In 1983, Pan Disheng, a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, wanted to shoot a commercial film for a famous watch for his company. Boss Pan invited Jackie Chan and Zhou Runfa, but he has not been able to determine the heroine of the advertising film.
At this time, under the introduction of a friend, Yang Ziqiong, who won the "Miss Malaysia" beauty contest, successfully became the heroine of this advertising film.
After filming this advertising film, Yang Ziqiong was also signed into the "Debao Film" and officially embarked on the road of acting.
Years later, when Yang Ziqiong recalled her first experience in the film industry, she also told an interesting story.
Jackie Chan in the 1980s was extremely popular in the Asian film market. However, malaysian audiences are accustomed to calling "Jackie Chan" "jackie chan".
In 1983, Yang Ziqiong came to Hong Kong to shoot advertisements, and the staff told Yang Ziqiong that she was working with "big star" Jackie Chan. Yang Ziqiong was curious, the name "Jackie Chan" had never heard of, and said that it was a big star, whether it was bigger than "jackie chan".
When she arrived at the shooting scene, Yang Ziqiong found that the original "Jackie Chan" was "jackie chan".
Life is so interesting. Because of the cooperation with Pan Disheng, Jackie Chan and Zhou Runfa in advertising, Yang Ziqiong unexpectedly embarked on the road of acting. And Pan Disheng, Jackie Chan, and Zhou Runfa have also witnessed three transformations on the road of Yang Ziqiong's actor.
In 1985, Pan Disheng tried to enter the Hong Kong film market and took a stake in Hong Jinbao and Shum Jianxun's "Debao Film". Also in this year, "Debao Film" cast "Royal Master Sister", and Yang Ziqiong officially made a name in the Hong Kong film market because of the film.
In 1992, Yang Ziqiong collaborated with Jackie Chan on "Police Story 3", which made Jackie Chan's film career climb to a new peak, and also made Yang Ziqiong a "sister of action" above the Hong Kong film market.
In 2000, Yang Ziqiong collaborated with Zhou Runfa on "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which was extraordinary in North America and also established Yang Ziqiong's status in the international film industry.
"After becoming famous, choosing to set up a company and develop independently" seems to have become the fate of many actors. After the new millennium, Yang Ziqiong also chose to set up a company and embarked on the road of independent development.
In 2000, Yang Ziqiong founded her own film company "Film Myth Co., Ltd.", which is called "mythical films" in English. It was also in this year that Yang Ziqiong prepared and filmed her own entrepreneurial work - "Legend of Tianmai".
In 2000, it was a very extraordinary time node for Yang Ziqiong.
At the end of the 1990s, with the gradual decline of the Hong Kong film market. Yang Ziqiong, like Jackie Chan, chose to enter Hollywood development. In 1997, Yang Ziqiong officially opened her own Hollywood movie road because she starred in "007: Empire of Tomorrow".
However, after the film, Yang Ziqiong "turned off the fire" on the big screen in Hollywood, and no new works were launched, until the release of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in 2000, North American audiences realized that there was such a "Chinese action actress" in Hollywood.
At the same time as the Hollywood film road turns around, Yang Ziqiong in 2000 also has a new harvest in terms of emotional life. This year, Yang Ziqiong met Hong Kong film producer Zhong Zaisi and quickly fell in love with him.
It was under the advice of Zhong Zaisi that Yang Ziqiong chose to set up a production company "mythical films" and start an independent business. And this "Legend of The Heavenly Pulse" is also jointly supervised by Zhong Zaisi and Yang Ziqiong.
Bao Dexi, the director of this "Legend of Heavenly Pulse", is also an old acquaintance of Yang Ziqiong. In 2000, Bao Dexi collaborated with Yang Ziqiong and Zhou Runfa on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as a photographer. Because of the film, Bao Dexi also won the "Oscar for Best Cinematography" trophy.
After becoming famous in his photography position, Bao Dexi also wanted to try to transform into a director and enter a new career situation. At this time, Yang Ziqiong started an independent business, and Bao Dexi also took the opportunity to sit in the director's seat and directed the filming of this "Legend of Heavenly Pulse".
The transformation of photographers into directors is not uncommon in the film industry, and Zhang Yimou, Gu Changwei and Liu Weiqiang are all typical cases. However, Bao Dexi's transformation path has not been as smooth as Zhang Yimou, Liu Weiqiang, and Gu Changwei.
This "Legend of Tianmai" cost 150 million, and it took two years to produce before and after, but the effect after the release was very general, and the film career of Yang Ziqiong and Bao Dexi did not usher in any turnaround because of this big production.
