1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 345 Dinner before returning to Hong Kong
"Chicken and eight fresh ingredients hotpot, get out of the way, it's so hot~"

The celebration party for the movie was over, but the crew members from Hong Kong did not have a great time.

Speaking of which, Hong Kong is already a food desert. Unexpectedly, Japanese cooking is even more boring, and even the sake tastes bland. The only thing worth mentioning is the entertainment and relaxation place like Kabukicho.

So, taking advantage of the end of December, Hong Kong people who were still unsure whether they could return to Hong Kong smoothly at the end of the year simply organized a party in Japan, booked the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant, and started to show off their skills.

"Borrow, borrow, borrow~"

Chen Shilong put on an apron and walked out of the kitchen, holding a steaming casserole and asking someone to let him pass it by.

When the casserole was placed on the table, the soup in the pot was still bubbling. The combination of chicken, seafood, mushrooms and scallops smelled very appetizing.

"My nephew is good at cooking."

Zhai Yuan was invited to the banquet. As soon as he sat down, he saw Chen Shilong serving the dishes himself. He sniffed and smiled and praised them.

"You are in luck. Normally, I would never cook even if Hong Xinbao begged me to do so."

Chen Shilong is quite confident in his cooking skills. He greeted everyone at the table with a smile: "Try it. This is the real skill of making a living! My father taught me when he opened a restaurant. He said, "I am 60 years old and can still cook. I can make a living by cooking for the rest of my life. But you are 20 years old now. Do you have to continue cooking when you are 60?"

After finishing the scene, everyone relaxed and responded to Chen Shilong's exaggerated language and actions, with laughter ringing out all around.

“Steamed grouper is here~”

Qin Pei also came out of the kitchen with a tray and placed the grouper with clear broth on the table, complaining: "The Japanese really don't know how to eat. They took the good grouper to make sashimi and put it in the refrigerator to freeze and sterilize it. It's cold and frozen. How can we eat it?"

Then there were stir-fried shrimp, lychee spareribs, radish beef brisket, black bean and pepper crab...

The male compatriots in both crews who can cook have shown off their skills to some extent.

Women in the crew are rare creatures, but Zhong Chuhong also brought a plate of blanched Chinese cabbage and placed it on the table.

"Look how green the vegetables are, and how black the soy sauce is!" Zhai Yuan praised politely, "I unilaterally declare that Sister Hong is the God of Food this year!"

After saying that, he patted the empty seat next to him and said, "God of Food, come and sit down!"

Zhong Chuhong rolled his eyes at him, hesitated for a moment, and sat down next to Zhai Yuan.

Let’s start the meal.

Liang Jiahui brought a box of Yongliwei Wujiapi and distributed it to each table.

Zhai Yuan raised his glass and said, "There is still more than a week until the New Year's Day next year. In fact, I don't want to disturb everyone's holiday. Everyone, after finishing the work at hand tomorrow, those who are rushing back to Hong Kong to reunite with their families can leave early. Remember to keep your plane tickets and let my company reimburse you~"

Amidst the applause of "Well done, Mr. Zhai".

Xu Qi frowned and whispered, "We still have a lot of work to do on the stage show, so we're really short of manpower."

"Then wait until the holiday is over before coming back to shoot." Zhai Yuan said with a smile, "Take a break, and come back to Hong Kong with me, or else I won't be able to handle Sister Nan's continuous calls these past two days."

Chen Shilong interrupted and asked, "Have you settled your business in Japan?"

The deal between Zhai Yuan and Toshiba has not been made public, but having been in the same crew for so long, everyone has more or less heard about it. Even if they don’t know about the semiconductor production line, they probably know that Zhai Yuan’s Qvod Technology is discussing cooperation with the other party.

"Almost. It should be in these few days."

"Congratulations, Mr. Zhai. We never dared to dream of cooperating with a giant like Toshiba."

People around only give it a few compliments, but most people don't read Toyo News and have no idea that this giant Toshiba is facing a huge crisis.

Zhai Yuan smiled and nodded, remembering the call from Tanaka Shota this morning.

It is estimated that the bribery in the United States has indeed damaged its vitality. Toshiba's semiconductor subsidiary has become more and more relaxed and has taken the initiative to let the middleman Shota Tanaka contact itself, hoping to meet and discuss in detail.

In this way, the self-developed circuit boards for the second generation of VCDs will be just around the corner.

After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.

Zhai Yuan glanced at Zhong Chuhong who was sitting next to him.

The alcohol content of the Wujiapi is not bad. Zhong Chuhong took two sips and her rosy face looked even more beautiful.

