Text | Wang Zhenyi
Edit | Sun Dasheng
Born on August 11, 1967 in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, Zou Zhaolong had many brothers and sisters, and he ranked eighth in his family, but because his parents did not have the ability to earn money, their family was particularly poor. What is even more tragic is that his father died when he was very young, and he had to work to support the family at a young age, so he worked as a small worker in a carving shop at the age of 6 and apprenticed in a bakery at the age of 9, during which he fell in love with martial arts and seriously practiced martial arts, but at that time Zou Zhaolong would not think that martial arts would change his fate.
In 1979, 12-year-old Zou Zhaolong saw a film company recruiting people, he ran to apply, he played a set of boxing techniques, was favored by a martial artist, so he stayed in this film company, began to be a stand-in, because at that time he was thin, he generally made a stand-in for actresses, and when he grew strong, he began to do stand-ins for male actors, and he had done a stand-in for Zheng Shaoqiu for Zheng Shaoqiu in the "Legend of Xiangshuai" crew for half a year.
Being a stand-in is a very hard job, Zou Zhaolong is often beaten to the nose and face is swollen, but he is not afraid of suffering, many years later, he recalled the past frankly: "I am not the one who can fight the most, but the one who can be beaten the most." And he didn't just do simple stand-in work, he also learned taekwondo, Muay Thai and some film fighting skills in order to meet the needs of the film at that time.
Zou Zhaolong, who was so serious and diligent, was excavated by Hong Jinbao in 1985. This year, Hong Jinbao went to Taiwan to shoot a drama and found Zou Zhaolong, Zou Zhaolong's excellent martial arts skills attracted his attention, so he made Zou Zhaolong the male protagonist of the movie "Full Rebound", and he also moved the mind of taking Zou Zhaolong as an apprentice, this year Zou Zhaolong was 18 years old.
Hong Jinbao's acceptance of Zou Zhaolong as an apprentice did not go well, because after filming "Full Rebound", 18-year-old Zou Zhaolong had to go to military service. But even so, Hong Jinbao did not give up Zou Zhaolong, and when Zou Zhaolong completed 2 years of military service, Hong Jinbao brought Zou Zhaolong to Hong Kong and officially accepted him as an apprentice, and Zou Zhaolong also became a member of the Hong family class.
As a member of Hong's class, filming is very hard, but Zou Zhaolong is not afraid, he once told the media: "Since you have come, then give them your life." Hong Jinbao also told him that if he wants to become a martial arts star, he needs to fight with his life.
Zou Zhaolong did really use his life to fight, once filmed a scene, Zou Zhaolong needed to jump the spring bed across a wall, but Zou Zhaolong did not jump over and fell directly on the ground, many years later, recalling this past, Zou Zhaolong had a palpitation, he said: "At that time, if the head landed first, it must have hung up, fortunately, at that time, he twisted his head in the air, let his back land first, and saved a life, but the bones of the back were broken, broken, and the injury was very serious." ”
For Zou Zhaolong, who is so hard-working and desperate, Hong Jinbao also has a motivation method for him, but his motivation method is very simple and rude, that is, to tell him that as long as he works hard to become a martial arts star, he can get a yacht he wants.
In addition, Hong Jinbao is also very concerned about Zou Zhaolong's career, he specially tailored the movie "Street of Fire" for Zou Zhaolong, and found Qian Xiaohao to play with him. In 1989, "Streets of Fire" was released, and the response was general, and this year a movie called "The Dragon in the End of the World" was also released, in which there was an actor named Jet Li and an actor named Stephen Chow. When Zou Zhaolong met them, they collided with a wonderful spark.
In 1993, after the recommendation of Hong Jinbao, Zou Zhaolong and Jet Li cooperated in the movie "The Demon Sect Leader of the Dragon Slayer in the Heavens", and this cooperation with Zou Zhaolong made Jet Li appreciate Zou Zhaolong very much, so he invited Zou Zhaolong to cooperate with him when he filmed "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard", the two had many wonderful fight scenes in this movie, and when they fought, Zou Zhaolong could exert a great sense of oppression on Jet Li, so that Jet Li lamented that it was very comfortable to play with Zou Zhaolong, and said bluntly: "Chess meets opponents, playing is very enjoyable." ”
After "The Demon Sect Leader of the Dragon Slayer" and "The Bodyguard of Zhongnanhai", Jet Li and Zou Zhaolong cooperated in the movies "Naked Son Weilong" and "Adventure King", and the two became very good friends. But what really made Zou Zhaolong popular was his and Zhou Xingchi's film "Nine Pin Sesame Officer".
At the end of 1993, the producers of the movie "Nine Pin Sesame Officer" saw Zou Zhaolong's performance in the movie "The Demon Sect Leader of the Dragon Slaughter record in the Heavens" and liked it very much, so he invited Zou Zhaolong to play the role of "Chang Wei" in "Nine Pin Sesame Officer" and played with Zhou Xingchi. However, after reading the script, Zou Zhaolong was reluctant to take this role, because he felt that Chang Wei in the movie was really too bad, and it was still pure bad. However, Hong Jinbao felt that this role was good, and he forced Zou Zhaolong to take over the role of Chang Wei, and Zou Zhaolong had to agree.
