The last two martial artists: Wu Jing to the left, Zhao Wenzhuo to the right

Wu Jing loved to play football when he was a child. He did not practice martial arts voluntarily, but was forced by his father. When he was 6 years old, his father sneaked him to Shichahai Sports School and worshipped Jet Li’s master Wu Bin.

In the same year, Zhao Wenzhuo was 8 years old. He was also mentioned by his father and slipped to Zhang Zhibin, the apprentice of Liu Hongren.

The two teenagers came from a family of martial arts, and they also had a father who was proficient in martial arts. One was on the banks of the Songhua River and the other in Xicheng Hutong. They were pushed to start their martial arts career. When

reached adulthood, the two were admitted to the Wushu Department of Beijing Sport University and became brothers in the same school. In 1991, Zhao Wenzhuo won the national martial arts championship, and Wu Jing won the national martial arts spear and pair training championship.

Wu Jing said that the martial arts champion is a true portrayal of his contribution to the country. There are many martial arts champions who have become kung fu stars such as Jet Li and Wenzhuo Zhao.

The facts are also as Wu Jing said, he and Zhao Wenzhuo both set foot on the road of film and television at the age of about 20. Both became actors and then became Kung Fu stars.

is even more amazing that both of them are called "Jet Li's successor" by the film industry, and even regarded as "the successor of Chinese Kung Fu."

However, it is strange that two people with such similar experiences have never appeared on the same screen.

between the comings and goings of the north and south, the two people's pursuit of traditional martial arts, under the ups and downs of the times, is like shooting stars across the sky, but leaving different footprints.

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The early 1990s was the golden age of Hong Kong's new martial arts movies. Because of Jet Li's brilliant record in the Hong Kong film scene, many Hong Kong directors went north to look for "playable" actors. Director Yuan Kui of

personally went to Beijing Sport University to choose actors for the film "Fang Shiyu". Zhao Wenzhuo was stunned by his classmates to perform a set of basic skills and thongs on the spot, and Yuan Kui was attracted by Yuan Kui.

Zhao Wenzhuo started playing with Jet Li when he was a fledgling young man. He was often scolded by Yuan Kui on the set when he didn't know anything about filming. Zhao Wenzhuo couldn't understand Cantonese and could only be anxious. At that time, he didn't expect that he would be a blockbuster because of this villain.

At that time, Tsui Hark's "Huang Feihong 4" and "Fang Shiyu" were on the same set, and Tsui Hark, who was starring without Jet Li, was also upset by the casting. After walking around Yuankui, he caught Zhao Wenzhuo and asked him to come. Starred in the new generation of Huang Feihong.

Zhao Wenzhuo later recalled that he had a continuous lottery for 24 hours. During the day, he was a vicious villain. In the evening, after removing his makeup, he immediately ran to the crew next door and became a master of the generation. Even his head had to be straightened. Huang Feihong

Wu Jing played by Zhao Wenzhuo

​​also started his career as an actor with such ignorance.

In 1995, Zhang Xinyan, the director of Shaolin Temple, and Yuan Heping, the martial arts director, wanted to make another Kung Fu movie. They went to Beijing to find Jet Li’s mentor Wu Bin and asked him to introduce a child, just like Jet Li did.

Wu Jing had left the martial arts team for 4 years. In order to earn a living, he went to Shougang to burn a boiler and opened a shop in West Sisi to dump jeans. Of course, he also had a relationship with outsiders.

Wu Bin brought Wu Jing over without saying a word and sent him to the crew of "Kung Fu Boys Breaking Love." Wu Jing was the first actor and was at a loss when facing the camera, not to mention saying "I" to Zhong Liti "love you" this line.

both started their careers in film and television under the leadership of a famous Hong Kong director.

Zhao Wenzhuo and Tsui Hark’s partner have blossomed since then. Zhao Wenzhuo's Huang Feihong did not surpass Jet Li's position in the hearts of the audience, but his subsequent appearance in "Green Snake" made Zhao Wenzhuo another praise.

After this, Zhao Wenzhuo decided to float in Hong Kong and shot Tsui Hark’s "Huang Feihong 5", "Golden Jade Hall" and "Knife" one after another, and became good friends with Leslie Cheung. Zhao Wenzhuo talked about the difficulties of Hong Kong drifting, "No one speaks Mandarin, and I especially hope to have friends from the mainland. Anyway, if you speak Mandarin, I will invite you to dinner."

Zhao Wenzhuo’s experience is the leader of mainland actors who went to the Hong Kong film market after Jet Li to develop in the Hong Kong film market, and because he succeeded Jet Li as Huang Feihong’s successor, he was always highly expected. Zhao Wenzhuo first began to reproduce Jet Li’s road and move towards traditional chivalrous kung fu movies. world.

Wu Jing, Jet Li’s fellow junior, failed to make a big hit in the Hong Kong film scene.The embarrassing acting skills of his debut debut made him badly criticized, and Wu Jing decided to "rebuild" to practice martial arts.

But director Zhang Xinyan did not give up on him. In 1998, he again co-directed the TV series "Tai Chi Grand Master" with Yuan Heping, and still chose Wu Jing as the starring role. Unexpectedly, after broadcasting in the mainland, Wu Jing gained popularity in the mainland.

