Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 415 Past events

Chapter 415 Past events (24)

When you meet Ng Man-tat, you'll definitely ask about Stephen Chow!
Although Ng Man-tat himself might be a little unhappy...

But his career was indeed intertwined with Stephen Chow…

"I have no grudge against Stephen Chow, we're just on different levels!"

He used to be on the same level as us, but now that he's making more money, his friends might be different.

He has his friends, but they're not ordinary people; they're super-rich, spending hundreds of thousands on a single bottle of wine. The people around you change at different stages of life. I'm still friends with Sing Jai, just like my elementary school classmates were all friends, but we've all gone our separate ways and haven't seen each other for decades!
Did you know that Charlene Choi's dad was my elementary school classmate? I didn't even recognize him; he had to come over and talk to me for a long time before I remembered he was 'Flathead Choi' (a nickname). It's not wrong to not be sentimental, but who says Stephen Chow has to include me in his movies? I'm not his dad… he's my dad.”

"It's such a pity. As viewers, we just wanted to see you two work together again..."

"We, the people born in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, all grew up watching DVDs, so we feel a strong connection to you and Stephen Chow!"

"It's difficult," Ng Man-tat shook his head with a smile, "He doesn't need me anymore!"

This is...

From Stephen Chow's perspective, Ng Man-tat actually enjoyed many honors and recognitions that were higher than his own.

While Ng Man-tat's acting skills are impeccable, he is ultimately a supporting actor.

In commercial films, a supporting actor can shine, but that's not enough to save any movie.

Stephen Chow probably wanted to get rid of the so-called "Chow-Ng golden duo" reputation a long time ago.

The fact that Stephen Chow directed "Flirting Scholar" without being credited as director, which became the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong that year, has already proven that the so-called "Chow-Wu golden duo" is a false proposition.

The 94 film *From Beijing with Love*, a major opening film in Stephen Chow's directorial career, still did not feature Ng Man-tat...

However, whenever Stephen Chow faces immense market pressure and needs to sell his territory, he immediately thinks of Ng Man-tat.

After the failure of "A Chinese Odyssey," they cast him in "The God of Cookery"...

Actually, the first person they approached for "King of Comedy" was Alex Man!
However, he had a very bad temper, and Wan Ziliang quit the film halfway through, leaving only some behind-the-scenes photos.

According to Tin Kai-man, Stephen Chow still paid Alex Man a full salary this time, which was a rare display of humanity in Chow's character, who is known for being mean and ungrateful. Because of this, Alex Man later attended the promotional event and chatted and laughed with Ng Man-tat and others.

The same goes for Shaolin Soccer...

The overall investment in "Shaolin Soccer" was huge, and the process of finding investors was extremely difficult. Stephen Chow needed Ng Man-tat to stabilize the market...

With "Kung Fu Hustle," Columbia Pictures invested...

He had no shortage of investment, and then he ditched Ng Man-tat…

In fact, Ng Man-tat himself is very grateful to Stephen Chow. Due to his collaboration with him, Uncle Tat even had a record of earning more in a year than Chow Yun-fat, Brigitte Lin, and others.

But to be fair...

It just doesn't feel right when Stephen Chow's movies are without Ng Man-tat!
Shen Yan interjected, "Uncle Da, is it true that Stephen Chow is involved with Huang Jun, the 'Tiger Among Tigers' of Tsim Sha Tsui?"

Wu Mengda exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, you know about this?"

"I've heard a little about it..."

"Huang Jun? The tiger among tigers in Tsim Sha Tsui?"

"He's a big shot in the underworld. Huang Jun studied Muay Thai under Su Long, the head instructor of the Sun Yee On triad. He and Du Lianshun, who was also Su Long's favorite disciple, were known as the 'Tsim Sha Tsui Tigers.' He was sworn brothers with Chen Yaoxing, the 'Tiger of Wan Chai,' and Li Yutian, the 'Ghost Tim.' The elders of Sun Yee On, recognizing his hard work and great contributions, bestowed upon him the title of 'Tiger Among Tigers of Tsim Sha Tsui,' ranking him first among Sun Yee On's 'Five Tigers and Ten Heroes'..."

