Huayu: King of Kung Fu

Chapter 143 feels incredibly weak.

Despite its unflattering appearance, its capabilities are still formidable.

Wu Jing is a national spearmanship champion, and he has showcased his spearmanship in movies on numerous occasions.

His marksmanship was visibly exceptional.

Comparatively speaking, Zhen Zidan was not good at using long weapons.

When Donnie Yen played Xiao Feng, he even used the Dog-Beating Stick as a short weapon.

Lin Hu has already fought Zhang Jin and Donnie Yen in movies, both times using his fists.

In filming "Brotherhood of Blades," the entire movie features weapon battles, culminating in a final showdown between Yuen Woo-ping and Wu Jing, a clash of swords against guns. Yuen Woo-ping put a lot of thought and effort into the film.

He instructed Lin Hu to make full use of the terrain and environment of the forest, taking advantage of the dense forest and the difficulty in using long spears to attack Wu Jing.

Wu Jing was then instructed to make full use of the advantages of the spear, such as piercing a tree trunk with a single thrust to attack Lin Hu, who was using the tree to dodge.

This fight scene took ten days to film, and many action shots were taken.

However, the editing of the entire fight scene had to be kept within five minutes, including Ding Xiu's battle against the Later Jin cavalry.

Many action movies in later generations have a problem: they seem to fight very fiercely, with various blunt weapons hitting heads and blood splattering everywhere.

However, no matter how much you hit it, it won't die; it's actually like scraping.

In Lin Hu's action movies, apart from the BOSS battles where both sides are relatively durable and can fight for two or three minutes, most of the other battles end in one or two hits and it's a matter of life and death.

In the final shot, Shen Lian gallops across the grassland on horseback, and his two brothers seem to have come back to life.

"Brother, once we leave the capital, where do you most want to go?"

"I'm going to Quanzhou to take my mother to see the sea."

"Second brother, what about you?"

"Suzhou, please. Just ask us, Yichuan, where do you most want to go?"

"I want to go to the area outside the Great Wall. I heard that there are the fewest people there. I want to see what it's like to be in a place with few people."

The three brothers galloped away on horseback, disappearing into the distance at the edge of the grassland.

Lin Hu rode back on horseback, personally turned off the camera, and announced, "Filming wrapped!"

The group cheered, then packed up their gear and headed back to the city.

Including the time wasted in the middle, "Brotherhood of Blades" took a full one hundred days to film.

After returning to Beijing, Lin Hu sealed away all the film he had taken.

Next, he will be filming on Zhang Yimou's set, and he can only do the film editing during his free time while filming.

There are still five or six months until the Chinese New Year, so there's no rush.

After explaining everything, Lin Hu boarded a plane and flew directly to Xi'an.

As soon as he got off the plane, a Chevrolet Blazer was waiting for him; it was Zhang Yimou's personal car.

Lin Hu got into the car, chatted with the driver for a bit, and learned that his name was Lao Liu.

Lin Hu asked, "How long have Director Zhang and the others been here?"

Old Liu said, "We arrived in Xi'an a week ago."

"So I didn't fall behind schedule, did I?"

"No, we arrived in Xi'an first in our SUV. The convoy was slower, arriving only three days ago. We still need to do on-site surveys and such when we get to Dunhuang. You should be able to start filming just in time."

Lin Hu laughed and said, "Dude, you know a lot."

"I've been working for Director Zhang for seven or eight years, and I'm his personal driver."

No wonder.

"The back seats of this car can be folded flat to make a bed, so you can take a rest."

"That's perfect!"

Lin Hu lay down and closed his eyes. When he woke up, he was already in Dunhuang.

The crew of the film "Hero" was stationed in a town called Qilizhen on the outskirts of Dunhuang.

This place is the logistics base of Qinghai Petroleum Bureau. There is a garden-style petroleum hotel in the town with a very nice environment. The crew of the movie "Hero" booked it out.

