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Yuan Kui's first label is bad luck, special bad luck.
His parents divorced shortly after he was born, and his father died prematurely. The family could not support himself, so they had to send him to the drama class to learn art. Wrap up food and wrap up, but you have to sign a life and death deed with the master, and you will not pay compensation during the apprenticeship.
Yuankui has been very sensible since he was a child, and his training is especially hard. But I don't know why, some of the movements are always difficult to meet the standard, so angry that the master scolded him all day long as "big sticks and mallets".
Later, it was found that there was a problem with his leg shape, a bit of an O-shaped leg. The master had to let the costumes and props be in charge of the behind-the-scenes work.
This job seems easy, but it is actually more difficult.
After each day's training or performance, the other brothers can fall asleep on their heads. But he also had to pack up all the props, sometimes it was too late, so he had to sleep on the stage. When he went out to perform, because he was afraid of others stealing things, he often slept alone in the small prop room.
Later, the drama class was dissolved, and he followed his brother Hong Jinbao to become a dragon and tiger martial artist, still very weak, and was also given a sarcastic nickname.
In Cantonese, the pronunciation of "Kui" is similar to "ash", shouting up and twisting the mouth, everyone changed it to "egg", which has the meaning of mocking him as "finished".
Yuan Kui was called "Ah Egg" for many years, and it was not until he became famous later that everyone invariably changed it to "Ah Dan", and the Jianghu people called it "Dan Brother".
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Yuan Kui entered the industry in 1970, although he has participated in many movies, but because of the leg type, he is not keen to be an actor, and has been transforming into a director until 15 years later, when he finally ushered in an opportunity.
Running dragon set in "Jingwu Gate"
In 1984, Hong Jinbao established Debao Film Company, in order to win the newcomer Yang Ziqiong, he tailored "Owl and Peter Pan", but unfortunately the box office hit the street.
Unconvinced, Yang Ziqiong decided to transform into a beating woman, and Hong Jinbao was busy with the "Five Lucky Stars" series, so he handed her over to his disciple Yuankui.
Yuankui trained Yang Ziqiong for half a year, and found that she had a deep foundation in dance, although she learned a lot of postures, but it was difficult to perform thrilling movements, and her strength was also very poor.
If you want to succeed, you have to find another way. The following year, Yuan Kui, as a director, launched "Royal Master Sister" with ingenuity. He uses clever movements, exquisite camera angles, and strengths to avoid weaknesses, fully demonstrating Yang Ziqiong's physical advantages.
After this movie, Yang Ziqiong became a hit and soon became the leader of the second generation of women in Hong Kong. YuanKui also became famous in the world of directing.
The following year, Yuan Kui and Yuan Biao established Weihe Film Company and launched the entrepreneurial work "Pioneer of Law Enforcement". This movie is well-made, the scene is grand, and Yuan Biao also released a series of high-altitude pickpocketing airplane scenes, which is particularly thrilling.
Unfortunately, when it was released, it collided with Hong Jinbao's "Rich Train" and Jackie Chan's "Police Story". Although the box office was not high in the end, it received unanimous praise in the circle.
After that, Yuan Kui directed "Flying Dragon Fierce General". The film is co-starring hong jinbao, jackie chan and yuan biao, and yuanhua plays the villain. Seven small blessings include five of them, which can be described as a classic among classics.
In the late 1980s, Yuan Kui began to shine in the Hong Kong film industry as a director.
And his golden age has just arrived.
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One day in 1990, Yuan Kui chatted with the big guy Wu Siyuan.
The two found that the mainland is popular with qigong fever, full of people with special functions, while Hong Kong is popular for gambling films. Why not combine the two and make a movie.
Yuankui then found Liu Zhenwei, and the three of them worked together to complete the script of "Gamble Saint". The film was co-directed by Yuan Kui and Liu Zhenwei, with Jia He as the distributor.
At that time, Jiahe recommended Liang Chaowei to play the main role, because his fame was big enough.
But the director team felt that it was not appropriate, and instead decided to use Stephen Chow, who had just won the Academy Award for Best Newcomer.
It is said that when Wu Siyuan found Zhou Xingchi, he was shocked. Wu Siyuan's reputation in the industry is not good, when Zhang Guorong first debuted, he was fooled into making a wind and moon film, which became a stain on his life.
Zhou Xingchi thought that he had repeated the trick and was very suspicious. Finally, looking at being able to be the male lead and the great salary, I nervously agreed to shoot.
Unexpectedly, this low-budget movie that spoofed "God of Gamblers" only took 28 days to release, and it received a super high box office of 41.32 million. It became the first film to gross more than 40 million since the opening of Hong Kong.
Zhou Xingchi, who has been suffering for many years, soared into the sky and successfully opened the era of "nonsense" comedy.
There was also a major event this year.
Jiahe plans to start a zombie film with Lin Zhengying, but the two sides have differences over the creation.
Lin Zhengying wants to combine with modern police films, and Jiahe feels unreliable. In the end, Lin Zhengying ran away in anger and filmed a "Exorcist Policeman" by himself.
Jiahe had to temporarily find Yuankui and Liu Zhenwei to save the scene, and launched "Corpse Heavy Land", with Yuankui himself as the protagonist.