Next, let's talk about this "Legend of Heavenly Pulse".
The story of "The Legend of Tianmai" revolves around a cultural relic called "The Heart of Dunhuang".
At the beginning of the film, the international thief "Eric" (played by Ben Chaplin) steals a brocade box, and then sells the box to the rich merchant "Carl" (played by Richard Rousberg), and the box contains the heart of Dunhuang.
After the transaction was completed, Carl told Eric about the legend of the "Heart of Dunhuang". It is said that after the death of the tang dynasty monk "Xuanzang", he left 9 relics.
More than 700 years ago, a group of monks hid these relics in a secret location in Dunhuang in order to avoid the loss of these relics in the war, and this "heart of Dunhuang" is the key to finding the relics.
The story Carl tells reminds Eric of his master "Lao Bai" (played by Zhao Wenxuan). Erik is an orphan who later meets the juggler Lao Bai and is accepted as an apprentice by Lao Bai. It is the juggling skills taught by Lao Bai that make Eric a nimble thief.
As a child, Eric had heard the legend of the relics from his master's mouth, and the master had spent his whole life searching for the whereabouts of these relics. During the night, Eric sneaks into Carl's house and steals the Heart of Dunhuang. Eric decided to give the "Heart of Dunhuang" to Master and fulfill Master's long-cherished wish for many years.
Eric arrives at the Master's acrobatic troupe and finds that the Master has died many years ago, and the current acrobatic troupe is run by the Master's daughter "Bai Yanfei" (played by Yang Ziqiong).
Eric and Bai Yanfei were originally lovers, but after becoming thieves, Eric was driven out of the acrobatic troupe, and the relationship between the two was broken.
Eric gave the "Heart of Dunhuang" to Bai Yanfei, expressing his hope to fulfill his master's last wish and find The Relic. However, Bai Yanfei did not pay attention to these legends and stories, she only wanted to run the acrobatic troupe well and take good care of her brother "Bai Yuetong" (played by Zhang Zhuonan).
Knowing that the "Heart of Dunhuang" was stolen by Eric, Carl sent his men to capture Eric and retrieve the "Heart of Dunhuang". Eric is captured by Carl's men, but the Heart of Dunhuang is left in the acrobatic troupe.
Bai Yanfei did not want to pay attention to the "legend of the relic", but his younger brother Bai Yuetong hoped to fulfill his father's last wish. Therefore, Bai Yuetong took the "Heart of Dunhuang" and took his girlfriend "Lili" with him to Dunhuang to find the whereabouts of The Relic.
Bai Yanfei was worried about her brother's safety, so she also decided to rush to Dunhuang. It is inconvenient for a person to go on the road, so Bai Yanfei went to find Eric for help. However, at this time, Eric was captured by Carl's men, and there was no way, Bai Yanfei had to rescue Eric first, and then rushed to Dunhuang with him.
After Erik was rescued, Carl also sent his men to Dunhuang to wait for the opportunity to regain the "Heart of Dunhuang".
On the way to Dunhuang by Bai Yanfei and Eric, the car accidentally exploded and delayed the trip. This also led to Karl and others rushing to Dunhuang first.
In Dunhuang, Carl sent his men to find the whereabouts of Eric and Bai Yanfei. The men probed around, but could not find Eric and Bai Yanfei, but found Bai Yuetong and Lily.
In order to find clues, Bai Yuetong and Li Li took the "Heart of Dunhuang" and asked people around in the streets of Dunhuang. After a few days of questioning, the two met an "old monk" who knew the inside story. However, the two men's flamboyant demeanor also attracted Carl's men.
The old monk (played by Lang Xiong) leads Bai Yuetong to a house, followed by Carl's men. Inside the house, the old monk spoke of the origins between the "White Family" and the "Relics.".
It turned out that more than 700 years ago, after the monks hid the "relics", they did not return to the temple, but stayed in the red dust, married and had children. The "White Family" is the descendant of these monks.
The old monk told Bai Yuetong that in the poplar forest outside the city, there are clues to find the "Shelizi", but the search for the "Shalizi", in addition to the need for the "Heart of Dunhuang", also relies on the Bai family's juggling stunt "Ultimate Leap".
After the old monk had finished telling the clues, Carl rushed into the house with his men, killed the old monk, and captured Lily. Carl knows that in order to get the "Relic", he must get help from the Bai family, so he takes Lily as a hostage and coerces Bai Yuetong to go to find the "Shalizi".
