Chapter 86: New Police Story Premiere
Chapter 86: New Police Story Premiere
There are so many movies released these two days.
No. 20, "2046".
No. 24, "New Police Story".
The premiere of "New Police Story" was also held in Shanghai, and this time Zhang Chen was invited.
When Zhang Chen first received the invitation, he was quite puzzled. He was just an unknown person who had only directed one movie, so why would they invite him?
I even maliciously speculated whether it might be the Hongmen Banquet, after all, I had just criticized Xie Bi Wang last month.
Xie Bi Wang is very stingy. He broke off his friendship with someone just because someone took a photo of his wife, and the photo was taken before they got married.
But it was a formal invitation after all, and it would be inappropriate not to go.
Zhang Chen decided to go to the meeting alone.
At the premiere, Jackie Chan was the undisputed star, and most of the guests came just for his face.
Big brother, it's ok.
When Zhang Chen entered the venue, Cheng Long was welcoming the guests with a group of young actors. When they saw Zhang Chen, the first person to come forward was Yu Dong.
"Hello Director Zhang, I'm Yu Dong from Bona, this should be the first time we meet."
The mainland distributor of "New Police Story" is Bona, and Bona is also responsible for the premiere.
"Hello, Mr. Yu. I have wanted to meet you for a long time."
The colorful sedan chair was carried by everyone. Yu Dong was so enthusiastic that Zhang Chen must respond.
At this time, Cheng Long, who had just dealt with the last guest, also came over and extended his hand, saying, "Director Zhang Chen, we meet again."
This familiar look made Zhang Chen feel a little confused. It seemed like this was only the second time he and the other party had met. The first time was at the food stall the night before the Golden Rooster Awards. And they hadn't spoken at that time, just nodded.
"Brother Cheng Long, just call me Zhang Chen." Zhang Chen hurriedly clasped his hands.
As a director, your acting skills cannot be too bad.
Even though he was harsh in his previous comments on Jackie Chan's movies, he still admires this person very much.
He started from scratch, worked his way up to where he is today, broke into Hollywood, became an international superstar, and eventually became a business card for China to the outside world.
This achievement is remarkable.
Even if some people say that he has poor personal morals, he has no problems in terms of justice.
After shaking hands with Cheng Long, Zhang Chen went on to get to know young actors such as Daniel Wu, Xie Bi Wang, and Charlene Choi one by one.
Zhang Chen finally confirmed one thing: it was definitely not Nicholas Tse's intention to invite him here. The other party deliberately avoided his gaze when he saw him, and it was obvious that he still held a grudge. However, he could not get angry because of Jacky Cheung's presence.
Then the person who invited me was most likely Bona or Jacky Cheung.
In fact, his guess was correct. It was Bona Yudong's suggestion to invite him here.
It has only been two months since the release of "Dark Invasion", and Zhang Chen is still popular. However, Xie Bi Wang was initially against this proposal, after all, he had just been criticized by the other party last month.
But it’s useless if he disagrees. Cheng Long’s opinion is the real opinion, and everyone else’s can only be used as a reference.
Cheng Long didn't know Zhang Chen at first, but after that day he asked someone to investigate who the young people who were drinking with Han Sanping and the others were, and then he got to know him.
Zhang Chen was too lazy to think about it anymore. Anyway, he was invited here today to show his support for them. Only a mentally ill person would embarrass him in such an occasion.
He came to his seat and sat down. He was not a big star and had only acted in one movie, so he was only given a seat in the third row.
Zhang Chen didn't care.
Many guests sat down nearby one after another. When they saw Zhang Chen, whether they knew him or not, they all nodded in greeting.
The area gradually filled up and the premiere began.
As the host, Yu Dong started by bragging a lot.
"New Police Story" is Cheng Long's first movie after returning to Hong Kong from Hollywood...
Then start playing the movie.
90 minutes later, the movie was over and director Benny Chan and actors Jacky Cheung, Charlie Young, Xie Bi Wang, Daniel Wu, Charlene Choi and others came on stage to be interviewed.
