"Master Xing" has been a little busy lately. The first is the re-screening of the movie "The God of Cookery". After 28 years, this Xingye classic has finally been released in mainland China. Then the filming of the short drama "Westward Journey" began. This is a sh

"Master Xing" has been a little busy recently.

First is the re-release of the movie "The God of Cookery". After 28 years, this Xingye classic has finally been released in mainland China.

Then the filming of the short play "Westward Journey" started.

This is the second work of the "9527 Theater" jointly developed and operated by the short video platform and Stephen Chow, starring Jiang Long and Zhang Tianai.

The old film has been re-released and the new drama has been officially announced, both of which are good news.

However, for fans of Star Wars, there is even more important news, that is - The movie "Women's Football" has made great progress.

As early as June 22, 2023, Stephen Chow took the opportunity to celebrate his 61st birthday and announced on social platforms that he would start a global audition for the role of the new movie "Shaolin Girls".

As soon as these words came out, it can be said that one stone stirred up a thousand waves.

But who would have thought that the film preparations did not make substantial progress until March this year.

On March 1st, the auditions for "Women's Football" ("Shaolin Women's Football" has been renamed) started, and the first stop was Taiwan, China.

After more than five months of selection, the list of finalists was officially released at the end of August. It is said that the six finalists will go to Hong Kong this month (September) for a one-on-one interview with Stephen Chow.

In the final audition for the actors in "Football", Stephen Chow himself and the core team including Wu Wenliang, the deputy director of the film "Football", personally sat at the judging table. The contestants showed their talents through randomly assigned performance projects.

On the one hand, the global players are trying their best, and on the other hand, there is the strict control of the Stephen Chow core team. There is no doubt that this time "Women's Football" is indeed exciting.

Okay, without further ado, let’s talk about this much-anticipated new work of "Star Master" "Women's Football".

1, "Shaolin Football" and "Women's Football"

Speaking of "Women's Football", we have to mention "Shaolin Football".

"Shaolin Soccer" is a classic comedy film written, directed and starred by Stephen Chow. It was released in Hong Kong, China on July 12, 2001.

The movie tells the story of a star from the Shaolin Temple who was discovered by the former star Ming Feng because he accidentally showed his amazing footwork on the street.

As a result, the stars and their brothers who once practiced martial arts in the Shaolin Temple integrated their unique skills into football to form the "Shaolin Team" and finally won the National Super Cup Football Championship.

In the movie, Stephen Chow cleverly combined Shaolin Kung Fu and football.

There is a strong contrast between a group of little people turning around, starting with comedy and ending with tragedy. The reality shown in the movie has made countless viewers empathize.

When the film was released, it not only achieved great success in Hong Kong, but also won the No. Best Film Award at the 21st Hong Kong Film Awards.

Stephen Chow also won the Best Director and Best Actor awards for this film.

In addition, the film also won the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the 45th Japan Film Blue Ribbon Awards. In 2011, it was also selected as "One of the 25 Best Sports Movies in World Film History" .

Many lines in the movie have become classics because of the movie and have always inspired everyone.

"If you don't have dreams in life, what's the difference between being a salted fish?"

Therefore, as the sister chapter of "Shaolin Football", "Women's Football" has already taken the lead when the project was established.

More importantly, from the beginning of the movie project to now when the auditions have entered the finals, every time the news about the movie breaks out, it has added expectations to the movie.

First of all, when the audition news first came out, Zhao Lina, who was very popular in the Chinese women's football team, once "self-recommended" on social platforms.

Zhao Lina, a former women’s football player, just debuted as a newcomer. She attracted countless fans with her beautiful appearance and tall figure. Many fans called her a player who “obviously can rely on appearance, but must rely on strength.”

had also participated in "Sister Lang" before, and her performance was quite eye-catching.

Just a few days after the auditions started, Stephen Chow met Zhao Lina and even posted a photo together.

Similarly, Li Jiayue, known as "Gao Yuanyuan of Women's Football Team", also met Mr. Xing.

It seems that these two real female football players are likely to appear in the movie.

In addition, it has been revealed that many heavyweight actors may participate in "Women's Football".

There is Korean actor Song Kang-ho who is very familiar to Chinese audiences. From "Memories of Murder" to "Parasite", his works have great influence in the country.

It is said that Xingye invited him to star as a referee in "Women's Football". Judging from the photo of the two of them, the red and yellow cards on his hands are a hint of cooperation.

There is also Amy who has guest-starred in "Mountains and Seas" and "Changjin Lake".

Another even more surprising news is that according to the news from Tian Qiwen, the person in charge of Stephen Chow's company, Stephen Chow himself is very likely to participate in the film.

You must know that Xingye has not appeared in a work for a long time. If he really shows his face, it will be a great value for movie fans.

2. Can one in a million still regain the glory of "Star Girl"?

The non-starring lineup is so eye-catching, but what about the candidate new "star girls" who have reached the finals after many rounds of auditions?

Let’s talk about the audition criteria first. In fact, Xingye has also made it public on social platforms. It is very simple. There are only five criteria:

Different nationalities, young and beautiful, beautiful figure, talented and intelligent, and outstanding physical fitness.

As soon as the announcement came out, everyone's enthusiasm was high, and the number of candidates exceeded 30,000, which resulted in the announcement of the final list of auditions originally scheduled for July 12 having to be postponed.

In the end, after more than a month of delay, 32 to 50 people were selected from more than 30,000 people. Only 6 people had the opportunity to face Stephen Chow. It was basically one in ten thousand.