On March 31, 1994, "Nine Pin Sesame Officer" was released in Hong Kong, the box office was hot, Zou Zhaolong was also on fire, but he was scolded, and the audience felt that his role of Chang Wei was too bad and could not help but scold him. He also admitted in an interview with the media that he had not played for many years without fire, and as a result, he was scolded by the audience just after cooperating with Zhou Xingchi.
Although he was scolded by the audience, Zou Zhaolong did not like the role of Chang Wei at that time, and even for a while he denied that he played Chang Wei, and said that Chang Wei was played by his twin brothers. Because he feels that the role of Chang Wei is completely different from his real personality, and since he finished playing Chang Wei, the crew that found him has let him play the same fierce role as Chang Wei, which has narrowed his play path.
Zou Zhaolong also found that the audience only remembered the villain role he played, and few people remembered that he had also played a decent role. So in 1998, Zou Zhaolong made a major decision to go to the United States for further study and improve himself.
But also in the United States, he accidentally got acquainted with the movie "The Matrix" series. In 1999, Yuan Heping served as a martial arts instructor for the movie "The Matrix" starring Keanu Reeves, and when he learned that Zou Zhaolong, who had worked with him many times, was in the United States, he contacted Zou Zhaolong to help. So Zou Zhaolong entered the "Matrix" crew, because his body shape is similar to Keanu Reeves, he "set moves" for Keanu Reeves and his opponents, and did some martial arts training for actors. What Zou Zhaolong did not expect was that half a year after he finished his work and left the "Matrix" crew, the "Matrix" crew took the initiative to contact him, saying that he had arranged a role in the second part of "The Matrix".
Knowing that there was such an opportunity, Zou Zhaolong was not ecstatic, because at that time, the Chinese actors did not have a high status in Hollywood, and they could play some roles that were "no dignity and no personality", and some roles were also suspected of insulting China, Zou Zhaolong would never play such a role, so he seriously read the script to confirm that there was no problem before deciding to star in the second part of "The Matrix", and he also became the "only Chinese actor participating in the " Matrix" series of movies, and was widely reported in China.
In addition, the producers of "The Matrix" also gave Zou Zhaolong a benefit, as long as the second part of "The Matrix" has been generating revenue, Zou Zhaolong, as an actor, will receive some dividends every year, even if he dies, his children can continue to enjoy this dividend.
After acting in "The Matrix", Zou Zhaolong also acted in some other movies, but the response was average. Until 2007, he and Zhen Zidan cooperated in the movie "Fuse", in which he starred in the fierce and fierce villain "Tony", and Zhen Zidan had several very wonderful fight scenes. How wonderful is the fight between Zou Zhaolong and Zhen Zidan? Zhen Zidan said in an interview with the media that because of the severe fight with Zou Zhaolong, the keel to the pelvic bone of his tail was compressed into a figure 7 shape due to injuries, and if it was not treated well, it would affect breathing.
For Zou Zhaolong, who was highly praised by Jet Li and Zhen Zidan, many netizens wondered if zou Zhaolong could really win the battle against Jet Li and Zhen Zidan if they fought in reality? As a result, a reporter really asked Zou Zhaolong with this question, and Zou Zhaolong replied: "In the film, they beat me so badly, in reality, I will never be merciful to my subordinates anymore." As soon as the reporter heard that Zou Zhaolong was not afraid to fight jet Li and Zhen Zidan in reality, he continued to ask him: "Listen to your tone, Jet Li and Zhen Zidan are fighting with you in reality, you are not afraid, so who are you most afraid of?" Zou Zhaolong replied without hesitation: "I am only afraid of my wife!" ”
Zou Zhaolong is indeed "afraid" of his wife, but behind this "fear" is more love. His wife's name is Weng Huide, she used to be a Hong Kong sister, and she is good friends with Hong Jinbao's wife, Gao Lihong. In 1994, he fell in love with Weng Huide, but was not favored by Hong Jinbao, who said to him: "You dead boy, your career has just started, and you will have to get rid of the flowers and grass, and when you become a big star, you will have to pay!" Zou Zhaolong also understood that at that time, he was just a poor martial artist, and Weng Huide would suffer and suffer with himself, so he proposed to Weng Huide to break up after a series of fractures, and he said to Weng Huide: "Let's separate, Wuxing is bitter and has no money, even his life is not his own, you find a good family to marry, don't look for me again!" But Weng Huide did not dislike him for being poor, but took good care of him, which made him deeply moved and also made Hong Jinbao change his view of their relationship. Eventually they married in 1999 and had 2 sons and a daughter.
Now 53-year-old Zou Zhaolong is still active in the film industry, he is no longer worried about always playing the villain, he wants to open, he told the media: "Every role has the necessity of existence, the villain must be able to suppress the protagonist, to suppress the scene, in order to reflect the integrity of the protagonist." "And he insists on practicing martial arts every day, his physical fitness is not worse than that of young people, and he can still play for more than ten years in the movie."
For Zou Zhaolong, although he has not become a top martial arts superstar, because of martial arts, he has a happy family and changed the fate of poverty, he is very grateful for martial arts, and he cherishes his current life.