"Shaolin Temple" is a milestone in Chinese Kung Fu movies and the initial screen work of international superstar Jet Li. However, many people may not know the twists and turns behind this movie, and the other originally scheduled starring who has already shot half of it.
In 1980, Hong Kong Central Plains Film Company started filming "Shaolin Temple". The director was Chen Wen, who had filmed nearly 100 works such as "Auntie Tangshan". He chose the company's contracted artist Wu Gang to play the "Jue Yuan" monk in the film, and other roles were cast by opera actors from the Nanjing Opera Troupe.
Wu Gang is from Haifeng, Guangdong. He has a good foundation in martial arts and qigong, and he is also tall and handsome. However, the acting skills are slightly lacking, and the Kung Fu performance is too routine. Coupled with the strong stage style of the cooperating opera actors, the finished footage is really unsatisfactory. What worries the filmmakers even more is that the filming season is winter, which makes the film's picture gloomy and lacks vitality. Seeing that halfway through the process, 400,000 Hong Kong dollars have been spent on production expenses. Should it be possible to put it on the market after the filming, or to give up and start over again? The top management of the company finally decided: the money spent in the front should be paid for the tuition. If you are not satisfied, you must not give it to the audience, overthrow the existing ideas and finished products, and then shoot again.
Chen Wen, who was deeply guilty of recommending Zhang Xinyan to take over the shooting, was quickly recognized by the company. As a result, the director who had filmed martial arts films such as "The Jade Bow in the Sea of Clouds" and "The Legend of the White-haired Witch" began to bring the project of "Shaolin Temple" on track. He pioneered boldly and decided to select real kung fu masters from mainland martial arts academies and teams to participate in the performance, hoping to change the routine and staged routines of traditional kung fu movies. He also learned from the shooting experience of the former director and set the shooting in the sunny spring to ensure the bright beauty of the picture.
So, there was the selection of the talented Kung Fu teenager Jet Li, who turned out to be a blockbuster and shined in the film world for decades, and there was the birth of "Shaolin Temple", a classic giant that has been famous all over the world and promoted the upsurge of Chinese and foreign youths practicing martial arts. Wu Gang, who was eliminated halfway through
, did not give up his acting career. After that, he filmed many film and television dramas. Although most of them are not the leading actors, they have been filming continuously enough to make a living.
Especially when he attended TVB celebrations and some charity fundraising evenings as a guest performer, he often showed off his special skills: crushing boulders in the chest, drenching boiled oil, running steel wires, drinking oil and gnawing carbon and other difficult stunts. Clap your hands and scream in awe. It is precisely because of this that the media and audience respectfully call him "Master Wu Gang."
However, he has now withdrawn from the entertainment circle to concentrate on business affairs such as restaurants and restaurants. Although he is not rich and noble, at least he will live a peaceful life. He almost never talked to the people around him and the media about the past of performing "Shaolin Temple". Everyone has their own different abilities and destiny, live their own life, walk their own way, no regrets, no regrets, what can you do?