The hotel's presidential suite costs 9800 yuan per night and is occupied by Zhang Yimou and several lead actors, as well as the producer, director of photography, martial arts director, and other key members of the production team.

The production team of "Hero" was very wealthy and had a large convoy of over fifty vehicles.

Zhang Yimou and several lead actors each rode in a Chevrolet Blazer, while the other staff members traveled by bus.

Dozens of trucks were carrying lifting booms, lighting equipment, wire harnesses, thousands of sets of armor and weapons, and eighty warhorses.

In addition, there are refrigerated film trucks, makeup trucks, garment trucks, and generator trucks —

Goodness, Lin Hu has really seen something new.

Lin Hu has made quite a few movies, and he usually tries to save money wherever possible, relying entirely on rented equipment.

For example, the entire filming of "Brotherhood of Blades" took place at the film and television base in Huairou.

Finally, we went to the grasslands to shoot for ten days. We brought the equipment directly from Huairou, driving two or three hours each day to shoot on the grasslands and then coming back.

The horses were rented directly from the grassland; it's a tourist area where horses can be rented.

Where else can you find someone like Zhang Yimou, with hundreds of people, hundreds of horses, and dozens of vehicles, filming all over the country, shooting wherever the scenery is beautiful?

These days, road conditions are poor, and large equipment cannot withstand bumps. To protect the equipment, they travel slowly on the road.

When encountering some dirt roads, the local government has to be called in to make temporary repairs.

It took a whole week to get from the capital to Dunhuang, so although Lin Hu arrived late, it didn't actually cause any delays.

The Petroleum Hotel where the film crew was staying was guarded by armed police, and no unauthorized personnel or media reporters were allowed to approach.

What do you mean by "prestige"?

After witnessing Zhang Yimou's impressive display, Lin Hu felt utterly inadequate.

That evening, Zhang Yimou hosted a welcome dinner for Lin Hu at the Petroleum Hotel.

Lin Hu already knew Li Lianjie and Zhang Ziyi, and greeted them familiarly. However, when he saw Zhang Manyu, he instantly became a fanboy.

"Maggie Cheung, it's so great to finally meet you! I'm a huge fan of yours; I've seen every single one of your movies!"

Maggie Cheung was quite surprised: "Really? Which one is your favorite?"

"My favorite movie is 'Police Story,' I love watching Brother Chen Long pull you off his motorcycle!"

Zhang Manyu laughed and said, "That scene was so embarrassing, I almost smashed my butt."

Among Hong Kong actresses from the golden age, Lin Hu's favorite was Maggie Cheung.

Although Maggie Cheung wasn't the most beautiful, she shone brightly in the movie.

Even actresses with outstanding looks like Wang Zuxian and Brigitte Lin, when acting alongside her, could not steal her spotlight.

Whenever she's on camera, Lin Hu's attention is involuntarily drawn to her.

Maggie Cheung can play any role—comedic, lively, charming, melancholic, serene—and she portrays each character brilliantly.

Even during her "pretty face" phase, she could still charm people with her sweet and adorable appearance.

Lin Hu sat down at the table next to Zhang Manyu and chatted happily with his idol. He even helped her cut the lamb and showed off his knife skills.

Zhang Manyu initially thought Lin Hu was just being polite.

After chatting for a while, I realized that Lin Hu really knew her movies inside and out and was a true movie fan, so I happily chatted with Lin Hu.

The two chatted and laughed at the dinner table, which made Zhang Ziyi, who was sitting next to them, a little unhappy.

She and Lin Hu are the same age, while Zhang Manyu is old enough to be Lin Hu's mother.

As a result, she took the initiative to talk to Lin Hu, but Lin Hu was just being polite and his attention was entirely on Zhang Manyu. He even cut mutton for her and showed off his knife skills.

She inexplicably felt a pang of jealousy, as if she were feeling a little sour inside.

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