This is the first movie after the collaboration between Emperor Entertainment Group and Jackie Chan. It was promoted with a big fanfare and most of the actors used were from Emperor Entertainment Group.
Zhang Chen just watched "New Police Story" again.
Confirmed again, it really doesn’t look good.
This film seems to be a bit of a sham.
The name is "New Police Story", but the plot has nothing to do with the "Police Story" series.
The protagonist’s name is not Chan Ka Kui, but Leslie Cheung, and his style is also different.
In "New Police Story", the character played by Jackie Chan actually cried. Can you believe it?
I don’t know if Uncle Long wanted to show off his acting skills, but this time his character is completely different from those in previous movies.
People like Chan Ka Kui and Ma Ru-lung are invincible cockroaches, and they become more courageous as they face more setbacks.
But Chen Guorong is useless.
At the beginning, he was targeted by a group of second-generation officials and police officers, who killed the entire team, and then he collapsed.
He spent his days drinking heavily, becoming decadent and giving up on himself.
Maybe the screenwriter wanted to criticize before praising, but Zhang Chen felt it was very awkward, which was still related to Cheng Long's previous personality.
The roles he always plays can be weak or impulsive, but definitely not cowardly.
During the interactive question-and-answer session, Cheng Long praised the young actors and Daniel Wu for their good acting skills, and Xie Bi Wang personally took part in the session.
It seems that Hong Kong films have successors.
Daniel Wu's growth is indeed visible to the naked eye. This year is the year he has shed his vase status.
The villain he played in "New Police Story" was very impressive and did not get out of place at all.
This year he also has another movie "One Nite in Mongkok", in which he is the male lead, playing the role of "Black Rat" from the mainland. Except for his poor Mandarin, his acting skills are all remarkable.
In comparison, Xie Bi Wang is not that outstanding.
When he acts, he always gives people a feeling of being restrained and unable to let go.
Xie did perform the dangerous scenes in "New Police Story" himself, which is commendable, but not amazing. Among all his roles, Zhang Chen thinks that his best performance is Wu Huan in "The Promise", which is a true performance because the character itself is a bit pretentious.
It's a premiere, so as usual you have to say a few nice words, otherwise why would the organizer invite you?
Zhang Chen also accepted the interview.
"Director Zhang, what do you think of New Police Story?"
Zhang Chen answered according to the fixed routine: "Yeah, it's very exciting."
Do you think he would say: I don’t understand, but I am deeply shocked?
How is that possible? Zhang Chen is not stupid.
This is a movie made by Big Brother.
The reporter was clearly not satisfied: "Can you be more specific?"
The main creative team happened to be nearby, and when they heard the reporter's question, they all looked over unconsciously. They also wanted to hear what the new director Zhang Chen had to say.
Zhang Chen racked his brains to organize the words, he really didn't want to say it against his conscience.
But it is impossible for him to say it is not good.
"I think this is a very special and good movie, and to be honest, it is completely different from what I expected New Police Story to be."
Feeling the emotion in Zhang Chen's words, the reporter felt a little excited.
You are indeed a friend of journalists. Are you going to give us another topic?
The looks of several people from the main creative team also turned unfriendly. Could it be that Zhang Chen was going to cause trouble at the premiere?
Xie Bi Wang was secretly delighted and prayed that Zhang Chen would speak without restraint, so that someone would help him.
But how could Zhang Chen do as he wished? He immediately changed his tone and said, "In this film, Brother Cheng Long gave a performance that is different from his previous performances."
Hearing that this was it, Xie Bi Wang was a little disappointed.
Instead, Cheng Long's interest was aroused. Although he was still greeting people, his mind was mostly focused on this.
"It can be seen that the movie has made a big change in the character setting. He is no longer playing the omnipotent Chan Ka Kui, but Chan Kwok-wing, who is closer to an ordinary person.
It hurts, it hurts, but it's more flesh and blood. The character has many dramatic changes in expression, which requires a lot of performance, but Big Brother handled it well, especially the crying scene in the middle. Just based on that crying scene, I think Big Brother can be crowned the best actor. "
When Cheng Long, who was not far away, heard Zhang Chen's words, his heart was moved unconsciously.