Wu Jing also gained the title of "Master", and was initially called "Little Jet Li" by the media. Later, "Little Li Flying Sword" and "New Shaolin Temple" made Wu Jing a well-known Kung Fu star.

The well-known Wu Jing mainly focused on costume martial arts films in the Mainland, and started the traditional martial arts path. After he became famous, Hong Kong directors such as Tsui Hark and Liu Jialiang found him and asked him to star in Hong Kong movies, but that was already the millennium. After that.

In the golden age of the last 10 years of Hong Kong movies, Zhao Wenzhuo, a young man from the Northeast, caught the tail, but Xicheng Wutai Boy ran away.

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When Zhao Wenzhuo became famous, it happened that Jet Li was still in the leading stage in the martial arts world. His predecessors were too sharp. Zhao Wenzhuo is known as his successor, but it is inevitable that he will be in the shadow of Jet Li.

In the late 1990s, the Hong Kong action movie market shrank severely. Jackie Chan and Jet Li moved to Hollywood to develop. Zhao Wenzhuo, who had been in Hong Kong for four or five years, chose to return to the mainland to make TV series.

In 2001, "The Wind and Cloud Dominates the World" was firmly in the ratings champion, and the affectionate Nie Feng became synonymous with Zhao Wenzhuo. Since then, Li Junxian, who loves the white head in "Supreme Beauty", and Chu Zhaonan, who has experienced twists and turns in "Seven Swords Under Tianshan"... Zhao Wenzhuo has many popular roles. Like Wu Jing, he has become a well-known martial artist in the mainland by virtue of ancient costume martial arts drama. Celebrity.

​​Compared with the first ten years in Hong Kong, in the ten years after 2001, Zhao Wenzhuo has not made a movie.

Contrary to Zhao Wenzhuo who went north, Wu Jing resolutely chose to go south. Wu Jing, who has been filming TV dramas in the mainland for 10 years, realized that costume dramas were gradually giving way to idols and fairy tales, the market was also shrinking, and martial arts films had become shoddy.

The film works represented by "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" promoted "wuxia" as a world-class brand. "wuxia" has a collective unconscious effect in the Chinese community, while mainland directors use a more localized presentation. Ways to show Chinese martial arts blockbusters, and the combination of big director + star lineup is more frequent.

This is very different from the martial arts world of traditional Hong Kong movies, and it no longer blindly pursues the kind of kung fu star that can be "played". Zhao Wenzhuo cannot occupy a place in mainland movies, and Wu Jing himself feels, " It's not because I like Hong Kong movies, but no one in the Mainland wants to make kung fu movies. I have no choice."

So Wu Jing went to Hong Kong to float, because Wu Jing still persistently believes that the ideal Kung Fu movie is still in Hong Kong. What he didn't realize was that the golden age of Hong Kong had passed, and in the eyes of Hong Kong people, there was no martial arts star Wu Jing.

It is conceivable that when Wu Jing came to Hong Kong, he could only worship the hills, shuttle between the various crews, and eat box lunches with the extras. When there was no play, he listened to Guo Degang in the rental room. Wu Jing's "no local accent" was a little lonely, he said, "a group of tall buildings, alone, in a cluster of tall buildings, came the mad laughter of'hahaha'."

has been floating in Hong Kong for two years. Wu Jing has never been able to film, as if he has fallen from a high mountain to a low valley. The popularity that has accumulated in the mainland once has fallen to nowhere.

Fortunately, in 2005, by chance, Wu Jing was able to make a special guest appearance in the movie "Slaying the Wolf" starring Donnie Yen. The two "fighted" with real swords, although Wu Jingquan had only one line. However, this fight has become a famous scene and is talked about by fans.

Hong Kong people began to realize the power of Wu Jingwu's fight, and Wu Jing also began to have the initiative to take over the play, but he is always a small character or villain, he cannot become a "grand master" figure again, Wu Jing knows that he belongs My own "Kung Fu era" is no longer in Hong Kong.

In 2008, Wu Jing decisively left Hong Kong. He went to the Wenchuan earthquake-stricken area to participate in the rescue. He was remanded as a director and filmed "Spike Tooth". However, Wu Jing, who was familiar with the production process of the Hong Kong film industry, unconsciously in the self-directed film The routines of Hong Kong movies have been printed, but mainland viewers have long stopped buying it.

and Zhao Wenzhuo entered the TV drama at this timeThe stagnation period of the industry. Wu Jing and Zhao Wenzhuo, these two people seemed to have become qigong fu stars at the time.

In 2010, when Zhao Wenzhuo once again starred in the familiar ancient costume martial arts theme "Su Qier" under the leadership of the familiar Hong Kong director Yuan Heping, the flash focused on Zhou Xun and Jay Chou. The male number one looked like he had just arrived at the age of 19. When I was in Hong Kong, I became the silent person in the corner.

And Wu Jing filmed a "West Wind Fierce" in 2010, the first contact with the hardcore police action TV series, and this theme has gradually become Wu Jing's future development route.

