Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

1979 7 Month 7 Day.

The podium in the playground of Marino School.

Li Jiangbo was in front, followed by Wang Jing, and then Rosamund Kwan, Cherie Chung, Wong Cho-si, Leslie Cheung, Angie Chiu, and others.

Li Jiangbo held a lit incense stick, bowed to Guan Yu, and inserted the incense into the incense burner. The others followed suit and inserted their incense into the incense burner as well.

After the incense was lit, Li Jiangbo, under the watchful eyes of the crew, lifted the red cloth covering the camera. The opening ceremony was now over, and the next step was for the director or producer to give a speech.

Before Li Jiangbo could speak, some of the hired extras gathered together and whispered among themselves.

"Have you heard? Our Director Li used to make those kinds of films."

"Really? This movie doesn't look like an erotic film to me. Besides, the recently popular TVB series 'The Bund' was directed by Director Li!"

"I don't know, but I think this production crew is a bit stingy; they borrowed all the clothes from the school."

......

The murmurs varied in volume, and the looks directed at Li Jiangbo ranged from envy and admiration to sour grapes.

Li Jiangbo couldn't tolerate even the slightest thing. He roared, "If you have any complaints, tell me! Anyone who gossips behind my back can get out of my production crew!"

His words had some effect, but not much; everyone simply kept their voices down.

Li Jiangbo gave Wang Jing a wink, and Wang Jing immediately understood and walked directly towards a group of people who were whispering among themselves.

As the extra was chatting enthusiastically with his partner, a figure suddenly loomed over him.

He looked up and was terrified. He stood up tremblingly, "Director Wang..."

Wang Jing raised an eyebrow and said, "You can leave now."

The extra wanted to explain, but seeing Wang Jing's furious expression, he could only awkwardly pack his things.

Seeing this, the others fell silent, not daring to even breathe.

Wang Jing and Li Jiangbo staged this scene on the set of the Shanghai Bund film, using it as a way to make an example of someone and save themselves a lot of trouble.

If Li Jiangbo shows any weakness, he will be met with non-cooperation during filming.

If someone doesn't cooperate during filming, it can still be salvaged; but if someone is bold enough to line their own pockets, that would be a different story.

In later generations, there were countless examples of straw hats and props with exorbitant prices, and investors dared not ask questions. If they did, they would simply say: "That's how we do things."

This left the investors completely helpless, as they were still hoping the company would help them make money!

They might not offer an exorbitantly priced straw hat now, but they'll definitely try to squeeze every last penny out of the production crew.

Li Jiangbo looked at the staff below the stage with satisfaction and smiled slightly.

"Today is our first day of work, and this is not the result I wanted. Therefore, I'm establishing three rules: 1. No talking about anyone behind their back, especially me or the other actors. 2. Please keep your temper in check and cooperate. 3. All funds used must be properly documented."

He paused, and seeing everyone's serious expressions, continued, "I hope everyone can get along well. If I find out you've violated any of the three rules I mentioned above, then I'm sorry, please leave my production team!"

Li Jiangbo finished speaking in one go, leaving everyone enough time to digest what he had to say.

Only when the playground fell silent did he slowly speak, "Alright! If everyone has no objections, let's get started!"

Starting a film project is far more complicated than starting a TV series project. It was Wang Jing's first time making a film, so he learned from Li Jiangbo.

Li Jiangbo was seen leading a meeting with the actors, photographers, lighting technicians, art directors, and other departments to develop plans and set up the set.

After that, Li Jiangbo gave the actors some pointers on the play and asked them to try performing and rehearsing it.

It wasn't until an hour and a half later that the crew officially started filming.

The first scene arranged by Li Jiangbo was a sports meet scene, in which Zhu Xiucai, played by Leslie Cheung, helped Lin Qingqing, played by Cherie Chung, defeat the blue team and win first place in the sports meet.

The reason for this arrangement is that the actors borrowed by the school have limited time and can only be filmed for two days.

Leslie Cheung, dressed in Qing Dynasty attire, makes a dazzling entrance as Li Jiangbo shouts his name.

The first scene filmed was Leslie Cheung staggering as he followed Lin Qingqing to the playground. When Leslie Cheung ran over from a distance, Li Jiangbo frowned.

He noticed that Leslie Cheung walked with his toes pointed outwards, and he waved to Johnnie To.

"Ah Feng, go find someone to change into Qing Dynasty clothes, and we'll run it again later."

Johnnie To nodded and hurriedly went to find a suitable extra.

Li Jiangbo didn't yell "cut" for the first shot. Doing so would have dampened the enthusiasm of the crew. After all, most people hope to get it right in one take, for good luck, and avoid endless repetition of cuts.

Li Jiangbo is not like Wong Kar-wai; he doesn't have the habit of tormenting actors. Basically, if a performance meets his expectations, he will call it a pass.

There were also teachers from the school present today; otherwise, Li Jiangbo might not have been able to control these teenagers.

With the cooperation of about a hundred people, the filming of the movie was proceeding in an orderly manner.

While filming the cheerleaders, Li Jiangbo walked up to Leslie Cheung and offered him a cigarette.

"Ah Rong! You have to act like you've never seen the world before, and be curious about everything you see, until you see an airplane, and then turn your curiosity into fear."

Leslie Cheung nodded humbly, holding the script and repeatedly pondering Li Jiangbo's words.

The rest were easy to film; everyone had participated in sports meets, so they just needed to play themselves.

First, there was the discus throwing competition. Chung Chor-hung was wearing shorts and a red tracksuit as she walked into the camera's view.

She had never thrown a discus before, but under the guidance of her PE teacher, she performed the movements correctly, but because she lacked strength, she didn't throw it in the correct position.

Helpless, Li Jiangbo could only let the boys throw the balls; the beginning and end can be cut off during editing.

An unknown actress plays Gao Guoren, the captain of the Blue Team, but because she is strong, she accidentally hits Zhu Xiucai instead.

In the following javelin competition, Gao Guoren, still due to his great strength, used his javelin to pin Zhu Xiucai's official robe to the ground.

This really offended Zhu Xiucai. First, he interfered with Gao Guoren in the running competition; then, he helped Lin Qingqing defeat Gao Guoren in the shot put, long jump, and high jump competitions.

The final scene was even more hilarious, as Gao Guoren was held back by Zhu Xiucai during the relay race and couldn't cross the finish line first.

Zhu Xiucai only released Gao Guoren after Lin Qingqing crossed the finish line, which made Gao Guoren so angry that his whole body turned red.

Li Jiangbo felt the shot wasn't good enough and immediately yelled "Cut!" He then called over the makeup artist and asked her to make Gao Guoren's skin look redder.

Filming continued, and Gao Guoren was seen sitting on the ground, patting the ground and pounding his chest.

The onlookers burst into laughter. Wang Jing nudged Li Jiangbo on the shoulder, "Director Li, when do you wrap up? How many days do you plan to film here?"

Li Jiangbo shrugged noncommittally, patted Wang Jing on the shoulder, and said, "Let's wrap up after this shot. I reckon we'll have to film here for another two days."