He never told anyone about his little trick except director Benny Chan, but Zhang Chen saw through it at a glance.
Of course, Zhang Chen didn’t just see that. He really knew that next year’s Golden Rooster Awards would give the Best Actor award to Jackie Chan.
You can say that those judges are working in isolation, or that they are self-righteous, but they are not blind.
They still know whether you have acting skills or not.
Jackie Chan became famous in the 8s and 90s. He was the mainstay of Hong Kong films as the Cheng in "Three Chows and One Cheng".
In the 90s, he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor twice for "Police Story 3: Super Cop" and "Crime Squad", which was a rare consecutive win.
He has won the Golden Rooster Award, but when it comes to the Hong Kong Film Awards, he has been nominated 10 times but has never won the Best Actor award.
The Hong Kong film industry stubbornly believes that kung fu films and comedies do not require acting skills.
Cheng Long wanted to prove himself all his life, but ultimately failed and only received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
In this "New Police Story", he did have this in mind, but he didn't expect that Zhang Chen saw through it at a glance.
The media were excited by Zhang Chen's words and gathered around to interview Cheng Long. Cheng Long also generously admitted that he did have this idea.
Reporters surrounded Jackie Chan looking for news points, and Zhang Chen quietly stepped away.
"Director Zhang has a really good eye. Brother Long kept this in mind and never told anyone. I didn't expect Director Zhang to see through it at a glance." The speaker was Chen Musheng.
"No, no, a lot of people must have seen it, but they just didn't say anything. I was the only one who was stupid enough..."
Zhang Chen laughed it off.
He actually has a good impression of Chen Musheng.
"Police Story", "Who Am I" and "True Blood" are all works by Benny Chan, and they are all very well-made.
Chen Musheng's works do not have any depth. The main feature is the hot scenes, which is in line with Hong Kong's fast food culture.
"Undercover" was a mess. Although "Who Am I" was starred by Jackie Chan, it was the Hong Kong film with the weakest personal style among those starring Jackie Chan. In "True Man", Wu Jing beat up three opponents alone.
By the way, he also filmed "Heroes", a movie with a very unique setting, with two male protagonists. Zhang Chen was deeply impressed when he watched it for the first time.
Chen Musheng is very good at police and gangster themes. He also remade "Keep Talking". Except for the poor performance of Big S, the rest of the film is not worse than the Hollywood original.
Unfortunately, after the new century, he passed away, leaving behind only one posthumous work, "Raging Fire", which is really a pity.
While Cheng Long was still being interviewed, Zhang Chen had already sneaked away. On the way, he also saw Sun Chun and Yu Rongguang, who are also mainland actors, but did not say hello.
In fact, "New Police Story" does not meet the requirements of a co-production.
Requirements for co-productions: The number of mainland actors cannot be less than one-third of the main actors.
But "New Police Story" clearly does not meet the requirements.
Several mainland actors did not have a leading role, at best they played minor supporting roles with one or two shots.
This definitely does not comply with the regulations for co-productions, but they did it anyway.
There's nothing we can do about it; this is the way it is at this moment.
Hong Kong film companies and filmmakers have a sense of superiority over the mainland, and they don't look down on those who make films in the mainland.
He only knows how to make art films and knows nothing about the market.
So they don't really abide by the mainland's regulations, and you can't do anything about it to us.
The mainland is indeed not enforcing the law strictly at the moment, and it was not until after 06 that it was formalized.
Even Zhang Chen's "Darkness" had a loophole. The version screened in the mainland and the version sold to overseas competitions were two completely different versions.
The overseas version is much bloodier.
No one cares about this now, but it will gradually become formalized in 06. Co-productions have to follow the rules, and the version that applies for the Dragon Mark for public screening and the version that is sent for overseas competitions must be the same version. Otherwise, expect to be banned.
……
Asking for a monthly pass
(End of this chapter)