On the other hand, Bai Yanfei and Eric rushed to Dunhuang and accidentally captured Carl's subordinate "Abu". From Abu's mouth, the two learned the ins and outs.
In order to rescue Bai Yuetong and Lily, Bai Yanfei and Eric took the lead in ambushing Hu Yanglin. However, the rescue plan was not successful, and instead let Carl know where the "relics" were hiding.
Carl took Lily and Bai Yuetong to the dungeon where the "Relic" was hiding, and Bai Yanfei and Eric followed. Inside a mysterious dungeon, two groups of people and horses fight, and the organs in the dungeon are also touched.
During the fight, Lily was accidentally killed, and Carl and the others were also caught in the trap and buried in the fire. Bai Yanfei, Bai Yuetong, and Eric broke through many difficulties and met the relics in the underground palace.
However, if you want to take the relic, you must use the "Ultimate Leap" to jump over the cliff. Neither Bai Yanfei nor Bai Yuetong could practice this move of "Ultimate Leap". However, Bai Yanfei understood the essence of the "Ultimate Leap" from the "Flying Mural" in the underground palace, and finally successfully obtained the relic.
Bai Yanfei, Bai Yuetong, and Erik, who got the "Relic", left the underground palace and returned the "Relic" to the temple. The story of "Legend of The Celestial Pulse" also ended at this time.
In order to shoot this "Legend of Tianmai", Yang Ziqiong pulled more than 150 million yuan in investment, and the film took 2 years to produce. At the premiere of the film in 2002, Yang Ziqiong also found Mui Yanfang, Zhang Guorong and other Hong Kong film celebrities to stand for themselves and help them, and Chen Huilin also sang the theme song for the film.
Unfortunately, in the Hong Kong film market, the film only received more than 11 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, while in the mainland film market, the film only received 26 million yuan. In the face of huge investment, this box office performance is obviously not ideal.
The box office setback of "Legend of The Celestial Pulse" is closely related to the quality of the film itself.
First of all, it is worth affirming that the performance of this "Legend of Tianmai" in terms of photography is quite outstanding. After all, Bao Dexi, who is the director, is also a powerful faction that has won many "Best Cinematography" trophies. The performance of magnificent scenes such as Gobi and Poplar in the film is also very visually impactful.
However, a good film, which only excels in photography, is not enough.
The lack of performance of the story plot is the biggest problem of this "Legend of the Heavenly Pulse".
In the film, director Bao Dexi made a large number of shots of Bai Yanfei and Bai Yuetong, and seemed to intend to express the story theme of "character growth" through the comparison of the two sisters and brothers. At the beginning of the film, it also paves the way for the later growth theme through bridges such as "birthday" and "recalling childhood memories".
However, as the plot develops, the rhythm of the later stages of the film becomes more and more chaotic. The younger brother, Bai Yuetong, has also become a dispensable role. In the end, the movie is left with only fighting.
In addition to the theme of the story, in terms of the design of the plot, this "Legend of the Heavenly Pulse" also has many flaws.
Why didn't the monks return to the temple after hiding the "relics"? Since the old monk in Dunhuang knew the whereabouts of the "relic", why didn't he take the monks in the temple and look for them? These questions, the film does not give a clear answer.
And the shaping of many characters in the film also lacks tension. For example, the "old monk" played by Lang Xiong and Bai Yuetong's girlfriend "Lily" are typical tool people, and after explaining the clues and promoting the plot, they are directly killed.
In terms of the overall film style, this "Legend of Tianmai" has made a lot of imitations of Jackie Chan's "action comedy", not only designed a large number of "juggling and fighting" bridges, but also imitated Jackie Chan's production style, and designed a large number of English dialogues in the movie.
However, Guo Chai, who served as the action director for the film, is not from the "family class" after all, and the prop fight design in the film is far from the level of the "family class". Ben Chaplin and Yang Ziqiong's performance in the "juggling and fighting scene" is not as smooth and natural as Jackie Chan.
After the market setback of "Legend of Tianmai", Yang Ziqiong led her own "Film Myth Co., Ltd." to shoot the action film "Flying Eagle" in 2004.
This "Flying Eagle" brings together a lot of big coffee, but the market response after the release is not as good as the previous "Legend of The Heavenly Pulse".
Yang Ziqiong, who has suffered successive market setbacks, realizes her shortcomings in production. After "Flying Eagle", "Movie Myth Co., Ltd." announced its closure. Yang Ziqiong's road to Hong Kong film entrepreneurship also came to an end at this time.