Why does Andy Lau always make bad movies？
Text | Zhang Ying
edit | Zhao ordinary
"Andy Lau is an entertainer who is deified by all the media."
In a speech on a CCTV program in 2013, Andy Lau commented on himself. But everyone knows that the three words Andy Lau can no longer be summed up in words like "an artist".
"There can be people in Hong Kong who don’t know the governor, but no one doesn’t know Andy Lau." The media and the public have many similar evaluations of Andy Lau, constantly pushing him to a higher "mythical" status.
(Andy Lau’s "If Heaven Has Love")
It is undeniable that in the past 40 years of his debut, Andy Lau has many roles that everyone loves to talk about, and has also handed over many quality masterpieces such as "Infernal Affairs", "Heaven Ruoyou Love" and "Sister Tao". But at the same time,Poison Eye(WeChat ID: DomoreDumou)It seems that Andy Lau has been entangled and swayed in bad movies over the years.
A few days ago, the new film "Hot Blood Choir" that he produced and starred in was released. As of now, the box office is less than 50 million, and the rating of Douban is as low as 4.8. This result has awakened many people’s memories of "the bad movies that Andy Lau made these years."
"Buchuan Mountain Residence" is an "iconic bad movie" that he starred in that caused audiences to complain and bad reviews on a large scale. There are more films like "Ace", "Macau 3" and "My Agent Grandpa" with Douban ratings hovering around 3-5 points, and acting in movies with bad reputation. This is what happened to Andy Lau from time to time.
He himself has never been shy about this."I don’t care about scenes. I don’t dare to shoot anything except taking off my clothes."
"Stupid child" | "As long as I don’t take off my clothes, I dare to shoot"
"There is a stupid child born in the 1960s outside the quiet village." Andy Lau wrote and sang this lyric about himself.
Born in 1961 in a remote village in Hong Kong, Andy Lau moved to the city at the age of 6 and lived with his family in a slum called Diamond Hill. He knew how to live hard before anyone else: as a teenager, he got up at 4 a.m. to pull water and prepare to sell breakfast, helped out in his shop after school, started doing homework at 10, and slept only about four hours a night.
Because he had to help his family’s grocery store and the ice room deliver takeout, and the ice room was near the Jiancheng studio, Andy Lau kept an eye on the phone every day, rushing to answer when the bell rang, in order to go to the studio to deliver takeout and see more stars in the crew.
Perhaps because of this influence, after graduating from Secondary Five, Andy Lau applied for the wireless artist training class. At the age of 20, he entered the TVB training class and became a trainee.
A year later, Xu Anhua’s "Joining the Sea of Rage" began filming. One of the male leads was originally reserved for Chow Yun-fa, but Chow Yun-fa refused to play due to market considerations. After being recommended, the producers found Andy Lau. At that time, Andy Lau, who was a complete newcomer to the film, was not qualified to worry too much like Chow Yun-fa and firmly seize this precious role opportunity.
"Go to the Sea of Anger" won the earth-shattering wins, good reputation at the same time, also won the box office revenue of 15 million Hong Kong dollars, in 1982, this is the absolute head of the hit film, and the newcomer Andy Lau also took this hit, won the Academy Award "Best New Actor" nomination.
(Andy Lau starred in the 1982 film "Joining the Sea")
Perhaps it was because "Go to the Sea of Rage" allowed Andy Lau to dig the first "diamond", and then he buried his head on the "Diamond Mountain".But in this process, there will also be a lot of "sand and gravel".
According to incomplete statistics, in the four years from 1988 to 1992, Andy Lau almost made more than 10 movies every year. And among these huge numbers of movies, there are many bad movies that have long been forgotten in the corner.
Asked by the media in 2005 why he was making 12 films a year, Andy Lau replied: "I knew at that time that if I wanted to stay in the entertainment industry, I had to take more roles. No matter what, I had to make an impression on everyone, and I had to be firmly tied to everyone’s heart."
As a newcomer to the film industry, Andy Lau, who is in his twenties, had to film.
In the 1980s, the annual production of Hong Kong films remained at around 100, the total output value of films was once the first in Asia and the second in the world (after the United States). A large number of Hong Kong directors rose, and various types of films such as martial arts, action and comedy were produced. For Lau Dehua, it was a good time. The booming Hong Kong film market gave him the opportunity to make intensive films.
"In Hong Kong you can shoot three movies at the same time, shoot this one in the morning, change to another one tomorrow, and go home at night." Behind this "everything" mirrors the fierce competition behind the booming Hong Kong film market.
Andy Lau’s "opponents" include Zhou Yun-fat, Miao Qiaowei and Tang Zhenye, who are already famous in the market and have box office in the radio training class, as well as Leung Chaowei and Zhou Xingchi, who are in the late class.
Only by constantly shooting can Andy Lau catch up with the ever-changing market.Bad movies also became the "fate" he never got rid of in the process of running and catching up.
Businessperson | "Not so artistic, I love money"
"Stupid kid" Andy Lau also has smart things.
Perhaps the 15 million Hong Kong dollar of "Go to the Angry Sea" is too charming, and the smart Andy Lau smelled the huge opportunity of the film market. Obviously, this is a broader and more charming blue ocean.
"In the early 1990s, Andy Lau felt that he knew a lot about movies and wanted to try his hand at filming, so he set up a joint venture with a telecommunications company in Hong Kong," Jin Yan, who has worked with him for many years, told the media publicly.