"Exorcist Police" is actually very classic, many of the fighting scenes are very distinctive, it can be seen that Uncle Ying spent a lot of effort. But relatively speaking, Xiao Wu still prefers "Corpse Heavy Land". It feels like it's more creative and hilarious, and it's relaxing to watch.
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The success of several consecutive films has made Yuan Kui a fragrant feast in the film industry, and many stars are eager to cooperate with him, including Jet Li.
At that time, Jet Li successfully occupied the heel in Hong Kong with the "Wong Fei Hung" series. But also because of this movie, he and Jiahe have a huge contradiction.
After experiencing a series of difficulties such as getting an appointment and the shooting of his agent, Jet Li eventually founded Zhengdong Film Company.
In order to ensure the quality of the film, he specially invited Yuan Kui and Cui Baozhu as partners, and the three formed a strong iron triangle creative team. Yuan Kui is responsible for directing and action direction, Cui Baozhu is the producer, and Jet Li is the lead actor.
In 1993, Zhengdong Film launched the entrepreneurial work "Fang Shiyu".
Although the film later achieved insurmountable achievements, it was generally not optimistic in the industry at the time. Because Huang Feihong is so classic, Jet Li walked on the street, and some people even directly called him Master Huang. Everyone thinks that classics are insurmountable.
After much discussion, the trio decided to try a new kung fu comedy.
First of all, the action should be elegant, not like Jackie Chan's juggling kung fu. Secondly, it should be light and funny, so many classic supporting roles have been added, such as Xiao Fangfang's "Miao Cuihua" and Chen Songyong's "Thunder Tiger".
Finally, there must be a sense of history and a certain sense of home and country. Therefore, he chose to interpret Fang Shiyu's boyhood from a comedic point of view.
The film finally did not lose hopes, achieved more than 30 million box office, and won the best action director at the Hong Kong Academy Awards and the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards respectively, and was named "one of the best 19 action movies in history" by Entertainment Weekly.
Fame and fortune, can be described as the biggest winner of the year.
"Fang Shiyu" also has an unexpected surprise, Yuan Kui personally excavated Zhao Wenzhuo from the sports school, and played the role of the villain Nine Doors Admiral in the film. This is Zhao Wenzhuo's first film, debut is the peak, Yuan Kui can be described as his first nobleman.
In the same year, Zhengdong Film launched "Fang Shiyu 2" while it was hot, and Yuan Kui was still the director and action director.
He also made a cameo appearance in a classic role, "Safety First" Lee Guobang. In particular, the plot of giving the chicken a little hole is still enjoyable.
Can you come up with such a funny bridge section, just ask you whether you are convinced?
In 1994, Yuan Kui, as a director, launched "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard". How classic this movie is, I won't dwell on it.
Most importantly, he allowed Jet Li to successfully transform and break away from the shackles of the image of a hero in ancient costumes.
Before that, Jet Li played in ancient costumes, such as Fang Shiyu, Zhang Sanfeng, and even Zhang Wujie, although wonderful, but it is easy to produce aesthetic fatigue. And this movie allows the audience to see Jet Li's modern drama, so that his future drama path is much broader.
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Zhengdong Film has only produced 5 films, but they are classics. Not only did Jet Li ascend to the throne of the Kung Fu Emperor, but he also won the favor of Hollywood.
In 1998, Jet Li began to fight in Hollywood, and at his strong request, Yuan Kui also went with him as a martial arts instructor.
Here's an interesting story about learning English. Jet Li made a bet with Yuan Kui at the time, met once a week, discussed the script in pure English, and was fined $100 if he lost.
Yuan Kui always recited the script all night before the meeting, intending to pour out as soon as they met. As a result, Jet Li always pulled him to drink tea first, talked about something else, and after a meal of operation, Yuan Kui had long forgotten it, and lost a lot of money for it.
After arriving in Hollywood, Yuan Kui was not only Jet Li's royal martial arts instructor, but also participated in many other blockbusters. For example, "X-Men" is designed by Yuan Kui, which makes many big directors admire.
In 2002, Yuan Kui was invited by Luc Besson to direct "Very Human Traffickers", using the routine of Hong Kong films to shoot Hollywood blockbusters. The film made fledgling Jason Statham a hit and quickly rose to the ranks of Hollywood's A-list action stars.
Since then, Yuan Kui has successively served as the director and action director of many Hollywood blockbusters, and has achieved good results.
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In 2008, Yuan Kui was invited by Wu Yusen to return to China as the action director of "Chibi". All the war scenes in the play are designed and dispatched by Yuan Kui, and this ability to command thousands of troops and horses is second to none among action directors.
Since then, Yuan Kui has served as an action director and participated in domestic films such as "New Shaolin Temple", "Detective No Two", "Huang Feihong's Hero Has a Dream" and so on. He has also participated in American films such as Deadly Ace and Birth of a Dragon.
Today, Yuan Kui, who is over 70 years old, lives mainly abroad because he is too low-key to find any news about him.
Yuan Kui's life was extremely low-key, although his reputation was not obvious, but his achievements were enormous.
As a director, he has shot many popular movies, not only creating countless good memories for us, but also winning many superstars.
As an action director, he has been nominated for 14 Academy Awards and 5 Golden Horse Awards, all of which are classic blockbusters.
As an actor, although he did not appear much, each role was extremely memorable and memorable to this day.