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Wu Jing and Zhao Wenzhuo have gone through similar paths. They have not fallen behind in martial arts films in Hong Kong. Their fate seems to have undergone a reversal. In those 10 years of experimentation, the two have gradually begun to understand the "Kung Fu star" Identity no longer applies.

After a lapse of years, Zhao Wenzhuo will still be asked "Why is there no Jet Li Hong", while Wu Jing will be asked "Why didn't he become Jet Li's successor".

Zhao Wenzhuo was once perplexed, and because of the influence of public opinion, he became indifferent after he got married and set up a business; while Wu Jing would directly say "I am repeating the road of Jie Ge".

Wu Jing said in "Let's Talk" that any action actor really wants to create an era of action of his own. "I may be really stupid, but if I can't hold on to my dream for a lifetime, it seems that I'm a little smarter, it doesn't make much sense to live."

may be the idea that made Wu Jing always look for as an action The actor's way out.

In 2012, Zhao Wenzhuo accused Donnie Yen of being a "drama master", and the two were intolerable because of filming; Wu Jing posted a Weibo at that time to ask everyone to support "Da Wudang", seeming to support Zhao Wenzhuo.

At that time, Wu Jing worked hard in the Nanjing Special Forces in order to shoot "I Am a Special Forces 2". This 18-month training allowed Wu Jing to completely open a new direction, "What kind of role can achieve my goals and ideals? Soldiers. I want to make a film that will make men want to be real men even more. Women watch movies that prefer pure men.”

Therefore, after the release of the military-themed work "Wolf Warrior" in 2015, it used 30,000 bullets, 32 tanks and five real missiles to bring super With a box office record of 500 million, Wu Jing really tasted the success of the role of "soldier" for the first time. After

"Wolf Warrior 2", this transformation Wu Jing completely declared a success. However, with the transmission of the values ​​of "patriotism and innocence" and the precise grasp of the national sentiments behind the rise of the great powers, Wu Jing was drowned in the sound of verbal criticism.

Regarding this, Wu Jing said, "I am not afraid of being a bullseye, of controversy, of difficulties, and of losing money."

But after "The Wandering Earth", this kind of criticism repeats itself again. This time, Wu Jing’s answer is no longer so "emphasis on self"-

"Now our country is getting more and more advanced in science and technology. For example, the lunar rover landed on the back of the moon and transmitted through relay satellites. The Chinese are watching more and more. Towards the future. Unlike before, a movie is always "China's hundreds of years of vicissitudes and suffering since the Opium War in 1840..." Now we are making progress through our own strength and looking forward to a better future."

From traditional martial arts, to nationalism, and then to the community of shared future for mankind, Wu Jing’s words may also show that after the changes of the times, people are no longer obsessed with traditional martial arts, and no longer deliberately pursue classical romanticism. It is to focus on the re-discussion of values ​​after being strong, and to focus on the communication between oneself and the world.

However, Zhao Wenzhuo's topicality is far lower than Wu Jing's. He is also a model worker in recent years, and he has re-made movies. In 2017, 4 movies were released in the same year, but the box office lost one after another, and the media was dubbed the title of "box office poison".

When Wu Jing was participating in the show "True Stars and Dare", Yang Di asked Wu Jing to evaluate herself from the three dimensions of "director, actor, and appearance." Wu Jing couldn't figure it out for a long time, and Yang Di said, "Why don't you evaluate Zhao Wenzhuo? "Wu Jing was startled, "I'll evaluate myself."

Xu is the two people's quite similar experience at the beginning, but now they are in completely different status quo, which makes people unconsciously compare. Some netizens even called for Zhao Wenzhuo to play Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 3".

During the shooting of Zhao Wenzhuo's "Kung Fu League", Wu Jing went to the studio to explore the class, Zhao WenzhuoA group photo was posted on Weibo, and now it seems that the two last martial artists in the golden age of Hong Kong have witnessed the decline of the "martial arts actors" together, and they are looking for new opportunities and directions in the same way. There is still sympathy for each other. Sense of.

The different destinies of the two are the best proof of the ups and downs of the movie market in this era.

Conclusion

Many netizens looked at the picture of Wu Jing playing A Fei in "Little Li Fei Dao" when he was young, and exclaimed, "Beijing, is this the Wu Jing I know?" Few people remember, but people often ask how Wu Jing is made today.

Perhaps the disappearance of the "strength of martial arts" and the dying of kung fu subject matter are beyond Wu Jing's control, but Wu Jing has never lost this foundation, but has fulfilled his wild dream in another way.

As for the label he has now obtained, he said in an interview with the situation that he attributed the success of his film to the support of his spiritual shareholders, "The patriotic sentiment, the dry wood has been so thoroughly exposed, I just A match lit the fire." Desperateness is not the most fundamental reason for his success, but the perception of the mood of the times.

It took Wu Jing 24 years to get to his place. Together with himself, Times officially waved goodbye to the martial arts world in the first half of his life.

This is the end of the traditional martial arts era, and it also opens the era of red action in another sense. And the completely different fates of the last two Wushu students may just explain that the Chinese classical romanticism remaining in the blood of Wu Da is dying.