The news of the death of Shi Tian, the founder of Hong Kong's New Art City, caused shock in the circle. Shi Tian is not only one of the "Seven Monsters of the New Art City", but also known as "Hong Kong Chaplin" because of the imitation of Chaplin's exquisite portrait. Although New Art City announced the closure of production in 1991, the "Seven Monsters" and the works they produce have become a classic in the minds of many people.
"Chaplin Hong Kong"
On November 1, Hong Kong actor Lin Junxian forwarded the news of Shi Tian's death on Weibo, "shocked to learn that the president of the World Wuyi Chamber of Commerce Shi Tian has passed away."
Subsequently, Shi Tian's friend, Huang Baiming, who is also the founder of New Art City, confirmed the death of his father from Shi Tian's youngest son Dickson, and pointed out that Shi Tian had died of cancer in September this year at the age of 72, and his last wish was to deal with the affairs of the aftermath in a low-key manner, so the family did not publicize the news.
Huang Baiming cried out in sorrow and respected the wishes of his deceased friend and his family, saying that he still had a text message conversation with Shi Tian on September 7 this year. Shi Tian said at the time that he was in the hospital and would make an appointment to drink coffee after completing treatment. At that time, Huang Baiming only knew that the other party had cancer, but he did not want to be separated forever. Huang Baiming also learned of Shi Tian's death after learning of media inquiries.
Shi Tian has gradually faded from the screen over the years, and his last work was a cameo in the film "My Secret Agent Grandpa" at the invitation of his friend Hong Jinbao.
Although it is a cameo, Shi Tian is starring with his former friends Mai Jia, Xu Ke and Hong Jinbao, and the four of them have acted from the funny "nonsense" in their youth to the grandfather who sits on the street and "eats melons" and chats, which is full of feelings for many Hong Kong film fans.
Shi Tian joined Shaw Films in the late 1960s, starting as a supporting role and for a long time "crawling and rolling" in kung fu films. The 1960s and 1970s also happened to be the most brilliant period of Hong Kong martial arts films, so Shi Tian "took advantage of the victory to pursue", and there were dozens of films in one shot.
Shi Tian played Master Li in "The Serpentine Executioner"
However, under the glory, there are so many martial arts stars, and it is not easy to stand out from them, and it is not easy to have a representative role that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
What really made Shi Tian "out of the circle", and to this day there are still people who remember him as the work of "Hong Kong Chaplin" or "Oriental Chaplin", which is a comedy "Funny Times".
Judging from the title of this work, it is easy to think of Chaplin's "Modern Times", but Shi Tian's imitation of Chaplin can be called a wonderful portrait, and at first glance it can really be "faked".
Shi Tian played the tramp in "Funny Times"
In the film, although he is a tramp, he always likes to wear a suit; although his life is difficult, he is full of justice, helping the drunks and singers encountered on the wandering road to escape from the predicament.
Then there is a "chasing girl", in which Shi Tian finally succeeds in "counterattacking", from the often ragged image in the past film to a "playboy" in a suit.
This plot, which now seems a bit cheesy, sold well at the box office that year with Shi Tian's various exaggerated moves, and after this also led to a series of "chasing girls" theme movies. At this point, Shi Tian successfully transformed into a comedy "laughing artist".
Shi Tian played Luo Baidu in "Chasing Girls"
The "Seven Monsters of New Art City" that cannot be reunited
In Lin Junxian's Weibo, he called Shi Tian the "godfather of the film world", which is enough to see that Shi Tian's high status in the film industry is because in addition to the various classic roles he himself plays, Shi Tian also has a very important achievement, that is, the new art city.
The predecessor of New Art City is Struggle Film Company, which was originally founded by Shi Tian, Mai Jia and Huang Baiming, and the initial production was still based on kung fu films with a sense of humor, and then funded by Lei Juekun, the general manager of JIUBA at the time, it was officially transformed into New Art City Film Company, and the aforementioned "Funny Times" is the entrepreneurial work of New Art City. The start was good, so that the new art city notes attention.
Later, New Art City joined Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng, Zeng Zhiwei and Teddy Robin, officially forming the "Seven Monsters of New Art City".
According to reports, the "Seven Monsters" have a "struggle room" in The home of Mai Ka Yu Mei Fu New Estate, which reads "After the Yangtze River and the front wave, a generation of new people bury the old people", which is used to spur themselves to constantly come up with new bridges and shoot better works.
Many classic funny bridges, such as the "Ghost Horse Double Star" bridge section of "Best Partner" and "Difficult Brother", and the Hong Kong-style horror film section of "Happy Ghost", which created "horror + comedy", etc., are all conceived by the three founders. Shi Tian personally went to the battlefield and tried his best to stage the "72 Changes", so that the audience could see different images in different works.
The most brilliant work of the new art city is "The True Colors of Heroes", when Wu Yusen and Zhou Runfa, a "box office poison" in the directorial industry, a "box office poison" in the actors' world, plus Zhang Guorong, who had just become popular at that time, created a classic that has been passed down to this day.
Shi Tian also changed the "nonsense" drama path in "Hero True Colors 2", all the way in the film, "endure humiliation and burden", "the boss of the jianghu" chose to retire from the jianghu, but was killed by his cronies, the most beloved daughter was also killed, and finally even insane.
Shi Tian played Dragon Four in "The True Colors of Heroes 2"
In the 1980s, the development of New Art City reached its peak, but soon after the peak, due to various problems, such as different creative concepts of each person, they preferred to choose to fight separately, and announced the closure of the production in 1991.
Although it has survived for ten years, the various classic works created by New Art City are still talked about by many people. The "Seven Monsters" then directed each other, and Shi Tian turned to finance and real estate.
It was not until 2017 that the "Seven Monsters" had the opportunity to gather at the Academy Awards ceremony and serve as the guest of honor, but there was still a lack of a Xu Ke, and the Golden Horse Awards ceremony in the same year was considered to have gathered people. However, the "Seven Monsters" will no longer be able to gather seven people in the future.