"Proving the truth in words. - Tang Lei"
Actors receiving scripts are a skill.
Some stories are visibly vulgar, and even if they are paid a lot of money, they will most likely be meaningless if they are filmed. However, other stories may have practical significance, or have real depth, or even be creative, innovative and Exploration, however, a bad story may have good box office results, but a good script may not necessarily be welcomed by the audience.
So as an actor, what kind of script should you accept?
This is difficult to say.
For example, actor Aaron Kwok, his standards are "difficulty" and "novelty".
But just these two items, are they enough?
At the beginning, he was not qualified to choose the script.
For example, at the beginning of his debut, from "One Flew Over the Dangerous Wall" and "The Story of Western District" to "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Stand With Me", "The Dragon Prince", "The King of Thousand Faces" and "The Barefoot Boy", etc. Movies are all given by the agency, and he accepts them all.
He really started selecting scripts when Xiaomei Studio was established.
From "Without Your Love", "Wild City" and "Iron Curtain Temptation" to records such as "Legend of Innocence" and "Memo", Aaron Kwok has completely established himself in the Cantonese music scene with his outstanding works in just two or three years. Stand firm.
And Aaron Kwok has always been a "cash cow".
In addition to records, concerts, and advertising endorsements, even the sales of his personal photo albums are terrifying.
According to data from the past, from 1991 to 1997, he defeated all Chinese and foreign stars and dominated the celebrity portrait print sales rankings for seven consecutive years, and had a total of five photo albums with sales exceeding one million copies.
This is an amazing number.
also reported at the time that the royalties from the photo album alone were enough to cover his salary for two or three movies, so at this time, he dared to significantly reduce his production in the film industry.
In other words, he has the confidence to "rather lack than overuse".
's first selected script may be the inspirational boxing-themed work "Romantic Storm".
Inspirational, romantic and tragic.
What does a good movie bring to an actor?
is of course nothing more than fame, reputation, good remuneration and resource trends.
Therefore, the movie "Romantic Storm" brought Aaron Kwok into the vision of Golden Harvest Film executives. They believed that Aaron Kwok had the courage and potential to become an action superstar, so they signed a contract with him.
Then the movie "Wind and Cloud Dominates the World" came unexpectedly.
So, in his 10th year of debut and his 22nd film, Aaron Kwok won the Hong Kong box office title for the first time.
It was at this time that he was forced to reject "Upstream, Countercurrent", which was tailor-made for him by the great director Tsui Hark. Later, the film was starred by Nicholas Tse.
Subsequently, Aaron Kwok successively filmed movies such as "2000 AD", "Thunder" and "Little Kiss".
Look back.
At this time, Aaron Kwok had actually begun to adopt a two-pronged strategy of "commercial and literary arts", that is, while taking action films with high commercial value, he was still willing to follow the path of literary and artistic quality.
But these movies are actually not very successful.
However, he is still focusing on the music industry at this time, so he may not care.
Several years passed by.
Missed Tsui Hark's Aaron Kwok, and fell into the eyes of the new wave star Tan Jiaming.
After this battle, Aaron Kwok not only became the best actor, but also developed real ambitions. At the same time, the standards for "difficulty" and "novelty" in film selections were officially formed. How to understand the standard
?
Seriously speaking, Aaron Kwok has not had a large number of personal works in the past decades. So far, including the movies currently to be released, there are less than 70. However, he is the whole Hong Kong film industry, and the new director The actor who has collaborated the most.
For example, take actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai as an example. He will never consider new directors, so whether it is "The Wind Rises Again" or "Unknown", he will first refer to the reputation of the director's previous films before considering whether to take over the filming.
But Aaron Kwok is not like this.
He almost completely ignores the director's cases and resume, and only sees "difficulty" and "novelty", or at least "roles he has never played before" as the premise.
Although this made him a "devil" in acting, his journey was full of ups and downs.
Along the way, we can't see his "comfort zone".
From Chen Tan, Kang Sanye, and Ling Guang in the exploration stage, to Zhao Deyi, Bu Huaquan, and Liu Jiehui in the adult stage, to advanced Zhou Xiyu, A Zang, Sun Wukong, Gao Jianxiang, and the amazing Li Wenhe Plum blue sky.
In terms of performance, Aaron Kwok has gained a lot.
Even or except for the "lazy" style of "Disconnected" and "Anti-Drug 3: Man at the End of the World", he rarely failed in his works, including the character "Leile" who was vacated in "The Wind Rises Again". All are remarkable.
In the last decade, two of the best Hong Kong films, "Cold War" and "Wushuang", were also produced by him.
roughly counted.
So far, he has released a total of fifty-nine films, including fifteen blockbusters, seventeen niche films, and the rest are small and medium-sized investment films.
will analyze further.
's three Hong Kong annual crowns, one breaking the box office record of Hong Kong Chinese-language films, and three films that have exceeded 1 billion in box office are all from the blockbusters. The best performing among small-budget films is "The Temporary Heist".
When it comes to word-of-mouth contribution, blockbusters and niche movies are equally divided.
Although there were gains and losses, he was still inevitably in trouble. What is the meaning of
?
In him, we can see the "seeking for novelty" and "greed for novelty".
does not even have an "admission" threshold.
Therefore, when filming "Blood in Search of Plum Blossoms", he allowed Weng Ziguang not to worry about his remuneration. Wang Yang, the director of "The Secret of June", invited Aaron Kwok to star with just one email. With such a movie configuration, most of them The probability is still extremely low, and the scripts of "Mai Lu Ren" and "Prompt Robbery" are also "only".
Just as a Hong Kong deputy director said, Aaron Kwok wholeheartedly supports new directors. As long as the script is good, not only will the salary be reduced, but he will also help you find actors and attract investment.
But with such a path, the actor himself will bear great risks.
Because the aesthetics and narrative ability of new directors are unpredictable, it is difficult to predict the quality of the finished film, such as "When the Wind Rises Again" and "Disconnected" mentioned above. It is a coincidence that these two new directors are both He crossed over from the niche route to the commercial film field, but everything collapsed. In addition, he also met Qiu Litao.
No actor can withstand the continuous "double blow" of word-of-mouth and box office. The concept of
is equally applicable to any actor.
Hong Kong movies are declining day by day.
Tony Leung Chiu-wai retired from the industry and took over the filming of the new film "Silent Friend" by a major international director. Andy Lau still pursues the strategy of being prolific and will be rewarded. Nicholas Tse "goes his own way" in Hong Kong-style police and gangster action movies, and Louis Koo is still one after another. Ministry starts work.
What about Aaron Kwok?
has finished filming "The Ring" so far, and there is no news about new film connections. It seems that he still has to carefully select the script, and due to the influence of movies such as "The Wind Rises Again" and "Disconnected", his film acceptance standards may become more stringent. Harsh.
However, there are not many great directors left, and stars are flocking to them, so there may not be any unusual script themes.
And if it continues to be a touchstone for new directors, it will be difficult to say whether it is commercial or word-of-mouth.
What's more, in today's Hong Kong film industry, do you still have to choose?
This is what the concept of "dilemma" refers to.
