope you see a different Andy Lau in this article.
A Andy Lau who doesn't care so much about money.
01
In fact, Andy Lau himself has also been an investor.
The projects he chooses to invest in are often considered "loss-making businesses". But he was somewhat righteous and did not care about gains and losses.
In 2011, Xu Anhua was preparing to shoot "Sister Tao".
The film is about "the life of a nanny". One has no traffic star platform, and the other has no ups and downs of the storyline. So at the time, no one was willing to give her money to invest.
The crew was unable to start work, and Xu Anhua, who was struggling, found Andy Lau. The first thing she said was, "I haven't had enough money in a long time, can you help me?" ”
This sentence made Andy Lau very uncomfortable. In the environment where the traffic box office is king, the director he respects has even become a basic survival problem.
He immediately invested 30 million yuan and personally played the male lead.
Someone asked him that after such an unpopular theme was released, he was afraid that he would "lose his life". Andy Lau smiled, "Loss is loss, loss is only my film remuneration, just find someone to play with me for two or three months." ”
It is easy to add flowers to the icing on the cake, but it is difficult to send charcoal in the snow. This is especially true in the entertainment industry.
Andy Lau helped a person, there is no reason.
I don't care about losing money or not, just to let my friends finish a work with dignity.
02
Perhaps many people know:
Wen Muye, the director of "I Am Not a Medicine God", made this film with the sponsorship of Ning Hao.
But little is known: In 2005, Andy Lau's company launched the "Asian Superstar Guide" program. The purpose is simple, it is to give those newcomer directors without any background a chance to realize their dreams.
At that time, Andy Lau found Ning Hao and said to him:
"I believe you have the potential to do commercial films. I'll give you a sum of money, you can shoot whatever you want. ”
It was Andy Lau's 3 million investment that gave birth to "Crazy Stone".
In a business society where everyone is better at stake, everyone tends to bet on winning projects.
When everyone was staring at the so-called big directors and big productions, Andy Lau at that time began to focus on supporting newcomers.
He helped someone, for no reason.
I don't care if I lose money or not, just to give the newcomer a chance to get ahead.
03
Investing in unpopular movies or newcomers, why should Andy Lau do this?
The stories of Zhang Weijian and Andy Lau let us see the reasons for this.
Zhang Weijian's early investment in real estate business failed and faced bankruptcy. It was Andy Lau who signed him a check to help him get through this difficult time.
At that time, Andy Lau did not pose sympathetically, but said to him like a big brother:
"To learn is to teach people, and to earn it is to give it to people."
It is this sentence that allows us to see Andy Lau's original intention. When he was unknown, he was also promoted by his predecessors. When he was poor, he was also helped unconditionally.
Along the way, he grew from a "stupid kid" who knew the world into a star. The kindness he gained in those years is now passed on to others.
His "teaching" gave the fledgling Ning Hao the courage to continue to pursue his dreams, and also helped "Crazy Stone" to gain tens of millions of box office. In this way, a "loss-making investment" made newcomer director Ning Hao famous, and also indirectly achieved Huang Bo, Guo Tao and others.
And his "give" allowed the desperate Xu Anhua to sweep 7 awards at the Academy Awards with "Sister Peach". Actress Ye Dexian, who plays Sister Tao, also won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival in her "middle-aged embarrassing period".
He helps someone, there is no reason.
It was only in those years that others helped themselves in this way.
04
In the eyes of investors, once people lose their use value, they do not have to waste time on them.
Just like Lan Jieying was ugly by the media as a "crazy woman" during the period of decline. No one helped him, and everyone looked away from her, even willing to step on her.
After learning of Lan Jieying's embarrassment, Andy Lau took out 100,000 yuan in cash to her. I don't think that overnight the money will be stolen.
He realized that simply giving money would not help Lan Jieying, and she needed regular financial assistance. To this end, Andy Lau contacted the local rescue agency and personally helped her apply for living assistance.
In the films invested by Andy Lau, you may see many "old faces".
For example, Zheng Zeshi.
In the early years, Zheng Zeshi himself also opened a film company. Because the investment failed, the loss was lost. Desperate, he even thought about committing suicide, but was stopped by Andy Lau.
He lent Zheng Zeshi some money and recommended him to the major crews. At the film festival, middle-aged actors rarely have dramas to shoot, and it is Andy Lau's recommendation that allows Zheng Zeshi to solve the long-term survival problem and have the opportunity to start again.
He helps someone and doesn't need any reason.
I don't care if the money Lent out can be returned.
It's just that Andy Lau understands that everyone has been trapped by life, and they just need to be pulled by someone and start over.
05
Perhaps many people will question: "Andy Lau is also too good at being a person, is he pretending?" ”
But in this world, who can play a "good person" for more than forty years?
A person's character does not lie in his performance in front of people, but in the untold story behind it.
"Today's Statement" once exposed: in a charity event, many stars who participated in the charity performance actually charged a high appearance fee. In the name of love, behind the scenes, he is busy collecting wealth and raising his popularity.