"Mr. Anthony, what do you think of Hong Kong actors' performance on screen?"

Zhai Yuan turned his gaze to the only two white people at the table, Hopkins and Michelle Pfeiffer. The former was indeed a very good uncle Ba, who ate slowly and leisurely, showing his gentlemanly manners. On the other hand, Michelle Pfeiffer, the American ghost woman, was completely attracted by the delicious dishes on the table. She lowered her head and showed off wildly, without any trace of the elegance of Catwoman.

When this question was asked, Hong Kong filmmakers all looked at Hopkins, wanting to hear what the foreigner would think of them.

Zhong Chuhong also raised her head and looked over. As soon as she focused her attention on Hopkins, she felt a dirty hand pinching her little hand.

Zhai Yuan was making small movements under the table, and said to her with a smile: "Gui people don't understand Cantonese, Sister Hong, can you help me translate it~"

Zhong Chuhong retracted her hand slightly, which did not help. She rolled her eyes at Zhai Yuan again, then smiled helplessly and translated his question.

"Although Hong Kong films are rarely shown in the United States, thanks to the release of videotapes, I have the opportunity to watch and learn from many types of films."

Hopkins shook out his napkin to wipe his mouth, then smiled and greeted the filmmakers at the same table: "If you don't find it offensive, I do have some personal opinions to express." "Let me translate, what the foreigner means is, are you afraid of being stinked by him?"

After listening to Zhong Chuhong's translation, Zhai Yuan quickly summarized the core idea.

Hopkins' value in the "Lost in Translation" crew was still very high. After the filming of the show, both Ann Hui and her husband praised him highly.

When he heard that there was another opportunity to attend class, he was the first to express his support.

Chen Shilong, Liang Jiahui and Qin Pei also nodded and asked Hopkins to speak freely, wanting to hear the opinions of the filmmaker from Hollywood.

"Stop making trouble, listen carefully to the foreigner's lecture and do a good job of translation."

Under the table, Zhai Yuan changed from gently pinching Zhong Chuhong's small hand to interlocking their fingers and stroking her fingertips as a reminder.

Zhong Chuhong's face turned red for no reason, and her heartbeat quickened by the small action of clasping ten fingers. Fortunately, Zhai Yuan did not make any other excessive movements. She was afraid that people around her would notice something, so she sat more upright and did not look at the other person.

"We don't discuss fast-food actors in Hollywood, that's meaningless. If we look at it from the perspective of acting skills and style, I think Hollywood's top actors often have stronger dramatic tension. Not only facial expressions and body movements, but also through eyes and tone of voice, the audience can capture the emotional and psychological changes of the character."

Hopkins casually cited a few examples, probably because he felt that Dustin Hoffman, a legendary actor, was too bullying. After a short pause, he continued, "I know that there is an actor named Wan Ziliang in 91 Entertainment who is very popular. The sales of his movies "A Better Tomorrow" and "God of Gamblers" in North America are both good. But if he is compared with Al Pacino, who also made gunfight movies, it might be more appropriate and easier to tell where the difference is."

"I vote for Al Pacino~" Michelle Pfeiffer used a knife and fork to pick up a piece of grouper, wiped off the oil stains from the corners of her mouth with her fingers, put it back in her mouth and sucked it, and said with a smile: "Although he was not likable at all on the set of Scarface, playing such a brutal and barbaric criminal must be more exciting than the man who loves chocolate in God of Gamblers."

Hopkins nodded and said, "Wan Ziliang's performance is bold and straightforward. Although I have only watched two of his films, his overall style is tough and resolute, and his performance focuses more on external conflicts and straightforward emotional expression... This is not just Wan Ziliang's problem. Based on my personal experience of watching Hong Kong films, most male actors in Hong Kong have this kind of problem. In fact, they can dig out more delicate inner portrayals, but I often feel that they don't want to spend too much effort on this aspect."

Michelle Pfeiffer said: "Teacher Anthony, you have never been to Hong Kong. They have a training class system there, which is more like a crash course in acting, so there are many problems with the homogeneity of actors..."

At the dinner table, Hong Kong filmmakers including Zhai Yuan looked at each other and exchanged glances.

This is true, but it's not that the actors are unwilling to work hard. The main reason is that Hong Kong film companies are in a hurry to finish filming and release the movies to recover their costs. This kind of heroic performance with an outgoing sense of chivalry is most suitable for producing finished products quickly. Since the previous generation of Wang Yu and Di Long, it has naturally continued with the examples set by their predecessors.