Many previous popular candidates were not shortlisted. For example, Malaysian player Lin Xuehui and former member of the Korean women's group CLC Elkie Zhuang Dingxin were unfortunately not selected.

Su Yuting also explained:

"The selection is all fair, and opportunities will not be increased just because you are an artist. The sub-items should be those who can play football and have good sports skills. "

The 6 selected are fair and open. Who is this actor?

Don’t worry, let’s give a brief introduction below.

is the first and currently the most popular one. Zhang Tianyi is called the "sweet version of Shu Qi" by Hong Kong media.

Zhang Tianyi is from Hong Kong. He is 22 years old. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong and is also a professional model.

During the audition, she attracted the attention of Hong Kong media with her height of 173cm, 40-inch slender legs and sweet appearance.

However, her acting skills were a bit immature in the talent show. Whether she can really win this role will probably depend on her later training.

The second place is the most well-known among the 6 actors in the finals, Taiwan's new generation singer-songwriter Xie Caiwen.

Xie Caiwen, who previously debuted as a singer under the name "Caizi", has also released many hit songs.

participated in the sports competition variety show "All-Star Games" in 2021. With his pure and pleasant appearance and outstanding performance in the show, he has accumulated a lot of popularity.

Unexpectedly, not long after, she was revealed to have cheated on another male star in the show.

This time the emotional turmoil caused a lot of noise, and she had no choice but to bid farewell to the entertainment industry temporarily.

Caizi returned to his hometown after quitting the industry. It is said that he once made a living by selling rice balls at a vegetable market, earning about NT$12,000 (more than 2,700 yuan) per month.

In order to make ends meet, she worked part-time as a nurse in a remote town after selling rice balls every day.

In April this year, Caizi announced her comeback under her real name. Not only did she continue to create music and participate in event performances, she also started taking acting classes, perhaps to prepare for her future career as an actress.

In third place, actor and host from Malaysia kwan Guan Liying.

Guan Lixin revealed in the interview that in order to prepare for this audition, she specially reviewed all Xingye's movies and imitated and learned some classic clips.

In the last movie where Mr. Xing made a comeback, she reproduced the classic scenes from the movie "The Gambler" and cleverly incorporated some funny elements, which won the approval of Mr. Xing.

The fourth place is similar to the classic character Shao Yazhen in "Kung Fu". Yang Yunqian .

graduated from the Film Creation Department of Taipei University of the Arts and was present at the selection. Her funny ability made people laugh.

successfully captured the hearts of the judges with a unique "disappearing dumbbell" funny performance and exaggerated body language.

The fifth and sixth places are respectively Cai Nanyun, an athlete who shows superb physical fitness and vitality. Yao Fang has solid dancing skills and is known as a "dancing" forest master.

After the audition results came out, some of our previous worries began to surface.

3, some worries

The preparations for Xingye’s "Women's Football" this time are vigorous, and at the same time, some worrying points have been exposed. There are three main types of

.

First of all, the results of the audition were not satisfactory, and it was a bit difficult to break through with "Star Girl".

From Yuan Heping global audition for the character "Ayuya" in the movie "The Bodyguard" to Jackie Chan's global audition for the starring role in the new film "The New Dragon King", the directors unanimously chose the audition.

mainly can add fresh faces to the work, and can also give more opportunities to more capable but not famous actors, and can also bring fresh blood to the film and television industry.

Of course there are successful cases, such as "Sniper" directed by Zhang Yimou.

There are also unsuccessful cases, such as "A Dream of Red Mansions: A Beautiful Marriage" that was just ridiculed by the crowd in the summer release.

What was the result of the audition for "Women's Football"?

At present, it is not very optimistic.

I still can’t tell the reason for her acting skills, but her appearance is a bit different from the previous star girls.

Just pull out a few, the appearance of the star girls is outstanding and can be remembered at a glance.

Zhang Min, Qiu Shuzhen, Zhu Yin, Mok Wenwei, Cecilia Cheung, Huang Shengyi, Zhang Yuqi, Lin Yun...

But these 6 finalists seem to lack such ability.

If such an actor is used to star, can it really hold up this movie?

Secondly, the box office performance of re-released movies has been poor, and "Stephen Chow" seems to be no longer a golden brand.

As mentioned earlier, Xingye’s classic movie "The God of Cookery" has just been released in the mainland.

met the audience on the big screen in mainland China for the first time after many years.

was the runner-up at the Hong Kong box office in 1996, but its mainland re-releases failed at the box office.

In recent years, there have been a lot of comments about Stephen Chow "the talent is exhausted" and "no more creative" .

From "Mermaid" to "The New King of Comedy", although the box office is still strong, the reputation is not what it used to be.

The short play "Golden Pig and Jade Leaves" produced by "9527 Theater" at the beginning of this year included a large number of elements that paid tribute to Stephen Chow's past films.

The new short drama "Journey to the West" that will be filmed next is not optimistic after the official announcement.

Does this mean that for current audiences, the appeal of the three words Stephen Chow is decreasing?

Thirdly, after the audience’s taste has been manipulated, can the script be really powerful?

The movie market has gone through a downturn for several years. Audiences have their own way of choosing what kind of movies to watch in theaters.

Feelings, production, celebrities, these things are all false.

In the final analysis, a good script is the hard currency.

In general, if Stephen Chow wants to create "brilliance" again with "Women's Football", these three "hurdles" must be overcome.

Finally, I hope that "Xing Ye"'s "Women's Football" will have surprises, so that movie fans can regain the heartiness and unfinished content of watching "weekly comedy".

Qingshi Movie | Lao Meng

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