Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 128 Do you know what Director Zhang did in the mainland?

This program is just about chatting, chatting about everything under the sun, and the atmosphere is quite relaxed.

Zhang Chen didn't feel any sense of alienation at all.

The entire 90s was the last glorious period for Hong Kong films, with excellent films of all types emerging one after another, truly a hundred flowers blooming.

At that time, Hong Kong films were exported to many countries, including Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea...

So they dare to shoot any subject, because they can sell it no matter how it is shot.

Gangster films also reached their peak during that time.

Zhang Chen is actually quite interested in gangster culture. After all, he was born in the 1980s and can resonate with it naturally.

But after the return, gangster films are no longer popular.

Of course not. The proliferation of gangs was actually the result of the connivance of the then British Hong Kong government. The signing of the Sino-British declaration means that China will not sit idly by, and those who are responsible for this must think about the consequences.

So during those two years, those who were capable were trying to find ways to immigrate, but if you had a community background, even if you wanted to immigrate, your British father would not accept you.

After the return, the overall environment changed and gangster films naturally declined. It seems that after 2000, only Du Dapao was still stubbornly filming "Underworld", and the box office results were naturally predictable.

Liang Wendao concluded: "It was indeed chaotic back then. In the 1980s and 1990s, the influence of gangs was everywhere in the entertainment industry.

Some big brothers simply become stars themselves. Have you seen Ringo Lam's "School Rush"? It's a bit like that."

Dou Wentao also added: "I have seen reports before. The headline of the newspaper news is - Societies invade the entertainment industry."

Zhang Chen had also heard of this history and learned a lot of gossip.

For example, Chow Yun-fat avoided a lot of trouble because he knew Long Wu.

For example, Simon Yam is the most unique person in the entertainment industry because his brother is a candidate for the top police officer.

For example, Anita Mui asked Jacky Cheung to pour tea and admit her mistake.

For example, a starlet asked Cheng Long for help, and a small gang used nude photos to blackmail her. Then Cheng Long directly told the other party to return the nude photos, otherwise he would pay 1000 million to buy his secret money.

“In short, it was really chaotic back then, but there were also a lot of fine products.

There are endless good movies.

In fact, everyone is just taking random photos.

The birth of a classic movie is likely to be the result of two bosses getting together and chatting over a drink, and thinking that so-and-so is very popular recently, and it will definitely be profitable to ask him to make a movie.

Then the actors were decided.

Only after we have the actors will we start writing the script and looking for a director.

Many times, the script hasn't even been written yet before filming has started, and everything is written and shot on the spot.

That’s how The Killer was made.”

Liang Wendao obviously knows a lot of gossip.

Zhang Chen also became interested. You mentioned this and it suddenly occurred to me: "Speaking of scripts, it seems that Infernal Affairs was a watershed."

"Yes, it was only after Infernal Affairs that Hong Kong crews began to pay attention to its scripts. Before that, it was basically just flyers."

Dou Wentao: "But Infernal Affairs also set a bad precedent. Since then, all police and gangster films have followed the same pattern: undercover + counter-undercover, police + corrupt police..."

Zhang Chen thought to himself that this was indeed the case. Before Infernal Affairs, police and gangster films were either about drug dealers or bank robberies. There was even a period of time when films about big-time gangsters were popular.

After "Infernal Affairs", everything became a routine of undercover, gangsters and counter-undercover.

Otherwise, it is said that following the trend will kill a subject.

Just like the gambling movies before, when "God of Gamblers" was first released, it was so amazing, no one thought that movies could be made like this.

Then there were a lot of copycat works: "God of Gamblers", "Casino Tycoon", "Drug King", "Supreme King", "King of Gamblers", "King of Gamblers", "The King of Mahjong"... The same is true for zombie movies, which directly caused no one to watch these two genres.

Nowadays, police and gangster films also have a bit of this meaning. People want to vomit whenever they see undercover agents. It seems that in Hong Kong movies, there are more undercover agents than villains.

When talking about following trends, Dou Wentao suddenly asked: "I heard that there seem to be many people in the mainland who followed the trend of your "Dark Invasion"?"

Zhang Chen smiled bitterly and nodded, acknowledging the fact.

"There are indeed quite a few, and many of them are shoddy."

Chen Xi told him that after "The Dark Invasion" was released, a large number of similar films were launched.

Things like "Dark Invasion", "Dark Invasion", "Terror Invasion" and so on, the names are only a few words different from "Dark Invasion", and they all want to take advantage of the popularity.

But there is no way to do this.

Their practice does not constitute infringement, it is at most immoral.

"'The Shallows' has done quite well at the box office in Hong Kong and mainland China. Have you ever considered making a co-production?" Liang Wendao suddenly asked.

Zhang Chen was stunned for a moment, then replied: "Indeed, a company has proposed to cooperate in co-production, but I am still hesitant."

"Why are you hesitating?"

"To be honest, I have some concerns about co-productions. CEPA has clear regulations on co-productions:
For China-Hong Kong co-productions, there is no limit on the proportion of Hong Kong creative staff, but the proportion of mainland actors must not be less than one-third of the total number of main actors;

There is no restriction on where the story takes place, but the plot or main characters should be related to the mainland...

It can be seen that the mainland treats Hong Kong very favorably in this regard. As long as it complies with the regulations for co-productions, Hong Kong films can enjoy the same treatment as mainland films. This is already treating Hong Kong as one's own son.

But look at what Hong Kong filmmakers did. I turned my heart to the bright moon, but the bright moon only shines on the ditch.

In "New Police Story", mainland actors were given two almost negligible small roles, and this can be considered a co-production.

This is clearly discrimination against mainland actors, and as a mainlander, I cannot stand it.”

Liang Wendao didn't expect Zhang Chen to be so bold and openly bring up Cheng Long and Emperor Entertainment Group's "New Police Story". He smiled and reminded: "Be careful not to offend people when you say that..."

Before Zhang Chen could answer, Dou Wentao beside him laughed first: "Wendao, you may not know what Director Zhang did in the mainland?"

Liang Wendao was confused: "What did you do?"

Dou Wentao laughed even more: "Director Zhang has just offended the entire mainland film critic and writer circle."

This guy obviously did his homework.

Liang Wendao was shocked: "Really?"

"real."

Dou Wentao confirmed again: "Director Zhang's The Shallows was released and was criticized by film critics and a director named Lu Chuan, and then Director Zhang started to curse."

"That's not called cursing, that's called arguing with reason, okay?"

"Yes, argue with reason~"

Dou Wentao looked like he was right and continued gossiping: "Then a large number of writers jumped out to support the director and film critic."

Liang Wendao was astonished by her beauty, and he admired her even more when he saw that Zhang Chen did not seem to be in a hurry at all.

Zhang Chen had no choice but to explain: "Those writers were actually reinforcements brought in by Monkey, because the director I scolded, his father is a writer, and a very successful one at that."

"Oh, now I understand." Liang Wendao pretended to be enlightened, and then he was puzzled: "Are you really not in a hurry?"

……

That's all for today. I'll try to update more on the weekend. Please give me a monthly ticket.
(End of this chapter)