Later, it was found that only Peng Denghuai and Andy Lau did not ask the organizers for remuneration. Someone was puzzled and asked why he was doing it.
Andy Lau asked rhetorically: "Since it is a charity performance, why do you have to collect money?" ”
Perhaps in business logic, Andy Lau is "stupid" to do so. "Obviously this is an unwritten unspoken rule in the circle, everyone has done this, why don't you want money?"
But in this life, some people have lived to face, and some people have lived to become lizi. In Andy Lau's eyes, lizi is more important than face. Being human is more important than making money.
He helps a person, not at all to achieve any purpose, to create any human design.
He doesn't want to go along with it, he just wants to be unashamed.
06
The impression of Andy Lau is gentle and humble, without a little shelf.
But sometimes, his principles and bottom line are also very firm. Especially when it comes to the principle of home country, he has never wavered in his compromise.
Hong Kong was returned to the motherland in 1997.
At that time, the Spring Festival Gala threw an olive branch to the Hong Kong entertainers. Among the invited stars, some of them directly refused to pay less, and some went to the seemingly bigger shows as guests.
Only Andy Lau took the initiative to take the initiative to take the spring festival gala stage and sang "Chinese" here. Since then, this song has spread all over the country, and the Spring Festival Gala, which was unattended in that year, has now become a stage that everyone wants to take.
Director Wang Jing also mentioned in the interview: Many years ago, Andy Lau could develop in Hollywood.
However, at that time, many foreign scripts were prejudiced against Chinese culture, and in the face of this situation, Andy Lau set an iron law - "He will not play any role that involves insulting China." ”
In 2006, Andy Lau attended the Japan Song Friends Association.
The organizers asked him to greet fans in Japanese, and even added a lot of Japanese songs to the playlist without consent.
Andy Lau immediately rejected these requests, and then said a paragraph:
"Because of the contract, I had to come to Japan. But please don't think that with a single contract, you can hold me back. I just think it's unfair to my fans that they're innocent.
Art has no borders, but artists have borders. Music has no borders, but musicians have borders. Also, the next time you introduce me, please don't say that I am a Hong Kong singer, I am a Chinese singer. ”
Andy Lau's behavior may be "stupid" in the eyes of businessmen.
Obviously, he can make a lot of money without expressing any position, but he wants to take a stand and is dissatisfied.
As he sang in his song "17 Years Old": "After many years, even if the song "Forgetting Love Water" is no longer classic, it will still be buried in your heart and has never changed."
After so many years, looking back, even if investors say that he has lost money and worry that his influence has declined, those songs are valuable to him and to those who care about him.
(Swipe to see the lyrics)
Seventeen years old did not face the day to participate in the challenge
Stars also have training classes that are too fresh for just one year
I remember that the four brothers had all met
Later the promotion of the protagonist was too sudden
The twenty-nine-year-old awards dinner fans were crazy
Come and listen to me sing a love song A song lyrics are too classic
My vibrato falsetto has long been too skilled
However, love songs are always sung
Like me, don't cover your face and let passers-by find out
Even though singing with heart to dye this emotional song
Sing love songs together
Remember the applause all the time
Come sing love songs from the beginning again
If the emotion is thick, a little tears are difficult to avoid
The scale rises and falls and the beat changes
Every song is every face
Despite singing with all your heart, put this emotional song in the noise
It changes year by year
I haven't changed
Sing love songs together and remember them all the time
Applause rang out all over the place
A little tearful
Hard to avoid
Now I'm forty years old and look at the former hoarse voice
I wish the applause was still there today
That tidal wave
Forget about the water
No longer classic
Still buried in your heart has never changed
When everyone is hypocritical and inconsistent.
Andy Lau, who should be able to "treat people in the world", has always remained sober and insisted on his own path.
Andy Lau mixed cut @ from Tencent Video
Indeed, Andy Lau is old.
Because of his injury, he did not dare to shoot action scenes again; because of his hoarse voice, his singing voice at concerts was not as good as before; and his body constantly reminded him: "You can't do it, you don't fight so hard." You quit, you have no choice. ”
Perhaps one day, Andy Lau will fade out of people's vision, he will face the hero's twilight loneliness and lose the so-called commercial value.
But so what?
In a society of fame and fortune, everyone is mercenary.
When the criterion for judging a person's success degenerates into "losing money or not losing money", the "retrograde" who begins to "lose money" in the eyes of others is very precious.
As Maugham said in The Moon and Sixpence—
"In the street full of sixpence, he looked up at the moon."
About the author: Visual Chronicle (ID: iiidaily) records life with words, depicts life with photos, listens to you talk about joy and sorrow every night, accompanies you through spring, summer, autumn and winter, and supports the spiritual world of tens of millions of people in the circle of friends. Please contact (ID: iiidaily) for authorization.
If you like it, click "Watching"!