"...Is Sun Yee On a family business?"

"Then I wouldn't know..."

"Does Uncle Da know?"

Wu Mengda smiled but didn't speak, which was tantamount to acquiescing... Shen Yan continued, "Before Zhou Xingchi became famous, he was friends with Huang Jun, who helped him resolve many issues; but when Huang Jun fled to Thailand, his brothers, seeing how good Zhou Xingchi's relationship with their boss had been, suggested that Zhou Xingchi make a movie to help Huang Jun raise some resettlement money. However, Zhou Xingchi declined for a long time and then directly refused..."

There is reason to suspect that Stephen Chow later wanted to immigrate to Canada, but his application materials were not up to standard. The Canadian immigration authorities said they had strong evidence that Stephen Chow was a member of the triads, which is said to be more than 200 pages long.

Considering that when Huang Jun was alive, his brothers wanted Stephen Chow to help their boss raise some resettlement funds out of "friendship," but were refused, is it possible that Huang Jun's brothers held a grudge and leaked a lot of "evidence" of their boss's good relationship with Stephen Chow?

"The matter between Chan Kwok-kwan and Wong Yee-man..."

"When Stephen Chow was looking for Chan Kwok-kwan, Emme Wong was dating Shawn Yue..."

Oh, Huang Yiwen is Huang Jun's daughter...

Many people say that Stephen Chow is sentimental and promoted Huang Jun's son-in-law...

However, Chan Kwok-kwan only met Wong Yee-man 10 years ago. If he really wanted to show some loyalty, Stephen Chow could have directly helped Wong Yee-man. She debuted in 01, was signed by Star Shine Entertainment, and later Wong King cast her in "Black and White Battlefield"...

"Let's not talk about him anymore. Uncle Da, when you're playing Guan Jingnian, remember to carry a comb with you..."

“Hmm…” Ng Man-tat nodded, then said, “After reading this script, what impressed me most was director Cheng Chien-li’s line: ‘The market and human nature are now calling for two elements: ‘fists’ and ‘pillows.’ These were Shaw Brothers’ signature products back in the day…”

Shen Yan chuckled: "Yes, I heard that when Shaw Brothers closed down, they made all the actresses with unfinished contracts film erotic movies to squeeze every last drop of value out of them..."

Ng Man-tat nodded: "Later, they added gimmicks and ghost heads..."

Wu Jing asked curiously, "What's a ghost head?"

"Various ghost and zombie movies..."

Did Shaw Brothers ever make ghost movies?

"Yes, I've filmed them!" Ng Man-tat nodded. "I've filmed a lot!"

In the early 1980s, Shaw Brothers was in decline. Perhaps in an attempt to win back audiences, Shaw Brothers began to engage in some questionable practices.

It's packed with all sorts of cult, erotic, perverse, gory, and grotesque elements. As long as it's exciting enough and has enough gimmicks, it can still attract audiences.

Heavy taste...

Mou Dunfei and Gui Zhihong made many films of this kind at Shaw Brothers.

……

In the room, Shen Yan was discussing the next day's filming with Song Xiaofei...

"We just need to make the camera work smooth; I'm not Wong Kar-wai, and this isn't an art film..."

"Yes, I know."

After chatting for a while, Song Xiaofei said goodbye and left…

Shen Yan is going to Hangzhou to record "Sound of My Dream" the day after tomorrow and needs to take two days off...

Song Xiaofei replaced him and temporarily took over as director.

Song Xiaofei will be added to the director's credits later.

Shen Yan then made a phone call to his sister…

My younger sister worked as Wu Tong's assistant on "Sound of My Dream" and learned a lot from him.