Even in "A Better Tomorrow" and "God of Gamblers", Jiuyi Entertainment did not give the actors too much time to figure out the script and the roles. The director only began to train them on the set.

Zhong Chuhong noticed that Zhai Yuan paused in stroking his fingers, and she turned her head to look at him, and found that Zhai Yuan looked thoughtful.

"At that time, I was also waiting for the funds to come back quickly. Now that I have some wealth, I don't have to rush to shoot movies like before. I can consider giving the actors more time and producing more high-quality works."

Zhai Yuan thought to himself: "But this is only limited to those actors who deserve to be promoted. After all, movies are still commodities, not art films. Fast food is bound to be more than regular meals."

Hopkins then made another sharp comment on Chen Shilon.

After all, he is the top star in the Hong Kong film industry, so it is natural for him to be used as an example.

The late kung fu superstar Bruce Lee is also interspersed in the film.

"Hong Kong's kung fu and action films are mostly focused on the commercial field, so they rely more and more on exaggerated movements and expressions."

Hopkins said: "Basically, from my movie-watching experience, many Hong Kong actors are still imitating Bruce Lee. To be honest, although his strong body language and quick rhythm are very prominent, that was a movie more than ten years ago. From today's perspective, although the action is still excellent, the acting is terrible. In this regard, I think Jackie's performance is more interesting. He combines action and comedy, turning a single genre into a multi-genre film. There are not many actors like this in Hollywood. If you add your extraordinary skills and action, I can say that there is no other actor of the same type in Hollywood at present."

Chen Shilong straightened his back unconsciously and leaned back with a smug look on his face.

Hollywood action? What the hell!
Two grown men wrestling together, punching each other in a monotonous way, without even any leg movements, there is no aesthetic appeal at all~
Zhai Yuan was amused and teased Chen Shilong, saying, "Nephew, although the foreigners think that you have an advantage over Bruce Lee in comedy, I still think that Brother Xiaolong is better!"

For the first time, the people in the Hong Kong film industry present also began to doubt Anthony's comparison.

After all, apart from the people from the Chen Clan, even fans of Chen Shillong in this era basically have a very heavy filter for Bruce Lee.

Originally, everyone didn't dare to offend Brother Long, but they were secretly complaining about how a supporting actor like you, Bruce Lee, could be compared with his senior?
Now hearing Zhai Yuan's teasing, they all nodded in agreement.

Chen Shilong's arrogance suddenly faded. He glanced at the reactions of the people around him and sighed helplessly: "Let him win."

"Keep using your talents for action and comedy, Jackie."

Hopkins gave Chen Shilong a heartfelt advice: "You actually performed well in the movie "Hiroshima Monster" this time, but as an Asian, if you want to enter Hollywood earlier... It's not that I am prejudiced against Asians, because as a British person, it also took me a long time to get a role in Hollywood, even though everyone is a white-skinned foreigner."

Hopkins smiled apologetically and made a self-deprecating remark that although they were both foreigners, they were treated differently, which caused laughter at the table.

Michelle Pfeiffer, the American ghost lady standing by, frowned in dissatisfaction. She wanted to refute but couldn't find a point to start. In the end, she shrugged and said, "Well, maybe the big film producers have limited quotas for foreign actors every year, and Anthony, you just happened to be in the years when all the quotas were issued."

"What I mean is that no matter how real and touching the father you played in Hiroshima Monster was, it would still be hard to break into Hollywood, because Hollywood has never lacked talented leading men, and actors who only work in genre films can't even find work most of the time."

Hopkins continued: "So you have to show what they don't have, Jackie. Action and comedy are definitely the best combination for you. I hope you can keep going..."

The sharp criticism surrounding Hong Kong actors in Hannibal has come to a temporary end.

It does sound a bit unpleasant, but it is well-founded and the expression is always elegant and unhurried.

Chen Shilong and the others fell silent.

Liang Jiahui and other bigwigs finished their discussion and raised his hand and said, "I want to hear Mr. Anthony's evaluation of me. I am the male lead of the second episode of "A Better Tomorrow" and Xiao Fangfang in "God of Gamblers"..."

"I know. Sooner or later, you will take me, the movie emperor, to task."

Zhai Yuan interrupted Liang Jiahui with a smile, scratched Zhong Chuhong's palm under the table, looked up and said to Hopkins: "After returning to Hong Kong this time, I plan to set up a film school, the kind with qualifications to run a school. At present, the teachers are still being selected. In addition to a Chinese actor named Zun Long, I also hope that Mr. Anthony can join in and teach some acting experience to the younger generation of actors in Hong Kong..."

(End of this chapter)