From then on, Andy Lau assumed the role of a businessperson.
(Andy Lau concert)
As a novice businessperson, Andy Lau did not go well. He invested in several films using expensive big-name actors such as Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung, and Guan Zhilin. The film "The Legend of War" (1992) alone had an investment of 60 million Hong Kong dollars, but in the end, the box office was only over 12 million.
By 1995, Andy Lau had lost more than 40 million yuan.
"From 1995 to the middle of 2000, all the scenes I made were used to pay off debts."Andy Lau once said in an interview. During this period, Andy Lau starred in a large number of films with poor reputation, such as "Ambition of Heaven and Earth" (1997), "Love Dream" (1999) and "Battle to the Top of Forbidden" (2000).
(Andy Lau’s "Love Dream")
After being in huge debt, the 40-year-old Andy Lau had to take a photo.
However, after the money was paid, Andy Lau still did not give up his film business. In 2002, he founded Yingyi Entertainment Co., Ltd. This time, Andy began to turn his attention to newcomers: in 2005, his Yingyi Entertainment launched the "Asian Rising Star Direction" program, in which Andy alone paid about 25 million Hong Kong dollars to film six emerging directors.
At that time, the list of new directors was now the big director Ning Hao. In 2006, Ning Hao used the 3.50 million invested by Andy Lau to shoot the box office 23.50 million work "Crazy Stone". Director Ning Hao had his own famous work and helped businessperson Andy Lau make money.
Unfortunately, of the six films that Andy Lau invested in, the other five lost money. Some were thrown away after filming, some were not released after filming, and some were begged for mercy halfway through the shooting: "Please don’t shoot it, okay?"
In the following years, Andy Lau’s company invested in many films, and he often starred in films he invested in in addition to his status as a producer and producer. Among them, there were many masterpieces such as "Sister Peach", and of course, there would also be films with general reputation such as "My Agent Grandpa" and "I Know Women’s Hearts".
(Andy Lau’s "Sister Tao")
Bad movies became part of Andy Lau’s businessWhen asked by the media "Don’t you think you are an artist?", Andy Lau could only answer with a smile: "I don’t count, I’m not that artistic, I love money."
Favors | Andy Lau of "On Call"
In the days when Andy Lau was desperately filming to pay off his debts, a familiar figure often appeared in his works: Wang Jing.
In those years, Wang Jing would find Andy Lau to act in a suitable film, giving him a lot of help when he was eager to make money. So in many public occasions later, Andy Lau would speak for Wang Jing without hesitation: "I came out of making the bad movies you said. Director Wang Jing gave his all for his movies, which is worthy of our admiration."
(Andy Lau and Wang Jing)
"Sometimes, for example, meeting Wang Jing may be too good a friend. I don’t know if this is good or not. I think sometimes some human favors are necessary for people."
Andy Lau repaid the money debt and owed the "love debt".
Not only Wang Jing, in the 1980s, when Andy Lau experienced being "hidden", he also received a lot of help from Hong Jinbao. After that, Andy Lau has been recalling the love of that year. Even Hong Jinbao himself lamented that he has won many celebrities, and it is difficult for most people to find them to make movies after they become popular, but there is another Andy Lau who is "on call".
(Andy Lau and Samuel Hung)
In this way, for the sake of favor, Andy Lau, who is about to turn 60, still had to shoot.
When he recorded the program "Zhiyun Dinner" in his early years, Andy Lau said that he was very eccentric, "friends will help you when you are busy."
When Zhang Weijian’s investment failed and he was facing bankruptcy, he asked Andy Lau to borrow money for help. Andy Lau generously helped him and told him that what he learned should be taught, and what he earned should be given to others.
Perhaps it was because he was helped by too many people in his early years that Andy Lau, who became famous, did not hesitate to assist filmmakers.Helping to play a "bad movie" is also one of the ways.
The 2013 release of "Tianji Fuchun Mountain Residence" (3 points on Douban) was the darkest moment for Andy Lau’s film reputation. Every time he attended an event, he had to face questions from the media "why did you accept this film".
When filming "The Founding of a Nation", Han Sanping took Sun Jianjun (the director of "Fuchun Mountain Residence") to see Andy Lau. At first, he asked Andy Lau to be the director. Andy Lau thought his directing ability was limited and refused, but in the process, Andy Lau and Sun Jianjun established a friendship.
Andy Lau said in an interview,"Just like a group of friends, the audience should not think so much about why, it is actually that simple."
(Andy Lau in "Secret: The Residence of Fuchun Mountain")
Du Qifeng once told Andy Lau to be selfish and choose works selfishly, so that he can control the quality of his works better.Andy Lau replied that this is not his personality.
In the future, Andy Lau’s "road to bad movies" may be longer. But fortunately, as long as they hear the words "Andy Lau", audiences will still walk into the cinema with hope.
reference
1. "Ten years is not easy, ten years in a flash – 1997 to 2007 Hong Kong Film Talk" Author: Liefu
"57-Year-old Andy Lau has been popular for 37 years" by Captain
3. "Let’s Talk" 20131215 (No. 072: Andy Lau)
4. Chongqing Evening News: "Andy Lau confesses that doing business is difficult: I can still afford to lose money now"
5. Sohu Entertainment: Interview | Andy Lau: Shooting "Fuchun Mountain Residence Map" for Friendship
6. Interface News: Interview with Andy Lau: I’m not that artistic, I love money
7. China News Weekly: "Hong Kong People" Andy "
